NedKelly63

Where are the Engineers, Architects, Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, Software Engineers etc? How about some money spent on producing some home grown talent instead of just buying stuff?

weescot

It takes more than a day to get to know young Emiratis, and even longer for them to open up and tell a "here today gone tomorrow-or-when-enough-money-is-saved" expat what their aspirtations or talents are.

One thing I think they are world class at - patriotisim. They genuinely love their country. Drop by AD's corniche next national day to get a taste.

Emiratis join govenrment/police/military I believe because of "safety in numbers" to be surrounded by their own (deep in their culture) Many Emirati's end up in the police/military because the education system has failed them (not them failing - big difference) and they can't reach the standards to get to Uni. Uniformed service is a dutiful alternative.

There is a medical school in Al Ain - which is where you will find most Emirati doctors. Lawyers are about too and most Emirati Engineers I have come across are in the municipalities trying to get the infrastructre built/maintained properly - at least in AD.

Inselaffen

world leaders in cancelled construction projects?
world leaders in failing to pay service providers/suppliers?

NedKelly63

I totally agree with you on the patriotism front and that education is failing them.

I would hope that we are not the only ones that can see this and that patriotism would spur them on to greater things.

How about a rally of some.... ahh, scrub that

redheart

Quote:

Originally Posted by weescot

It takes more than a day to get to know young Emiratis, and even longer for them to open up and tell a "here today gone tomorrow-or-when-enough-money-is-saved" expat what their aspirtations or talents are.

do you know me? no i didn't think so. maybe my years here are starting to weary me.
a person that presumes to know everthing, knows nothing.

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. by Oscar Wilde.

weescot

Your post indicated you had only spent a day "trying to find out".

Do you know me? I dont think so - otherwise you'd know I certainly don't know everything. But happy to share what I do know.

As for patriotism, none of us are back home making our country a better one, so Emiratis are at least one up on us in that respect.

Millhouse

How about: 'The UAE' is not a 'World Leader'

seven seas

Engineers, scientists etc- I'd have thought it would take more than 39 years to start producing those- yet here they are, a generation of tech-savvy kids whose grandparents (maybe even parents) were illiterate. Scientists etc won't be far behind.

I thought patriotism was the last refuge... ? my Oscar Wilde is a bit rusty.

The overblown celebrations are OTT but a true measure of the feeling for the country would be how they take care of it.

There is way less concern for sustainability than you might expect. A certain influential person is trying to change that though...

The apeal of the armed forces and the police etc is that it ticks all the right boxes. Pension, quasi tribal/national allegiances, family all work there/ they sorted me out. And there is a certain amount of pride in working for the government, rather than for some grubby profit-making company. Unless it's their own business, of course!!

One of my friends who is half Emirati described it asd a country still coming to terms with being born, adjusting to successive waves of culture shock, having been formed in the period of human history that has seen the fastest and biggest changes ever.

And I thought moving here was hard at first- imagine living through culture shock for 4 decades!!

NedKelly63

True,

It can't have been easy, but the culture shock is/was controllable and shouldn't have taken the locals by surprise.

Lack of consultation, planning, whatever... elite/ruling class Emirati aside, I fear the man on the street has been overlooked. Well looked after, granted, but overlooked.

Ethos83

Several of the Asian countries haven't done half bad a job in roughly the same time span....

China destroyed 90% of its heritage through the cultural revolution and dragged its people into extreme abject poverty from general poverty, yet they have rebounded rather nicely and are producing world class scholarship and scientific research and are pouring huge sums into new universities and education for the children.

Singapore grew from a backwater colonial port into a major international player with education scores among the top in the world. One of the key ingredients of its success was the money poured into the education of its children. It's an explicit result of an explicit government policy.

The UAE, despite the fancy schmancy glam it surrounded its people with, didn't exactly achieve wealth through hard work and determination. It was oil, simply oil. With no oil this would still be an extremely impoverished desert backwater with some minor trading in Dubai. The wealth still comes from oil and it was oil money that drove Dubai's boom despite the city's lack of oil.

The UAE won the natural resources lottery and I certainly don't blame the government for turning its people into the most glorified and pampered dole seekers in the world consumed by only one passion: the search for luxury. Hey, it's not a lifestyle that can be turned up easily. The people live well, with fully funded medical treatments overseas. It's a decent way of sharing the wealth, but it has made slaves out of its own people. Some Emiratis are indeed bright and will accomplish much, but by far 90% will be content to work at vastly overpaid government jobs pushing paper from one end of the desk to the other, or sit back and take credit for someone else's business success by being the 51% silent owner.

I just got back from a few weeks in Germany and Austria, and I did see a fair amount of Gulf Arabs. What were they doing? Shopping. The museums were packed with local residents and visitors from the US, other European countries and Asia. I did not once see a Gulf Arab in a museum. I did not see one Gulf Arab at the concerts I went to despite that leagues of Chinese and Japanese visitors were in attendance. I did not see one Arab on the hiking trails through the Alps, despite running into fairly large numbers of eager Asian hikers.

The UAE mindset is not broad. It's very insular. Maybe time will change this, but until then I don't have reasons to be impressed with this country and especially Dubai, which built what glories it has on the back of borrowed money.

Millhouse

Quite a few of the locals in my office go to Austria in the summer. I would like to say that they go for the hiking - the truth is that they go there to hunt deer for fun...!

Oil is a curse - Only a few countries that have discovered large amounts have successfully been able to control it. That said, I'm not totally sure I would have behaved any differently if I was in charge.

seven seas

I spoke too soon...
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs....707259836/1678

Bahtatboy

C'mon buddy, get your critical faculties re-booted. I'm not one to automatically doubt the contribution from the local populace, but when a local rag reports...

“Currently we’re in the phase of learning and developing,” said Salem al Marri, the director of the EIAST space programme. “We have to gain as much knowledge as we can.”

...I tend to suspect that meaningful contribution is limited.

That said, for a young country there can't be too high an expectation, but--as with anybody--if everything's easy for you, why put yourself out?

NedKelly63

I've been searching for pictures of DubaiSat-1 and 2, as I was convinced that they would be green and gold.

Surprise surprise, they are not. And so begs the question, which bits did our Emirati friends design?

admon

That chip on your shoulder must reeaaally hurt.

No society is perfect, but for me (obviously a failed-in-my-own-country-misfit) (or not as while I live here I still run a business in the UK that pays for my life here), the issue is a reason to invest.

If you want me, a UK national, to invest long term in this country, give me a reason.
Give me a visa for life, give me the rights of a citizen - give me the opportunity of citizenship.
Countries all over the world do it (the Uk are leaders at it) and so long as non emirati residents are just residents, then little can change, in permanently attracting those with Western passports who ultimately have the choice of where they wish to reside in the world.

So for anyone to call those people the 'save and when its enough I'll leave' is just wrong - as ultimately they don't have the choice to make a permanent life here, even if they wanted to.

Thats not a criticism of the UAE (been here 6 years and very happy), just an observation for those wiling to criticise the western expat mentality.