“We are a minority in our own country,” says FNC spokesperson
The UAE is working toward reducing its dependence on expatriate workers, and shifting the workload onto Emiratis...
November 23, 2009 2:31 by Dana El Baltaji
The UAE is working toward reducing its dependence on expatriate workers, and shifting the workload onto Emiratis, the Federal National Council (FNC) spokesperson said on Sunday at a conference promoting the UAE’s National Day. He said the local population will be aided by technology and a handful of highly-skilled expatriate professionals in the future.
Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair said: “We are a minority in our own country. With a large expat population it is very easy to lose your identity.”
He added that the FNC has established the Federal Demographics Council to monitor and study the effects of the nation’s growing expatriate population.
“It is important that we maintain our own national identity,” al-Ghurair said.
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13 Comments
Its true we should Maintain this before we are lost and we already feeling lost in our own country, because of heads of companies public and private ones, specialy the local directors that depends on expatriates.
no offence to Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, most of Mashreq Bank are about 98% expatriate..
I dont know why the UAE citizens have such a dislike for expats and feel that we are taking it all away from them.I am not going to rant and rave about how we built thier country because this is sumthing that we worked towards. however, wat i will say is that if one turns to faith, they will realise that God has assigned each ones provision from somewhere, and for the expats in UAE this is where theirs are coming from. No matter how much you want to replace, get rid, of expats at the end of the day, provisions meant for sum1 will never go to another despite all rules, regulations and policies implemented.
Also, how can UAE nationals say they are losing thier identity due to expats??? expats are not the ones who are turning them into a consumerism culture, rather they choose to do that themselves because it appears ‘cool’ and in the event they are losing thier identity.
simple example- local women with jeans under thier abayas…wat happened to the jalabiya? Surely expats are not to blame for this..rather the individual who feels the need to behave like the people they watch on Showtime etc…This is what is making UAE locals lost..
Alienating the expats is not the way to hold identity. rather embrace them, and then see how well they adopt your culture and work hard to withhold it.!!!!!
hmmm…considering Dubai’s lofty economic aspirations, they really had no choice but to bring in expats to help build the country. There just are not enough skilled & experienced Emiratis across all sectors to have sustained the UAE’ growth over the past 20 years.
But whats most worrying about Mr Al Ghurair’s statements are that the UAE has been positioning itself as an open real estate market, offering permanent residence visas (on and off) and building an enormous number of residences and office space. So either the “handful” of expats will need to occupy the some 100,000+ apartments or else we will see yet another real estate bubble about to collapse.
If you aim to reduce the expat population then who is going to live in all these apartments and villas and shop in all these malls. These kind of comments would make any proprety investor think twice.
trouble is they want everything done for them but still have everything their own way.
THE QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF IS
Why are you a minority in your country ?
How advantageous has it been for you to be aminority in your country ?
Why do your population find it degrading to be a cobnstructin worker, a house maid, take up a job that does not come with a mercedese benz ?
Why you dont give out citezenships to individuals who have spent most of their lives in your country and in some cases were even born here ?
The truth of the matter will answer your questions and will help you to raise more valid questions , and also help in providing solutions .
the majority in your conutry has built your country and made it cconveneint , easy, safe, abundant and rich for you to enjoy.
thank the majority and be grateful to them as without them the minority would not be in such a comfortable state.
So, Emiratis are prepared to work on building sites, wait on tables, drive taxis and clean mall toilets, are they? If every Filipino, Pakistani and Indian went on strike for just one day here, the nation would come to a standstill.
Emiritisation of the private sector will continue to be a dismal failure unless the working conditions of the government sector are changed so they are more equal to the private sector. How about government jobs with a starting salary of Dh5,000, 9-5 working hours and promotion on merit?
Loving it all the way…. Can;t wait to “LMAO” on the next 6+ comments after this….I’m sure it’ll get better and better…. Keep Smiling !!!
I really don’t think anything was said with any purpose to remove the expats – it was in the spirit of National Day and the elevate the sprits of those Emiratis who feel that the expats r taking away their jobs…
We all know that Dubai is built on tourism and expat investments – if these go away; everything will turn to dust… I’ve had this talk in my family as well – we have a family business in Sharjah. I’ve asked my parents many times, about what will happen once the Emiratis multiply so much that they don’t need us to fill in the blanks…
I guess the conclusion is the business-owners will be the safest – they cant technically be kicked out… or the laborers as Miss Anne pointed out…
@ Jasmine – Sweety, You know what ? You are the sweetest dumbo as far as it goes…. Buisness owners will be the first to FEEL the pinch, technically they might NEVER be kicked out (remember they give annual Regn./License Fee!!!) but their customer base will shrink gradually as more nationals land into the pitch (and mind you its not going to be a level playing field for a long-long time to come…) Guess, this might be too-far fetched for your brain-games, so happy surfing while the sun is out (as brits say!)
Adiós.
In response to Faisal’s comment about this being the sort of thing that might make a property investor think twice … I’ve lived here for the bulk of the last 15 or so years, that alone is enough to make me avoid setting up a business or buying property here. Ever.
Save lots of money, leave nothing but furniture.
It’s ok – given the recent news and the fact that everything is hitting the fan, I’d imagine the demographic issue will resolve itself pretty soon as the rest of us choose to move back somewhere where the bills get paid.
It is time that Emiraties said “thank you” for all the hard work expats have contributed to their country. I am fed up with THEIR moaning!…
Also what John said. Whilst I’m lucky in that most of my friends are Emiratis, and down to earth ones, nown again even I hear them complaing that AED 20,000k a month isn’t much. 40,000 pounds a year more or less, untaxed, whilst they live for free at home.
I mean really?