Manama: Gulf countries must heed warnings about the dangers resulting from an excessive reliance on expatriates if they do not want to alienate their citizens and lose their identities, Bahrain's labour minister has said.
"What we are witnessing today is a source of deep concern for anyone genuinely interested in the future of Arabian Gulf societies. The population growth of the citizens is around 3.2%, while the non-nationals grow at a staggering rate of 6.8%, almost five times the international average of 1.5%. This means that there is a very real threat that Gulf nationals will become a permanent minority in their own countries," Majeed Al Allawi said.
The minister, a former opposition leader who was given the labour portfolio when he joined the government in 2002, said that his warning was not generated by "any form of xenophobia", but was based on a reading of the situation of Gulf citizens.
"The alienation trend has very dramatic consequences on the identity and behaviour of the Gulf nationals as they feel they are being estranged. These are the most challenging times and tests for the citizens of the Gulf," Al Allawi wrote in an opinion piece for the media.
The minister who in 2007 led a movement among the Gulf labour ministers to impose a five-year residency cap on unskilled expatriates to ensure that they do not settle in the region said that there were legal dangers associated with their long stays.
"I have raised this issue several times in the last few years and I warn again that ignoring the legal dimension of the long stays of guest workers will cost us dearly in the future. This will lead to the settling of the expatriates and to them being granted political privileges and the rights to stability and the local nationality," he said.
