Dubai: The UAE is a modern, democratic and transparent nation of its own making, where government ministers are held accountable, and where Rulers get things done and answer to the people.
That’s the views expressed by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on CNN International in an interview on Monday.
“We are tribes, we must serve our people,” Shaikh Mohammad said. “We must get the education, the universities, the hospitals, housing. And no tax here, and the government has the wealth to spend on their people.”
He said that people come to Rulers with problems and they get those solved directly when some one complains, “I’ll get hold of the minister and say, ‘Why didn't you do your job?’ So transparency is here more,” he said.
In terms of the economic crisis swirling in Europe, Shaikh Mohammad said: “I don’t call it crisis, it’s a challenge, you know, when everybody - all [are] good leaders when things are all right. But you take a leader, a good leader to come, when it’s crisis like that.”
But the UAE continues to do better than elsewhere.
“We get out of the crisis and now we [are] back building again,” he said. “But just to remind you, when the crisis [happened], the total spending, we completed, the Metro was completed, the Meydan [race track] was completed, all was in the crisis. So all the big projects, we did not stop. We only stopped some projects on [that were] on paper for a year or two.”
Shaikh Mohammad said that he was a supporter of change in Egypt.
“In 2004, I said, ‘please change or you will be changed.’… The Arab spring is the people who waited for a long time and some governments are serving themselves, are not really serving the people. And their people want to work.”
But Shaikh Mohammad said he didn’t fear for the future of Egypt if Islamists take control.
“No. I don't. Because Egypt has a very strong army watching what's happening and giving the lead for this party,” he said.
But he said the situation in Syria was “complicated” at present.
“I think Syria is more complicated than Egypt or Libya because they have Iraq behind them, they have Lebanon, they have all that,” he said. “So it is the same as everywhere else. The people want jobs, they want opportunities. And they are asking for it. Unless Bashar [Al-Assad] changes and starts making things good for the people, or they will carry on like that.”
In the UAE, Shaikh Mohammad said, the government works well and its residents don’t have to pay tax. “No tax and the government is working,” he said. “And we are achieving that vision. The dream, we are getting there. Here it’s different. Here, everybody can come to the Ruler and say, ‘well, I didn’t get that or that. Or this department or this ministry didn’t give me my rights’.”
But Shaikh Mohammad said that not having taxes was the same as buying off people, as claimed by the five bloggers convicted and pardoned on National Day.
“If you are a criminal, you go to court,” he said. “You know, not everybody is really perfect, and we are not perfect, you know? We [are] doing a lot for our people; we still [have] more to do. So we hope all these five also will become a better citizen for their own good, and for their people.
“As long as they don't say something wrong about a person or whatever it is, they can say anything they want. As I told you, we are not perfect we are still learning. We're trying to do - our job right and trying to help our people. We have our own democracy. You cannot transport your democracy to us. We are different. And for example, our democracy is coming from the Quran. And, you know, as long as you don't step on somebody else, you are free to do what you like.”
Shaikh Mohammad said that his family would continue to rule for as long as people want them to do so. “As long as the people want that,” he said. “Our tribe are really ruling a bigger tribe because they accepting us to - to do that.”
He said the most important thing for Dubai was to keep going, even if there are detractors.
“And don't stop when somebody doubt you,” he said. “Once you make up your mind, then go full speed. And that's what we think and that's what we believe and that's what’s going to happen. You know? I'm not looking for the last spring, I'm looking at for the next spring.”
