Opinion | Columnists
At what cost democracy?
Yasser Hareb writes: Copycat ideas from other countries aren't necessarily an ideal solution to UAE's challenges
- By Yasser Hareb, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:01 May 31, 2011
- Image Credit: Guillermo Munro/©Gulf News
Since the success of the Tunisian revolution, the January 25 revolution in Egypt and the fall of the previous regimes in these two countries, revolutions in the Arab world have become more meaningful. Arab citizens have regained confidence in their ability to make change; something that was hard to believe in until recently. Revolutions have subsequently spread to many more Arab countries, all of which share two main aspects; poverty and oppression.
New generations could not glorify Jamal Abdul Nasser and his legacy, as their fathers did. When these young boys and girls went out in the streets, all they cared about was "change"; whereby they ignored the sacredness surrounding the old regimes derived from Nasser's revolutionary era. People no longer care about the slogans of Arab unity. They need freedom, a good education, decent jobs etc.
Young Arabs today want a standard of living on a par with their counterparts around the world. New media and modern means of communication have united young people across the globe and yielded common concepts shared by teenagers in Riyadh and Melbourne, in Rabat and Los Angeles. These youth, all across the world, listen to the same music and watch the same movies and share their opinions about Lady Gaga.
Since many Arab governments couldn't provide their citizens with their basic needs, let alone high standards of living and not to mention the corruption, nepotism and poverty; Arabs had to rise up themselves and overthrow their oppressive regimes.
The situation is different, though, in a few Arab countries such as the UAE and Qatar. The governments in these two countries have managed, to a great extent, to provide sustainable human development programmes for their citizens. We should not be surprised when we see that the people and governments of these two countries get along so well. In fact, I was surprised when I read recently that certain groups were calling for democracy and reform in the UAE under the pretext of expanding citizens' political participation. There is no doubt that these groups have been affected by the trend of Arab revolutions and wanted to ride the wave without understanding the full prospect of what they are calling for.Democracy is a means to an end, which is encouraging human development and involving citizens in building the nation; ensuring the freedom of the people. However, I disagree with the concept of "political participation", which many use when referring to democracy. If what they mean is participating in shaping the foreign policy of the country, why don't we see this happening in developed and democratic countries such as the United States, whose policies towards the Middle East and the Muslims haven't changed since the fall of the Soviet Union? However, if what they mean is involving individuals in decision-making at the local and federal levels of government, then I think Emiratis are playing an important role in that process.
Decision-making
In Dubai, for example, government employees participate in developing plans and propose initiatives and programmes; which are adopted into a unified plan for each government department and presented to the Executive Council for further discussion and finance. During this phase, staff members are the ones who put the plans together, study the programmes and execute the projects. Decisions are never centralised. Even inside the Executive Council, the President of the Council discusses plans and budgets with the members who represent all the government departments.
During the years I spent in the government, I never came across any kind of centralised decision-making; or the adoption of the point of view of any single party. The Dubai Strategic Plan, The Abu Dhabi Strategy and the UAE Strategy have all been developed by staff in the local and federal government entities.
As for freedom of expression, some people think there are many red lines which authorities impose on the media. This is not true. The problem is that those in charge of media organisations in the UAE are the ones who impose a lot of restrictions on their publications, TV stations and other media. They haven't been instructed to do so, but they're trying to be "more royalist than the King". When we, as writers and intellectuals, talk with those in higher offices, we find that the area of freedom allowed is much more than what local newspapers advocate. I believe that our media needs to discuss this grey area with the National Media Council to clear the misunderstandings between the two sides. Another solution is to have an independent local media, which can be more dynamic.
Authorities, on the other hand, have to regularly meet with the media and the intellectuals to brief them on the security and strategic challenges facing our nation and the red lines that threaten its stability. How much do Emirati intellectuals know about the strategic enemies of their country? Do local writers know the position of their government towards other governments? Do we have enough information about our armed forces and their readiness to defend our land so that the media can promote it? What we do know is that there's no common Emirati ideology.
The demand for elections in a country whose citizens are a minority means opening the door for foreigners to ask, in the future, for political participation. It also means opening the door for Iran, which is occupying part of Emirati soil, to support movements that threaten the stability the UAE has enjoyed for four decades.
If we compare the Kuwaiti model, which is one of the most democratic in the Arab world, to the Emirati model, we realise that Emiratis participate heavily in government decision-making and are contributing to the building of their country. Our model might not have the adjective "democratic" in its name but it provides the citizens with a good income, stability and economic growth.
This doesn't mean we should stop criticising government officials who are not doing their jobs properly, and doesn't mean we don't voice our opinions in regard to developing the northern areas of the UAE; building a good infrastructure there and raising the standards of living and take real measures to combat unemployment among Emirati people. These are legitimate demands.
Copycat ideas from other countries aren't necessarily an ideal solution to our challenges. UAE nationals, a majority of whom work in the government sector, understand their influence on the decision-making process; perhaps it would be good for others to understand this as well.
Yasser Hareb is an Emirati novelist and writer on political and social affairs.
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