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Nationals are not racist
Translated excerpts from two articles written by Ms Maya Rashid Ghadeer in response to the Gulf News report 'Stirring the melting pot'
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 September 21, 2006
Translated excerpts from two articles ('You are not alone in the crowd', Al Bayan, September 18 and '200 nationalities and us', Al Bayan, September 19) written by Ms Maya Rashid Ghadeer in response to the Gulf News report 'Stirring the melting pot'
Gulf News published a report, which discussed cultural fusion between UAE nationals and expatriates.
The writer highlighted the issue of racial discrimination, saying that it is rather high in Dubai, where people's nationalities control their wages.
Many of the people interviewed agreed with the writer and added that nationals are not capable of harmonising with others.
Discrimination is not an issue specific to Dubai. It is enhanced by the private sector, which is controlled by expatriates rather than nationals.
The public sector is keen to employ people from different nationalities, offering them packages that suit their line of work, which means that discrimination is mostly found in the private sector that is ruled by foreign companies.
The other issue discussed in the report was the scarcity of nationals in the country and their inability to blend and harmonise with others, which means for some that Dubai is not a melting pot of cultures.
We agree that nationals barely make 21 per cent of the resident population. This is our reality, which can be seen on the roads and in malls. And even though nationals are few and their identity is being lost among this cultural fusion of more than 200 nationalities, they have proved their ability to fuse with different cultures.
If this were not the case, Dubai would not have attracted hundreds of foreign companies, or provided stability and security for its residents.
If it were not for this cultural fusion, hatred would prevail among the residents.
We are not defending Dubai, but merely hoping that expatriates would be reasonable and not misjudge nationals, who are suffering from this cultural openness.
Do not complain
Expatriates compete with nationals over jobs. They live in houses that nationals must wait for years to have. Nationals do not complain or accuse others of being racist, even though they suffer and are discriminated against in their own country.
Furthermore, if nationals were to complain against the expatriates, who have more privileges than they do, they would be branded as racist.
A national is not racist. What he is doing is merely defending his rights and privileges that were taken away for the benefit of expatriates, who still complain and say our community lacks cultural fusion and is racist.
However, the issue of cultural integration raised by Gulf News is very important and needs to be paid attention to, especially as people in Dubai live with 200 nationalities from different cultures and backgrounds.
This requires both the UAE nationals and expatriates to achieve cultural and social fusion in Dubai.
There is no doubt that this fusion is hard to achieve, due to factors such as language and the national's fear of expatriate influence and its effect on the national identity.
The demographic imbalance is a reality we have lived with for years, since Dubai announced its plans to become an international city. This poses great challenges and requires nationals to find mechanisms to retain our identity and turn our fears of foreign presence into tools of empowerment.
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