Heads in the sand
It is quite heart rending to witness mutilated corpses and severed body parts of humans who have been suffer so much due to their particular identity as Rohingya Muslims (‘Suu Kyi sacrifices morality on altar of politics’, Gulf News, June 12). Faith is a very personal matter, but it has become quite public for Myanmar that it has a suffering Rohingya community. The community has been persecuted, denied recognition, land rights and subjected to forced labour for generations. The current displacement of a large number of Muslims, who are adrift on boats in the Indian Ocean, without access to food and drinking water, is deplorable scenario for any soul living on Earth. The manmade tragedy that has been unfolding in the Andaman Sea is unthinkable. In this whole human crisis where is United Nations and other peace keeping organisations? Most likely they have their heads in the sand, like an ostrich. It is emotional emptiness on their parts, as Malaysia and Indonesia finally capitulated and offered shelter to 7,000 of these people. Yet both countries made clear that the assistance was temporary and that they would take no more. We need permanent solutions for the Rohingya.
From Mr Nasser Al Deen Soomro
Hyderabad, India
Create opportunities, not remittances
If the expatriates from India, Pakistan, the Philippines and other countries can afford to bring their families and find good investment opportunities for low income earners, then the remittances will slow down (‘Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos top remittance charts’, Gulf News, June 11). If low income earners cannot afford family accommodations and education for their children, that is why they have to send money back home. Actually, the purchasing power of expatriates from these countries is low - that is the main reason.
From Mr Nadeem Sarwar
UAE
Website comment
Encourage investment
I agree with Mr Nadeem Sarwar that if the low income expatriates would get affordable family statuses to bring their families, it would help the UAE to divert all money to invest here.
From Mr Sam
UAE
Website comment
Do the calculations!
A simple calculation would show that $12.6 billion (Dh46.3 billion) with a population of around 2.1 million, you can imagine what kind of average figures of remittance we are talking about. Now leaving aside the fact that the majority are blue collar workers whose income is often not more than Dh1,000 and the white collar worker, who will normally have a family here, will not be able to save more than 10 per cent of their salary - what with high school fees, accommodations and general day-to-day expenses, they will have little left to send back home and they may not even require it as they would already be well off. So the figures for remittances from the UAE are totally skewed. Do not expect me to be completely accurate, as this is not my job, but do the mathematics yourself and post correct figures rather than copying and pasting other half researched news.
From Mr Maple
UAE
Website comment
Signs of stability
I do not agree that rent in declining, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) rent calculator rental index has instead gone upwards and this has caused for a rental increase for most of the tenants. Also the property prices have not gone down and instead have been stable for a long period now, which is a good indicator for a stable economy (‘Dubai rents, sale prices continue to decline’, Gulf News, June 11). It’s good for reasonable buyers and sellers and bad for short term investors who always ruin the market.
From Mr Sumeet
UAE
Website comment
Demand increasing prices
I do not agree with this in terms of rents. There might be a few places that have reduced, but I have been running behind an apartment for a year, which was two bedroom flat and when I found it vacant it was Dh125,000 just because of demand and existing tenants paying Dh90,000.
From Ms Asma Sid
UAE
Website comment
Pick quality or cost
I agree with Ms Asma Sid. I do not think that rents are coming down anywhere. In areas that are reasonably priced there are also pretty highly priced flats. The areas where you can afford to rent, the buildings are in bad conditions.
From Ms Seema R.
UAE
Website comment
The trend is going down
Some readers here really need to work on their reading comprehension. Our rent has gone down slightly. Just because your rent increased doesn’t mean it applies to everyone. Obviously prices move and it’s not the same for everyone. Drops in prices seem to be the overall trend. I know someone whose rent has not increased in two years!
From Ms Nicole
UAE
Website comment
Convenience, not conviction
It’s a known fact that in Indian politics there are no permanent enemies and the present alliance between Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal is no different. Though they call it secular, but in reality it is mainly for their survival in politics, as they have no chance to win on their own against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ably lead by Narendra Modi. Lalu Prasad Yadav had no alternative but to drink the bitter poison to survive and try to escape from scam scare. Under the above circumstances, by chance they secure majority and form government, it may not complete its term. As in the case of the United Progressive Alliance (UP A) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the coalition dharma may force them to close their eyes on scams. This is nothing but a coalition of convenience and not on conviction.
From Mr N. Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
Turf war in effect
What’s going on in Delhi, India shows the country in a poor light (‘Kejriwal asks Home Ministry to stop meddling in Delhi affairs’, Gulf News, June 12). The fight between the central government and the Delhi government might affect even the federal structure of the Indian union. Both Arvind Kejriwal and Modi are shamelessly engaged in an ego war. This seriously affects the democratic functioning, which could go a long way in destroying the faith of the people in the working of the democratic system in India. Modi, the statesman should do something about it to prevent a breakdown of the governmental system in Delhi sooner rather than later.
From Mr Thomas Matthew Parackel
Kerala, India
Making the Metro even better
Few days ago, I visited a Metro station to lodge a complaint about my Nol card, which stopped working suddenly. It was in the morning and there was a long queue of people at the ticket counter. After quite a long time, I was able to reach the window and talk with the operator who was dealing with multiple tasks alone such as handling cash, issuing cards and tickets and entertaining complaints.
It is a matter to note that a complaint normally takes more time than the other routine issues. Due to only one window operation, daily commuters feel great embarrassment and inconvenience particularly in peak hours and morning hours. There is a great need to pay special attention to resolve the difficulties being faced by the general public due to one window operation or insufficient staff even though there are many unused counters available. A vast majority always prefers the Metro more than any other transport and because of this, the customer service at all Metro stations should be satisfactory.
In order to avoid wastage of precious time of daily commuters, especially in peak hours, the authorities are requested to either make a separate counter for complaint related issues or allot an additional person to assist the operator.
From Mr Mumtaz Hussain
Dubai
I don’t get the fuss!
The ever - growing obsession with the Kardashian celebrity family is beyond my level of understanding (‘Uma: I need that ‘block the Kardashians’ app’, Gulf News, June 12). The family is always in the spotlight and is given undue attention by the media for absolutely nothing. They have a pretty normal life like everybody else. The unnecessary fuss around their family, their love lives and their fashion choices is what has finally turned people away. This is why it is said that too much of anything is harmful.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
Sharjah
Facebook comment
Exploitation for fame
These days everyone can be famous for doing absolutely nothing! Some people are showing no talent whatsoever, they are simply exploiting themselves. Let’s not forget how Kim Khardashian became famous.
From Ms Maryam Mihalache
UAE
Facebook comment
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