I browse through a foreign magazine looking for fresh news from a different perspective and the City is present in almost all the newspapers and magazines. I wonder what the secret of this small yet big city is!

The Metro saves me from a traffic jam and I arrive at my meeting on time. I believe even more in this City of innovative solutions.

We may have different definitions of ‘success' and ‘achievements', yet we all agree that the City offers countless choices and services to individuals and businesses.

We agree that the way in which the City is run has resulted in excellence and led to much positive change in the region, either directly or indirectly.

The western media has been dealing with the developments in the City sometimes from a neutral point of view and sometimes from a biased one.

In time of crises, bad news is always on the front pages while positive news is hidden in the inside pages. Negative news from the region is looked at through magnifying glasses.

Do cities have ways of defending themselves and their achievements? This question came to my mind while I was thinking of the gap between what has been achieved and the way events and crises are dealt with and the role of media in highlighting the strengths rather than defending the weaknesses.

When it's in a crisis, the last thing a city needs is a bad lawyer. The media has to let the City defend itself and its achievements.

The Middle East teems with political unrest. Its people range from the very poor to the very rich. Demographic combination and unemployment are among the main social worries of the people. There is a need for a unified media language. The media battle has been and will always be the mother of all battles.

Negative effects

An important battle, in my opinion, is the development and progress of any city aspiring for success. Achievements in themselves are reasons to draw the ire of some people in a region that is not used to speedy performance and achievements. I asked a friend how more than 200 different cultures and languages could co-exist in one city. He smiled and said, "Thanks to surveillance cameras!"

Sociologists and anthropologists say that the future is for multi-cultural countries. Despite the reservations in our countries about the term ‘multiculturalism', and the political and economic concerns, security is the main issue in cities that are open to all nationalities. Controlling the negative effects is not easy.

In our city, when someone tries to tamper with the progress by compromising its security, they are dealt with using the same tool. This city understands the future faster than others.

We admit now that we are jealous because we are not like you. We haven't dealt with corruption as seriously as you do and we still shield the corrupt. Our laws cannot deal with financial and administrative corruption.

We are jealous of you because we have never experienced transparency and our cities and institutions are still run in outdated ways.

We admit that our cities are crowded and unclean although both religion and civilisation call for cleanliness. Until now, we haven't found a practical solution to the problem of congestion.

We are jealous because you have done too much in too little time. We are jealous of the small city that we didn't expect to be such a big city.

 

Jamal Al Shehhi is an Emirati writer.