Dahi Khalfan Tamim: Safe society is a happy society

Dubai: A safe society is a happy society, a top police official told a forum in Dubai.

The main aim of the security service in any country is to improve people’s happiness and well-being, said Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Police and General Security. He said that economic growth does not necessarily lead to happiness.

He added that the UAE had been ranked as the happiest place among Arab countries, according to a report published recently by the United Nations.

The first World Happiness Report, released in September, placed the nation 14th globally.

“Residents in the UAE proved to be more satisfied with their lives than those living in other places in the world because the UAE government is keen to offer its people, whether Emirati or expatriate, a safe, secure and happy society,” said Lt General Dahi.

He was talking during the happiness and security symposium organised by Dubai Police’s Decision Making department. The symposium held at the Dubai Police headquarters on Wednesday was attended by lecturers and security officials from all over the world.

“We at Dubai Police aim to protect people, teach them how to respect security and to preserve people’s dignity and their self-respect,” Lt General Dahi said.

Major General Mohammad Murhad, director of the police’s Decision Making department said: “We will work on becoming the top happy country by offering a safe, secure and stable society,” he said.

He said a country’s happiness included its overall wealth and mood, social relations and healthcare.

Nathan Gamester, director of the Prosperity Index at the Legatum Institute in the UK, talked about prosperity, safety and well-being.

He said these are the things that people strive for but they are difficult to measure. “We have long used income as a shorthand for well-being, but we are now realising how limited that is as a proxy. An adequate income is certainly necessary, but alone is insufficient for well-being.”

He said that often what is most valuable in life cannot be quantified, such as dignity and aspirations.

He said to measure and rank countries, the Legatum Institute’s prosperity index uses eight equally weighted sub-indices to calculate prosperity, economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital.

Dasho Karma Ura, President of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, a research institute in Thimphu, said that over the centuries, happiness has been relegated to the private realm, while the provision of many other goods and services have been brought to the public realm.

The outcome and recommendation of the symposium is to work on a strategy to be in a position to offer a secure and happy society and to run campaigns to raise awareness about the UAE’s culture and morals to maintain strong family relationships.