Dubai/Abu Dhabi

I felt I’m in the Philippines as soon as I landed at Dubai International Airport, after a fourteen hour flight from Washington Dulles and a one and a half hour connecting flight from Atlanta. It’s eight hours ahead so I arrived mid-afternoon of the following day. The staff greeting arrivals and directing them to the Passport Control Area are all Filipinos. The 2000 plus passengers  simultaneously deplaning from Qatar, Bagram, Bahrain, Muscat, Riyadh, Oman, Kuwait, Doha, Amman, Addis Ababa, Hyderabad, Kish Island, Cairo, Karachi, Mumbai, Jeddah, Singapore, Bangkok, Prague, and Washington DC, were processed in 40 double-staffed stations by kandura-clad Emiratis, who were unhurried and unsmiling in their tasks. US citizens are automatically given thirty-day tourist visas on arrival, without paperwork or fees. I was en-route with my tour group to our hotel in less than 2 hours. Arriving at Royal Ascot Hotel, I was checked in and shown to my room by Filipino staff. As we were on our own until the start of our guided tour the following day I decided to check the place without delay and took the Metro to Dubai Mall. The Dubai Metro, operational since 2009, which at 75 km holds the Guinness record of the longest driverless rail system in the world, is a sleek and efficient transport system that takes you to the important tourist destinations. It has two lines currently with plans to expand into three more. The forty-five platform edged air-conditioned stations are housed in ultra-contemporary oyster shaped gold structures. It has two fares, the regular and Gold class, costing from 2 AED to 28 AED ($0.54- $7.60) based on zones traveled, plus approximately one-third more for Gold class, which has more room and uncrowded. The interior is luxurious with airplane-like seats done in a calming sea palette of royal blue, turquoise, and blue-grays. There is a separate coach for women and children only. There are uniformed attendants, mostly Filipinos, who travel up and down to make sure you are using the appropriate compartment.

Dubai Mall boasts as the world’s largest mall with 1200 stores, cinemas, restaurants, play areas, an ice rink which can host hockey games and many more. It has a Bloomingdale’s, Galleries Lafayette, PF Chang’s, California Pizza, Starbucks, and every other US, European and British establishments. The sales staff are mostly Filipinos. In the Mall of the Emirates, which looks like Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, only bigger, there is a snow park and skiing run. In the Madinat Jumeriah, billed as an Arabian Resort, which has a lagoon and gondolas like in Venice, there are opulent souks that sell mainly goods from India, China and Egypt. In the man-made Dubai Marina, architectural wonders and breathtaking skyscrapers vie for world records.  In the man-made Palm island, so called because of its shape, the opulent Atlantis Resort sits at the apex of the palm, which is the duplicate of the original in the Bahamas. The palm’s side branches are dotted with million dollar villas that can be purchased by foreigners except the land which is leased for ninety-nine years. The Burj Khalifa, with one hundred sixty-four floors looks down at New York City’s Empire State which is a mere 53% of its size.  The Burj Al Arab, the only seven-star hotel in the world, is very exclusive, with rooms ranging from $2000-$25,000 per night, the latter comes with a butler and 24-carat plumbing. If you can’t stay for the night the only other way to gain a peek of the hotel is to book a reservation in one of their fine restaurants. I had friends who took me to dinner at Al Mahara, their signature restaurant. The dinner tab was a month’s mortgage payment. The food was fine, but I had similar fare in Atlanta’s Bacchanalia and Eugene’s for one tenth of the cost.

Why do people pay these absurd prices in Dubai? To spend like a Sheik, is an irresistible come-on that speaks to everyman’s vanity, and is a stroke of marketing genius.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi is on a roll again with construction and development, after a brief pause during the world financial crisis, which saw Dubai overstretched and required a bail-out from neighboring uber-rich Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, following Dubai’s example is developing Saadiyat Island into a luxury resort and cultural district, which will hold the Louvre and Guggenheim Museums, the National Museum and Performing Arts Center.

The Bedouin lifestyle is no longer visible.The remaining symbol of cultural identity and where you can differentiate Emiratis, the UAE native born, from expatriates is in the dress. They can be identified by the elegant white kandura worn by the men, teamed with the checked head cover keffiyeh and held in place by the cord agal. Their women in black abayas, with hijab or niqab for head and face covers, or the hide-all black burqa.

There is hardly any opportunity to interact with an Emirati. They comprise a mere twelve percent of the population, and the rest of the eight million are expatriates mainly laborers, service workers, experts, business partners, and consultants from India, Pakistan, Egypt, Russia, the Philippines, and from Great Britain, US and Europe.

The UAE, formed by a federation of seven kingdoms and independent since 1971, started as feuding nomadic tribes and incredibly transformed itself into this modern megapolis in a matter of a generation. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of United Arab Emirates, was raised as a desert Bedouin, scarcely had any education beyond the basics of Islam, but with a clear vision and wisdom, guided the development of his country to benefit all citizens, using the wealth created by the discovery of oil. He built roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, housing and distributed land to all citizens. The Bedouins, still familiar with the harsh existence of living in the desert had held him in great affection and he ruled until his death in 2004 at age eighty-six. Compared to other Arabian gulf countries he promoted a more liberal social and political policies and tolerance for other religions and cultures. These polices however has not kept pace with the dizzying economic and infrastructure and visual transformation of UAE.

The UAE is dependent on labor and technical expertise from expatriates who comprise 88.5% of the population. They have no stake in the country and remain as guest workers. If they lose their jobs they are deported. Children of expatriates born in the UAE may be deported unless they are in school or has a job. Though there are no taxes, expatriates are not eligible for social security, or free education for their children , or health care. There is no pathway to citizenship, except on the rare occasion of an Emirati man marrying a non-Emirati woman, then their children are citizens but not vice versa. A man may have up to four wives if he can afford it but not women. With increased female education and participation in the labor pool, women are marrying later, or choosing not to marry Emirati men, certainly fewer are giving consent to multiple marriages. The ruling body encourages large families. In Aijam, a 63-year old Emirati with 92 children, is on the news, about to take his eighteenth wife from Pakistan. One of his wives was a Filipina. He promised the Sheik 100 children, and the Sheik in return takes on the financial burden. Many still follow traditional patterns and marry their cousins. Congenital diseases have a high incidence, particularly, hemoglobinopathies, autism, and Down’s syndrome. There is inadequate services for the disabled, due to lack of expertise and education. The disabled are kept at home and families are left to deal with it. There is no election and the legislature is only advisory and appointed by the ruling class. There is increasing discrepancy in economic status, as the business and financial sector  is dominated by the powerful merchant families and the royal family and contracts are awarded based on personal relationships. The ordinary Emirati, prefers to work for the government and has avoided the more competitive private sector, prompting the ruling body to institute Emeratisation policies, which required foreign companies to have hiring quotas for Emeratis. However, this is a thorny situation as Emeratis do not have the needed expertise and do not possess the work ethic needed in a competitive workplace.

The expatriates live in a parallel universe of their national affiliations, separate from other foreign nationals and the Emiratis. For those in the lower salary rungs, there may be exploitation and physical abuse. There is no sense of community between groups, and as one can be deported easily after one’s employment ends, even after decades of toil building the nation, there is no civic engagement. It is incomprehensible, but for many who came from poor developing countries, working in the UAE permits one’s family to survive.

I was jolted to attention by the notice, about abiding by the dress code posted at the mall entrance ; no shorts or skirts above the knees, no figure-hugging or cleavage-exposing attire, and shoulders should be covered. In the mosques, the dress code is more stringent, covered up to the wrists and ankles, and the head and neck under a veil or scarf.

It’s ironic, as the fashion displayed in the malls violate these rules. Despite the ultra modernity of its infrastructure and skyscrapers, and the abundance of material goods and luxury items and entertainment in the malls, and the appearance of Westernization, don’t be fooled. There is no pork in the menu, alcohol is only available in hotel restaurants and bars and is expensive. You are awakened by the prayer call at dawn and at sunrise, and you’ll hear the call again wherever you are, at noon. In the gloaming, and at night when the last prayer call is heard, it is hypnotic and calming, a pristine moment for reflection. The weekend is Friday and Saturday, and the work week begins on Sunday.

So, on the surface the UAE looks like any developed Western country in its display of material and consumer wealth, but at the end of the day it is still a Muslim country ruled by Sharia law and is an autocratic state.

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