The oil-rich home of glitz, the United Arab Emirates , has
appointed new ministers of "tolerance" and "happiness" as
part of a cabinet reshuffle, as it attempts to cement its
position as the Arab world’s most eye-catching nation.
The announcement on Monday night followed weeks of
speculation over the nature of the well-signalled government
shake-up. The prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, had said
he wanted a “council of youth” with its own minister who
would him – or her – self be no older than 25.
That position was confirmed, with an as yet unnamed
woman of 22 said to be appointed to the job. Sheikh
Mohammed – on Twitter, his preferred medium of
communication with his people, when he is not writing
books and poetry – also announcing a series of ministry
mergers and a decision to “outsource” large areas of
government to semi-autonomous quangos and the private
sector.
He also said there would be two new positions altogether.
“A new post, minister of state for happiness, will align and
drive government policy to create social good and
satisfaction,” he said. “The post of minister of state for
tolerance has been created to promote tolerance as a
fundamental value in UAE society.”
He gave few details of what the daily duties of either
minister would be, except, in the first case, to promote a
virtuous and family-focused society.
However, the ministry of tolerance at least is symbolically
important – the vast majority of UAE residents are
expatriates, many of them Christian, Shia Muslim and from
other religions besides the Sunni Islam that is the state's
official creed.
Two of the 9/11 suicide attackers were from the UAE, and
its acceptance of a wide variety of "lifestyles", including
alcohol-fuelled all-night partying, is not universally popular.
Tolerance is not likely to be extended to political opposition.
– scores of activists and Islamists have been jailed in the
UAE since the start of the Arab Spring to prevent "contagion"
spreading to the Gulf state.
The UAE an unusual amalgam of seven emirates, former
British Gulf protectorates or "Trucial States", on the south
side of the Gulf. Virtually all its natural wealth – mainly oil –
is held by the largest emirate, Abu Dhabi, whose hereditary
ruler or emir is the federation's president.
Dubai , the second largest emirate, which has very little oil by
comparison, has had to compete by becoming an outward-
looking trading, transport and tourism hub, giving it a very
different outlook to other parts of the region.
As the city's ruler as well as the country's prime minister,
Sheikh Mohammed has ensured Dubai has kept in the
headlines by overseeing the building of the world's tallest
building , offshore artificial islands , an indoor ski slope in
the desert and a range of luxury tourist beach hotels.
Like other Gulf countries, the UAE has also attracted
expatriate workers and investors by offering a consistent
policy of zero income tax – something now under threat as
the oil price falls and even Saudi Arabia is showing a
massive budget deficit.
The new reshuffle may have the effect of saving money – a
big driver of economic reforms announced by the
authoritarian Gulf states in the last few months.
Sheikh Mohammed however said he had been motivated by
the need to keep government close the people. He has
modelled his style of government partly on Singapore,
another autocratic state that has kept its population happy
by economic growth and more open relations with the
outside world than its neighbours.
“Governments must be flexible," Sheikh Mohammed said.
"We don’t need more ministries, but more ministers capable
of dealing with change.
“We want a young and flexible government that will fulfil our
youth’s aspirations and achieve our people’s ambitions.”
The sheikh showed signs of feeling personally humiliated by
the emirate's near economic collapse and subsequent debt
bail-out by Abu Dhabi in the financial crash of 2008 to 2009.
But he has since come to see himself vindicated in his
approach to development by the fact that the UAE has sailed
through the turmoil of the Arab Spring relatively untroubled.
In a book – Flashes of Thought – published 18 months ago
Sheikh Mohammed described how he had warned fellow
Arab leaders for years that they had to provide better
services and education to their overwhelmingly young
populations, or risk being overthrown by the same
revolutionary forces that had brought many of them to
power in the first place.
Sultan bin Qassemi, a prominent Emirati political
commentator who is also a member of one of the other
emirates' royal families, wrote an analysis of the Gulf states'
political strategy for the Middle East Institute coinciding with
the reshuffle.
"The collapse of numerous Arab states and the emergence
of ISIS [Isil] have fuelled a sense of urgency within the GCC
to insulate their countries from the mayhem around it," he
wrote. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/12148417/UAE-to-have-ministers-for-tolerance-and-happiness.html |
