Dubai has the effect of making other Arab countries look bad. Quite a few visitors set foot in Dubai and think that this is the Arab world — affluent, modern and bustling with activity. But what if following their visit to this wondrous emirate, these visitors should then go on to another Arab city? They will notice remarkable differences.
Dubai also has a negative effect on the reputation of its sister countries when citizens return from there to their own countries, holding a grudge not against Dubai but against their own country. They are of the opinion that Dubai is not unique, it is we who have a problem.
On a recent brief visit to the city, Sheikh Muhammad ibn Maktoum, the crown prince, queried me about a comment I had made that the people of Dubai are crazy. I told him that I had written this a while ago but that what happened later proved it true. The World Bank-IMF conference was scheduled to take place at a time when the world was burning — nevertheless, it went ahead as scheduled with more than 15,000 participants, all of whom went to sleep peacefully in respectable hotels. There they will have noticed that Dubai paid for nothing. They were the ones who paid to attend the conference — unlike the many international conferences we host which cost us heavily and yet are so badly organized that some guests end up sharing a bed for the night.
As though 15,000 wasn’t already a high enough number, Dubai has agreed to play host to another conference at the end of next year which will be attended by 60,000 people.
The people of Dubai, who have already sold their land to the hospitality industry, both Arab and foreign, have now also rented out their water. A hydraulic engineer came to them with the idea of building an underwater hotel, and they agreed to rent him the sea. Again they didn’t pay a single dirham of the investment of the hotel. Then came the idea of “Dubailand” which is another crazy project. We must not forget that they also carry out activities in other people’s waters — they sold India the idea of using the port of Dubai to unload huge cargo ships, thus easing the pressure on India’s ports. They also work on some ports in the Read Sea and have recently won a contract to administer a British port.
While many Arabs are in love with Britain and spend all their vacations there, Dubai has taken vengeance, for the English have fallen in love with Dubai, and currently the principal Western tourists there are British. Its most famous football players are queuing up to buy villas on its shores.
When I read that Dubai will also be hosting the Qur’an memorization contest, I protested to Sheikh Muhammad: Leave us this at least — it is our specialty.
