Glamorous hotels, lavish shopping malls, a mega indoor theme park and world-class metro give Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the air of a western capitalist utopia.
So much so that it is easy to forget that there is no free speech and little protection of human rights, despite these being foundational principles prized by liberal democracies the world over. Indeed, beneath Dubai’s dazzling exterior and impressive economic achievements, lurk far less agreeable features.
These range from the alarming – such as female rape victims being jailed on charges of extramarital sex — to the deeply unjust such as its reported treatment of migrant workers and the downright bizarre, such as social media users being jailed for comments made on Facebook or Twitter deemed critical of the UAE.
Recently, Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had to step in to free Briton Jamie Herron after he was locked up for touching another man’s hip in a Dubai bar — reportedly to avoid spilling his drink. The incident is a telling example of Dubai’s internal struggle between its desire to attract ever-larger numbers of tourists and businesses to its shores, while maintaining a legal system based partly on sharia law.
There are countless other irregularities practised in Dubai that brush up against the ideals of liberty and equality. For example, it is widely reported by people working in Dubai that pay is passport-based even among the well-educated, so that, for instance, US citizens and Britons earn more than South Africans, who in turn earn more than Indians.
Positioning Dubai as a link between the continent and the rest of the world was the theme of a recent Global Business Forum on Africa hosted by the chamber in Dubai
While this is not government policy, no action is taken against companies that institute this quasi-racist pay policy.
Generally, Dubai’s authorities appear to take a "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to controversial issues. A recent Business Day report on Dubai’s role in facilitating money laundering by the Gupta family through dozens of shelf companies was not welcomed by Dubai’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and follow-up questions were largely dismissed. As a nongovernmental body, the chamber was no doubt fearful of a government backlash.
While the UAE is taking steps to tackle financial crime, South African bankers say anyone can walk into a Dubai bank with a briefcase of cash to deposit, no questions asked. The same is true of buying property, which further aids money laundering and no doubt by many more than just the Gupta family.
Naturally, the local media do not report on any of these issues. Sunshine journalism is the order of the day in Dubai, where positivity is the overwhelming posture — to a degree that makes the city feel like a giant, modern-day Pleasantville. To be sure, even if the media wanted to report on financial crime or human rights abuses, Dubai’s authoritarian leaders would put a stop to it.
Yet, while the UAE appears to pay scant regard to human rights and free speech, in other areas, it appears more progressive than even its western neighbours, thanks to Dubai’s more liberal outlook.
In 2017, the Gulf nation appointed the world’s youngest government minister to head up youth affairs: 22-year-old Shamma al-Mazrui, an Emirati woman. It also has a minister of state for artificial intelligence (27-year-old Omar bin Sultan al-Olama) and another for happiness, who is tasked with channelling policies and plans to achieve a happier society.
The minister of tolerance, meanwhile, has the task of promoting tolerance as a fundamental value of the UAE. Considering that the nation has thus far been spared the religious extremism that has ravaged other parts of the Middle East, this was a forward-looking move on the part of its leaders.
For all its vices then, the UAE, and by implication Dubai, has many virtues. Consider that the government has a five-decade plan to make it the best country in the world — quite an ambition, by any measure. Dubbed the UAE Centennial 2071 project, the goal is "for future generations to live a happier life in a better environment, with bigger opportunities and stronger communication with the world", according to Maktoum, also vice-president of the UAE.
Visionary leadership such as this was demonstrated by Maktoum’s father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum. When oil was discovered in 1966 in Dubai, rather than greedily consume the financial returns that followed, he utilised oil revenue to spur infrastructure development, transforming a desert backwater into one of the world’s most prolific trading centres in a matter of decades.
Today, Dubai boasts one of the world’s largest international airports and, true to its heritage, remains a major trading and re-export hub. For example, it is the world’s third-largest re-exporter of tea, grown largely in Kenya. The ports authority, DP World, has more than 80 terminals worldwide and handles 9% of world trade.
Thanks to investment by DP World in ports in African countries such as Senegal, Djibouti and Mozambique, trade volumes handled by these ports have increased exponentially.
Dubai’s trade with Africa is equally impressive, totalling $134bn in 2016, or 10% of the city’s total trade, up from $10bn (3%) a decade ago.
"We believe we can do more," says president and CEO of the Dubai chamber, Hamad Buamim. The number of African firms registered with the chamber have increased 40% in two years, to 17,500.
Dubai boasts one of the world’s largest international airports and, true to its heritage, remains a major trading and
re-export hub
Positioning Dubai as a link between the continent and the rest of the world was the theme of a recent Global Business Forum on Africa hosted by the chamber in Dubai. The excitement expressed at the forum by business and government leaders alike around Africa’s investment potential was encouraging. It was nonetheless jarring that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, over whose reigns remain serious question marks, were welcomed with open arms.
Then again, this is perhaps just another example of Dubai’s seemingly conflicting ideals. In any event, Africa, and SA in particular, could learn both from Dubai’s visionary leaders and its outstanding executors.
Dubai has attracted more international visitors in 2017 than Rome, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong, making it the fourth most-visited city in the world. Only Paris, London and Bangkok could top it.
Dubai’s climb up the world’s most visited destinations has, quite simply, been achieved by executing a plan aimed at attracting 20-million visitors a year by 2020 — up from 16-million in 2017 and double the number welcomed in 2012.
The Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing is doing this through a "very clear and well articulated strategy", says CEO Issam Kazim.
For a start, its advertising campaigns are tailored by market. In one example, to attract more South Korean tourists, Dubai Tourism got a local television show from that country to shoot in Dubai. It then packaged the itinerary of the actors, allowing tourists to buy the exact Dubai experience of their favourite celebrities.
This is just one example of the precision with which the city’s goals are executed, by the government, business and civil society alike — all of which are on the same page, striving towards the same outcome.
SA could do with a healthy dose of visionary leadership, precise execution and collective effort, which would go some way towards getting some of the country’s own ideals, such as those contained in the National Development Plan, actually implemented.
• Ziady was a guest of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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