This House believes that Gulf Arabs value profit over people
Monday November 17 2008
MOTION PASSED
by 75% to 25%
Details
Gulf states were given a timely warning of growing discontent over policies that favour profit at the expense of people, following heated exchanges between panel members at the latest Doha Debate.
The audience voted 75 percent to 25 percent in favour of a motion that 'Gulf Arabs Value Profit over People.'
Dr. Mansoor al-Jamri, co-founder and Editor-in-chief of Bahrain’s daily Alwasat newspaper, drew loud applause when he said Gulf states sought to buy people’s silence through state hand-outs.
He admitted that token trade unions existed in Bahrain and Kuwait but that they were deprived of powers of collective bargaining and the protection of international labour organisations.
“I am always hearing in the media and from officials how this is not the right time for the participation of the people. They say: we will give you free education and free housing, but just shut up and don’t criticise.”
“The governments have a philosophy based on oil wealth, but instead of letting it trickle down to the people they use it to silence the elite or by-pass their citizens.”
He said that in Bahrain the average salary in the private sector had dropped by 15 percent in recent years and more than half the population had been waiting to be housed since 1992.
Speaking of the wretched housing which so many foreign workers from the Indian sub-continent endure in Gulf states, Dr. al-Jamri said they had to live in conditions “that cats and dogs would not accept.”
He warned that if they continued to be treated like third class citizens, international bodies might ultimately intervene in the affairs of Gulf states.
His colleague on the panel, Dr. Najeeb al-Nauimi, a former Qatari Justice Minister and later lead counsel defending Saddam Hussein in Iraq, condemned Gulf governments which summarily deport not just unskilled foreign labour but teachers and doctors as well.
He also decried the lack of compassion towards those who build extravagant construction projects on meagre salaries with minimal social benefits.
“Oil prices and cheap labour are the basis of our economies,” which depend in turn “on the silence of our citizens,” he said.
Speaking against the motion, Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed Jassim Althani, former Qatari Economic and Commerce Minister, argued that Doha had pioneered ambitious social services, emulated by its neighbours.
He said life expectancy had increased over the last 25 years from an average 55 years to 75 years but he admitted that the workforce suffered abuse.
“But remember they also get abused at home. I do not defend these employers, but the state is taking all kinds of measures to enforce the regulations.”
Dr. Tarik Yousef, founding Dean of the Dubai School of Government and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that Gulf states provided “free housing, free healthcare and free education along with guaranteed employment in the public sector.
“The rapid economic modernisation of the Gulf states is ahead of the rest of the Arab world and is being emulated by them.”
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