Balancing local culture and development process can be done
Gulf people are increasingly worried about their national culture because of the millions of expatriates who work here, wrote a UAE daily.
The Dubai-based newspaper added in its editorial today that that is what Bahrain's Labour Minister Majeed Al Alawi thinks. His views of course are shared by many others, including policy and opinion makers. "In some areas of the Gulf, you can't tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district," Al Alawi says. He and others argue that "our" national culture is being diluted, or even "eroded" as expatriates have become the majority in some GCC states. They don't consider that as cultural diversity because the home culture is no longer "prevailing". They talk of "too many cultures". But is that a bad thing? Not really.
"Our grandfathers thrived and made this place what it is now because of their openness to other cultures. The world of today has become even smaller and major cities are all cosmopolitan in nature. Moreover, these critics usually forget that the massive development projects currently underway in the region are still dependent on the contributions of the expatriate workforce," said the English language daily.
The paper went on saying that it is no secret that our countries lack, because of the relatively small size of the population, an adequate force to work on these projects. The challenge facing policymakers is how to balance these issues - how to keep and strengthen the national cultural character while sustaining the development process and attract more foreign investments and expatriate talent.
"It is tricky. But it can be done. The UAE Government recently set up a national committee, chaired by the Interior Minister, to find realistic means to address the issue. Meanwhile, expatriate workers, as a recent Gulf News report showed, are not interested in learning the local culture. It is strange that they are neither encouraged to learn the language nor to familiarise themselves with the local cultures. If it was done, we would not have this big cultural gap, would we?," the paper concluded. Source
The Dubai-based newspaper added in its editorial today that that is what Bahrain's Labour Minister Majeed Al Alawi thinks. His views of course are shared by many others, including policy and opinion makers. "In some areas of the Gulf, you can't tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district," Al Alawi says. He and others argue that "our" national culture is being diluted, or even "eroded" as expatriates have become the majority in some GCC states. They don't consider that as cultural diversity because the home culture is no longer "prevailing". They talk of "too many cultures". But is that a bad thing? Not really.
"Our grandfathers thrived and made this place what it is now because of their openness to other cultures. The world of today has become even smaller and major cities are all cosmopolitan in nature. Moreover, these critics usually forget that the massive development projects currently underway in the region are still dependent on the contributions of the expatriate workforce," said the English language daily.
The paper went on saying that it is no secret that our countries lack, because of the relatively small size of the population, an adequate force to work on these projects. The challenge facing policymakers is how to balance these issues - how to keep and strengthen the national cultural character while sustaining the development process and attract more foreign investments and expatriate talent.
"It is tricky. But it can be done. The UAE Government recently set up a national committee, chaired by the Interior Minister, to find realistic means to address the issue. Meanwhile, expatriate workers, as a recent Gulf News report showed, are not interested in learning the local culture. It is strange that they are neither encouraged to learn the language nor to familiarise themselves with the local cultures. If it was done, we would not have this big cultural gap, would we?," the paper concluded. Source
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