Month: October 2012

Eid, is not and should not be one day. Eid can extend in our hearts and souls for a long time. We can preserve its profound meaning for as long as possible.

Eid is an occasion for comfort, peace and wisdom. It is a return to the soul and forming close relationship with the other, with all others. In Eid, there is no hostility, anger or dispute. It is an occasion for love, tolerance and forgiveness.

How do we live through Eid and days beyond?

As we prepare to welcome this holy occasion, we should prepare as if every day is Eid. Our religion and heritage brim with values including the eternal light that fills our hearts with patience combined with determination, will and work. Our values form a consolidated system where each value completes the other. We cannot pick and choose but rather make use of this rich and beneficial heritage in its entirety. This fragmentation and breakdown is neither desired nor required. Fragmentation does not serve the common purpose and our system of values is one where we cannot pick and choose or exclude values.

The second, third or even fourth days of Eid are not the end. Eid is an idea before being an occasion framed into one single day. It is true that its idea is nourished this day more intensively but it can be broadened and generalized to include more places, times and cases.

Inside our families and societies, we are in dire need for a renewed Eid that does not end with sunset at the end of the day. We need Eid that is as warm and cozy even in winter, Eid, where we feel importance, privacy and idiosyncrasy under its umbrella.

Eid that is renewed year after year carrying promises, rivers and springs reaching more satisfaction regardless of circumstances. We should have the ability to renew this Eid spirit with every morning.

 

The announced slogan is distinguished government performance and initiatives necessary to achieve better levels reaching an excellent corporate future. Assessment in the announced slogan is the global standard. It suffices that we are a country that wants to be among the best five governments in the world which is possible because we have what it needs: geographic location, historical importance, privileges of the federation, human resources, structural development, knowledge economy and infrastructure and technical structure. We also have will and ambition. How much of the government performance slogan was achieved and how much will be achieved? The message we got out of establishing then cancelling a ministry for the public sector development is that in each ministry, there is an internal mechanism to achieve that, i.e. a mini government development ministry.

It is expected and natural then for the level of development to vary according to the work of institutions. Sometimes the comparison is unfair due to different roles, number of employees, difficulty or ease of relationship networks inside each institution and between it and its counterparts. Some variation can be justified practically and some other may be due to negligence of the institution and its employees. This calls for continuous follow up to pinpoint the weaknesses and strengths and progress or negligence. It is however relative; one institution may be successful in one filed and fails or is not as successful in another field.

It is necessary that we stop repeating the government development slogan without being aware of its true meaning. Actions speak louder than words. Action in this case is the development made in a calculated and regular manner day after day, year after year through various programs and projects.

 

should have been under the spotlight in all its aspects as it carries true meaning of good and search to deliver it through credible and objective means. Charity work aims to bring happiness to those who need it unhindered by any preconceptions, conflicting opinions, lack of experience or influence of others. This beautiful interposition must be used as an approach to charity work by humanitarian foundations in the UAE, which already endeavor to do that. Charity work is also a noble value in our life that we must instill in our children so that the human being becomes the ultimate criterion of good away from all racial and religious complications and divides. Humanitarian work should be purely from the hearts of donors to the hearts of recipients. His Highness told an interesting story from his experience in his early life which he derived from his father, founder of the UAE renaissance Sheikh Zayed. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed says: “In the late 1980s, I visited an African country and after my return, my father asked me about the state, social condition and conditions of living in this country in detail. He asked: What did you do for them? And I answered: I did not do anything because they belong to a different religion. My father held my hand tightly and looked me in the eyes for a few seconds and said: God who created you created them as well, so go and dig a well for them. Now, there are 29 wells in this place as well as hospitals, medical centers and wells in 27 other villages. I know Bill Gates as a close friend but what I recently knew about him is that, even though he is a non-Muslim, he gave out two billion dollars to end poliomyelitis in three Muslim countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Northern Nigeria which proves that charitable and humanitarian work surpasses races, beliefs and nationalities”.

Partnership in doing pure good, whether among individuals or institutions, can save the world and change it to a better place by encouraging scientific research and lab experiments to save humans from diseases and natural disasters or work on the health of humans and future challenges for the good of all humanity. The goal of partnership of charity work is to extend a hand to end pain of every human everywhere where poverty can bring along ignorance, disease, murder, death, self-destruction and elimination of others.

 

It is natural that millions of mobile phone subscribers face tremendous pressure in sale centers in malls and business centers of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) after everyone suddenly started registering their phone numbers after three months of indifference to “My Number, My Identity” campaign. The campaign was launched by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and began to register numbers on 17 July 2012. The deadline was supposed to be tomorrow but Etisalat did not cut service from those who missed the deadline until further notice.

Those who missed the deadline of updating their personal information and biometric data in the database of telecommunication service providers in the UAE and ensuring that the SIM card they are using is registered in their name, a procedure that should take no more than few minutes and does not require the ID card were occupied with spreading rumors and running counter campaigns to scare people off.

They scared people by claiming that their calls and secrets will fall in the hands of the security authorities and that they will lose their freedom among other ungrounded claims. They forgot that the campaign mainly focuses on protecting the privacy of people after studies showed that some people exploit numbers that are not in their names and their owners end up being involved in civil and criminal cases.

We hoped that the campaign leads to more awareness for people and not negligence and indifference towards an important issue that mainly affects them. It is noted however that nationals and expatriates alike do not pay much heed to and do not comply with official decisions that are issued out of public interest and welfare. Emirates ID is a case to note. Many people do not start thinking about such decisions except when late fees are imposed.

Although registering mobile numbers is for free and is done quickly and easily in addition to the easy procedure of transferring the ownership of the SIM card from the actual owner of the number to its user, people still respond to decisions only if late fees and charges are imposed. Emirates ID had to go through a tedious scenario of extending deadlines and giving one chance after another so that people can finally register last minute and cause pressure, confusion and delay. 

We hope that in such cases, there will be no exceptions and deadline extensions, but rather a strict application of any official decision within the set deadline.