Category: Uncategorized

14/05/2015

I continue to suffer from many complexes and search for my identity all the time. Is it more appropriate for me to belong to the sea or the land? At times I visit the animal farms run by my friends in the Western Region and feel I am actually here. At other times, I go into the sea in Ajman with my friends and feel I belong there. Last Friday, my friend in the Coast Guard refused to go into the sea along with the group of friends under any circumstance. No amount of cajoling would make him budge an inch and made it clear his was the final decision. Whoever does not carry the ID card would not venture into the sea, he ruled. The Law is supreme!

You know that your ID card carries your beautiful picture and you use it for many things. I wish its use could be further expanded to include everything in life. I wish a day will come on which we do not carry our driver’s licenses, car ownership card, health card, library card from Sharjah Library, access card for parks, exchange card from Western Union and thousands of other cards we carry. Before I forget, let me add the ATM card as well……They are an organization that works. It is said they have a wonderful workforce that is beautiful, quick in service delivery and excellent in performance. They have air-conditioned buildings offering Wi-Fi service too!

The point is that many government departments do not let you enter nowadays without producing your ID card at the entrance. Frankly, I don’t know if it is legal but it happens. Naturally, it is great that your meeting inside a government department is fruitful. So you rush out, spread the news among your partners and later realize you had left your ID at the entrance! After five meetings daily throughout the week for a period of a whole month, you don’t remember in which department you left your ID. Returning to all of those departments and enquiring after your ID as if you are a child who lost its toy is a trifle embarrassing: is my identity here? Does the picture not resemble me? I swear it is me. I know my granddad’s name is weird! It had derived from a species of peregrines….feign ignorance about what you don’t know!

Keeping the ID then becomes the duty of an employee in that department, who over time begins to feel you are late to take it back. He tries to call you or look for your number but finally returns it to the Authority which delivers it back to you. Of course it is a favor from them. There is another type who leaves your ID in his shelf until it gathers rust and you discover you had lost it while you are at the border crossing in Khatm Al Mallaha. You will definitely be forced to return home. Good right?!

It will not please anyone to be in that situation, except for the fish ‘Hamour’ that escaped from the iron grip. (That is my name in the sea). It will be nice of the government entities and the Identity Authority to put in place some mechanism to return the ID cards to their owners. This is particularly so if they are planning to expand the use of the card.

May you be healthy. By the way, how much for card replacement?

16/04/2015

In the journey of life, you pass through many experiences and stations. They take us far towards the shores of many beginnings. That is the divine order of things in creation. We learn and unlearn, and then again relearn the same, as if age is a train that traverses different stations each with its own unique environment and traits that impact on us and leave its imprint on our personalities.

At an early age our theory of life is marked by a kind of innocence and simplicity for everything in us then remains pure and uncontaminated by life’s pollutants. The rules of interests and benefits have not begun to dominate us at that stage. Our friendships, our love, our hate – they are all based on our emotions and our sense of the love of others for us.

In the spring of life, changes begin. Rules and fundamentals differ. Calculations come into the picture. Weaving of relations is based on new references. Selection and estrangement begin on the basis of priority lists. Mutuality of interests, beginning from simple things, gradually becomes the basis on which we look at everything and deal with everything.

In the midst of all that, there are principles that are changeless and foundational things at the core of our convictions that are beyond disturbance. Among them are our father and mother, our fundamental base and reference, the roots about which if we play our calculations, we lose the flavor of our life.

In this context, there was a composition that impressed me, from among the many messages that we receive daily on our smart phones and for which we spend a lot of our time. The title of that composition was ‘I and My Father: The Story of My Life’. I believe each of us went through what it conveys. The composition that I mention here is as follows:

At the age of 4: My father is the best.

At 6: My father knows everything and he is matchless

At 10: My father is wonderful, but he is obstinate

At 12: My father was kind when I was small

At 14: My father turned against me and is very sensitive

At 16: My father is incapable of keeping pace with the times and wants me to live my life according to the norms of his time

At 18: With each passing day, my father appears bitterer.

At 20: It is very difficult to tolerate my father. I wonder how my mother suffered him

At 25: My father opposes everything I want to do

At 30: It is impossible to agree with my father. Did my grandfather tire of my father when he was young?

At 40: My father brought me up in this life with a lot of disciple and I must do the same

At 50: It is difficult to control my adolescent sons. How much my father must have suffered in bringing us up?

At 55: My father had a long term vision and plan to achieve our interests, putting in all efforts. He was outstanding and kind.

At 60: My father is matchless. He was the best.

The conclusion was the same as the beginning. It took us 56 years to realize that ‘my father was the best.’

Let us do good to us parents before it is too late. Time does not return to compensate for what we lost. Goodness to parents is among the best things Allah directed us to do. He linked goodness to parents with our worship for Him, the One who accepts no partners.

Oh Lord, be merciful to them as they brought us up when we were small.

05/04/2015

Change is an inevitable mode of life and a reality that we must not only experience and accept but also seek to achieve in all social, economic, environmental or knowledge-related walks of life and try to harness for moving from the actual reality to a brighter and more distinctive future.

It was Allah Who created the universe and made change one of the laws that govern it and regulate the relationship among its components. It is emphasized in several parts of the Holy Quran that a steady life for a human being is totally out of question as understood from Allah’s verses: “And these days We alternate among the people” (Al Imran-140). This not only makes it easy for us to accept change but even encourages us to strive to create the conditions that will contribute to making it a success in the best way to our benefit as individuals and to the benefit of our organizations and society.

To make it a success in organizations, this being our concern in this stage, change must be dealt with according to scientific methodologies and managed by such methods that will render it a major contributor to achieving a quantum leap in the organization’s output, no matter if the organization is service-related, industrial, educational or otherwise. This is achieved by applying a holistic and practical approach ranging from the current reality to the reality wanted to be reached.

Managing change in an organization means planning for transition from  an actual situation to a targeted one with the aim of achieving specific objectives within a clear common vision combining the leadership and employees, through which changes to a certain system are made. These changes are implemented in such a manner that can be controlled through following specific framework and model in an orderly manner coupled with minimum harassment or inconvenience to the organization’s internal and external audience.

All the employees of the organization must be urged to take part in carrying out the change project by raising their awareness and familiarizing them with the situation intended to be moved to, developing their aptitudes and skills for dealing with the new situation in a skillful and simple manner and helping them accept the change and the associated regulations and instructions and understand the new roles and responsibilities of those affected by it.

Finally, I must say that today is yours but tomorrow is someone else’s and that one’s weakness is embodied in one’s inability to maintain the position one has already assumed. This requires each of us to accept the change and ignore all the effects that may lead one to reject it or fail to deal with it. Each one of us is also required to overcome the obstacles and difficulties by means of self-challenge and the ability to prove one’s worth in order to be distinguished and unique. Thus, change in itself is a cure for instability and lack of the spirit of creativity and innovation. Without the fluctuation of the living conditions, there is no way for an arrogant man to become humble or an ignorant man to learn.

Raya Hilal Al Darmaki / Registration Executive
Fujairah Customer Service Center

03/02/2015

The elections to the Federal National Council (FNC) are expected to be a greater success not just because we are now in the year 2015 and not in 2011, but due to multiple reasons, chief among them being the early decision to form a committee reflective of the eagerness of HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, for carrying on with the UAE’s experience in political participation. The diverse competencies and expertise that characterize the members of the National Committee for Elections are indicative of that eagerness – no excellence without an excellent work team. In its meeting last Thursday, the Committee reviewed many of the technicalities of the upcoming elections, particularly the services expected of the organizations and authorities, with the Emirates Identity Authority in their forefront. Our society expects the conduct of elections to be more efficient and error-free in light of the Emirates ID’s achievements such as the population register.

We want our society to contribute towards the success of the FNC elections in 2015 and even later, but how?

Success is not the responsibility of the Committee alone. We want the FNC itself to play a role – its chairman, members and the General Secretariat. We want more transparency from the members. We want the relationship between the FNC members and the citizens to be a permanent, lively, vibrant and lasting one, not a seasonal and narrow one focused on the elections.

We want our society to try electoral practices and train themselves on them wherever they are found, especially in public welfare societies and in public joint stock companies.

Elections are an educative experience as well as a knowledge and culture. We have to congratulate HH Dr. Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah for his pioneering idea for setting up consultative councils for children and youth. The schools must begin to take up this role, so must the home – the role of educating and sensitizing.

It is necessary here to appreciate the joint initiative of the Ministry of State for Federal National Council and the UAE University to hold an annual forum for strengthening the values of political participation.

All of us, each according to his capacity, are keen on the continuous success of political participation as per the methods laid down by HH the President. These methods have proved their merit in the midst of  the storms brewing in the region.

01/02/2015

A friend of mine answered his own question about the benefits of the identity card, which I least expected. Even before I responded, he said the identity card was supposed to make carrying passport unnecessary. In fact; during the card’s promotion and propagation, it was told that it would make carrying a host of cards that our purses contain unnecessary – such as the health insurance card, even the ATM card. But the reality is quite the contrary; those were merely the expectations and orientations of the Smart Government and smart applications and initiatives of “paperless administrations.”

The unexpected question of the man was justified in view of what is happening before us, in terms of the similar experiences that customers went through. When you present your identity card to complete your transaction, the officer, who has not heard about faster procedures, creativity and innovation except from the media, asks you for a copy of the passport. The customer tries to convince the officer that an identity card is issued only for a UAE national who possesses a passport and a family book, and for an expatriate who possesses a passport and a legally valid residency from an empowered authority (in this case ‘the Residency and Immigration Affairs’).

The expatriate approaches the officer with a copy of his son’s residency, which clearly states that he is a student not allowed to work, but the officer demands a document for the same, reflecting the bureaucratic method of the likes of this officer who tend to accumulate papers and photocopies of transactions merely to satisfy his ego and to indulge in what he considers to be the power and privilege that come with his position! The likes of this officer with his behavior do not only pursue a bureaucratic path, but also expresses doubts about the validity and accuracy of information documented by another government authority.

Before we demand the Emirates Identity Authority to restore the esteem of its card and to show that the purpose behind it being mandatory is to make life easier for its carrier and to consolidate his data and protect them against loss, we called upon all concerned authorities directly dealing with the people to sensitize their staff that the times have changed. We are moving in the direction of a culture of smart government and smart applications that do not jell with an authority that asks for attested rent contract or its copy or electricity bill for vaccinating a child, as if the officer believes that the customer is a lover of darkness or has turned absent-mindedly towards the power of the sun and winds!

08/12/2014

Parliaments in all countries of the world are concerned with discussing crucial national issues and have a special prestige and respect. As its habit of adopting all that is good and beneficial, the wise leadership of the UAE is carrying on its approach to host the Third Organizational Learning Conference – though under the dome of the Federal National Council this time – on November 30 and December 1 concurrently with the 43^rd National Day and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Emirates identity Authority.

The conference was attended by around 400 participants and saw 26 speakers from 13 countries talking about the best practices in organizational and government learning. The major speaker Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, played a major role in enriching the conference by presenting the journey of government learning in Malaysia and its growth-related experience of switching from an agricultural country with half the population living below the poverty line to a strong competitor worldwide in industry, tourism and high-quality services and exports.

The direct and practical recommendations of the conference included among others urging organizations to speed up their transition into educated ones by developing such organizational structures that would support and promote continuous organizational learning and creativity; preparing specialist trainers in the field of organizational and action learning; expanding the translation into Arabic so that the successful experiences and studies in this vital field would be conveyed; and developing initiatives and projects that would encourage reading and exploration.

They also included training the staff in formal and informal learning methods; keeping away from the traditional methods of training; encouraging the second-line and third-line leaders to develop their leadership and management aptitudes through granting them the powers that would enable them to apply their creative ideas at the organizational level; promoting applied research in the field of organizational learning and allocating the required budgets for this purpose; optimizing the organizational learning experiences of such Asian countries as Japan, Malaysia and South Korea; taking advantage of technology for applying learning methods; and following change management methods.

Thanks to all those who contributed to the success of this conference and let’s always remember that the strongest competitive advantage of individuals and organizations is their ability to learn effectively.

28/10/2014

“In the race for excellence there is no finish line” 

A saying by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Excellence in the Emirates Identity Authority has a special flavor; it is a combination of creative and innovative mental properties that deeply believe that excellence is a prerequisite that would make a difference in the local and global competitiveness and is the wing that an organization uses to fly high in endless blue oceans.

The leadership of the Emirates Identity Authority plays a key role not only in instilling the foundations of excellence but also causing its intellectual capital to be imbued with them and adapting its methodology of thinking to keep pace with a worldwide leading future vision that joins a race with the winds and keeps away from the traditional approach in practices and methods of thinking.

The intellectual capital in the Emirates Identity Authority constitutes the feasible integrative link that directly contributes to achieving future visions. This has led to the idea of investing in people and adopting exceptional universal concepts for upgrading human resources, not to mention the organizational and systematic knowledge management, which comes under organizational learning, where the Emirates Identity Authority has been a pioneer in adopting and activating the concept of organizational learning at the internal and community  levels.

Hence begins the journey of excellence.. and sails the Emirates Identity Authority’s fully loaded ship far away under a strategic leadership of clear vision, mission and destination, looking for all that is innovative and iconic. During its voyage, the ship berths in fertile green ports to invest some of its cargo and load all that fits it and offers feasible and supportive added values to it.

The Emirates Identity Authority’s ship is characterized by its positive energy, which brings contentment, happiness and enjoyment and creates an atmosphere that motivates free and creative thinking.

The Emirates Identity Authority has proved over the years that it is ready to be the first locally and globally and occupy top ranks in excellence and leadership races so as to create a new concept for non-traditional competition in blue oceans where modern, innovative and creative added values ​exist.

Finally, in the race for excellence, it is a matter of to be or not to be but in the Emirates Identity Authority it is a matter of to be and to be.

14/10/2014

I had a very beautiful feeling when I received a rose; I adore roses for their meanings of beauty and serenity and the fragrant nectar that oozes from them. What if you have received roses as a gift without a name to show the sender? Will this not make you curious to know the person who has remembered you, wished to surprise you and wanted to put a smile on your face? Yes, I had all these feelings when I received a rose, but who from?

It was from the Director General of the Emirates Identity Authority, where I work. What a great effect that initiative had on me. “Oh God, how embarrassed I am” were the first words I uttered in response.

It is true! I felt pretty embarrassed by his generosity when he sent to me and all my colleagues a fragrant rose and a card with the most tender words on it: “A heartfelt thank-you for your sincere efforts” marking the 10^th anniversary of the Emirates Identity Authority. How beautiful and tender this phrase was! But this was not all; he also sent an online message to all the Emirates ID’s staff in which he addressed them as the “Emirates ID’s loyal soldiers”. What a beautiful opening sentence!

I am not going to read his full message but the last sentence where I was most impressed when he said: “all the best for you, your colleagues and your customers.” Then he concluded his beautiful message by humbly signing as “Your brother Ali Al Khouri”. His words were resonant and his feeling was close to us.

How great is to be humble! How beautiful is to reward loyalty with benevolence! How wonderful is a “thank you” when it helps one to be energetic, positive and determined to pay back not only what one owes to the Emirates ID but to the homeland as well because he who does not thank people does not thank the Lord Who Has created people.

A heartfelt thank-you to you my manager; How honored I am to be a brick of this wonderful organization, which is led by you and which I always feel I am indebted to, no matter how hard I work to accomplish my tasks.

Frankly, this approach and these morals are not uncommon to a person who follows the example of our valued sheikhs led by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, may Allah protect him, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may Allah protect him, and His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who have always been generous with their people and have harnessed all potentials to implant the seeds of good values and morals for the benefit of their people.

I wish to Allah to make our country a source of pride for us, to bless our leaders and those in charge and help us serve this generous country. How proud I should be that I am an Emirati woman.

24/09/2014

A pessimist sees only black sides and dark corridors where there is no glimmer of light because he always assumes the worst. In contrast, an optimist sees the light amidst the darkness; it is he who always assumes the best and believes that there is a solution to every problem. An optimist smiles whenever he comes across a difficult situation and has faith in Allah that hard times will be over.

Get moving, raise your ambitions and be positive because positivity strengthens your will, motivates you to work, keeps you busy and fills your life with clarity and vitality. So, try always to be optimistic by giving up the idea that the world is against you. Use a different perspective for thinking and do not let your mind wander negatively. Do not give the opportunity to anybody to play with your thoughts negatively and remember that no matter how much the sky is filled with black clouds, there must be a shaft of light that dispels the black clouds and makes the sky clear again.

Change yourself because everything in the universe changes. But change yourself for the better and delete such words as “I cannot” from your dictionary. Do not say “I will do it tomorrow” but do it now and keep away from those who would discourage you and are unable to achieve any progress and mix with hard-working people held in high esteem.

Do not be satisfied with a little success but try to achieve as much success as possible. Make success stories for you and have the will to achieve more successes, noting that every success will bring more successes with it as long as you have a firm will.

Trust yourself and your job; trust is derived neither from prestige nor from wealth but springs from somewhere inside you and is your passport to what you seek. Your self-confidence will give you strength to remain steadfast and will push you to further ambitions.

It is nice to discover your strengths and reinforce them constantly but it is nicer to know your weaknesses and try to overcome them. Do not be ashamed of doing so because we are humans who have shortcomings but this will not deter us from correcting our weaknesses and rectifying our shortcomings. Be proud of yourself and try to think but positively.

Remember that if you have a hollow mind, you will not be aware of any achievement in your life. Read, learn, communicate and refresh your ideas and you will find that you have sailed in another world and delved into knowledge with confidence. This will reflect in the way you work.

Remember also that all achievements have begun with an idea that was put into practice and proved successful. Similarly, your mind can generate an idea that will attract other ideas. Let your mind work and be sure that a small spark can cause a great fire. Never underestimate any of your ideas; you might look at it as a small idea but it could be a great one for others.

Last but not least, decide which direction you want to go because if you do not have goals, you will remain in place and achieve no progress. Put down your future goals, activate your potential powers, draw plans and a correct path and be eager to reach the peaks. Do not look at minor goals and be armed with hope and confidence in all your journeys to your goal. Do not rely on luck because luck may and may not come to you.

18/07/2014

The holy month of Ramadan is here upon us, the month of goodness, blessing, kindness and good deeds. We have all been waiting for it impatiently and passionately. We feel blessed to be part of it now, and may Allah bless the deceased who missed it and wished they were part of it too.

Ramadan is here to renew faith, give us ample opportunities for good deeds, close the doors to hell and open the doors to heaven. Let’s work together and exert utmost efforts to excel in this month of goodness. We can be creative in acts of kindness and compete to harvest the rewards; we can diversify in mobilizing efforts and bringing out our hidden talents.

We can excel with Allah in worshipping and obedience, in reading the Holy Quran and understanding its verses and in praying to Allah and seeking His forgiveness so that we are among those mentioned in the verse: “… and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward”. Let’s seek to be among the residents of Heaven and let’s seek forgiveness in this Holy Month.

We can excel with ourselves by developing ourselves and our way of thinking and always encouraging ourselves to think good of others and think positively and look with confidence and determination to what we want to be and what we aspire to. This can be done intellectually by reading and researching and meeting with intellectuals and listening to lectures that are commonly held after Taraweeh prayer throughout the UAE mosques. It can also be done from a health and physical aspect by changing our dietary habits and following the example of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) in delaying the Suhoor meal and hurrying the Iftar meal. He also said a third for food, a third for drink and a third for you. We can also increase our portions of drinking water, eating salads and fruits and exercising. After this blessed month, we should seek self-assessment.

We can excel with others by being devoted, obedient and kind to our parents asking for their contentment and visiting relatives and asking about them. We should visit the sick people and be kind to people in general and do charity acts even if little. We should smile often; smiling is a charity for those who cannot afford otherwise. We should respect the elderly and be compassionate towards the youngsters; we should give the poor and the orphans. We should excel in training our children to do all that and respect others regardless of their class or group.

We can excel in work by complying with the arrival and departure times and not be late on the pretext of fasting and sleeping. We should be cheerful when dealing with customers, assisting them in solving problems, facilitating matters for them and guiding them towards the proper procedures.

We can excel by removing any harm from the road and be kind to cleaning workers and use our time in useful matters and not talk about others behind their back. We can cooperate to assist colleagues in what they need, while seeking reward from Allah.

In this manner, we can achieve excellence in this Holy Month, leaving it with a great reward and significant change and positivity in our lives in all its intellectual, professional, social and health aspects.