We are discussing here one category of people who may be few or many but unfortunately it certainly exists. Some people would attribute their adverse and negative attitude to a bright reason. Such peoplelanguish because they are citizens; they are negligent in their work because they are citizens; they are behind in their studies because they are citizens; they take many leaves off work because they are citizens; they hope for free promotion because they are citizens; they work in one place and hope to work for another because they are citizens; they regress rather than advance because they are citizens; they treat the public badly because they are citizens; they drive their cars irrationally because they are citizens and they do not stand in line because they are citizens.

We could cite endless examples in this same context, but we also have to cite the opposite model, i.e. a positive, excelling and distinguished model also exists. Citizens who are fully aware of the meaning of good citizenship also exist. They work more than others because they are citizens and exert their utmost efforts to improve performance in the public job. They learn more because they are citizens; the usual academic certificates do not suffice for them; they want to attain first place in each field they participate in. Because they are citizens, they continuously seek to advance and progress and believe in their right in appointment and promotion because they work hard. They do not believe that their citizenship is a sufficient reason for distinction.

Preference is for the citizen. Yes. This is a reasonable, acceptable and logical value but a citizen is also required to work studiously and sincerely with himself and with others.

To be a citizen is a beautiful, tempting, noble, and great reason to love your nation more and serve the UAE and its community with strength and love.

You are a citizen. This is a reason that necessarily leads you towards more giving and progress.

SheikhHamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan took initiative by signing the pledge not to text while driving. It is a significant move on his side, setting him as an example to be followed by the different groups in society. His move was triggered by his concern over the rising number of traffic accidents claiming lives, most of which are lives young people lost by the country and missed by their parents  due to distracted driving and in particular due to using cellphones while driving.

Sheikh Hamdan’sinitiative no doubt sprang from his care and fear for UAE’s young people and his desire to raise awareness and educate about proper behavior on the road. It is no doubt a desire to set a role model and reserve the true natural resources of UAE which are the youth. The loss is for everyone and the damage is incurred by everyone. For all these reasons, Hamdan bin Mubarak took a private initiative to sign “I Pledge”. For the same reasons, Emarat Al Youm in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior launched this public campaign at the beginning of this week.

I Pledge is a public campaign based on a very simple idea; it addresses a person based on theirbelief to abandon a bad habit, hence, such person is self-committed, not driven by seeking a reward or fearing a fine; all s/he has to do is to sign a simple pledge containing only one sentence that reads “Beginning right now, I will not text while I am driving”. That’s it! However, the pledger has to be honest with themselves and be bound by the pledge that they voluntarily took. Such person has to be driven by their own awareness and get rid of that habit however long they lived.

As the campaign is public, as you might have noticed, the name Hamdan bin Mubarak was not preceded by a title or followed by a position during signature; it is a private initiative that targets any motorist on the streets of UAE, which is why it was met by great appreciationfrom the different social groups. Many of the public and private institutions, civil society organizations, sport clubs, and universities have also expressed their willingness to join the campaign and collect signatures. This is exactly the goal of the campaign. This is what Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s wishes us to do, this great man who always calls for implementing useful ideas and supports each step that aims at saving lives on the roads. He is truly concerned over the rising number of accidents resulting from using cellphones while driving; hence he is the biggest supporter of I Pledge campaign.

I Pledge campaign is the outcome of a collaboration between a governmental entity, the Ministry of Interior, a private one,Etisalat and a purposeful media institution, Emarat Al Youm. Therefore, the campaign is a concrete product of the joint efforts of such entities and the mutual impact of directing efforts towards a common goal. Let’s all make it our goal to join the campaign and sign the pledge; not to talk on the cellphone or text while driving. Let’s pledge to use the cellphone only according to the proper legal regulations that ensure our safety and the safety of others.

I Pledge Campaign is launched by EmaratAl Youm as an extension to the unofficial campaign launched by activists on social networking sites with the aim of driving home a simple message: Do not use cellphones, and stop texting, while driving. The campaign hopestoenddeadly traffic accidents that are the direct consequence of the dangerous practice of using cellphones while driving, which has become an epidemic in our society, claiming lives and destroying families.

The campaign uses awareness as a direct means to reach goals instead of setting penalties only. For example, tickets and fines have not successfully prevented speed and reckless driving; yet, we still use and expand the application of this technique more than ever, even if such technique does not follow a mature and well-examined awareness-raising approach. A fine does not save a life; the damages of losing human resources exceed the fine amounts imposed on those committing the violations. I Pledge Campaign addresses to the dangerous practices on our streets and roads andapproach people from an awareness perspective rather than fear from penalties. What sets this campaign apart is its reliance on people’s awareness without any pressures, incentives, fines or rewards. It focuses mainly on self-convincing, through a very simple pledge, which when signed, the driver will agree not to use the cellphone while driving. The person may join the campaign by signing this pledge, and sending it to the Emarat Al Youm’s website, the website of the Ministry of Interior or Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) who sanction and sponsor the message of the campaign

A driver who is able to comply with the pledge they took will be part of the campaign; a person who is not able to do that will neither be forced to join nor deterred by any other campaigns or more severe penalties. Everyone needs to realize that they should play their part to end this deadly epidemic. If we can reach out to a large number of citizens and residents and convince them toget their signatures on the pledge, then, we will consider to have achieved an actual and true success. The biggest deterrent for a human being is his/her consciousness; no one can ask another person to do or not to do something unless they are strongly convinced of that. That is what the campaign seeks to achieve.

It is an integrated public campaign. We will try to reach out to young people in physical locations as well as on virtual sites, such as social networking sites and on other websites, in schools and universities; it is open to everyone. We urge organizations, ministries and the public and private sector to participate and contribute to the campaign by promoting it and collecting signatures to increase the numbers and categories of pledgers.

Although the campaign is sanctioned and sponsored by the Ministry of Interior, it is a national call to action for all other ministries. The issue is of concern to everyone; everyone is responsible; everyone’s task is to raise awareness and educate about how to make roads safer. After all, it is an issue that concerns the community as a whole and raising awareness about it benefits everyone as victims of traffic accidents can be our sons, daughters, brothers, mothers, friends, etc. Losing a young soul is a loss for the country. Let’s all work together to prevent the loss of lives claimed by preventable car accidents.

Maintaining and enhancing national identity is a goal that we all aspire to reach, as we are all partners who share love for our nation and partners in building its renaissance and progress. There is no doubt that national identity gives this partnership its spirit and meaning. We can go as far as assuming that national identity provides us with the sense of belonging to this dear nation.

Maintenance and enhancement of this identity needs several methods. We have discussed, in previous articles, some methods that can guarantee maintaining our national identity. Today, we discuss together the role played by one of the major components: social capital. Social capital has been established as significantly important in the age of global culture and multiple identities and cultures among the resulting negative effects on the social texture and national culture for many societies and waning social connections and relations among members of a community.

What is social capital? What are its components and how does it form? What role does it play in identity nationalization? Although social capital lends itself to multiple definitions, and without entering the labyrinth of abstract and theoretical definitions, social capital refers to relations within and between social networks produced by individuals and groups with the purpose of achieving their goals in life. This network of relations is extremely organized and far from being random. It follows traditions and standards that govern the behavior of individuals and groups and direct their social behavior according to the social, cultural and ethical values, norms and systems of the society. These values aim at promoting the actions of individuals and groups and work on improving and supporting ways of interaction between them to attain the purposes they seek.According to the World Bank, social capital refers tothesum of the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions and social relationships that contribute to achieve sustainable development.

This definition reflects the importance of social capital not only in improving the quality and quantity of social relations and interactions among individuals but also its importance in achieving sustainable development. Social capital derives its power from the ability of individuals to participate in activities of public good. According to the UNDP, social capital is closely related to charity and volunteering; volunteerism and volunteers are at the heart of social capital. Volunteering can be defined broadly as the non-profit, non-wage andnon-career contributions of individuals for the well-being of their community or society at large. Some studies indicate that the number of institutions for public interest and the number of individual members of these institutions reflect the stock of social capital in society.

What are the sources of social capital?

There are multiple sources that contribute in forming the stock of individuals and groups in social capital. Foremost among these sources are family, school, public interest foundations and civil society organizations. These sources contribute to forming social capital through its ability to shape individuals and raise them on values and standards that increase their stock of social capital and enhance its positive role in society. Some of the major values that constitute the stock of social capital are the ability for mutual collective work, trust among individuals, and trust between individuals and the different governmental and non-governmental institutions, trust between the individual and the state, values of cooperation and solidarity, values that nurture a stronger sense of social responsibility, and values that promote cohesion of social texture. If the sum of these values constitute that stock of individuals in social capital, this stock represents a driving force that contributes to building the renaissance and development of the country in the different economic, social and cultural aspects of society. On the economic level, social capital contributes to the contribution of individuals in the different economic projects and their engagement in the job market, through the atmosphere it provides built on trust and transparency, and also contributes to the promotion of values of work and accomplishment. On the cultural level, social capital enhances the participation of individuals in the productivity and utilization of knowledge and the expansion of the awareness circle, through projects and activities that aim at eliminating illiteracy, whether reading and writing incapacity or lack of knowledge and incapability in using the information revolution products such as computers and the Internet. On the social level, social capital shapes the collective awareness of individuals and enhances the values and ethical criteria that push them towards solidarity and cooperation and enhance their values of belonging. These values together constitute the essence of national identity.

This all leads to creating an enabling environment that provides a healthy atmosphere that is necessary for identity nationalization and provides it with firm roots that derive their nutrients from the strategic stock of social capital, which contributes not only in the maintenance of national identity but contributes at the same time in achieving sustainable development.

With all the traffic accidents occurring daily, many would think they are safe from being involved in an accident because they can have control over themselves, their vehicles, others and the road while talking on their cell phones and reading or sending text messages. However, it only takes a matter for second for an error to occur and cause grave consequences. Only then, the motorist realizes the enormity of the error committed. In many cases, regret is futile; what we deem a simple issue that is controllable is in fact an inevitable gravity.

Many of today’s cars are equipped with all sorts of entertainment. Even if these devices are not built in the car, one can still buy them at convenient prices. For example, at a price not more than 1000 dirhams, one can have an all in one device combining a GPS, video, music, digital TV and even picture viewers, mobile calls (hands free) and traffic cameras.

As a result, the drivers’ eyes are usually on these screens or their BlackBerries instead of the road which causes a major distraction. It is noticeable these days that many cars swerve between lanes showing the lack of focus of the drivers, who get into accidents or near-accidents.

Before we call for traffic campaigns and restrictive laws, we need to cooperate, think logically and use common sense to rectify our wrong behaviors. Indeed, no one of us wishes that his/her life ends because of sending or reading text messages or checking their BlackBerry.It most probably is a trivial message that can wait! The driver might crash into another vehicle and kill innocent people whose only mistake is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If laws dealt with all the different behaviors of people, they would be endless. It is better and easier to realize that thebehaviors that we would otherwise consider normal are in fact dangerous. They can cause a disaster for us, our families and those around us.

It is great to have the latest technology and state-of-the-art devices, but it is better to use them properly. Otherwise, such devices will pose a danger that threatens us each moment and becomes a source of aggravation for those around us.

Citizens first! National organizations have been established primarily to serve citizens and put them as their priority. All sectors are called upon to adopt citizen satisfaction programs and provide citizens with simple, yet complete and integrated, services. The purpose is that the citizen should obtain a service with no hassle or humiliation. Some would act like they are assigned the task of complicating matters for the citizen rather than facilitating his transactions and helping him reach his goals faster and in a shorter time.

Following the state’s primary role in caring for the citizens, it does not conform to its role when some remove the citizen from the list of their priorities or their main concerns, and merely focus on papers and documents; there are no scheduled appointments or previously organized schedules to receive citizens, especially those with complaints and needs. Doors are always locked and the manager is often in a meeting or unavailable and in best case scenarios, the citizen is told to leave his transaction and they will get back to him or call him or he is told to “come back tomorrow” or after a week or a month.

The saying of “citizen first” should be proved through each transaction and attitude. After all, actions speak louder than words. “Citizen first” means that serving the citizens should come first and that a governmental department is founded or established primarily to provide citizens with services, especially in the main fields such as education, health and housing. “Citizen first” summarizes it all; most governmental work can fall under this saying.

Citizen first; you first; ministries, departments, institutions and officials on various levels and in various positions are there for you.

Many happy returns on feast day

May God accept your fasting and prayers

In recent years, I have been hearing from friends saying: Feast has changed; it is not the same as before!

What changed?!

The feast or us?

Have we asked ourselves why we no longer enjoy the feast as before, when we were younger?

Let’s try to enjoy the true joy of the feast and then we can decide whether it has changed or it is us who have changed.

We always hear this phrase from young people, especially those who wake up after 9 o’clock the morning of feast, thus, missing the feast prayers in the mosque and missing the opportunity to felicitate their relatives, friends and other worshipers on the occasion of the feast.

Why do we wish each other a merry feast in the first place?

It is the beautiful feeling that we have done great deeds during the month of Ramadan, and we ask God to accept our good deeds. Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, Allah said, ‘All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.’

Where does happiness lie?

You can draw happiness on the faces of the elderly by being with them and among them, visiting and accepting them.

You can draw happiness on the faces of children by uttering some words and giving some dirhams (the present given on the occasion of the feast).

Happiness is also created by being present among your family, making them feel they are number one for you, and that you chose to spend the feast vacation with them and among them.

Try to stand next to your father and brethren during the feast prayer, shoulder to shoulder

Try making the elderly happy as well as children. They only need sweet words from you that you can afford

Try to give your family all your time. They deserve that from you. Only then will you know that feast has not changed.

I wish you all a merry feast.

Although it is the seventh death anniversary of the leader and founder of our nation, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, he is still present among us heart and soul. He is present with us and in each one of us because of his many achievements, acts of generosity, great virtues, unique and wise leadership and enlightening vision.

The journey to development in our beloved country continues on the same path, persistence and determination inspired by the vision of the late leader and under the wise and rational leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and members of the Supreme Council, rulers of the emirates.

On the death anniversary of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the modern UAE and its renaissance, we feel the strong presence of Zayed’s dream for a country of big dreams. With his deep ideas and vision, he laid the foundations of this country.

The UAE, with its magnificent unity, is considered a unique model in the region. It has seven emirates united in love, generosity and loyalty, which is the ultimate expression of the genuine principles and values established by the Father of the Nation.

On the anniversary of the departed leader, words cannot express the deep grief and pain in our hearts for his loss, yet, we still remember the generosity of such great leader, mentor and role model.

Our love and admiration for the late leader and his great virtues make us pay rich tributes to the beloved and departed leader during this blessed month of Ramadan. We ask God to forgive him and have mercy on him and make him enter quickly into the fullness of heaven.

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was selected as the “Islamic Personality of the Year” by the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) in its 15^th edition. This award honored him as a unique leader in the hearts and minds of his people.

It is hard to put in words the feelings of pride, honor and joy we have, we the sons and daughters of this country, towards our leader and father for his well-deserved earning of this award. The award is a reflection of his undaunted contributions in philanthropy and humanitarian work. They are noble contributions that go beyond his own people to the whole people of the world to alleviate the suffering of the needy and bereaved people.

President His Highness is an enlightened role model of charity and generosity. He is a live example of the principles established by his father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of our nation and its renaissance.

Honoring President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as “Islamic Personality of the Year” is a precious lesson that teaches us, the sons and daughters of this beloved country, the meanings of true generosity. It is a lesson that teaches us noble values and characteristics that His Highness possess and urges us to obtain them, cling to them, defend them and turn them into bright reality in our life.

From the bottom of our hearts, we congratulate President H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for this well-deserved award. We also congratulate ourselves, as country and citizens, for being under his unique and wise leadership.

On 6^th August, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan laid the foundations of union, progress, renaissance and construction.

Since assuming the post of Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed sought massive development for his country. He was the Father of the Nation and embraced the citizens of his country with care and guidance when he said: 

“Our fathers are the first generation whose persistence and overcoming hardships caused our generation to exist on this land. The formation of the UAE is the concrete manifestation of the aspirations, hopes and ambitions of the united people of the UAE to build a free and dignified society and a promising and just future so that they might be the pioneering people for total Arab unity”.

The late leader Sheikh Zayed succeeded in affirming the principles of progress by relying on two strong bases in his modernization projects:

First: Planning, work, follow-up, organization and sincere efforts.

Second: Resources and expenditures that allow the success of development processes.

He did not forget the citizens; his first concern in developing young cadres and the nation was developing human resources. In this context, he said:

“The human being is the basis of any development process. Our concern for the individual is vital as the individual is the center of any real and continued development. Whatever buildings, schools and hospitals are constructed and whatever bridges are extended, they all remain material entities with no soul, unable to keep going. It is the soul of the individual that lies beneath any constructions. The thought, creativity and capability of human beings are what enable them to maintain any constructions and develop them to ensure their continuance.”

“The state gives its priority to build its individuals and care for its citizens throughout the country. The citizen is the true and most valuable resource on this land and in this country. The material capabilities cannot be enhanced or developed without qualified and capable human resources”.

“The road to development shall always require each individual in this society to exert their utmost efforts to reap the fruits. We ask God for His blessings to reach our goal and achieve renaissance.”

May Allah bless Sheikh Zayed’s soul …

We remember him with the utmost affection …

O Lord! Zayed is in your refuge and in the covenant of your asylum. So, [O Lord!] protect him from the trial of the grave and the torment of the Fire. Only You are worthy of all praise and of the fulfilment of your promises. So, O God! Forgive him and have mercy on him. Indeed, you are Forgiving and Ever-Merciful.