Too many non-Muslims in Qatar?
Here's part of an article from islamonline.net by a prominent Qatari,
Demographic Imbalance in Gulf Countries
Turning Nationals into Minorities*
By Dr. Ali Khalifa al-Kuwari
Translated By Smail Ajbaili
Demographic imbalance is indeed a violation of the rights of citizens anywhere in the world. The growing imbalance in some Arab countries of the Gulf is a premeditated infringement of the rights of their citizens.
Every nation is entitled to the right to protect its identity, preserve its language, safeguard its legitimate national interests, and prevent the disintegration of its social fabric through demographic domination in its homeland.
Such rights should determine the kind of policies a government pursues, including the demographic policy.
Do the governments of the Arab Gulf countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and probably Bahrain respect the rights of their peoples as citizens and human beings?
Official statments and statistics issued at the beginning of 2008 were striking to many like me who are concerned with the dangers of the demographic imbalance. In fact, they show horrible business trends that can be qualified as “post demographic imbalance trends,” implying that the imbalance has reached a point of no-return.
National choices and public decisions seem to be unaffected by the demographic imbalance, and disrespectful of the rights of citizens, including the need to safeguard their language, identity and existence. Construction expansion – a nationally unjustified choice – spearheads the so-called development that I describe as “the development of loss”; the loss of the homelands, the disintegration of the national communities, and the endangerment of the future of the coming generations.
When nationals become minority groups in their countries, when their cultural, productive and administrative roles are subordinate to those of foreigners, when their living conditions are dependent on donations, administrative decisions, and on an ever diminishing legal protection, they are left helpless in an unfair competition against an elite of immigrants who came from different parts of the world.
In such a competition, the status of nationals in Qatar and the UAE in particular would be similar to that of the Malay in Singapore, who have been politically, culturally, socially, and economically subordinated to the Chinese immigrants.
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Read more at http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=12138713844...
I do not think that a majority of the workers here need be worried about their jobs. I see a trend that started a long time ago. Qatari companies hire talented individuals to help establish a need within Qatar then more workers are hired to maintain, and usually with a lack of technical skills.
Are Qatari's the minority, yes they are and for a good reason. How many do you see working at Burger King or pumping gas. Most of the jobs in this country are done by lower wage employees who don't mind the work and are thankful that they are getting a wage larger than what they could make in their home countries. Until Qatari's decide to take on these jobs they will always be the minority. Also there are only so many management positions available for them to fill.
Take the roads for instance, when I arrived 3 years ago the roads were all roundabouts, more than likely built by the British. Take Q TEL, do you really think that Qatari's designed and implemented the networks or did an outside source get it up and running then they hired under qualified individuals to run int. Have you ever called their service department because your DSL modem isn't working? What kind of service did you receive. Most of the people working for the companies know enough to answer rudimentary questions but technical knowledge they do not have. Granted I am sure there are many technically qualified individuals working for them perhaps I just always get the guy who isn't one of them.
Could Qatari's take over these jobs, absolutely, but in my opinion those jobs will seem to be beneath them. Why would they feel the need to provide customer service when they can just hire someone to do it for them.
As for religion in this country I do not think they will ever have a lack of expression or need donations for anything. I also believe there will never be a time when the government policies change to the point where a Qatari feels like their rights are in jeopardy. The Qatari citizen will always be thought of first above all else when it comes to rights or policies. Which it should be it is after all their country.
Just came across this thread ... Chanel129's post - long argument with valid points on both sides back in MY.
Anyway, just my 2 bits worth before I get back to work .. "Malays in Singapore being subordinated by the Chinese?" - unfortunately, true isn't it? On the one hand, the necessity to be competitive in order to succeed or even just survive has made them very efficient and in many cases, superior.
"What about the Chinese in Malaysia then? Aren't they being subordinated by the Malays??" - Shoe on the other foot, that's all. The powers that be in MY are beginning to realize it and moving towards meritocracy. They are finding it economically difficult to survive if they continue on the path they have been on.
Credit is to be given to the progressive, open minded and educated Malays who, without their influence, progress could not have been achieved. Things are far from perfect but at least things are changing. This is the reason why education (academic and experiential) is of paramount importance. Critics will say that the Malays who have gone overseas have been brainwashed by other ideas, etc ... but really, they are underestimating their own people and more importantly, afraid of losing control.
/Btw, for MY, the reason for Malay supremacy is because the UK had it enshrined in the Constitution, so I think any arguments to the contrary are basically just moot - the horse bolted a long time ago.
What the nons are doing is trying to ensure that their rights under the Constitution are not whittled away, as it has been bit by bit over the years. Now, they are on notice to stem the slide. The internet helps to disseminate information, but some quarters are misusing it to mislead and that is really sad. :-(
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Don't want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
Malays in Singapore being subordinated by the Chinese? What about the Chinese in Malaysia then? Aren't they being subordinated by the Malays??
"well for cultural,or islamic issues if they'r really concern there are a lot of ways to preserves these and introduce these to anyone who comes here or even b4 coming in here, this even big advantage to the locals"
hmmmm, i wonder what would a muslim say, when he comes to Europe and you introduce culture and Christianism to him or anyone else who comes here or even before it.
What it's needed is a better understanding between every human being in the world.
Make love, not War, PEACE!
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
population domination..yes they are out numbered yet thy remain at the top of the pyramid.
well for cultural,or islamic issues if they'r really concern there are a lot of ways to preserves these and introduce these to anyone who comes here or even b4 coming in here, this even big advantage to the locals
.they have done these but i think should exert more efforts
.
"Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Failure Keeps you Humble, Success keeps you Glowing, But only God keeps you Going"
well i think they should not worry that much...
just group these expat into natioanalities..alas qtari still get a good nos.
.
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"Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Failure Keeps you Humble, Success keeps you Glowing, But only God keeps you Going"
Well well well Grudge-holder a.k.a Rami-leb, I think we - Qataris - are indeed stupid when we donated a billion USD to rebuild your destroyed country during the 06 war with israel AND we were really lazy when we brought all the lebanese adversaries to doha and solved the crisis. Just remember you do have a Lebanese President because of lazy and stupid Qatari diplomacy.
We are a 10% of the population (200,000) in a veeeeeeeeeery rich state, why would we do manual work? Just to prove to some morons we are educated and capable of doing so?
Qatari students are earned scholarships to the most prestigious and accreditied universities in the world! So don’t get pissed when you don’t see much of us in Education City ceremonies :)
Blind hatred and jealousy! Grow up, kiddo and don’t generalize.
The guy is Xenophobic.. Feels his culture/identity is being destroyed..
You get them in all countries.. White Supremists in USA. Skin Heads in UK.. Neo Nazi groups in Germany...They even exist in India, Russia, etc
I read the article, and i must agree with Nigelraid, it's really racist, in Germany and Italy, the same reasons appointed at this article were used to take Hitler and Mussolini to lead these 2 countries.
As a portuguese, we had almost everybody here and our population is a mixup of several others, Vikings, celts, fenicians, greeks, romans, arabs, spanish, french, black africans, etc...
Shouldn't I feal proud of my country and it's people?
Portuguese r 1 of the proudest People of their own history, after all, we owned 50% of the planet during the 16th century (Tordesillas Agreement)
Realsomeone/Khanan: Why does the author use the term, non-muslim instead of foreigners?
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
it's not all sweet.. I still find this guy's article (the original one posted on this thread) to have a distinctly nasty undertone - at least that's how I read it.
WE all come here on "contract" to perform a job on a fixed price..
It's like calling in a plumber to fix your shower, even though ou may be able to do it yourself..
The money that came from nowhere. And actually if I was sitting on hundreds of thousands of riyals, I wouldn't be cleaning my own bathroom either! Would you?!
Fifty years ago they had very limited lives, even now they have a tiny population of nationals. Where are they supposed to find heart surgeons and law professors and banking experts and so on when they were literally living in poverty only a while back? Of course they need to bring these people in and yes they do depend on them and yes their attitudes can seem, shall we say, 'ungrateful' perhaps. I can fathom your resentment - and I would say I've had a strong perception of the people as a group in the way you describe them - but on an individual basis when I have had dealings with them they are very often educated, civilised and courteous people.
I have found Qataris to be well educated and articulate..Its a mtter of need. At present , they don't really need to work. The government also helps a lot..
The Saudis were just like te Qataris,if not worse. Now they are having to work to support their families. Slowly, they are having to do "non supervisory" jbs.. Even driving taxis.
Next time there is a graduation ceremony at Education City, why don't you count how many of the graduates are Qataris.
It may sound harsh, but do you think most of the migrants in this part of the world are here to be doctors and lawyers? No...
Most of the migrants that are here are doing manual labour and domestic duties. They make up a huge proportion of the foreign workforce.
The Qataris can't get rid of most of the skilled foreigners because too few national possess the educational and professional skills and experiences to do the jobs properly. And even if you got rid of the skilled labour, that would only be scratching the surface - may as few as 5% of the foreign workforce.
If they want to get rid of the huge numbers of foreigners, they will have to get rid of the labourers. Not bloody likely!
That's a bit harsh! Lazy and stupid? Hardly - they are very well educated. They just don't like manual jobs.
Well if the Qataris decided to actually work for a living (drive cabs, pack grocery bags in Carrefour, wait tables, clean houses, wash cars, sell newspapers, do their own laundry etc) then they wouldn't have a problem.
They have a pretty simple choice
They can maintain their identity as lazy and stupid by not becoming educated, contributing members of their economies and be overwhelmed by the massive number of non nationals...
or
They drop the attitude and get a job, and all us non-nationals will go home and leave them in peace.
the gulf countries mentioned particularly UAE and Qatar and Bahrain are small countries with small population unlike Saudi. All non-local citizen are considered non-Muslim (althou we know that there are muslim Filipinos, Indians or Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and other nationalities but still few compared to non-Muslim). Even here in Doha, if you will just be very observant, the locals are visible thru the big houses you will see in some areas but most of the residential areas in Doha is occupied by expats.
With this situation, the imbalance mentioned in demographic distribution of local citizen against the non-local is really true and will continue as long as the construction boom in this part of the world.
Althou, there is really no threat as far as cultural changes in terms of language or costume or religion, having more foreigners than local will really give a "headaches" to the authorities as to making policies to handle these foreigners.
But it could never be compared as to what happened in Singapore. The Chinese immigrant have money to run a business and control the economy while here, it's the locals who controls the money and economy and I see no reason that a foreign company or person will have that strong impact in the economy of these countries.
"dgoodrebel will always be the rebellious good one"
There is no mention what so ever of Non-Muslims.. I am not a local and I am an expat but a Muslim. There are thousands of expat Muslims here so this is just an article about Nationals and Non-Nationals and not about Muslims and Non-Muslims..
Well, I can only redirect you to the writer's own words - "Muslim Arab identity."
The article was published on www.islamonline.net so I am not the only one to interpret a religious subtext behind it.
Man not all muslims are arabs. there is millions of religious people which their cultures and religion is integrated... I recommend you give a better title to your thread. even the writer of this article didnt say "Muslim and Non Muslim in Imblance".
so I dont know what your motives are to point out Non Muslims etc.
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
The above is an extract from the the full article he says "I address those who are concerned with preserving their countries and protecting the Muslim Arab identity in the region". The culture that he is seeking to defend is inextricably bound up with religion.
Cos down the line, one day, the building will be finished/ Nationals will be made to get off their backsides and work, and the GCC states will kiss goodbye to all us Expats !!
Its coming so just get ready for it.
So then, everything will go back to how it was. And lets face it, Expats dont have much say,or liberties that Nationals do.
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NIL ILLEGITIMI CARBORUNDUM
Forgiveness is life...:)
there is no mention of religion in the articel????
all commenting based on the heading????
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If you look at what you do not have in life;
You don't have anything.
If you look at what you have in life;
You have everything.
hold on, where is too many non muslims or muslims mentioned here in this article???
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
a lot of holes in the way he is expressing his views. I'm sure he couldn't find any religious grounds to justify such one sided, myopic view.
Theer is a single mention ..
I address those who are concerned with preserving their countries and protecting the Muslim Arab identity in the region. Ordinary people and government officials in those countries as well as all Arabs are responsible for preventing another setback that threatens the Arab nation...
Abu american I second your thoughts.
Imagine this country without expats.. !!! lol
is about nationality.
Where do "muslims" come into the equation
I won't do that to anyone. When I see what it looks like, it really is most unsexy and very unbecoming of anyone.
Firstly, the article is too xenophobic to merit much discussion. It's boils down to the same old 'it's their country' mantra which I have heard enough times to last a lifetime. Jolly gee reading this I just want to get off the plane at Heathrow and starting shouting through a microphone at foreigners: "GET OUT OF MY WAY! THIS IS MY COUNTRY! AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT, YOU CAN LEAVE!"
Secondly, I was brought to Qatar to do a job and when I leave they'll bring someone else in to do it. Would he like religious screening for employment? If "they" (a Qatari organisation) want me to leave, I will. A process of "Qatarization" as it is called seeks to put those Qataris who want them into jobs.
Thirdly as you say, britexpat, Gulf nationals enjoy a kind of protection almost approaching diplomatic immunity in the Gulf States. I've never seen anything quite like it anywhere else in the world, and I must say I hope I never do.
You are right...
It does seem like double standards..
It made sense till the final but one paragraph..
"When nationals become minority groups in their countries, when their cultural, productive and administrative roles are subordinate to those of foreigners, when their living conditions are dependent on donations, administrative decisions, and on an ever diminishing legal protection, they are left helpless "
In Gulf countries, citizens enjoy extra legal protection and do NOT depend on dnatons. In most cases the government agencies help them..
I do agre though that the cultural disintegration aspects are real....