As you can see from my comments above I have found all of your comments very interesting, especially being a mixed race person who grew up in Multi-Cultural Australia and has lived in Europe (Germany predominantly) and Singapore.
Unfortunately I missed yesterdays Gulf Times but will try to get a copy of it. The article clearly touched a nerve in i-moody who apparently feels quite strongly about the matter.
I'm not sure we are all have the same understanding of what is meant by the "integration of ex-pats into society". Personally I think that once an ex-pat is integrated into a particular society, he can no longer be an "ex-pat" as I understand the term "ex-pat" to be.
Ex-pats I know come to a country for one purpose and one purpose only, to fulfill a service agreement. They get paid a load of money for a limited time then go home. What benefit is there to be gain by integrating a transient? Pay him more money and he might stay. What benefit would te transient gain by being integrated? More money?
Immigrants on the other hand might be target for intergration. What however would be the benefit for Qatar to integrate these people into Qatari Society? There are many I'm sure. One of them is increasing the national gene pool. I think this is a very important issue for a people who are a minority in their own country. To accomplish this, you need immigrants first. People who are willing to come and live here in Qatar for something other than making money to take away home with them.
In order to attract immigrants you first need an attractive image which will be confirmed first by ex-pats whom have actually experienced the atractiveness of the image so they can go back to their home countries and talk about how wonderful the experience was. So, be extra special nice and good to your expats and they will go back to their home countries and sing your praises. This will attract more and encourage immigrants. Unless of course Qatar does not want immigrants to integrate into society.
Right now, with the inequities described in the comments above and in other forums (see Qatar Qairway teh only 5-Star Airline), I don;t see this happeneing within the next 2 generations.
As you can see from my comments above I have found all of your comments very interesting, especially being a mixed race person who grew up in Multi-Cultural Australia and has lived in Europe (Germany predominantly) and Singapore.
Unfortunately I missed yesterdays Gulf Times but will try to get a copy of it. The article clearly touched a nerve in i-moody who apparently feels quite strongly about the matter.
I'm not sure we are all have the same understanding of what is meant by the "integration of ex-pats into society". Personally I think that once an ex-pat is integrated into a particular society, he can no longer be an "ex-pat" as I understand the term "ex-pat" to be.
Ex-pats I know come to a country for one purpose and one purpose only, to fulfill a service agreement. They get paid a load of money for a limited time then go home. What benefit is there to be gain by integrating a transient? Pay him more money and he might stay. What benefit would te transient gain by being integrated? More money?
Immigrants on the other hand might be target for intergration. What however would be the benefit for Qatar to integrate these people into Qatari Society? There are many I'm sure. One of them is increasing the national gene pool. I think this is a very important issue for a people who are a minority in their own country. To accomplish this, you need immigrants first. People who are willing to come and live here in Qatar for something other than making money to take away home with them.
In order to attract immigrants you first need an attractive image which will be confirmed first by ex-pats whom have actually experienced the atractiveness of the image so they can go back to their home countries and talk about how wonderful the experience was. So, be extra special nice and good to your expats and they will go back to their home countries and sing your praises. This will attract more and encourage immigrants. Unless of course Qatar does not want immigrants to integrate into society.
Right now, with the inequities described in the comments above and in other forums (see Qatar Qairway teh only 5-Star Airline), I don;t see this happeneing within the next 2 generations.