November 17, 2006— - In the world of thoroughbred racing, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohamed, has spared no expense in making himself a big man.
Jason Levine: It is the sport of kings. He's one of the few people in the game that treats it that way.
The Sheik's personal 747 is a familiar sight in Kentucky, especially around the time of the country's premier Keeneland horse sale.
That's Sheikh Mohamed, without his robes, in the midst of a royal spending spree. He and his brother spent more than $70 million on horses in just two days.
And once back in Dubai, the horses will live in royal splendor in his majesty's stables.
Jason Levine: Money talks, and in his case, he's happy to throw it around.
The sheikh's taking the same no expense spared approach to promoting Dubai around the world.
Prominent figures, including former President Bill Clinton, have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak, or act as consultants.
President Bush's brother Neil was a guest of the royal family last year.
The sheikh and his ministers say Dubai is a shining example of what can go right in the Middle East.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: Dubai is slowly becoming a cosmopolitan global city here in the Middle East in the Arab world.
And as Dubai grows from desert town to boomtown, again, no expense is being spared.
Just putting up the world's tallest building isn't enough.
Mohammed Ali Alabbar: I think we'd like to be not only the tallest in the world, but the best quality building every built by man.
The building will be twice this height when completed next year.
One hundred sixty floors of the most luxurious apartments and offices the world has ever seen.
All being built, it turns out, by workers who on average make less than a dollar an hour.
Sarah Leah: It's clear that workers are being abused. They're working for virtual slave wages.
Behind the glitzy world of Dubai are some 500,000 foreign workers who human rights groups say live in virtual enslavement.
Sarah Leah: That is how these new, fancy buildings are being built.
A report out just this week from the group Human Rights Watch concludes workers putting up Dubai's soaring towers are being systematically cheated and abused, with the sheikh's government looking the other way.
Hadi Ghaemi and Sarah Leah Whitson prepared the report.
Sarah Leah: You are working in a system where you are not really free to leave your job. You actually need employers' consent to change jobs. You're working in a system where your passport is withheld. And really, if you displease your employer, you are going to find yourself on a plane right back to Sri Lanka or Bangladesh or India.
Most of the workers live in labor camps an hour outside the city in the desert, in a place called Sonapaur, which means city of gold.
There's little gold to be found here.
The men putting up the world's finest buildings live six to eight, sometimes 12, to a room, rooms smaller that the horse stalls in the Sheikh's royal stables.
When we arrived, the men said it was one of the few times outsiders with cameras had been in the camps.
And we wanted to know if his royal highness Sheikh Mohamed had ever been here.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I cannot confirm that he has or has not.
Brian Ross: I think he would find that his horses have better living conditions than those men.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I think that's not a fair comment.
Dr. Anwar Gargash, the one and only government official provided to speak with 20/20, says Dubai and the sheikh are doing the best they can.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I have been to more than one labor camp in Sonapur.
Brian Ross: Would you want to live that way?
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I think that some that are bad and some that are not so bad.
Brian Ross: We were at camps this week that are described as pretty good, and they're quite squalid.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: Okay.
Brian Ross: 8, 12 men in a room, working 12 hour days.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: Okay.
Brian Ross: Is Dubai proud of that?
Dr. Anwar Gargash: No, of course not.
Brian Ross: Then why do you allow it to continue?
Dr. Anwar Gargash: Because, the pace of growth has outstripped our ability. I think like any other city, any other country, we, of course, have growing pains.
Pains being felt by these men, trapped in indentured servitude.
They told us they were deeply in debt because they were forced to pay recruiters in their home countries large fees to get their jobs in Dubai, something that is supposed to be illegal.
And once here, they said, they found they would be making only half the wages they had been promised.
Workers: 600, 600 dirhams, about $163 dollars, a month. On average, less than a dollar an hour.
And even that, Human Rights Watch found, is routinely withheld months at a time.
Sarah Leah: It's considered a way to make sure your worker doesn't run away so you kind of owe him money to keep him on a short leash.
The work in Dubai goes on day and night, usually two, twelve hour shifts, six days a week. A pace Human Rights Watch says has led to a huge death toll.
Hadi Ghaemi: Hundreds are dying, especially falling from these high rises every year.
Brian Ross: You are saying hundreds are dying?
Hadi Ghaemi: Hundreds are dying.
And under the law in Dubai and the entire United Arab Emirates, there are no unions allowed, strikes are illegal, strikers can be fired and sent home.
Sarah Leah: So you basically, you better shut up and do your work and not complain.
But earlier this year, at the site of what will be the world's tallest building, workers went on strike anyway, for two days.
It was a rare, bold protest in front of the building Sheikh Mohamed wants to be the best building ever built by man.
The man in charge says he warned the contractors to improve conditions at the site, but that still, some of the strike ringleaders may have been fired for misbehaving.
Mohammed Ali Alabbar: There's one or two or three got fired because of that, I'm not aware, I'm not really aware of that.
Brian Ross: Is that fair?
Mohammed Ali Alabbar: Well, you know, what Brian, I could lose my job tomorrow, as well.
Brian Ross: You're not making four dollars a day.
Mohammed Ali Alabbar: Well, basically anyone, any level of job who can also get fired if they don't behave.
While Sheikh Mohamed has been busy with his horses and his skyscrapers and his fantasy islands, Human Rights Watch says he and the government of the United Arab Emirates have done little or nothing to protect workers rights.
Brian Ross: You talk about setting high standards. Where are the high standards for the workers?
Dr. Anwar Gargash: We realize very well that we are actually in a state of transition. So to come and say we have a problem, of course we do.
Brian Ross: As it stands today, are they receiving fair treatment?
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I think we have problem. I think we have a problem
Brian Ross: You admit it.
Dr. Anwar Gargash: I think we have a problem, but it's not like we're not doing anything about it.
In fact, just days after we left Dubai, the royal public relations machine was in high-gear, announcing new efforts to enforce labor laws and improve conditions at labor camps.
At long last Dubai's impoverished workers may finally be getting the same attention as the Sheikh's skyscrapers and famed racehorses.
(I expect the ninety-nine percent of my readers not to know this word a bit… in case it’s the opposite then it’s my pure ignorance on play)Web filter glitch slows down internet service
Dubai: The slow internet service experienced this week stemmed from technical problems over the web filter that blocks inappropriate content throughout the Gulf, UAE's telecom regulator said on Tuesday.
Since Sunday, web users throughout the GCC have endured slow connections and inconsistent service, with some users unable to access mainstream sites like Google or Yahoo.
xxxxxx, director-general of the yyyyyyy Authority , said early reports suggest a software program became incompatible with the proxy filter.
zzzzz officials informed xxxxxx the problem was resolved as of Tuesday afternoon, when telecom operators in the region jointly completed a system upgrade.
Service was wholly unaffected for du's internet subscribers in Dubai's free zones, however, which is not covered by the proxy.
I would like some explanations regarding this article (obliviously I cannot write to the editor :-) )
In case I don’t blog in future then you can all guess what happened to me… :-(
It was nice knowing all of you...
I had finished my grocery shopping and the cart was heavy. I was pushing it across the car park. There were many speed bumps along the pathway. I managed to negotiate a few. And then came a colossal one. I hauled and heaved no avail. As I gave it a second try, an old man walking past quickly stopped and helped me pull it over.
Once the cart was over the speed bump, he turned and walked away. I barely had enough time to say a “thank you”. It may not have been much, but it was a random act of kindness, which showed me that
From
Name withheld by request
Everybody understands that the people serving us at these places undergo various stress levels because the people they encounter are diversified. But that’s no reason to be arrogant or “Do I care?” stance.
Today happened to be my weekend and as usual I was sleeping dead when suddenly at mid day I get a call from Dubai and in half sleep I hear the familiar voice of Baba... Now that jolts me to reality... He is not calling to tell a HI during a normal transit flight… He is stranded in the airport…
The reasons for his plight were
He boarded the EMIRATES flight yesterday from the great United States of America and landed in Dubai today morning... His connecting flight was in the night and he expected to have a good time in Airport till then… Alas it worked the other way around. To his astonishment he finds that his outbound ticket to India stands cancelled. So that meant that he was standing in an airport with no visa to enter the country and no ticket to take him to this destination. It was an alien nation and the only person I guess he knew in that country was me. So there comes the call to wake me up from my Friday slumber…
He asked whether it was possible for me to arrange for a visa or a ticket… The issue was that it was Friday and a public holiday and till Sunday it was not possible to arrange for a visa from my side. The other issue was that I was staying in Abu Dhabi, which is some 170 kms away from Dubai. Just grabbed a jean and T-shirt and called up some people at my office who were kind enough to arrange for a car to take me to Dubai because it was Friday and midday… The country kind of shuts down because of the Friday prayers…. My driver who happened to be from Oman missed his holy prayers and took me to Dubai at an incredible speed. We finally reached the airport and there starts my adventure
The only way my friend and me could speak was that he could call to my mobile from a booth inside. So when I reached there I needed to inform somehow that I have reached and he needed to call me now… For that I first went to some “Marabha” service available there. They were the guys to whom you pay and they take care of your people inside. Usually used for old, disabled, young people who are traveling. I went and contacted them stating the situation. The lady at the front desk smiling said I cannot help you maybe you can fill up that form and stand in that queue for the enquiry. I was bonkers and asked another “kind” gentleman. He was “kind” enough to direct me to the passport information counter.
There was a similar “kind” gentleman who was having a good chat with somebody in the phone and after I were standing there for some good 5 minutes showing no intention of moving out he turned to us asking “kindly” with a great “smile” in his face “what do u want?” Even before I could finish he told us that he cannot help us and asked us to contact us the customer service in the Civil Aviation counter. I asked him the directions and he seemed to have not heard us. So getting the directions from other people I finally landed up there.
Thankfully I really had one person who helped us out… He arranged to have a public announcement asking to contact the help desk. He also told that he might not be able to help us and only the airlines can arrange for a visa.
So I went to EMIRATES ticketing counter. I met the best gentleman of the whole day. Sitting there he had a grin and an expression on his face as if something was stuck up in his arse. He said no tickets available. He cannot arrange for a visa. He cannot provide accommodation. He smiling gave a look, which asked “Do I Care?”. So I went to my crescendo shouting at that ass. I made it clear to him that an airline cannot pick up a passenger and drop him in a country where he does not have a visa and also not provide him with an outbound ticket. If they were to do that they should not have boarded him in the first place. Finally somebody who seemed to be little more polite came down. He too had the same look but still he was little good mannered to say that he will look into it and see what he can do. He said if I can get a hotel booking and an airline ticket then my friend would be able to get a transit visa. This info had been already communicated to him inside. So went to the customer service made another announcement and finally he called.
So after speaking to him I went to a ticket sales counter and managed to get tickets to India through Thai Airways and Srilankan Airlines. The ticket sales counter guy said that he can give me the ticket and my friend inside can collect it or I can arrange for some delivery. So after blocking the tickets, I went back to airport information desk and they with lot of reluctance that I can contact the airport police in this regard and I did that. Having an Arabic driver helped me in this regard because that cop didn’t understand one word of English I spoke. Thanks to my driver he said that he might be able to help. He told that in such a way that it looked as if I was not standing there at all and he was just waving at the air. (But I can’t shout at him unless I wanted to take free Briyani for rest of my life). Then went to the EMIRATES counter to check up the status up there. But they still maintained the same stand and we got into another bout of loud shouts… Asking him to try again I decided to wait.
So everything arranged I just needed him to call me up now to give him the details. And the wait was quite long. So I went twice to that customer service guy who made the announcement. I doubt whether my friend actually heard any of them. After a long wait he called up and told that he made a little breakthrough with EMIRATES. He was been put up in priority for the Indian flight. I also told him about the backup booking. After 30 minutes he called up again telling me that he finally got the EMIRATES to give him a ticket and he’s flying to India at 9 pm flight… J
That settled… with a little disappointment that I won’t be spending the next two days with him here in UAE, I said I would be seeing him on next Friday (if nothing of this sort happens to me in Colombo).
Before leaving the airport went to thank the two guys who helped me in this ordeal, the customer service guy in the civil aviation counter (when he saw me approach he was just shaking his head as if he won’t make another announcement) and the other guy at the ticket sales counter.
So we finally hit the road and were stuck up in the evening traffic of Dubai and cursing everybody we hit the expressway to Abu Dhabi…
The problem with the service industry is not just here in UAE, India but everywhere. I don’t know what is the reason for this degradation of service. Is it the huge growing crowd or is it humans are just losing the touch of kindness. Are we just going to be just inhumane to other people’s sufferings? This is not the problem just in airports and train stations but everywhere in hospitals, governmental offices, police stations, shops, taxis….
What happened to the golden smile and the helping hand? Have the hearts shrinked with the world?
