Dubai needs quota to curb non-Arab expats–police chief

Dubai should introduce a quota system to keep the size of its expat population in check, the emirate’s chief of police has said.
Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that a check on the number of non-Arab foreign workers is needed to preserve the UAE’s national identity.
“To keep the balance, I recommended a quota system that would ensure that the number of other nationalities should not be more than UAE nationals and Arabs,” Tamim was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times.
“We are concerned about losing our identity, heritage and language. The new generation of Emiratis feels increasingly isolated.”
Emiratis are a minority in the UAE, as a result of the country's ongoing need for foreign workers.
Tamim suggested that expatriates should only be allowed to reside in the UAE if they are filling a specific skills shortage.
“If we go to any of other country to reside, it is considered offensive; they do not allow us easily to reside, work or invest,” he told the paper. “Each country has its own rules and conditions and we have to do the same to preserve our national identity.”
In an interview with Qatar TV on Saturday, Tamim had compared the Emirati situation to that of Native Americans in the US, the paper said.
Media reports on the programme, Lakom al-Qarar” (The decision is yours) quoted Tamim as drawing a line between Arab and non-Arab expatriates.
‘An Arab national is like the son of the soil,” he was quoted as saying. “It is easy to interact and have a better rapport with him as against the non-Arab national.”


(C) Arabian Business