Dubai

[Fran]

I've been hearing some really interesting stuff about Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (which tied for 9th with Australia, Estonia and Luxembourg in Cato's 2005 report on the freest countries in the world). Does anybody else have information on Dubai that they would like to share, whether negative or positive, because I would certainly enjoy hearing it? I plan to go and visit in September as it's only a 3 hour flight away from Cyprus, which is where I'm living after escaping the encroaching police state of the UK.

Apparently, there is no income tax, capital gains tax, or inheritance tax and with only 5% import duty. There are free zones, with a 20 or 50 year guarantee that there will be no tax on businesses there, if the laws on tax do change (hmm, worrying in itself as it implies that they might). These free zones are also ruled by common law rather than Islamic law. Islamic law also only seems to apply to the natives. So immigrant women can go around wearing whatever they like and they do (according to a friend's eye witness accounts).

It doesn't have a democracy and instead is ruled by a benevolent ruler whose aim is to make it the most prosperous place in the world. (I know that many people, myself included, would have serious misgivings about its being run by a 'dictator'.) Only 15% of the population are natives with the rest being immigrants (you get automatic 3-year renewable residency if you buy a property), and anybody (no matter what their skill level) can get a work permit if a business sponsors them.

The rules are: you don't speak out against the ruler, you don't speak out against Islam, and you don't try and convert muslims to another faith. Ok, so there are restrictions on freedom of speech, but if he has created this fairly free society, then I have no reason to speak out against him as he's not affecting my life and instead has created a prosperous nation in which I would like to live, neither would I have reason to speak out against Islam as their way of life would not be affecting me (unlike in the UK). I don't what the penalties would be for breaking these rules, but for other crimes like theft, I've heard that they stopped chopping people's hands off many years ago.

He seems to be succeeding in making it successful, rumour has it that one in eighteen of all the cranes in the world are in Dubai! I have a friend who didn't believe this rumour until he went out there, but now thinks that it is true.

Yes, I know that it's not Galt's Gulch and there are probably problems with it that I am missing and won't find out about until I try and live there, but it seems to be possibly the closest thing that I'm going to get to a free-ish country in my lifetime. I know somebody who is heavily involved in politics in the UK and he hopes that there will be a tax reduction there within the next 20-30 years - that's almost the rest of my lifetime!! I'm not prepared to wait that long.

[L W HALL]

Fran,

While I know next to nothing about Dubai, it sounds like an interesting place to visit, but as far as living there I believe I would have problems with what you state here: "The rules are: you don't speak out against the ruler, you don't speak out against Islam". I would probably wind up in trouble since discretion is often cast aside when it is something I feel strongly about.

Here in the U. S. we have plenty of problems, but I can still address them through various means and that includes talking loudly against the leadership as long as I make no threats against their lives.

L W

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Fran,

I am all for seeing the world. It's your only time around, so pack as much in as you can.

I know that I will check out Dubai over time. I have heard wonderful things about that place.

If your temperament is more "improvisation oriented," you should do well in places like that. From your posts, you seem to be doing well in Cyprus as it is. For some basic information, you might want to check out the CIA World Factbook on United Arab Emirates.

Informal unregulated banking is a big plus, despite the criminals that lurk around places like that.

Michael

[clarkems]

Dubai is one of the most interesting places on earth right now. It really is rapidly becoming one of the most prosperous places on earth and the laws regarding taxes, etc. are true. It is a good place to do business in the Gulf region (with some limitations).

I recently spent a year in Bahrain, which is very similiar in laws and perspective, but much smaller with about 400, 000 inhabitants mainly in the city of Manama. The inherent problem is that the rulers have absolute power. In many cases these powers can be used to the public good. While I was there I was told that the soldiers with machine guns and blockades we saw one day were the result of the government throwing mobsters from one particular nation out of the country. It seemed to work. I was impressed. That could never have happened in the West.

However we lived in a compound where many expat writers and editors working for the state funded newspaper lived. We used to share poolside and barbeque pit resources there and swap stories. Reporting on the government was heavily censured with serious consequences for violations. The end result was a generally held opinion that the newspaper was good for household cleaning purposes, and this opinion was relayed to me by locals, not the newpaper staff.

Other stories of absolute power are more serious. I have heard of members of ruling families living beyond the laws they have themselves put in place and abusing other non-royals in business practices. It is not a safe place for a small expat businessman without serious connections or resources. There is no common protection under the law from the ruling family members. One could argue that the concept of "Entitlement" historically comes from the powers of absolute monarchs and the legacy of English occupation prior to The American Revolution in the "colonies" and in other countries such as Canada, Australia, India and South Africa teach us that despite the high moral, ethical, political ground reputed to the current day monarchs the day to day reality was one of the abuse of power and entitlement from lesser royals.

There is talk of reform in the region which is very encouraging and democracy in the form of elected Parliaments have been experimented with but caution is a word I would use in relation to individual rights and freedoms in that region for North Americans.

Edited September 17, 2006 by clarkems

[Ross Barlow]

Fran, Dubai sounds like a great place. Enjoy your visit there and be sure and give us a report. You appear to be a true “cosmopolitan,” in the Stoic sense of being at home in the “universal city” of the human world, so you will have the wisdom to appraise whether or not Dubai is for you.

Dubai seems to have a lot going for it. Just for a balance, on the down side, it apparently has no solid constitutional basis for its present freedoms, and this gives them a weak foundation. Of course, the historically magnificent freedom-friendly constitutions of England and of the United States have eroded in time and lost much of their original spirit. Yet these constitutions were strong enough that they protected freedoms for many generations. Therefore, Dubai may be a bit like Hong Kong was, in that a question mark is always in the back of one’s mind about the future of power. Keep your assets fluid, i.e., passports and bank accounts, and you should not have too much to worry about.

I am sojourning in the Kingdom of Thailand, and I love it here. It is a constitutional monarchy with a strong Army influence. There have been many constitutions written in the 20th century and several military coups alternating with new parliaments. Still, the kingdom is relatively stable because of the ethics of Buddhism and the guiding wisdom and moral authority of most of the outstanding kings of the last 150 years. A separatist Muslim insurgency in the South will be testing this nation.

I hesitate to criticize my adopted country, not because I am afraid of repercussions but because I am a guest here and it would be bad form to be rude. Thais are remarkably tolerant, so I am quite tolerant of their institutions whenever they seem odd to me. One recent thing did upset me a bit. When the movie, The Da Vinci Code, came to theaters here, the government censors prohibited the last 10 minutes of the film to be shown because Christian groups were whining about it. Christians make up less than 1 percent of the population of this predominantly Buddhist country, but their feelings are protected (in the name of keeping the religious peace) to the point where such censorship is accepted. I think that the thing that got to me the most was the fact that Thais did not even blink about this. The outrage came from us Western expats, used to our natural rights traditions of freedom.

Tell us more about what you think of Dubai after your visit. It sounds fascinating. I envy you for visiting a new corner of the world for the first time. Like that that other great fellow wanderer, Bilbo Baggins, you are off on a new adventure.

-Ross Barlow.