Ajman

Today I live in Ajman. This is a small Emirate, North & East of Dubai and Sharjah and one of seven that makes up the UAE.
It’s a liberal place. Of course it’s a Muslim country and that’s more visibly true here than in Dubai but nonetheless alcohol is available legally to non-Muslims and there’s no conservative dress code. You see expats and tourists sunbathing on the beach in mixed sex groups without either embarrassment or harassment.
Mosques are visible, abundant and well used. The only problem is an escalation war with PA systems used when calling the faithful to prayer. Not every muezzin has the voice he thinks he has.
But how refreshing to see them full to overflowing on a Friday – despite the inconvenience caused by the rather selfish parking of those arriving by car.
Ajman doesn’t drip conspicuous wealth like Dubai but neither is it visibly poor. It has more than it’s share of flashy new high-rise developments and its own set of vanity development projects that have failed or gone on indefinite hold since the meltdown in 2009.
We have a pleasant corniche where development is still most certainly under way and this looks onto a nice if slightly run own public beach. White sands, clean and clean waters and no crowds make it a pleasant place to while away a few hours.
If I have a day of phoning or thinking I will spend it at the beach where I can catch a few rays and be productive without the need for an office.
I am still hoping that one the major developments along the corniche and beachside are finished there will be an improvement scheme for the beach itself, which is what the tourists will want. It’s short on facilities – changing rooms, showers, loos, concessions for refreshments, entertainment – and the physical environs do not match the quality of the new buildings nearby.
Away from the corniche and the main drag through the city the high-rises peter out very quickly. But you still find many homes in the city areas proper.
These are single storey flat roofed buildings built around a courtyard and with few windows. Dark and cool but often surprisingly spacious and much more comfortable on the inside than the drear and dilapidated outsides generally suggest, these are not typical traditional houses but a more modern reworking of the style. Most noticeable is the absence of the traditional wind tower and the presence of air conditioning units cheaply added and myriad satellite dishes targeted on programmes from home.
Many, perhaps most these days, are inhabited by groups of expat workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and in Ajman, more so than I’ve seen elsewhere, young Africans. Of course, it’s mostly single men though you do find occasional groups of Filipinas banding together to share expenses and find some company. Few are paid enough to bring their families over and much of their income is sent home every month. It’s a hard life though given the numbers here it is obviously worth the sacrifice.
These cheap low rise buildings have gone from most of Dubai now. Replaced by more lucrative tower blocks or high rent villas, Dubai looks and feels totally different. In Ajman you know you are firmly in the Middle East but in Dubai you could be anywhere.
It is Dubai’s loss. I hope fervently that Ajman makes some different choices going forward. Now the economic bubble in Dubai has burst that may be an easier decision.
I would not want Ajman to become some kind of quaint theme park of the past. It deserves a full share of the benefits of the present and future the same as anyone else. But it could do that and hold on to its culture and charm in the process.
The Emirates are not democracies. Nor do they masquerade as such. Neither, though, are they authoritarian dictatorships as we have seen in Iraq or theocracies as we see in KSA or Iran. What we have in general are enlightened benevolent despots. As was Singapore under Lee Kwan Yu.
Dubai used that approach to make a different kind of city-state. In the process it made mistakes. But there’s no denying the fact that for a country that is mostly sand dune with little natural resource it has become a civilised and comfortable modern state with an incredibly high standard of living for some and a decent one for the rest. It has earned its place in the modern world in a stunningly short time.
Ajman can learn from Dubai. It can learn that it is ok to dream and create from nothing. It can learn that you don’t actually need vast oil reserves to become rich. It can learn that it doesn’t actually take very long to develop a small country with few people.
But it can also learn that you can go too far. It can learn that debts need to be serviced and that bubbles always burst. It can learn that to be totally dependent on cheap imported labour disenfranchises your own people and holds back full participation in the future. It can learn that holding on to your own culture has not just social but also economic value. It can learn that oftentimes it is better to pay more and have quality than just to buy the cheapest. It can learn that some resources are better used and developed than simply consumed. It can learn that people work harder and give more commitment if they have some emotional investment in the future.
Ajman in 10 years could be as comfortable as Dubai without the soullessness and culture loss and without the dependence on cheap foreign labour and without the unsupportable debt. It takes vision will and salesmanship. Sheikh Rashid had it in spades for Dubai and passed it on to his successors. I hope the younger generation of al Nuaimis in Ajman have it too. This could be special. I hope I can stay long enough to see it happen.