Saad Al-Dosari

By : Saad Al-Dosari

Money cannot buy happiness. All of us must have heard this phrase many times in our lives. But for the first time, somebody is trying to translate this fact into reality. That person is none other than Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the premier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He recently announced the formation of two new ministries — one for happiness and the other for tolerance. In addition to that he changed the name of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs to the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Future.

“A new post, Minister of State for Happiness, will align and drive government policy to create social good and satisfaction. #WorldGovSummit” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted to his more than five million followers.

“The post of Minister of State for Tolerance has been created to promote tolerance as a fundamental value in UAE society #WorldGovSummit,” he continued.

There are so many ways to look into this. It could be seen as move of a country that is living in a league of its own compared to its surroundings, a country that is thinking and heavily investing in its future.

Or one could look at it from a marketing perspective, it is a country that knows how to advertise its name, attract attention and brand itself as the utopia that never existed on earth.

However, whatever your view on this is, you cannot deny the fact that the UAE is doing miracles in the region. From a small country that one would hardly pinpoint on the world map some 20 years ago, to a country known as the one that built the tallest building in the world, created an island that looks like a palm tree, owns a ski lounge in the middle of the desert, and the country that is leading the whole world in the aviation industry.

Emiratis are no strangers to the challenges of well-being and happiness. The shocking cultural transformation they had been through makes them somehow experts on how tolerance and happiness can be bred through having a solid system on the ground and a visionary leadership on the top. They are already doing well in the 2015 World Happiness Report, they clinched the 20th position in the world, leading the Arab and Islamic nations altogether followed by Oman on the 22nd rank, while Saudi Arabia came at the 35th rank.

Such reputation is what making the rulers of the UAE look for new records to make or to break. “The government feels that we have provided basic services so far, education and health, so now we should strive for higher goals,” said Abdulkhaliq Abdulla, an Emirati political scientist while talking to the New York Times.

It is worth mentioning that a government body to monitor happiness is not a new idea. The Gross National Happiness phrase coined by Bhutan’s fourth Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, was established in 1972 in the small Asian country to promote wellbeing based on socioeconomic factors. The four pillars of that model were: Sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance. Although the idea is now abandoned in Bhutan, it inspired many other countries in the world, like Thailand and the United Kingdom, to use similar programs in introducing and measuring many general wellbeing indicators.

However, yet, the image cannot be completely shiny and spotless. The critics of such moves use the conditions of labor especially from poor Asian countries living in the rich Emirates as evidence that UAE is still faced with many challenges before thinking of advertising itself as the Utopia of modern age.

In my opinion, the idea is good, even if it is meant for advertising, even with the challenges the UAE has to face, the idea, in the worst cases, would not hurt.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.

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