Travel in Muslim Countries: To Go or Not to Go

Most Westerners are inundated with negative images of Muslims, making excursions east of Switzerland seem foolhardy. As a U.S. citizen at an American hotel in Muslim-majority Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I'll offer my own perspective. 

Seen April 2021

First, tourism is a trillion dollar industry, and all significant economic sectors include aggressive competition.

While almost everyone has learned governments use fake news and intelligence operations (aka propaganda) against each other, not many of us realize corporate espionage is just as active. For example, during a major sporting event in the United States, a Chinese company's website went down after one of its commercials aired, depriving it of both revenue and reputation. Was it a case of too much online traffic, or something else? More recently, TD Ameritrade's website became inaccessible shortly after the United States assassinated an Iranian military leader on Iraqi soil. Coincidence? Or part of a proportionate response? 

And what of Huawei's acceptance woes internationally? 

From Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei's Lessons from Battle

Most Americans will never know the details behind such machinations; as a result, they tune out public affairs, leaving the corporate and governmental worlds to persons with more passion than common sense and no guarantee of extraordinary moral fiber. Over time, such disconnect leads to a casual acceptance of almost any kind of news relating to foreign affairs--even if the news has no basis in fact. 

Second, negative news is an effective economic weapon because it is cheaper to issue a press release that biases consumers against foreign products than it is to spend money on positive advertising (aka building a consistent brand). Whatever the proclaimed political platform, every government has the same goal: attracting investors and deposits in order to expand the economy and to lower unemployment. Malaysia in particular has received bad press because its leader, Tun Mahathir Mohamad, is unapologetically pro-Asian, pro-Malay, and nationalistic. 

From A Doctor in the House (MPH Publishing)

Some examples of negative news involve Malaysia's hotel policy prohibiting unmarried couples from staying together. Setting aside the fact that states like Sarawak and Sabah are known to be fiercely independent from authorities in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, people fail to read the fine print: such policies are applicable only to Muslims and no one else. Since no front desk hotel clerk has ever asked me to state my religion, one can see obvious enforcement problems. In fact, none other than Tun Mahathir has said, "Islam does not ask us to find fault in people to the extent that you breach into other people's homes. That is not Islam." Why, then, do such policies exist? 

Here's the short version: after 1945, Europe could not afford to occupy countries east of the Suez, which it had done since Portugal controlled the Straits of Malacca in 1511, signaling Islam's decline in SE Asia. Despite overreaching--even WWII's "winners" had crushing debt--European leaders believed they could successfully resist or co-opt anti-colonial movements threatening private property interests. In one particularly brazen example, the Dutch, intending to stymie independence efforts, seized the future Indonesian president. (See Operation Kraai/Crow.) Though Westerners are taught WWII ended in 1945, in reality, battles continued worldwide over two additional decades to expel European colonists, especially the British. 

As European influence waned, newly independent countries--eager to counter vestiges of colonialism but with little experience building economies--had to discover new ways of governing diverse populations. In Malaysia and other majority-Muslim countries, politicians decided to restrict full benefits of citizenship to those presumed to be loyal to new governments, which in practice often meant Muslims (rather than Buddhist Chinese or Indians). 

By Tun Mahathir Mohamed

At the same time, Islam's reformation of slavery over a thousand years before similar movements in the West; lack of centralized structure (no Holy See); and absence of racial categories made Muslim-majority countries susceptible to hostile foreign infiltration and fraud, generating an ironic outcome: SE Asian governments, some still under European military protection, used anti-colonialism to justify identifying residents with greater specificity, thus mimicking British colonialists' "divide and govern" strategy. 

Later, Tun Mahathir refers to British colonialists' racialized division of labor.

In the United States, few people are willing to accept identity cards disclosing their religion or race, but such cards are common in SE Asia in order to better administer governance, including minimum diversity levels in government-subsidized housing. Mindful of an Animal Farm outcome in which new rulers become as corrupt as old ones, Muslim-majority governments began drafting laws applicable only to Muslims in order to respect non-Muslim minority residents. An unintentional result of using separate systems and/or governmental hiring preferences--whether in Hindu India, Muslim Malaysia, or now politically-Catholic-dominated USA--is that governments ceded the more dynamic private sector to non-majorities (e.g., Punjabis and Sikhs in India; Chinese in Malaysia, etc.), making themselves less relevant. 

Today, when Christian Westerners discuss sharia law, they bypass historical context: namely, that some religious minorities seek independent legal systems to resolve marriage, divorce, child-rearing, and inheritance issues because of Western colonialism's abuses and a rational distrust of legal systems in which Christian governments made and interpreted rules against politically-powerless minorities without input from non-Christians. 

Let's fast-forward to modern-day Malaysia. The country continues to struggle with corruption, even as its private sector appears healthy and citizens of all races and religions have experienced steady, sustainable improvements in quality of life. Meanwhile, politics in Malaysia--just like in several Western and Christian countries--has become an arena in which to signal moral purity rather than seek effective solutions. 22 years after opposition candidate Anwar Ibrahim was arrested on allegedly pretextual sodomy charges, former PM Najib Razak will face trial for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal. 

Such political jousting isn't novel. When Tun Mahathir became president of Malaysia's now-most powerful political party in 1978, Tun Harun Idris had been investigated for corruption and jailed. After Tun Mahathir rose to power, he helped pardon Tun Harun. Lest you believe Muslim-majority countries are unique in using legal maneuvers against political opponents, you may want to review impeachment proceedings (Bill Clinton, Dilma Rousseff, Donald Trump); corruption convictions (Brasil's Luis "Lulu" da Silva, Spain's José Antonio Griñán); politically-motivated detentions without trial (Singapore's Operation Coldstore); FBI investigations before and during USA President Donald Trump's term; and President Trump's military-related pardons, plus dismissed prosecutions, including one where a lieutenant general pled guilty to lying to the FBI. (The only logical reason for such a lie would have been because statements requesting a foreign country not to escalate were code for an eventual quid pro quo that didn't happen only because of the FBI's investigation.) 

From USA's Mueller Report

In 2020, many voters see democratic elections as a game in which the ruling party uses all available tools to crush political opposition so as to cement power over the common purse, a power it wields to reward friends and destroy enemies. Sadly, they're not wrong. The level of incest--figuratively as well as literally--within political families is so prevalent, one has to wonder why voters didn't catch on earlier. See, for example, Belgium's Anciaux and Spaak families; Bolivia's Siles family; Brasil's Bolsonaro family (and many others);

In Brazil, 20,000 families control 80% of the wealth. -- Clark Winter's The Either/Or Investor (2008), hardcover, pp. 123.

Canada's Trudeau family (and many, many others); Colombia's López family... I could continue, but the list is extensive worldwide, and just the "U" countries (U.S., U.K., Uruguay) could fill a novella. (Note: Americans lived under a Bush or Clinton presidency from 1989 to 2009.) All available evidence indicates politicians are merely stand-ins for ruling families (Rockefellers, Gettys, Vanderbilts, Hearsts, Rothschilds, Morgans, etc.) which hearken back to a time when trading houses, along with their private militaries, ruled trade and therefore the world. 

We may know about the House of Bourbon, House of Bonaparte, and House of Saud, but though we're told "Hong" means "fragrant"--marketing so inapplicable to Hong Kong, one wonders if they're even trying anymore--in fact the "Hong" in Hong Kong refers to British trading houses. 

In the first half of the 19th century, the largest single industry in the United States, measured in terms of both market capital and employment, was the enslavement (and the breeding for enslavement) of human beings... Over the course of the period, the industry became concentrated to the point where fewer than 4,000 families (roughly 0.1% of the nation's households) owned about 1/4 of this 'human capital,' and another 390,000 (call it the 9.9%) owned all of the rest. -- Matthew Stewart (2018) 

Once one connects political power, military power, and trade (economic power), politicians are exposed as pretenders to a throne established centuries ago and protected by governmental inefficacy relating to offshore tax shelters that utilize complexity to provide anonymity. Within such a landscape, we can understand 1MDB as a misguided attempt to attract foreign direct investment, plus its corollary: zealous enforcement against the rise of patrons, especially in the informal sector, that might inspire unaccountable competitors. Perhaps we can now see some arrests are publicized to rally a political base; harass supporters of political opponents; gain advantages within a trillion dollar industry; or signal moral superiority by casting opponents as insufficiently religious. Admittedly, such a paradigm brooks no winners except would-be conformists and no prizes but internal rot, but if "all's fair in love and war," why not politics also?  

Native-born citizens and Hollywood aficionados forget America is an idea, not a specific place, and much of America's appeal comes from the eternal idea of refuge (including from political instability). In other centuries "America" was called the New World, and though I do not speak enough languages fluently to tell you more names, considering Justice Sotomayor's dissent in Trump vs. Hawaii (2018), Canada may now be more "American" than its downward neighbor. And so, to those Americans and Christians avoiding Muslim-majority countries because of inconsistent executive enforcement, discrimination on the basis of religion, and criminals run amok, rest assured: the United States has become like every other country, but with superior marketing. Welcome! May your children someday experience sunset gates and glows worldwide. 

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (2020) 

Bonus I: "Tun" is a term of respect placed in front of a distinguished Malay's name. It is similar to "Mahatma." (Gandhi's first name is not Mahatma, but Mohandas.)  

Bonus II: Modern Western politics is in its current miserable state because everyone from Diego Rivera to the Workington Man has realized Western liberal values were mere covers for theft and supplanting of local institutions abroad rather than a sincere attempt to bring Enlightenment to all. -- Matthew Rafat (2019, after Britain's general election)

Padang, Indonesia: City of Waterfalls and Dragonflies

Most people will never visit Padang, Indonesia, and that's fine by me. The city includes a diverse mix of accommodations, from the relatively upscale Grand Inna Padang Hotel and The Axana hotel to the mid-range French-owned ibis, plus several RedDoorz and homestays. Beaches with red sunsets and pink skies are common within the city and outside of it. 

There aren't many museums or awe-inspiring mosques, but the two-level Museum Adityawaran will delight any anthropology student or ethnographer, and Masjid Taqwa Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat boasts a unique modern design. 

As for food, the region has some of the world's best cinnamon as well as two restaurant chains (Lamun Ombak and Malabar) serving traditional fare, including jumbo size shrimp/udang if it's your lucky day. 

Lamun Ombak Pasar Usang

Unfortunately, it's impossible to see the best of Padang without a car, and most unique attractions are 45 minutes to 3 hours away from the city center. GoJEK and Grab apps are great for shorter trips, but in smaller cities and for longer trips, SE Asia tourism currently lacks solutions other than pre-planned tour buses, which I consider the exclusive province of senior citizens and their flag-football-waving leaders. 

I visited four different waterfalls--called "Air Terjun" in Bahasa--all of which were the highlights of my trip, and all of which require a local guide to find. 

Let's start with Baburai Waterfall, the farthest one from Padang's city center. It took 2 hours of driving to reach the jungle reserve housing the waterfall, then an easy 40 minutes walking to the waterfall--as long as you know the way. Sturdy but uneven concrete steps lead down to the waterfall, which will make any tourist wonder why more people aren't visiting. (My guesses are ignorance and a lack of reputable local tour guides and drivers; after all, no one really wants to drive in any foreign country, especially if they've heard stories of corrupt police officers shaking down tourists for bribes.) In any case, this waterfall had a very strong current, so much so that I couldn't get closer than 15 feet. 

After months of complaining about other visitors leaving behind plastic bags, plastic bottles, and solitary sandals, I ended up losing one of my favorite sandals trying to swim closer to the waterfall, thus gaining insight into the reasons single sandals pollute nature reserves. 

Nearby Baburai Waterfall is Dua Bidadari Waterfall, which requires only a 30 minutes walk on a completely paved path to reach. I call this waterfall a "Mini-Madakaripura" because both waterfalls are similar, though of course the one nearby Padang is much smaller. 

Air Terjun Sarasah (aka Air Terjun Sarosah, Air Terjun Sarasah Gadut--but *not* Air Terjun Sarasah Kuau Rajo) was my favorite. Located one hour away from the city center, a 45 minutes walk on a mostly unpaved path delivered a beautiful waterfall allowing visitors to go directly underneath the source. 

It was here I lost my 20 USD Decathlon plastic glasses when I mistakenly went the wrong way down and ended up hugging a tree branch while trying to free my foot from the damp dirt resembling jungle quicksand. (If you see a monkey wearing blue-tinted sunglasses, tell him I want my sunglasses back.) 

The easiest waterfall to see is Lembah Anai Waterfall (aka Lembah Anai Air Mancur), located by the side of the road. When I visited, the water was freezing cold, so I could only go halfway to the waterfall, but if you dislike hiking and want to see a nice waterfall, this one might be your best bet. 

So there you have it. You won't find much exciting in Padang's city center, but one to two hours' away await some of the world's prettiest waterfalls. I'm no geologist, but I assume the reason Japan, Indonesia, and California suffer horrendous earthquakes and tsunamis is because continents were created when tectonic plates collided around Costa Rica and Indonesia, which is why they and their neighbors have incredibly unique scenery. For me, if there's heaven on earth, it has to be in an Indonesian waterfall surrounded by dragonflies and fast-moving butterflies. 

Come visit before everyone else discovers these "hidden" gems. 

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (February 2020) 

Bonus: Some tourists don't visit Indonesia because they'd rather go to Australia or the flight (using Garuda Indonesia) is expensive. My suggestion is to fly into Singapore, stay one or two nights, eat the chicken rice, then take Air Asia from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL is a great airport), and then anywhere in Indonesia. You can also try Scoot Airlines, though I suggest using Air Asia if you are flying into Kuala Lumpur, even for a connecting flight. 

Note that I travel lightly and avoid checking luggage. For my Padang trip, I've worn one pair of pants, one cap, two pairs of underwear, one pair of socks, and two shirts for an entire week. I handwash everything each night in the sink with shower gel and soap.

_________________________________

Padang, Indonesia: Kota Air Terjun dan Capung-capung yang Anggun

 

Mungkin  akan ada banyak orang yang tidak memiliki kesempatan untuk bertandang dan mengunjungi kota Padang, ibu kota Sumatera Barat, salah satu kota yang cantik di Indonesia. Hal itu tidak menjadi masalah bagi Saya secara pribadi. 

 

Namun kunjungan Saya ke kota ini beberapa waktu yang lalu menggugah Saya untuk bercerita tentang beberapa hal yang mengesankan dan mempesona. Mari kita mulai perjalanannya. Padang sebagai sebuah ibu kota memiliki beragam akomodasi, mulai dari Hotel Grand Inna Padang dan  The Axana yang relatif mewah hingga hotel kelas menengah seperti Ibis – milik Perancis, ditambah beberapa RedDoorz dan homestay yang terjangkau. Pemandangan pantai dengan matahari terbenam berwarna merah dan semburat langit merah muda adalah hal yang sering dan biasa Anda akan temui di daerah ini. 

 

Sebagai seorang penggemar Museum, Saya menyayangkan bahwa tidak banyak Museum atau Arsitektural Masjid yang dapat Saya eksplorasi atau sampai membuat saya berdecak kagum. Tetapi Anda  jangan sampai melewatkan dua tempat berikut ini, Pertama adalah Museum Adityawarman; sebuah Museum dengan dua tingkat atau dua susun berjenjang, yang akan memuaskan banyak rasa penasaran para peneliti entnofrafi atau para pembelajar bidang antropologi, dan yang Kedua adalah Masjid Taqwa Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat yang memanjakan mata dan menawarkan desain modern yang unik dibandingkan Masjid lain di area tersebut. 

 

Di sisi lain, Anda harus meluangkan waktu untuk menikmati lezatnya kuliner khas Padang yang amat memanjakan lidah. Tentu Anda pernah dengar atau membaca tentang Rendang, makanan yang dinobatkan sebagai makanan terlezat nomor satu di dunia, dari Padang-lah asal masakan lezat tersebut. Tidak dapat dipungkiri, masakan Padang memang terkenal dengan dominasi rempah-rempahnya yang beragam, dan berkualitas tinggi, sebab padang merupakan salah satu wilayah penghasil kayu manis terbaik di dunia. Di daerah ini juga terdapat dua jaringan Restoran yang ternama yaitu Lamun Ombak dan Malabar yang menyajikan masakan-masakan khas dan tradisional, dan jika Anda beruntung, pada Anda dating, Anda akan disuguhkan masakan dengan menu Udang yang berukuran jumbo. 

 

Sangat disayangkan bahwa Padang mustahil dinikmati keindahan dan keistimewaannya tanpa menggunakan mobil, di mana atraksi-atraksi dan lokasi pariwisata yang menarik berjarak sekitar 45 menit sampai tiga jam dari pusat kota. Aplikasi online seperti GoJek dan Grab merupakan pilihan terbaik untuk perjalanan dalam kota dengan jarak yang dekat.  Secara umum pariwisata di negara-negara Asia Tenggara terutama untuk perjalanan jarak jauh belum memiliki banyak alternatif pilihan atau solusi selain menggunakan bus pariwisata dengan perjalanan yang terencana, hal ini terkait juga dengan keberadaan dan kesempatan bagi para lansia yang ingin turut serta berwisata bersama-sama. Saya berkesempatan untuk mengunjungi empat Air Terjun yang berbeda di sana, keempatnya menjadi sorotan perjalanan Saya dan jika Anda juga ingin mengunjungi tempat yang sama, jangan lupa Anda membutuhkan pemandu lokal untuk menemukan lokasi Air Terjun tersebut. Saya akan mulai dengan Air Terjun “Baburai,” yang merupakan lokasi Air Terjun terjauh dari pusat kota Padang. Butuh waktu dua jam berkendara untuk mencapai hutan cagar alam hutan di mana air terjun Baburai terlindungi di dalamnya. Dengan kecepatan yang standard dan dengan catatan jika Anda tahu jalannya, Anda akan sampai ke sana dalam waktun tempuh sekitar 40 menit berjalan kaki. Tangga beton yang kokoh – meskipun tidak rata – dan pemandangan indah sepanjang perjalanan yang mengarah ke air terjun, membuat wisatawan bertanya-tanya mengapa tidak banyak orang yang berkunjung. Dugaan saya hal itu terjadi karena kenihilan informasi, kurangnya pemandu wisata, dan pengemudi lokal yang bereputasi baik; sementara para wisatawan terutama wisatawan mancanegara seperti Saya enggan mengemudi di negara asing. Kembali ke cerita tentang Baburai, air terjun ini memiliki arus yang sangat kuat, sehingga saya dan wisatawan lainnya dilarang untuk terlalu dekat dengan air terjun ini, berilah jarak diri Anda dengan air terjun sekitar 4.5meter.

 

Setelah berbulan-bulan mengeluh tentang pengunjung lain yang meninggalkan kantong plastik, botol plastik, dan sandal yang hanya sebelah, saya “beruntung” karena mengalami sendiri dan mendapatkan jawaban mengapa banyak sandal hanya sebelah yang tertinggal di sini, karena saya akhirnya juga kehilangan satu dari sandal favorit saya saat mencoba berenang lebih dekat ke air terjun, hal itu membuat saya mendapatkan  wawasan tentang alasan sandal tunggal mencemari cagar alam. Air Terjun lain yang jaraknya dekat dari Baburai adalah Air Terjun Dua Bidadari, membutuhkan waktu 30 menit berjalan kaki di jalan yang beraspal untuk mencapainya. Saya menyebut air terjun ini sebagai "Mini-Madakaripura" karena kedua air terjun ini mirip, meskipun tentu saja yang lebih dekat dengan pusat kota Padang jauh lebih kecil. 

 

Air Terjun “Sarasah” (atau Air Terjun Sarosah - Air Terjun Sarasah Gadut—tetapi bukan Air Terjun Sarasah Kuau Rajo) adalah favorit saya. Letaknya sekitar satu jam perjalanan dari pusat kota, dan dibutuhkan 45 menit lagi berjalan kaki di jalan yang sebagian besar tidak beraspal. Jalan itu berujung pada air terjun yang indah dan memukau yang memungkinkan wisatawan untuk langsung berdiri di bawahnya dan menikmati siraman alami dari air terjun itu sendiri. 

 

Nah, selain tragedi hilangnya sandal saya yang sebelah, di sini juga saya kehilangan kacamata Decathlon (jika tidak salah ingat, harganya 20 USD atau setara dengan 283.000 IDR, bukan barang mewah, tetapi sangat bernilai bagi saya) ketika saya salah strategi untuk turun dari sebuah pohon dan akhirnya memeluk cabang pohon yg cukup jauh ketika mencoba membebaskan kaki saya dari kotoran basah yang menyerupai pasir hisap hutan. Jadi jika nanti Anda seekor monyet mengenakan kacamata hitam dengan frame berwarna biru, tolong sampaikan padanya bahwa saya ingin kacamata saya kembali. 

 

Air terjun selanjutnya adalah Air Terjun Lembah Anai (Air Mancur Lembah Anai), paling mudah dilihat sebab terletak di pinggir jalan. Ketika saya berkunjung, airnya sangat dingin, jadi saya hanya bisa pergi setengah jalan ke air terjun. Jika Anda tidak suka melakukan pendakian (hiking) tetapi tetap ingin melihat air terjun yang bagus, Air terjun Lembah Anai dapat menjadi pilihan terbaik bagi Anda. Di sinilah saya akhiri cerita perjalanan saya tentang kota Padang dan Air Terjun yang dimilikinya. Terus terang, Anda tidak akan menemukan banyak hal menarik di pusat kota Padang, tetapi satu sampai dua jam perjalanan dari sana, beberapa air terjun tercantik di dunia telah menunggu dengan tenang kunjungan Anda, dan saya bisa pastikan Anda akan terpesona serta mengagumi keindahannya. Saya bukanlah ahli geologi, tapi saya berasumsi bahwa negara-negara seperti Jepang, Indonesia, dan juga negara bagian California berulang kali mengalami gempa bumi dan tsunami yang mengerikan karena benuanya terbentuk ketika lempeng tektonik bertabrakan di sekitar Kosta Rika dan Indonesia, itulah sebabnya negara ini dan beberapa negara tetangga mereka memiliki pemandangan yang sangat unik dan fenomenal. Bagi saya, lokasi yang dapat disebut sebagai pecahan surga yang ada di dunia harus diberikan pada lokasi-lokasi air terjun di Indonesia yang amat memukau mata, mendamaikan hati, dan terkenang di jiwa, dengan suara air dan cantiknya kupu-kupu, serta para capung yang bergerak dengan anggunnya. 

 

Datang dan kunjungilah sebelum banyak orang lain ikut menemukan permata yang tersembunyi ini. 

 

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (February 2020) 

 

Bonus: Beberapa turis tidak mengunjungi Indonesia karena mereka lebih memilih pergi ke Australia atau penerbangan dengan maskapai Garuda Indonesia harganya cukup mahal. Saran saya, terbanglah ke Singapura, menginaplah satu atau dua malam (jamgan lupa makan nasi ayam khas Singapura tentu saja), lalu naik Air Asia dari Singapura ke Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL adalah bandara yang bagus, lho!), dan kemudian Anda dapat memilih untuk terbang ke kota manapun di Indonesia dari Kuala Lumpur. Alternatif lain adalah Anda juga dapat mencoba Scoot Airlines, meskipun saya tetap sarankan untuk lebih baik menggunakan Air Asia jika Anda terbang ke Kuala Lumpur, bahkan untuk penerbangan lanjutan. 

 

Catatan bagi Anda, ketika saya bepergian ke Padang, saya adalah tidak membawa banyak barang untuk menghindari pemeriksaan barang bawaan. Saya hanya menggunakan sat utas ransel ukuran medium (jadi saya tidak menggunakan bagasi, hanya kabin saja), dan yang saya bawa hanya satu buah celana, satu topi, dua pasang pakaian dalam, satu pasang kaus kaki, dan dua kemeja untuk perjalanan selama seminggu penuh. Setiap malam saya mencuci semuanya menggunakan tangan dengan shower gel dan sabun di wastafel kamar mandi hotel.

Sharjah: A for Effort, C for Vision

If you are a shaikh, sheikh, emir, sultan, or king in Sharjah, you probably tear out small clumps of your hair at the end of each day. While Dubai, your flashy neighbor 20 minutes away, disregards every hadith and Quranic surah about materialism, you have done everything according to the book—whether academic or religious—and it’s still not enough.

Part of Sharjah’s aversion to ostentation may come from being the preferred location for British elites since 1933. Today, no one doubts Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the richer and more influential of the seven different kingdoms, but once upon a time, pre-oil, the UAE was nothing more than desert and fishermen—and Sharjah its crown jewel.

That’s why Sharjah, not Dubai, is home to the UAE’s first cinema (founded in 1945), 

first commercial airline (Air Arabia) and first airport. Air travel and distant military alliances soon require services, including mail delivery (email and cell phones did not always exist), restaurants, translators, banking, wire transfers, telecommunications, and other commerce. The 1932 contract giving the British permission to use Sharjah as a de facto military base is astoundingly simple—11 years of straightforward obligations summarized in just a few pages, referring to “Sharjah and its villages” and prohibiting “evildoers.” 

The British needed Sharjah to ensure access to its most important colony, India, and Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi II wasn’t averse to modernizing his sultanate, creating a worthwhile alliance. 

British influence continues to this day, with almost everyone in Sharjah fluent in English and the UAE’s aviatory knowledge having evolved into a successful space venture.

As a testament to the UAE’s Islamic-based tolerance, Sharjah is spectacularly diverse, with Filipinos, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Africans, and many other nationalities living side-by-side. At least half of any cinema’s movies are Indian in origin, involving dialects I’ve never seen before. 

It may be one of the few places in the world an African immigrant and his/her children can experience zero racism merely by donning the local dress. Much credit must be given to Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, the UAE’s most distinguished scholar. Many pitfalls existed on the way from fishing outpost to trading middleman to pearl diving to gold broker to oil producer (in 1958), and the Al Qassimi family committed few errors—except ones made by all other well-meaning politicians. Dr. Al Qassimi’s charity is everywhere in Sharjah, and therein lies the rub: every action taken to re-shape and modernize Sharjah while reducing poverty has also held it back, because what works for cold Britain and vast America does not address the needs of a small, scorching hot kingdom.

Instead of building asphalt roads—which, being oil byproducts, absorb heat and increase temperatures—Sharjah should have built trams or a subway. (Even relatively poor Casablanca, Morocco has a European-built tram.) Instead of making Sharjah unwalkable due to its street designs and absence of widespread beverage vending machines, the Sheikh should have known if people cannot walk in a city, they will stay inside and increase their chances of diabetes. Rather than install air conditioning everywhere—which increases overall temperatures by pushing hot air outside—the kingdom should have considered how to better utilize wind and shade. Above all, rather than rely on Western and Indian technology—which binds them to foreign security practices—the UAE should have invested in domestic technological development so its apps were more than just copies of Uber (Careem) and Zomato (Talabat). (By the way, even Sharjah’s tourism sector is out of sync—it offers a slick handbook to download, but many of the recommendations, such as “Al Arsaha Public Coffee Shop,” are not listed on Google Maps, making them impossible to find.)

To summarize, modernizing the UAE by hiring American and British companies and adding Arab and Muslim charity/zakat has proven problematic. 

Neither the British nor the Americans still view the UAE—or any other Arab country—as an essential port or aviation hub, shifting the relationship from long-term partner to mere oil supplier. Meanwhile, India’s focus on homegrown technology has made it the desired partner of both the West and the East, despite its rapidly declining natural resources and its questionable track record on the environment and physical infrastructure.

Aside from the UAE’s poor city planning due to accepting developer plans initially tailored for other cities and countries, most of its small businesses make little sense. While London has numerous small bookstores surrounded by cafés and one of the world’s most innovative libraries, the United Nations has never designated it a “World Book Capital.” In 2019, consistent with its desire to be seen as the UAE’s cultural capital, Sharjah became a so-called “World Book Capital” and “City of Books,” but other than a single oversized book display in my nearby McDonald’s, I have yet to see an actual bookstore worth visiting. 

One gets the sense UNESCO and other UN-affiliated organizations often bestow awards out of political reciprocity rather than merit, and without doing any research, I’m certain the UAE has contributed to the UN more than most nations. Furthermore, many of the small businesses I do see must be supported by the king’s beneficence, because while useful ten years ago, they are no longer viable—unless you think printer cartridge replacement, typing centers (not internet cafés), or document copying are the future.

Like with most problems not solved at their root, poor city development segues into other bad decisions, throwing politicians and kings into the hands of shopping mall and condominium developers—worsening sprawl, destroying local flavor, corralling imagination into mere building exteriors, and cementing the unsustainable. Ideally, the UAE’s most valuable partner would be Japan, which has a similar climate and the world’s most advanced city in Tokyo. Yet, what is the one major country in Sharjah I see having little to no influence? If you guessed Japan, sadly, you are correct. Political idealists despairing at globalization’s backlash should ask themselves: what is the point of globalization if you have money but can’t figure out which city makes the most sense to emulate because your politicians and students haven’t bothered learning Japanese and can’t free themselves from a post-WWII economic framework in which their natural resources are traded under a Western financial system?

Egyptian leader Gamal Adbul Nasser must have seen all these issues when he founded the Arab League in Cairo in 1945, bringing together Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. When he died in 1970, the Arab world lost its best visionary a year before Britain promised its citizens it would withdraw all forces east of the Suez. Coinciding with British withdrawal was the birth of the UAE in 1971, then referred to as the “Trucial States” (per an 1836 treaty with Britain).

Imagine being Abu Dhabi-born Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan on December 2, 1971, the UAE’s first president, knowing since 1968 he would no longer receive British protection or revenue from use of its facilities. Who would protect the UAE’s oil shipments? How would his country access reasonably-priced shipping insurance? Whom could the UAE trust? Then imagine one year later, Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, one-time ruler of Sharjah, attempting one of many coups in the Trucial States’ history, in this case, failing. The number of assassinations and coups in the Trucial States from 1926 to 1972 are too many to recount, but as far as I know, no coups or assassinations occurred after 1972 or during Sheikh Zayed’s rule. Like the prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Sheikh seems to have united different Arab tribes, ushering in an era of peace and forward-thinking views on women’s rights, one reason the UAE is more tolerant than many other Arab countries.

With Gamal Nasser’s death in 1970, Sheikh Zayed’s death in 2004, and Lee Kuan Yew’s death in 2015, the East may have lost its most astute political leaders. In the modern era, where trade, technology, and debt link all countries’ economies together, the absence of leaders like Sheikh Zayed is showing across the Islamic world, as too many politicians with too much money fail to forge a path on their own and choose alliances with countries and politicians out of historical habit. Who will be the UAE’s next Sheikh Zayed? Who will be the Arab world’s new Nasser, who negotiated a peaceful return of the Suez Canal back to Egyptians and who saw the Muslim world's potential for trade agreements earlier than most? Until we know the answers, expect more political instability not just in the Arab world, but in all countries that no longer have the wisdom to move forward in ways individually-tailored to their own citizens’ needs. As Shakespeare might say, “A decent politician, a decent politician! My kingdom for a decent politician!”

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (2019)

Bonus: 1) every "Union Taxi" cab I hailed tried to cheat me--use another service if you can; and 2) if you visit, don't forget to try kanafeh and other Arab sweets.