Commenting on Portsmouth’s current financial troubles Harry Redknapp, its former manager, observed: “As somebody said they’ve (Portsmouth) found the only Arab who seems to be struggling for money.” He was wrong. I had the misfortune of finding the other Arab short of a bob or two. Forget a thousand and one nights, it was more a case of a thousand and one excuses.
The case of Sulaiman al-Fahim, Portsmouth’s new owner, mirrors my own recent experience with apparently rich Gulf Arabs - including a hospital episode.
Like al-Fahim, we too were spun a glamorous vision of riches, comfort and mixing with royalty. In fact, the service we provided was minimal in return for a decent reward package, including first-class travel and presidential suites at a 5 star hotel. So far so good. Unfortunately, like the Portsmouth affair that’s where the glitz and glamour ended.
Almost immediately I noticed problems, we were promised payment in advance – but we were already in a Gulf country (not Dubai) and the funds were still missing from our company accounts. Portsmouth too was promised Gulf riches, but their first-team footballers and executives have had their salaries delayed – apparently a first in Premiership history.
When we first met our host in the Gulf, dressed in the traditional Emirati outfit, he apologised and said we were all Muslims. As if somehow that nullifies any contractual obligations. And when it came to a critical stage the main man falls ill, we delivered the goods – and many weeks later funds are still outstanding. The key theme was next week, or tomorrow for sure! Currency exchange problems, transfer problems, business partners away in Europe, etc, etc.
Our middleman, there’s always a middleman, was a blonde woman. Yes, the upper echelons of Gulf society do love their young blondes, at least to be around them. Our plane even had a group of them, and they stood out amongst the abayas: same shade of bright blonde (from a packet I’m assuming) giggling away. Safe to assume they were also attending a function, just a different one to ours!
Anyway our middle-woman, a decent mature lady, realised the other party was not playing ball – they even stopped taking her calls! Instead of pressurising her to pursue the funds, I ended up making excuses for them – covering their obvious lies with hollow explanations (the culture is different, time is not treated with same urgency as in Europe, etc). They were Muslims after all, and were giving me a bad name.
I resisted approaching the Dubai based company directly (not the done thing), but in the end had no alternative as they refused to even take my calls on a separate matter. This was no high-flying businessman, he was a proper Del Boy, just like al-Fahim of Portsmouth.
If they could treat us, a European based company with high profile links, in this disgraceful manner, it’s not difficult to imagine how these people can treat their labourers and servants worse than slaves. In case you aren’t familiar with the issues, you should read Johann Hari’s brilliant report in the Independent, The dark side of Dubai.
When I had heard the final excuse from our business partner from Dubai, I wrote one of my trade-mark letters to them. “Patience is a virtue, but there are limits. If we do not receive…”. If it gets the job done, I don’t mind my letters being referred to as ‘intimidating’ or ‘menacing’. These people should count themselves lucky, the physical and mental punishment they inflict upon poor Africans and Asians is beyond the pale.
When I last mentioned this aspect of the Gulf, I was virtually accused of accepting Western propaganda. That such exploitation was not the norm, etc. Since then I have to say I’m even more convinced that the situation is worse than we think. Remember the torture of the Afghan by the Emirati prince captured on film, and the police saying they investigated the matter? What a joke.
Life in the Gulf is a tacky façade of glitz and glamour, built on the slave labour of poor workers from Asia and Africa. To keep the West happy these dictatorships buy Western arms, and invest their money in Europe. To keep the Muslim world happy they build a few mosques here and there. But are bricks and mortar more important than human dignity? Isn’t the blood of a Muslim more sacred than the Ka’ba?
This isn’t a race issue, I have nothing against Arabs. I just have a problem with state sanctioned exploitation in the Gulf countries. It is about time Muslims refused to tolerate such injustice.
After our funds eventually arrived in dribs and drabs, in true Del Boy fashion – I was called by their manager in Dubai who said he hoped we can continue to work together!
I didn’t mince my words, I suggested my experience of Gulf people is that they are fat, lazy and incompetent, get foreigners to do the work and they take the credit, and of course treat their workers disgracefully. I was shocked by his response: “Wallahi (By Allah) it is true, I am also a foreigner here from North Africa. They are lazy and we do all the work”.
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