Opinion

There are invaluable lessons in the success stories of Malaysia and Dubai for the rest of the Muslim world. One visionary leader can make all the difference.


The Pakistani cabbie who rushed me to the Dubai International Airport last week for my Kuala Lumpur flight was uncharacteristically sullen. I hurled the most clichéd question at him as soon as I settled down: ‘Khan, how long have you been in Dubai?’


‘More than I can remember. Over 25 years, I guess,’ he replied in his thick Pashtu-laced Urdu.


‘When are you planning to go home?’

‘I don’t know. Anyway, Dubai is my home now,’ he said with a touch of sad resignation in his voice. ‘I go to Peshawar every two years. But since I’ve got to feed my family back home, I can’t stay long with them.’


Driving over the Garhoud Bridge, he gestured to the parallel bridge that is fast coming up. Dubai continues to build and expand its already vast and efficient road network to deal with the ever-growing population and traffic of the emirate.


‘Look at that. Another bridge, another road and a few more thousand of new jobs. I’ve witnessed Dubai and UAE grow for the past quarter of a century. This place never ceases to amaze me. Always developing, always building something or the other. And this growth has suddenly gone into overdrive, right in the top gear over the past few years.


‘And it’s all thanks to leaders like Shaikh Zayed (the late visionary president of the UAE) and Shaikh Mohammed (UAE vice-president, prime minister and Ruler of Dubai). Sir, if only our countries had been blessed with a Shaikh Mohammed of our own, we wouldn’t be working here - thousands of miles away from home. Look at me, I’ve spent more than half of my life away from my loved ones,’ the cabbie shook his head.


Earthy wisdom there! The cabbie’s words (Silly me, I didn’t even ask for his name!) have stayed with me ever since. He was right. Leaders with a vision build nations and countries.


Travelling across and deep inside Malaysia for a week, I was constantly reminded of the conversation with the Pathan cabbie. Malaysia is another shining and inspiring example how individuals can indeed change the destiny of nations.


One visionary leader can make all the difference.

In Dubai’s case, it is Shaikh Mohammed’s leadership that has made all the difference.


When I landed in Dubai nearly five years ago, I found this breathless adulation for Shaikh Mohammed among the Emiratis as well as expatriates a little disconcerting. Coming from India, the world’s largest democracy, I saw it as little more than yet another manifestation of the personality cult that is so common across the Third World and many Arab-Muslim countries.


But having keenly, and rather sceptically, watched Shaikh Mohammed over the past five years, I’ve ended up as a wide-eyed, hopeless admirer of the Dubai Ruler and UAE prime minister. It’s nearly impossible not to fawn over the dynamic leader.


Inspired by his equally farsighted late father, Shaikh Mohammed has transformed Dubai into a top and thriving world class tourist destination and economic capital of the Middle East. So much so that many people around the world today know and identify the Middle East with reference to Dubai. Dubai is the Middle East and the Middle East is Dubai, it would appear. And Dubai is Shaikh Mohammed!


And, mind you, all this has been spawned on the strength of sheer imagination and resilience of spirit. Remember, Dubai has little oil. At least, not as much as other Gulf states to live off it in carefree luxury. Dubai and Shaikh Mohammed defy all stereotypes about the Arab and Muslim world.


He is ever so preoccupied with the welfare of his people that he has little time to idle around. He is unveiling some project or the other on a daily basis to cater to his already pampered people.


If it’s not easy to imagine Dubai without Mohammed, Malaysia and Mahathir Mohamad are equally inseparable. The Southeast Asian country is a living and breathing tribute to one man’s imagination. Although Mahathir has long departed from the scene passing on his mantle to his protégé Abdullah Badawi, his influence on Malaysia today is everywhere.


Which isn’t really surprising given the fact Mahathir is the one who transformed an isolated, impoverished and long colonised land into a hip and happening country that is a constant source of inspiration and envy to the neighbourhood and rest of the world. The country’s growth over the past two decades, under Mahathir’s dynamic leadership, has been truly phenomenal.


If Malaysia today is seen as one of the fastest growing economies and is admired around the world for its poised progress, the credit should go to Mahathir.


And it’s not difficult to see why Malaysians love to love the former prime minister. No wonder the current prime minister Abdullah Badawi finds it hard to emerge out of his former mentor’s long shadow.


Driving down the highway that connects Malaysia with Singapore in the south and Thailand in the north, one is amazed at the wide and winding six-lane road that is hemmed in on either side by thick palm plantations. Such perfectly smooth roads are a rarity in most of the Third World and Asian countries.


And it’s not something that has been done to impress new arrivals in the country. Wherever you go, Malaysia has similar magnificent roads. And this preoccupation with perfection doesn’t end with roads. Malaysia has institutions and infrastructure that can compete with the best in the developed world and can be a source of envy for the developing world. It has already beaten neighbours such as Thailand and Singapore to emerge as the world’s favourite tourist destination in Asia.


Not a small feat considering Malaysia won its independence much later than other Asian countries like India and Pakistan, in 1957. In fact, it became Malaysia — a union of major states like Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak — only in 1969. What is really fascinating about Malaysian experience is the fact that despite its phenomenal economic growth and development, the Muslim majority country with large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities hasn’t broken away from its rich religious, cultural and historical heritage. It is a truly multicultural and multi-religious society in the real sense.


Unlike the European model of integration where religious and ethnic minorities are kept at a respectable distance — in their ghettos, Malaysia’s minorities are a healthy part of the mainstream. At the same time, the country remains firmly faithful to its Islamic character and identity. Malaysia also demolishes the myth that Islam and democracy or Islam and modernity do not go together.


There are invaluable lessons in the success stories of Malaysia and Dubai for the rest of the Muslim world. The two Mohammeds — Shaikh Mohammed and Mahathir Mohamad — have demonstrated, and how, that you can make your dreams come true, if you believe in them. It’s sheer grit and imagination that have enabled the two leaders to excel and achieve for their people few leaders have in such a remarkably short time.


Remarkably enough, both Dubai and Malaysia have embraced modernity without turning their back on their traditions.


The two leaders have proved that there is no dearth of original thinking, talent and urge to excel in the Arab and Muslim world even today. What you need is the power of imagination and the leaders who can make those dreams come true. Little wonder then Dubai and Malaysia are compelling others in their neighbourhood to follow the suit.


Never underestimate the power of your dreams. They may come true.


(The writer can be reached at aijazsyed@khaleejtimes.com) (Khaleej Times Online)