150 YEARS OF COLONISATION

In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed talks about the challenges the UAE faced as it came out of British colonisation. He recalls how the people didn’t have clean water to drink and the UAE had very few hospitals and schools.

What happens after 150 years of colonisation? The answer to this question leads us to understand many things in the Arab world. The picture was not so bright after the decolonisation. Development happens from good ties with neighbours and wise management of border disputes.

I witnessed the departure of the last British soldier from their base in Sharjah after 150 years. They never cared for our people’s needs. I was responsible for the military and defence affairs. As their airplanes left, our soldiers celebrated. We felt true freedom. I felt the burden of the responsibility, too.

With the serious lack of development in our country, our people were drinking water from unclean wells. We had very few schools and hospitals and didn’t have the roads to connect the emirates. After the Union, our people had great ambitions for development.

During my daily tours, I used to meet many families and give them food supplies. I saw with my own eyes that developing the quality of life of our people was a long journey. I knew the people needed schools, hospitals and roads. Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid saw the picture as I did. They understood the people’s needs more than I did, which is why they gave me the responsibility of creating an army, while they took care of development, because it was more important.

The secret behind the greatness of any country is not military, but development. Today, I see North Korea challenging the world with its military power, yet its people are poor. On the other side, I see South Korea and Japan, which don’t have great armies, but have robust economies that placed them among the most powerful countries.

The secret behind the greatness of any country is not military, but development.”