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On the occasion of renewing my driving license today (gosh has it been ten years already) and the announcement of metro charges in the local papers, I thought that I would share a little tidbit of information for those curious and inquisitive minds amongst us. Did you ever wonder what happened to all of those non-UAE license plates (e.g. mainly from Oman and Saudi) that appear on Dubai’s streets?! What happens to the fines that they incur and do they have to have Salik (the tag that electronically charges your account once you cross the toll gates within Dubai)?!?!
Well, this was a major concern for a friend of mine when he first moved to Dubai. He is a Saudi citizen and as he was working in Dubai, decided to ship his car from Saudi to here and never bothered to get Dubai license plates for his car. Well, as many of us do, at least I speak for myself, is not pay for my parking and speeding tickets except when I have too (i.e. at the annual renewal of car registration). The thinking is; why pay for something until you absolutely have too and besides, maybe one of the royals will issue a pardon for speeding tickets during Ramadan or Eid or National Day so that we get an exemption or reduction in fees. Usually my annual fee is around 1000-2000, but lately it has been getting lower and lower :-).
Anyway, so this friend of mine was worried as he did not have to register his car and kept on accumulating fines and more fines. He was afraid that he might end up with a bill in the hundred of thousand Dirhams once they finally caught up with him. So, he made it his mission to find out!
It turns out that there is an agreement between the GCC countries to pre-pay for the cars registered in their countries, then pass the charges to the actual owners. The responsibility for this tracking falls upon the individual countries. Apparently, Dubai does that and ensures that the owner pays for all of his car fines when he renews. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia does not have this system so they just pay for all of the fines for Saudi cars and keeps the fines in boxes without processing them further.
Thus, one of the cost-cutting methods for the cost of living (in addition to the flexibility of parking) is to get a Saudi license-plate car and have it in Dubai. It will save you a lot of headache and money. For Salik, I assume that it operates the same way, but I will have to check that to be sure.
Showing posts with label Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Arab soccer teams stumble and reap what they have sown
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If you are a soccer fanatic like me, then most of yesterday was spent in front of the TV watching the final matches of the Asian Qualifiers. For background, ten teams were placed in two groups and they played each other team in their group home and away in a round-robin format. The top team and the 2nd placed team in each group would automatically qualify to the South Africa finals. Meanwhile, the two teams that placed third would still have a chance, but via a longer route; they would have to beat the other 3rd placed team, then beat New Zealand.
Now, there were 4 teams out of the ten that are Arab (Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE). With them being placed two in each group, the ideal scenario for a true Arab sports supporter would have been for all 4 to qualify. The actual results; none of the 4 automatically qualified. Luckily though, we Arabs from Asia still have a chance as Saudi and Bahrain faced third in their groups. Thus, the winner in their duel will face New Zealand for the 5th place. For information, the four representatives of Asian football are Australia, North and South Korea, and Japan.
The sense of disappointment and frustration was evident on all of the Arabs and especially the Saudis during their final match in Riyadh vs. North Korea. Had Saudi won, then it would have qualified. That is hard to imagine if you saw their rusty performance yesterday. They lacked a competitive spirit, they did not display urgency; they were playing as if it was a practice session. A complete difference to their performance in 1994 whereas they shocked the football world by winning their group and did the Arabs proud.
Now, they will blame it on the coach, signing up another multi-million dollar coach who will get fired as soon as they stumble at the next block. After all, who can blame the players when princes interfere and determine whom should play (normally their favorite or the one from the club that they are responsible for). This is not acceptable! As mentioned in an earlier post, we need our sports teams to do us proud and become professional.
We are sick of them failing to do that! Time is running by and we are not progressing. We need to examine the structural roots of that and implement measures to rectify the problems. My layman’s impression is that it is a sense of arrogance and a laid-back attitude by the players. As the Arab proverb states: “You reap what u sow”.
Hopefully, our Arab breathren in Africa will have a better record. Finally, good luck to Bahrain! It would be great if the country of less than a million was able to advance. However, I will not be too disappointed if it was the Saudis who continued their 5 straight appearance in the World Cup Finals. After all, South Korea has made it now 7 straight times. We need to strive to better those sorts of records, in the sports arena and other arenas as well.
If you are a soccer fanatic like me, then most of yesterday was spent in front of the TV watching the final matches of the Asian Qualifiers. For background, ten teams were placed in two groups and they played each other team in their group home and away in a round-robin format. The top team and the 2nd placed team in each group would automatically qualify to the South Africa finals. Meanwhile, the two teams that placed third would still have a chance, but via a longer route; they would have to beat the other 3rd placed team, then beat New Zealand.
Now, there were 4 teams out of the ten that are Arab (Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE). With them being placed two in each group, the ideal scenario for a true Arab sports supporter would have been for all 4 to qualify. The actual results; none of the 4 automatically qualified. Luckily though, we Arabs from Asia still have a chance as Saudi and Bahrain faced third in their groups. Thus, the winner in their duel will face New Zealand for the 5th place. For information, the four representatives of Asian football are Australia, North and South Korea, and Japan.
The sense of disappointment and frustration was evident on all of the Arabs and especially the Saudis during their final match in Riyadh vs. North Korea. Had Saudi won, then it would have qualified. That is hard to imagine if you saw their rusty performance yesterday. They lacked a competitive spirit, they did not display urgency; they were playing as if it was a practice session. A complete difference to their performance in 1994 whereas they shocked the football world by winning their group and did the Arabs proud.
Now, they will blame it on the coach, signing up another multi-million dollar coach who will get fired as soon as they stumble at the next block. After all, who can blame the players when princes interfere and determine whom should play (normally their favorite or the one from the club that they are responsible for). This is not acceptable! As mentioned in an earlier post, we need our sports teams to do us proud and become professional.
We are sick of them failing to do that! Time is running by and we are not progressing. We need to examine the structural roots of that and implement measures to rectify the problems. My layman’s impression is that it is a sense of arrogance and a laid-back attitude by the players. As the Arab proverb states: “You reap what u sow”.
Hopefully, our Arab breathren in Africa will have a better record. Finally, good luck to Bahrain! It would be great if the country of less than a million was able to advance. However, I will not be too disappointed if it was the Saudis who continued their 5 straight appearance in the World Cup Finals. After all, South Korea has made it now 7 straight times. We need to strive to better those sorts of records, in the sports arena and other arenas as well.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sports development should be for everybody
Obviously many blog posts during August would relate to the Olympics recently conducted in Beijing. While reading one posted by American Bedu, who is a regular blogger in Saudi Arabia, I remembered growing up there and the shattered dreams of a young child. But in order not to confuse you, let me give a little bit of background.
Growing up in Dhahran, Aramco whilst attending a Saudi private school (D.A.S- for those that will recognize it) had many benefits. It allowed me to learn Arabic and understand Islamic religion whilst at the same time advancing my Western education. Naturally, as a young child, I was full of energy (maybe my mother adding tons of sugar to our corn flakes had something to do with it) and would love to play all matter of organized sport outdoors. The main sports were soccer, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. I was actually pretty darn good at them and could have continued had the encouragement been there.
Well, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education in coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports were in the planning stages of developing their male youth and providing them with the coaching and guidance to progress further in their favorite past-times. Thus, many sports clubs (Itifaq, Al Nahda, and Al Qadiysia in the Eastern province) would send out their coaches to find young Saudi talent and develop their game further. My issue with that is that I was approached by several of these coaches, but then they backed out when they found out my passport which was not Saudi. So, what happened? My Saudi friends and classmates signed up with these clubs. As a result of them getting exposure to various tournaments throughout Saudi Arabia in addition to regular coaching, they were able to develop further. I could not as I was limited to the tournaments held for the Aramco community which usually consisted of the same 5 people whom were at your level (mainly tennis here).
For instance, I won an 800-meter run and a track and field coach approached me stating my time was great. Remember that I was a young adolescent who had a low heart beat and could beat many others his age in running middle distances (for short sprints, there were faster people than I). I had a natural inclination on how to pace myself and this was without any formal training or development. It was raw talent that sadly wilted away and was not allowed to develop further.
That is not fair and shows a level of short-sighted thought on behalf of the authorities. Whilst it is understandable that they would like to develop their Saudi youth, they have to accept that the other youth living in the country should be treated the same. If we contrast that with the United States (my experience during college), it is the difference between day and night. Over there, all students have the ability to participate in collegiate level sports and it does not matter where they come from. The better they are, the more chances they have. Talent is the only criterion. In fact, my siblings had experiences whereas talented sports stars are given a chance to attend exclusive boarding schools during their high school years in order to utilize their talents in the desired sport.
Why cannot we Arabs be as open to this idea as the Americans? After all, their results and success speaks volumes, while the Arab track record leaves something to be desired.
Growing up in Dhahran, Aramco whilst attending a Saudi private school (D.A.S- for those that will recognize it) had many benefits. It allowed me to learn Arabic and understand Islamic religion whilst at the same time advancing my Western education. Naturally, as a young child, I was full of energy (maybe my mother adding tons of sugar to our corn flakes had something to do with it) and would love to play all matter of organized sport outdoors. The main sports were soccer, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. I was actually pretty darn good at them and could have continued had the encouragement been there.
Well, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education in coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports were in the planning stages of developing their male youth and providing them with the coaching and guidance to progress further in their favorite past-times. Thus, many sports clubs (Itifaq, Al Nahda, and Al Qadiysia in the Eastern province) would send out their coaches to find young Saudi talent and develop their game further. My issue with that is that I was approached by several of these coaches, but then they backed out when they found out my passport which was not Saudi. So, what happened? My Saudi friends and classmates signed up with these clubs. As a result of them getting exposure to various tournaments throughout Saudi Arabia in addition to regular coaching, they were able to develop further. I could not as I was limited to the tournaments held for the Aramco community which usually consisted of the same 5 people whom were at your level (mainly tennis here).
For instance, I won an 800-meter run and a track and field coach approached me stating my time was great. Remember that I was a young adolescent who had a low heart beat and could beat many others his age in running middle distances (for short sprints, there were faster people than I). I had a natural inclination on how to pace myself and this was without any formal training or development. It was raw talent that sadly wilted away and was not allowed to develop further.
That is not fair and shows a level of short-sighted thought on behalf of the authorities. Whilst it is understandable that they would like to develop their Saudi youth, they have to accept that the other youth living in the country should be treated the same. If we contrast that with the United States (my experience during college), it is the difference between day and night. Over there, all students have the ability to participate in collegiate level sports and it does not matter where they come from. The better they are, the more chances they have. Talent is the only criterion. In fact, my siblings had experiences whereas talented sports stars are given a chance to attend exclusive boarding schools during their high school years in order to utilize their talents in the desired sport.
Why cannot we Arabs be as open to this idea as the Americans? After all, their results and success speaks volumes, while the Arab track record leaves something to be desired.
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