Letters To The Editor 07/08

Landlords and eviction threats

Issuing eviction notices in the name of renovation seems to be the new ploy among landlords in Dubai to get rid of old tenants (Eviction Threat).

Their game plan is obvious: when new tenants apply for rooms, they can charge a much higher rent than the amount being paid by the current tenants. This way, they get to circumvent the rent cap rule too. A clever ploy indeed.

This is a very dangerous trend, to say the least, that’s taking shape in this city and the authorities need to be aware of it. In this regard, the media has a crucial role to play to nip the problem in the bud by exposing such landlords and bringing them to the notice of the authorities.

If allowed to go unchecked, one landlord will a take a leaf out of another landlord’s ‘success’ and before we know what has struck us we will find ourselves trapped in the jaws of rent sharks.

Sanjay, Dubai

Where’s the shoe man?

This is in response to your article Mend It Like Ashfaq. I really need to find this shoe repair man as soon as possible. Please give me directions to Al Farid Foot Wear on Al Mussallah Road. Where exactly is it?

Name withheld, Dubai

Editor’s note: Al Farid Foot Wear can be easily located on Al Mussallah Road. If you can find Al Mussallah Tower on Bank Street, turn right and then drive towards Dubai Creek. When you reach Al Fahidi Roundabout, do a U-turn and drive back up Al Mussallah Road towards Mussallah Tower. Just after the traffic light, about halfway towards the tower, Al Farid Foot Wear can be found on the right in the first row of stores.

On a visa run

I came to the UAE on a visit visa on June 7 this year and my visa expires on August 7. I got an opportunity to work in Sharjah, but now I need to know whether I can go to Iran in order to change my visa status – from visit to employment.

Mohammad Salem, Sharjah

Editor’s note: According to the new visa regulations, job seekers will have to return to their home country to be able to come back to the UAE on a residence permit. Visa change runs to Oman and Kish island (in Iran) have been discontinued since August 1 this year.

The cost factor

Please tell me how much it would cost for a 60-day visit visa to the UAE.

Name withheld, India

Editor’s note: A visitor can come to the UAE either on a tourist or a visit visa. A tourist visa costs Dh210 and is valid for 30 days. It can be extended for another 30 days for a fee of Dh610.

A short-term visit visa costs Dh610 and is valid for 30 days, but it cannot be extended. A long-term visit visa, which is valid for 90 days, costs Dh1,120, but it cannot be extended. And all visas require a refundable Dh1,000 deposit.

Unacceptable explanation

In the story Eviction Threat, the management’s explanation for renovations is vague at best. John Stevens [Director of Property Management, Asteco] is just being a "yes" man and Asteco needs to outline exactly what these renovations are so that an independent committee can justify if they are being honest and reasonable. I feel sorry for the tenants who have to bear the brunt of this false reasoning.

Paul Cowan, Ajman

Catch the culprits

Suzan Tamim’s gruesome murder has sullied Dubai’s crime-free image (Suzan Tamim Decapitated). I just hope forensic experts will put the pieces together at the earliest to enable the police to arrest the culprits.

Ishwar, Satwa

Keep it up

I would appreciate it if you could add a page on General Knowledge and Guinness records with illustrations as that would help attract more young readers. Your effort is commendable and I would like to congratulate the whole XPRESS team.

Syed Mahmoud, Sharjah

Bus shelter blues

I’m just wondering if the brains behind the air-conditioned bus shelter project are really on the right track.

On Al Wasl Road, they energised the isolated bus shelter opposite the Eppco petrol station while the other bus shelter near the Emarat petrol station – the supposedly busier one – is still boarded up.

Elsewhere, you can find "energised" bus shelters with no people inside and "unenergised" bus shelters surrounded with perspiring commuters. Why is this happening?

Vladimir, Jumeirah

Lost in transition

My wife had a classic HSBC credit card and applied for a gold HSBC credit card on July 18. On July 22, the bank said the card was with DHL courier service and that she would get it in the next two to three days.

When my wife called up DHL on July 23, they said it would be delivered on July 27. When she called on the said day, the customer service guy took down her complaint and said a supervisor would call her. As no one called her, she called again on July 28 and was told it would be delivered either on the 28th or the 29th.

To make matters worse, when my wife went shopping on August 1 and tried to pay using her classic card, the machine rejected it. My wife called up HSBC but they said since the new gold card had been despatched long ago, the old classic card was automatically cancelled after a one-and-a-half-week period.

When my wife called DHL on the evening of August 1, the customer service representative said that it was to be despatched on July 31. My wife told him it was a holiday and asked when it would be delivered, to which he said he did not know.

Then my wife asked for a supervisor and that is when he started shouting at her.

It’s as if we were being punished for the late delivery. My wife has lodged a complaint on the DHL website against the guy. Maybe HSBC should reconsider who they use for courier deliveries or should just shove the card in an envelope and post it to us the old-fashioned way, I’m sure that it will reach us quicker than DHL.

Jude Fernandes, Sharjah

Editor’s note: XPRESS has forwarded the complaint to DHL and is yet to receive a statement on the issue.

Greed creed

Greedy landlords and unscrupulous housing agents are cashing in on the municipality’s crackdown against families sharing accommodation and bachelors living in villas.

They are using the government campaign to drive away existing tenants to enable them to offer their spaces at higher rates and I’m just wondering why the authorities are not lifting a finger to put a stop to this unfair practice. You see, what is happening here when it comes to finding affordable accommodation leaves you with a sense of hopelessness. Most expats came here with a dream of making progress in life. I think that the dream is gradually turning sour.

Weary tenant, Karama

Clarification sought

Your article, Virtual Underground City, is totally inaccurate. Septech did not design any of the facilities that they claimed to have designed.

The designs were done by our company, Cloward H2O, for Kerzner Istithmar. Further, Septech was the contractor for the installation of mechanical rooms only.

They did no designs. They also did not install any of the implied underground piping. This was done by others. I and many others strongly resent this misrepresentation. It needs to be investigated immediately.

M. Gregory Cloward, Provo, USA

Editor’s note: Thank you for pointing out the inaccuracy. The story was carried on the XPRESS website xpress4me.com and it has been corrected online on the request of Septech, the company with which the interview was done. The story read "custom designed" when it should have read "contracted to build". XPRESS regrets the error.

Pigeon tales

Having read your article about racing pigeons in the UAE (Wings of Wonder), I feel the reporter should have highlighted the difference between racing pigeons mentioned in the article and homing pigeons. The origin of homing pigeons, also known as homers, is Belgium and they are known for their ability to come home from a distance as great as 3,000km.

As for the questions in the ‘you speak’ box, I do not know if the sport is an obsession in the UAE. My interest lies in tipplers [a breed of domestic pigeon bred to participate in endurance competitions] but I do not have a place to breed them here.

How can I contact the breeders you have mentioned in your article?

Nicolae, Dubai

Editor’s note: You can reach Ahmad Kambar at 050-495 4949

Games for free

It is so nice that Dubai Sports Channel and Abu Dhabi Sports Channel will telecast the Beijing Olympic Games for free. I remember how much running and asking around we had to do to watch the European Football Championship matches recently. Although everything was all right in the end, there was an initial period of anxiety. And I was just starting to wonder how I was going to watch the Olympics when this announcement came out.

Raju, Sharjah

Fair-thee-well

Webster defines racism as "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race". While, under the Indian Constitution, we [in India] don’t discriminate based on caste/creed or colour, there are subtle ways in which we do practise a form of coloured imperialism (read: racism) among ourselves.

A quick glance through a matrimonial site or a newspaper classified will show us our truthful adherence to Webster and a constitutional defiance. Seeking ‘fair’ or ‘very fair’ complexioned girls for a ‘wheatish’ complexioned boy is not uncommon (or even vice versa). It’s surprising that we have invented the term ‘wheatish’ complexion to camouflage our reference to dark or less fair in colour. I am not sure whether we can give matrimonial ads in the West ‘seeking a rice-complexioned partner’. Many would mistake this to be a commercial bid for a new agricultural variety in this rice-starved world!

A newborn child in the family is immediately looked at for its colour. While relatives make no secret in starting with lineage and behavioural comparisons, colour does dominate some of the attention. Has the child taken after a more ‘wheatish’ father or mother becomes a subtle topic for discussion. Even as the child grows, the colour of the skin dominates our mind and elders even blame the scorching sun for turning the infant’s ‘wheatish’ tinge to a more radiating black.

While the above is true in family circles, the film and the media world are not far behind. The fashionable trend of importing damsels from the north to act in South Indian movies is another form of coloured imperialism. While lack of talent may be an official argument from the production houses, the commercial value attached to sleazy numbers works well with the imported stuff.

In the advertising world, commercials promoting fairer skin are a form of coloured imperialism. While some restrict themselves to promoting their products and their medicinal impact on skin colour, there are many who weave a turnaround story in the 20-second ad spot. From being the girl next door to winning a Miss Universe title or turning into Miss ‘Confidence’ in interviews to win top jobs are just a few among many.

All these subtle acts – of the fair-skinned one gaining self-confidence or winning contests – highlights adherence to Webster’s definition of racism.

Sivakumar K.B., Bangkok