Page 359 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Chapter Eight

who asked the Americans running the Dutch Reformed Church’s
Hospital in Matrah, in Oman, to establish medical facilities in al ’Ain.
In so small a population every person is needed. Thus, the lives which
were saved by Mr and Mrs Kennedy, Surgeon and Gynaecologist
respectively, and by their staff, since the Oasis Hospital opened in
1960, count in the local society of today. In al 'Ain and other areas
where this mission built up by medical facilities, before any
government could do so, most local families had no other contact
with the world outside, and the success or failure of western
medicine, as well as the personalities of those who administered it,
became the yardstick for many people’s expectations of Europe and
the New World. The establishment of the Development Office in 1965
almost coincided with the change of rule and policy in Abu Dhabi,
because after 1966 the new Ruler, Shaikh Zayid bin Sultan, pushed
ahead with a multitude of development projects and social services,
for which he could easily pay from his ever-increasing oil income.
While there was a great deal of co-operation between most officials,
advisers, consultants, specialists and political bodies concerned
with the development of Dubai on the one hand and the northern
Trucial States on the other, there was usually a certain amount of
rivalry between these people and those working in Abu Dhabi. The
former were justifiably proud of their achievements with limited
financial resources, and criticised Abu Dhabi for pushing ahead
rapidly with many costly projects simultaneously. In Abu Dhabi,
both expatriates and nationals alike were exhilarated by the long-
awaited opportunity to “do things”, and were prepared to accept
some costly flaws in the detail.
It was primarily due to the activities of the London based PD (TC),
“The Company”, and later ADMA and to the efforts of the British
Government that the population of the Trucial Slates experienced
really dramatic changes in their lives during the 1950s and early
1960s. Much conscientious planning and hard physical work was
done during these two decades by scores of oil company employees,
development officers, and British Government officials. Perhaps the
very intensity of the good will generated and the personal engage­
I
ment at all levels meant that they sought satisfaction in immediate
results which could be seen in the particular field which concerned
them. By the late 1960s life on the Trucial Coast looked a great deal
less grim than it was al the end of the Second World War. There was
employment for many with the oil companies. Commerce was
334