Page 130 - UAE Truncal States

Administering a Tribal Society

Eventually most families of Dhafrah were allocated a house in Bida'
Zayid constructed for them by the government; women and children
of school age and the elderly took up residence there during most of
the year while some of the men were either supervising the camels on
the winter grazing or looking after the gardens in the LTwa.
Eventually the majority of the men established transport businesses
cither in Abu Dhabi or in Bida* Zayid, or they found employment with
the military, police or one of the many companies operating in the
area.
Since the early 1970s Saif bin Musa has ceased to report directly to
the Ruler in Abu Dhabi, but has referred to the representative in the
western region, Shaikh Muhammad bin Buli al Hamad. This was the
effect of a far-reaching change in the nature and function of wali
administration in the shaikhdom of Abu Dhabi after the establish­
ment of new population centres associated with the activities of the
oil company.

Tanf
Since the 1950s the activities of the oil companies have required the
concentration of a work-force of local inhabitants in new settlements
in places previously insignificant in the local economy. The men
obtained regular employment, wages were paid, and they were
subject to the authority of the foreign company. The relationship
between the company, the Ruler and his people in these various
locations had to be arranged to suit the new requirements. Thus a
total transformation was brought about in the method of administer­
ing the shaikhdom.
When preparations for drilling the first well on the Trucial Coast
were being made late in 1949 by PD(TC) al Ra's al Sadr, men from all
areas of Abu Dhabi State found employment with the company. The
Ruler, Shaikh Shakhbut, kept in touch with every development
regarding the recruitment of labour, the payment of wages, and the
conditions of employment; but he also appointed his nephew Shaikh
Hamdan bin Muhammad as his representative at the drilling site, to
be present as and when required. Routine liaison between the tribal
work-force and the company was entrusted first to Ahmad bin Fadil
al Mazru'i, then to the wali in the Llwa, who was at times assisted by
Ahmad bin Juma'h.
Under the terms of the agreement of 1939 between the Ruler and
the company, the former was obliged to provide guards for all

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