Page 280 - UAE Truncal States

/\ City Stale - Example Dubai

long history of attempts on the part of his cousins to depose him.31
At the time Shaikh Sa'Td bin Maktum could only see another
cleverly-concealed attempt to grasp the reins of power, whatever the
moves of the A1 Bu Falasah and their supporters. He was supported
in this view by the officials of the British Government, who valued the
greatly moderating influence Shaikh Sa'Td and his brother had on the
Rulers of the other Trucial States during crises, and did not want to
see him replaced.

2 The Reform Movement

The new Majlis
During the periods of economic growth the different communities
living side by side in Dubai rarely begrudged the customary
privileges which some groups enjoyed. But during the 1930s
smouldering dynastic squabbles within the ruling family combined
with general discontent among the Arab element of Dubai’s merch­
ants with their reduced wealth and status. The resulting reform
movement was more than a palace revolution, it was an attempt to
bring into harmony the paternalistic authority structure of the City
State with the requirements of a multinational merchant society.
The background of the movement which culminated in the setting
up of the advisory Majlis with the power to veto decisions of the
Ruler was a combination of four factors: the decline of the pearling
industry, the comparative prosperity of those residents of Dubai who
engaged in illicit trade with Persia, the influx of egalitarian ideas
from outside, and a history of disputes and armed incidents between
the Ruler and his cousins.32
The development came to a head in October 1938, when the town
of Dubai became divided into two armed camps: the Dubai side was
held by Shaikh Sa'Td and his followers, and the A1 Bu Falasah were
in Dairah. As was common in cases of confrontation between two
parlies in the Trucial States, other shaikhs came to mediate. Shaikh
Shakhbut, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, and the Shaikh of the Bani Qitab
helped to arrange a five-day truce between Shaikh Sa'Td and the A1
Bu Falasah. When the Political Agent of Bahrain, Weightman,
arrived in Dubai on 15 October the Ruler’s position had weakened,
and after lengthy discussions an agreement was signed on 20
October by which a consultative council, the Majlis, was set up. The
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