Page 89 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

Maintenance of Power: Political and Social labile

on whose respect lie depended on for the maintenance of his power,
and as regards his relationship with the British government and
their representatives in the Gulf. It obviously was difficult for the
ruler of a shaykhdom to know when the issues at stake and the
attendant circumstances were such that he should act on a situation
and when they were such that he should ignore it.
Of all the rulers on the Trucial Coast, Sa‘id bin Maktum was
by far the best judge in this respect. A master of the art of
compromise, he spent a large slice of his time in trying to patch
up all the foreign and domestic problems of his fellow rulers. The
difference between him and them in the way they conducted their
respective affairs was striking. He represented a society that was
quickly adapting itself to a new way of life where tribal alliances,
tribal disputes, zakat, all were becoming self-defeating. When he
felt that he had lost the confidence and support of his majlis,
in 1929, he decided that, rather than fight, as his fellow rulers
would surely have done, he should resign. He obviously did not
think that the total disruption of the economy was a fair price
to pay merely to save his position. Trade and a vital economy,
no matter how restricted they were in the 1920s and 1930s, were
clearly the new norms of Gulf society. Kuwait and Bahrain were
also in the process of transformation, but they had become more
open to outside influences: young Kuwaitis were being educated
in Iraq; and Bahrain, particularly after oil was struck there in
1932, began to sent its youth abroad for higher education. Dubai
had not yet advanced so far, but its people followed much the
same trends as the Bahrainis and Kuwaitis.

RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN

Generally Sa‘id also knew how to balance the situation with the
British authorities. He was unique among the rulers on the Coast
in having never had a clash with a British representative, and
the British generally liked and respected him: they often called
on him for help in solving local problems. The fact, however,
that the British, in order to protect their interests in the Gulf’
were prepared to go beyond the terms of their treaties with the
shaykhdoms in intervening in local affairs meant that Sard’s fellow
rulers, who were not as careful as he was, often found themselves
at odds with the British in some way or other.
One of the first concerns of a ruler after he had assumed power
was to obtain recognition of his status from the British Government.
Without it he could not survive for very long, for it was his
relationship with Britain that allowed him to continue in power.