Life's Like That: Abdulla, merchant of the Emirati dream

Khaleej Times

18-04-2025

Abdulla Mohamed Saeed Saif AlRiyami is no more. Gone too early at the age of 34. And with him has gone a persona that manifested a much bigger picture of the Emirati dream that has come to shape a modern nation in a shorter time than ever heard of before in human history.
Abdulla was not just another colleague but an Emirati gentleman brimming with the passion — as Vladimir Lenin famously said — 'to learn, to learn and to learn'. Because he knew learning is the best way to lead. And he was on the right track when the curtains came down abruptly on a journey that he had charted — from profession to passion.
With a Master's in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Economics, and International Studies from the University of Colorado, Abdulla switched from the elite world of diplomacy to the dynamic world of journalism, which offered him a chance to have his fingers on the pulse of society.
He was a dreamer who had one foot firmly in the Emirati past, which he was always proud of, and the other in an avant-garde future that the nation's founders had envisioned. As a journalist, he juggled with incredible ease diametric topics such as heritage, innovation, sustainability, and technology.
Gone is a man who greatly embodied the idealism of Arab progression, which I am lucky to have witnessed from the late 80s. Back in time, local lads splurged their sudden oil wealth while the educated expat force occupied various echelons of officialdom. When globalism and innovation swept across the world and the visionary leaders of the UAE made a clarion call to walk ahead of the crowd, Abdullah's was a generation that opted to make a dash instead.
It wasn't easy to sow the seeds of change. To turn a society indulging in all that's glitzy with the message that oil isn't their future was easier said than done. One stroke at a time, the leadership succeeded in loading the societal hard drive with a single message that knowledge economy is the way forward. The rest is history.
I witnessed the spark of change firsthand while travelling with young executives on the national carrier Emirates' maiden flight to Heathrow, London, in 1991. I was pleasantly surprised by the mindset change among the young guys who carried an air of class. They were well educated, well mannered, well spoken and well informed.
I remember Ghaith Al Ghaith, the then newly appointed Emirates area manager for the UK and Ireland, was one of the executives who joined us for dinner at a Turkish restaurant in London. It isn't a surprise that he then went on to write aviation history by leading Flydubai, the emirate's first low-cost airline, to a runaway success. The change was obvious and well manifested in the welcoming smiles behind the immigration desks at Terminal 3 when I returned to the UAE after a gap of 10 years.
'Welcome back home, friend,' the male officer said to my surprise.
Emirati women, once a sparse presence at the help desks of foreign banks, went on to fill the cabins and even head the best banks in the country. Taking heed of the wise leadership, knowledge-hungry Emirati women emerged in hoards from behind the veil of conservatism to fill boardrooms, newsrooms and even the nation's parliament, fly fighters and passenger jets, travel to space, head departments and institutions, and lead researches in astronomy, medicine, engineering, and education.
The world now stops and listens when members of the UAE cabinet, most of them technocrats and experts in their chosen fields, speak at international forums on topics as urgent as sustainability, climate action, famine and displacements caused by mindless wars and calamities, while illiterates and felons fill legislatures and cabinets in some of the world's top democracies. The Emirates is now at the forefront of global actions to feed millions of hungry refugees across the world.
On my return to the UAE in 2000, what surprised me the most wasn't the skyline dotted with a barrage of superlatives, but the change of mindset that had swept across the country. The Emiratis now dream about reaching the Moon, Mars and beyond. Hundreds of them apply to become astronauts.
Abdulla and I had a fair share of disagreements on strategic planning, but the warmth that he had maintained in human relationship was incredibly comforting. In Abdulla's passing, the newsroom has lost a gentleman-journalist who wanted to educate the masses about the significance of artificial intelligence and financial innovations like crypto currencies, while the nation has lost a merchant of the Emirati dream to conquer the world of knowledge — and minds.