ABU DHABI // As Abeer drove to the Egyptian Embassy, her father pleaded with her again to change her mind and vote for the new constitution.
But Abeer insisted she would not.
"My family are all with Morsi and the constitution, I am not," said the young woman in her 20s who, like other people interviewed for this story, asked that only her first name be used.
"We always argue on this. And now they have split us as either non-Muslims or Brotherhood," she said after casting her vote. "As if you are either with us or against us. They cannot tell us we are not Muslims."
Abeer was one of hundreds of people who voted at the Egyptian Embassy yesterday in the referendum on Egypt's new constitution.
Her brother, Mohamed, voted in favour of the constitution later in the day.
"He refused to ride in the car with me because of my vote," Abeer said.
Voting on the constitution ends on Saturday and more than 60,000 Egyptians in the UAE are registered to vote.
Emotions ran high as supporters and sceptics of the Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi, argued.
Close to midday, a group of people came out waving ballots revealing they had voted for the constitution.
"This is a very good constitution," said one, Mahmoud, in a raised voice. "[Opposition figure Mohamed] ElBaradei said he wanted a dialogue, but then he said he didn't. Protests should end by both parties."
Another man passing by stopped and took out his ballot to show he had voted against the constitution.
"What has your constitution said about education?" the man asked.
"It is free for all school years," Mahmoud replied.
"What about university? Can the Egyptian people afford to pay?" the man retorted.
The men quarrelled as they tried to get their points of view across.
"Where were the Islamists when the protests broke out last year?" the man asked. "And where was Baradei?"
Mahmoud insisted they were there.
A few minutes after the two departed, a TV crew interviewed a man who had just voted.
"Today is a black day for Egypt," he shouted as a crowd gathered. Once the interview was over, embassy staff told the TV crew to stop "aggravating voters".
"It is OK, I can say what I want, and whoever can say what they want, we are not in Tahrir Square to fight," the man said.
To avoid any trouble, most voters kept to themselves.
"People died in protests over this, and now there are sensitivities," said Ahmed, who voted for the constitution. "People do not want to mingle together in fear of problems; people do not want problems. During presidential elections people were much more patriotic and happy than now."
Those who voted for the constitution said they were generally happy with it after reading it closely. Some said it was important to vote for it and move on, while others said any problems could always be amended.
"The president came out and said anyone with comments can tell them," said Khalid. "Then he said he will talk to opposing groups. He has always been there and available. What is wrong with having Sharia in the constitution? It was there before."
Those against the constitution said it did not represent all segments of society, did not protect human rights and gave the president far too many powers.
Two female friends walking out of the embassy after voting together looked disapprovingly at the crowds outside.
"We are going back to the dark ages, 1,000 years," said Sally, who has lived in the Arabian Gulf for 18 years. "This constitution is completely against human rights and women and children. It has nothing on education or health care."
Some people said they would reject any constitution from the Muslim Brotherhood.
"The Islamists want to impose taxes on alcohol, is that Sharia-like?" said George, a Christian Egyptian.
Huda, who voted for Mr Morsi, said she would vote against the constitution, not because she was unhappy with it, but because of the recent clashes in Egypt.
"It is not worth people dying over," she said.
While Abeer went home to try to make peace with her family, she fears others will not.
"A civil war is breaking out," she said.
osalem@thenational.ae
Schedule:
Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
