Dubai Ruler Says He WILL Use the Metro

The other day when I posted on the Dubai Metro, besides getting lots of comments about Middle Eastern subways I'd omitted, I somewhat cynically asked, after the Ruler Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktum took the Metro on its maiden voyage, when orif he might ever take it again. It would appear I was too cynical, since he says in this Gulf News report:

"And now our challenge is how to really persuade the UAE people to travel on this train. They will take time but this is there.

"Foreigners will travel on it, I will travel, but it will take time to make UAE citizens travel on the train."

Now, admittedly, he doesn't say he's going to commute to the Palace every day by Metro (I'm guessing he lives close to the office anyway), but he does say he will travel on it. And so will foreigners. It's the locals that need persuading. And he seems intent on persuading them. Good. I'm no monarchist, but if you're going to have a monarch, one who tries to actually lead and provide a role model seems the best you can ask for.

It is also interesting to note how he made this known. Through his Facebook page. Now his Facebook page, if this is it, is invitation only, but you can watch the video of his inaugurating the Dubai Metro on his public website. Here's a photo of him dedicating the Metro:

We all have the image of Scandinavian or Dutch or Beligan monarchs (if that's still an appropriate term for their powerless symbolic roles) riding bicycles and such, but your Middle Eastern monarchs generally tend to be more aloof and more, well, royal. I hope Sheikh Muhammad strikes out in new directions. And I don't mean a private Metro car all his own. (Still, I don't see him straphanging.)

Then again, I'll bet he'll have no trouble finding a seat.

And it's worth noting that Sheikh Muhammad is an avid horse breeder and sportsman (there's even a "sporting events" category on his website), and he isn't always in full dishdasha:

Dressed like that he could ride the subway, I'll bet. Even do the mingle anonymously with your people thing, for which there's the precedent of Harun al-Rashid (in the 1001 Nights) or Shakespeare's Henry V before Agincourt. Of course, those guys didn't have their photo in every office in town, which means it might be a little harder to pull off today.

In any event, bravos to Sheikh Muhammad for at least saying he'll ride the subway. Dubai sometimes seems like the strangest place in the entire Middle East, but its Ruler seems to be pretty well attuned to political gestures, even if there's no real politics per se.