The latest book of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is a must read for all government employees in the UAE and leaders of Arab nations, a panel at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature said on Friday.

Shaikh Mohammad has set out his vision of a positive government in his recently released by book titled ‘Ta’mulat fi Asa’adah Wl Ejabia’ (Reflections on Happiness and Positivity) based on his personal knowledge and experiences.

During a panel discussion on the book at the festival, Uhoud Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, said Shaikh Mohammad took the scope of governance to a higher realm by saying that the role of governments is to make their people happy.

“As it is said in the book, the connection between happiness and positivity is very strong,” she pointed out.

“He has clearly explained how you can be happy and achieve success when you have a positive attitude. According to His Highness, the role of a positive government is not only to enact legislation and develop infrastructure but also to ensure the happiness of its people. He has written that certain issues cannot necessarily be tackled by regulations and decisions, but by leading by example and that is what he does.”

The minister reflected upon how Shaikh Mohammad inspires each and everyone through his positive attitude and support for team work. “He holds periodic meetings with us and meets everybody. Though he has better ideas than us, he makes it a point to listen to all of us.”

The minister highlighted the fact that the book is rich with ideas that are eminently actionable by everyone. “What he has written about are the simple things that we do in our daily activities … it is not about administrative work but about the impact of simple things like smiling, saying ‘thank you’ and spreading positive energy in our daily practices,” she said.

Referring to his other book published in 2010, she noted that Shaikh Mohammad wrote a chapter on happiness. “After five years, he established a ministry for happiness. Everything [written] in this book is really inspirational. I wish that every government employee in the UAE would read this because this is about our future.”

Khalifa Al Suwaidi, writer, TV personality and professor in UAE University, said the book will help the world change its perceptions about the Arab region.

“The world looks at the Arab region as a region of backwardness and [as a hot spot] of problems. Here we have an Arab leader who writes about our successful experiences. This will help change perceptions.”

He noted that Shaikh Mohammad has written about ‘challenges, which could have pushed us back. But with our positivity, we turned them into opportunities’.”

“A golden sentence in the book is … the duty of the government is to empower the people and not to impose power on them. And this is the difference between the UAE and many other countries where most of the problems are happening due to the hegemony of the government over the people,” he said calling on leaders of Arab regions to read the book that will help eliminate pessimistic attitudes among people of the region.

Popular media personality Fahad Haikal said the book has answers to the problems of most countries in the Arab region which are experiencing turbulent situations. “It carries the message of love and happiness,” he said.

He added that Shaikh Mohammad has written about the dangers and negative aspects of people supporting terrorism and their suicidal thoughts and has highlighted the need for “directing the minds and hearts of the young people to make life, not death, and [foster] communities for living together, not clashing against each other”.

The use of technology in rating the performances of government employees and ministers and the message of unite and lead, instead of divide and rule, are other points that Shaikh Mohammad has conveyed through the book that are worth emulating, said Kuwaiti writer and media personality Mohammad Al Nughaimish, who moderated the session

source : gulfnews