The Philippine Online Chronicles

Qatar is one of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula, and it is easily among the tiniest in the region. With a land area of just 11,437 square kilometres, Qatar is actually smaller than a lot of islands in the Philippines; the island of Negros is considerably larger, for example.

The emirate of Qatar sits in a very strategic position in the natural harbour created by Saudi Arabia and the rest of the countries in the Middle East. Despite being a small country, Qatar owns a significant amount of the world’s known oil reserves. Just how significant – try third highest in the world! Even though it’s smaller than Negros, Qatar has over 25 trillion cubic meters of natural gas according to the World Fact Book. This number is only eclipsed by far bigger countries like Russia and neighboring Iran. Amazingly, Qatar has more natural gas reserves than neighboring Saudi Arabia – a country that is almost two hundred times larger than the tiny emirate.

The capital of Qatar is the city of Doha, a coastal urban center that recently hosted the 2006 Asian Games.

The flag

The flag of Qatar is an odd shade of maroon that is not usedt in any other country’s flag. Aside from the strange color of the dominant field of the flag, the dimensions of the flag in reference to its length and width are also quite unique at an 11:28 ratio.

There are nine points on the hoist side of the flag and this pattern has drawn comparisons to another nearby country’s flag – Bahrain. The most striking difference, of course, is the difference in the shade of red – Qatar’s red is so distinct that it has been known as “Qatar Red.” The number of points along with the flag dimensions are also different for both flags.

The people

There are around 1.7 million people in the nation of Qatar. A good chunk of the population is comprised of overseas contract workers that are mostly from South and Southeast Asia. The presence of these workers skews the demographics quite a lot; most of the workers are male and don’t really take their families to Qatar along with them. The estimated total of foreign workers in Qatar exceeds half a million – nearly a third of the country’s population.

Qatar is not that densely populated. In fact, for every square kilometre, there are around 123 people. This is quite average compared to the rest of the world.

A majority of the people living in Qatar are Muslims. Almost all Muslims in Qatar are from the Sunni sect. The influx of foreign workers has allowed the entry of many different religions; there are considerable groups of people who practice Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and the Baha’i religion.

The official language of Qatar is Arabic, but English is widely spoken in the country as well due to the presence of many foreigners. Interestingly, languages from the Indian Subcontinent as well as Tagalog or Filipino are also spoken in Qatar, especially by the migrant workers from other parts of Asia.

The economy

Qatar is heavily dependent on its ability to produce vast quantities of petrol products, and has certainly banked on this in terms of earning top dollar for their resources. Based on various figures, the tiny emirate of Qatar has the highest GNP per capita out of all the nations of the world. Each Qatari citizen on average earns a very cool USD83,000 every year – this is compared to the paltry USD3,520 that a Filipino earns on average.

While the rest of the world buckled under the pressure of high oil prices, countries like Qatar experienced a period of economic growth. Qatar has been feeding the world’s fuel demands quite generously in the past few years and according to estimates, the reserves in the country are so vast that the nation can afford to produce at the same level for the next 37 years.

Despite the strong presence of the country in the oil industry, Qatar has begun to position itself in other fields such as education, banking, and even tourism. While the great buildings in Dubai dominate world headlines and documentaries on TV, the edifices in Doha are nothing short of spectacular as well. Qatar has three buildings that are poised to break the 100-storey mark within the next three years.

The currency used in Qatar is the Qatar Riyal. One Qatar Riyal is about 27 US cents (USD0.27) on current (July 2010) exchange rates, or about 12 Philippine Pesos (P12).

The laws

Unlike Saudi Arabia, the laws in Qatar are relatively lax – though not as lenient as those in the United Arab Emirates. The most obvious difference between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is that women have significantly more rights in the latter. Qatari women are allowed to drive and there are laws in the country that emphasize the importance of equality of the genders.

The laws have become so lax that alcohol is now tolerated in certain bars and restaurants in the country. This would have been unheard-of in years past.

Government

Qatar is an emirate, and in accordance with Islamic and civil law decrees in the country, the law is applied according to the wishes of the Amir. Islamic law is still used in disputes involving family and personal matters.

The country is an absolute monarchy that has been led by members of the same family for almost two centuries. The current Emir is Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani who has been in power since June 1995. The Prime Minister is Hamad ibn Jaber Al Thani. The Prime Minister had to overthrow his father in a bloodless coup due to charges of corruption, but both parties have since reconciled.

History

The Islamic era in Qatar started when the prophet Muhammad himself sent an Islamic envoy to the country to try and convert everyone in the Arabian Peninsula to the new Islamic religion. Qatar was an active participant in the great Persian Gulf-Indian Ocean commercial trade routes of the medieval ages and this allowed the country to absorb many types of goods as well as have its own share of immigrants.

The emirate also became a member of the British Commonwealth during the turn of the last century. The same family (the Al Thanis) has been ruling the country since 1825.

Filipinos in Qatar

According to government statistics, there are almost 200,000 Filipinos working in Qatar, roughly as many Filipinos as there are in Japan. This is a big figure, considering that the total population of the entire country is less than 2 million. Most of the Qatar-bound Filipino workers become construction workers, engineers, heavy machinery operators and domestic helpers.

Travel to Qatar

The position of Qatar at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa make it quite a hub for foreign air traffic. Doha may not be as big a hub as Dubai but it is still quite significant, all things considered.

Photo: Flag of Qatar from Wikipedia Commons