|
William Duff, aka Bill Duff, was a Scottish banker, Arabist and an advisor to Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the first vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and a former ruler of Dubai. He is credited by many with initiating the modernization of the Emirate. ==Biography== William Duff (originally MacDuff which was later shrunk to Duff〔) was born in Singapore on 13 May 1922〔 to Eleanor and Robert Duff who ran a business there.〔 His education was at Cheltenham College and, later, at the Hertford College, University of Oxford,〔 from where he secured a master's degree in Eastern Studies.〔 While his father endured incarceration, by the Japanese till 1945, in the Changi Prison, a British jail used by the Japanese as a prisoner of war camp after the fall of Singapore in 1942,〔〔 Duff was drafted into the British Army〔 and his first commission was at the 1st Battalion Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment.〔 He was involved in the World War II, fighting in Italy, Sudan and Palestine. During his stay at Palestine, he is known to have developed an affinity for the Arab culture.〔 It was there he met his future wife, Irenka Trachimovic, a Polish national, at a party at The British Embassy in 1946, whom he married the same year.〔〔 On his retirement from the Army as a Captain, Duff went back to Oxford University to read Arabic and, later, continued his Arabic studies at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies, Shemlan, Lebanon.〔〔 His civilian career started at the Imperial Bank of Persia, (then Bank of Iran and the Middle East, which over the years became the British Bank of the Middle East and finally, HSBC), and worked for 10 years at various countries in the Middle East such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and finally in Kuwait.〔〔〔 The next assignment was as the advisor to the Kuwait royal family, on invitation from Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who would later become the Ruler of Kuwait,〔 a brief stint during which he had the opportunity to meet Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai when the latter paid a visit to Kuwait in 1959.〔 The next year, Sheikh Rashid invited Duff to Dubai, which was a part of the Trucial States during that time, to join his financial advisor〔 on 2 October 1960,〔 and the friendship between the two is reported to have paved way for the modernization of Dubai.〔〔〔〔 In 1966, when oil was discovered in Dubai, the Emirate was exposed to sudden riches,〔〔 and as the financial advisor to the ruler, Duff, who had signatorial powers,〔 is reported to have imposed a fiscal discipline in the Emirate and advised the ruler on major developmental programs.〔 He is known to have been the brain behind the establishment of the Departments of Finance and the Department of Customs.〔〔 He is known to have helped put in place an infrastructure facility whereby the commercial activities of Dubai grew with the advent of global oil companies and workers from overseas, mainly from the Indian subcontinent.〔〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Duff (Arabist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|