Website collects messages of praise for Sheikh Khalifa

An Emirati IT professional has created a website filled with messages of gratitude to Sheikh Khalifa after the Ruler of Dubai dedicated the anniversary of his accession to thanking the President.

ABU DHABI // An Emirati IT professional has created a website encouraging people to post messages of gratitude to Sheikh Khalifa.

Last week Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice President and Ruler of Dubai, dedicated the anniversary of his accession on Saturday to thanking the President.

And on Saturday Hisham Mohammed Iran, 30, IT manager at Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC), said: “I wanted to collect the largest number of thank you messages possible. I will send these to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed for him to read.”

Sheikh Mohammed launched "Thank You Khalifa", an initiative that called on the people of the UAE to honour the President on January 4.

As a form of tribute, Mr Iran started working on shokrankhalifa.com on Wednesday and finished the next day.

He named it “Thank You Khalifa From the Happiest Nation to the President” and posted a photo of a smiling Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohammed.

Visitors to the site are being asked to post their messages and their name, country and email address.

It has since been flooded with messages from Emiratis, expatriates and people from all over the world.

“In general, the expatriates thanked Sheikh Khalifa for making this country secure and safe, while Emiratis thanked the President for making the UAE well-known worldwide,” Mr Iran said.

“My countrymen also expressed how proud they were to be UAE nationals and thanked Sheikh Mohammed for providing us an opportunity to show our appreciation for our President.”

One of the messages, in Arabic, came from Ammar bin Tamim, 38, an Emirati communications expert at DTC, who posted on January 2: “HH Sheikh Khalifa Thank You”.

“It’s very important for us UAE nationals to send messages of gratitude to our President,” Mr bin Tamim said on Saturday.

“We thank our Government for what he has given us – land, marriage fund, various forms of assistance – which you can’t find anywhere else in the world. When people come to the UAE, they feel secure and safe. Our country is well known for its stability and we thank Sheikh Khalifa and our Government for this.”

Madhavan Kunnil, 46, a finance specialist from India who has lived in the UAE for 20 years, also posted “Thank You Khalifa”.

“The UAE is the safest country in the world,” he said. “Whatever I’ve achieved right now I owe it to the UAE. I will always feel indebted to the UAE for my professional and personal life here.”

An Emirati referred to Sheikh Khalifa as “my sir, my father, my leader, my teacher, the leader of the nation ... God Bless You”.

Another Emirati thanked the President “for the good life you have provided to your children and for following in the footsteps of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan”.

Each year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid uses the anniversary of his accession to celebrate those who contribute to UAE society.

In 2011, it was the nation's mothers, in 2012 orphans and last year, labourers.

This year, Sheikh Mohammed thanked the President for his continuous efforts on behalf of the people of the UAE and those in need all over the world.

An Omani praised the President and the late Sheikh Zayed in his post: “Thanks HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, God protect him – a noble man and a son of a noble man.”