United Arab Emirates largely mocked after creating Ministry for Happiness

UAE Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum 
has appointed a Minister for Happiness. 

AS A ruling government, what do you do when you believe something is lacking in your country? You appoint a minister for that particular thing, of course.

At least that seems to be the logic among United Arab Emirates’ ruling elite who have taken the somewhat peculiar step of announcing the appointment of a minister for happiness.

The announcement was made on Twitter of all places by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the country’s prime minister.

Along with installing a bureaucrat in charge of happiness, the UAE has also created a the position of a minister for tolerance.

The decision amounts to the biggest government reorganisation in the country’s 44-year history, but has left some a little amused.

Some have mocked the notion of a government mandated happiness while others have wondered aloud as to the job requirements for the lofty position.

As the New York Times quipped; “maybe money can’t buy happiness, at least not at current oil prices”.

But Sheikh Mohammed said the move signalled a successful step in creating a better society, claiming the new ministers “will align and drive government policy to create social good”.

“It is the beginning of a new journey of achievement and giving to the people, and we ask God to help us serve and take care of them,” he said.

However, perhaps unsurprisingly, not everyone is convinced.

“The Ministry of Happiness sounds sort of Orwellian and sinister given that this is a surveillance state, but it is in line with their quite high self-regard,” Nicholas McGeehan, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the Times.

Plenty of others on social media seemed to agree: