By a sovereign decision that was binding and irreversible, the father issued a decree banning his children speaking English at home.
It drew fierce resistance in the beginning, and there were violations initially, but rigorous implementation forced everyone to observe it in the end.
This has happened in many homes, which tells us that there is a conflict of language and identity in Gulf societies, which draw up medium- and long-term strategies but have failed to answer the most serious questions.
How will integration take place between Gulf societies? How will they deal with a long list of issues, from naturalisation and influx of foreign labour to the language, culture and identity crises?
Most of the Gulf countries have seen the number of expats grow. There are about 23 million foreigners out of 47 million people in the GCC states, accounting for more than 48 percent of all residents.
Statistics tell us that 69.9 percent of the expatriate labour comes from Asia, followed by 23.4 percent from Arab countries; the figures vary from state to state.
I will not mention the problem of unemployment among Gulf citizens, which averaged 5.7 percent, or the massive remittances by expatriates to their native countries.
I will also not talk about other issues related to lack of understanding of cultures, customs and traditions and the increase in crime. It is sufficient to talk about how we are slowly losing our identity and language.
Perhaps the earnings of expats from employment in our countries explain much of this.
Figures speak of more than 17 million expatriates in the six Gulf countries in 2010. More than half of them are in Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.
When one considers the growth expected over the next 10 or 20 years, the numbers are frightening. This has implications not only for our national identity but also our sovereignty and security, since GCC citizens will become minorities in their own countries.
Can you imagine how a father who has told his children to speak Arabic at home will convince them that the language of the Quran is our identity and one of the most precious things we have, while the son sees his language and identity not being respected anywhere.
The Gulf not only suffers from huge numbers of immigrants who threaten its Arab and Islamic identity, but also from those who wish to erase anything related to Arabic in the Gulf.
While discussing threats to our identity from the ill-considered policies of naturalisation and import of foreign labour, we must not forget some of the strange things that have become familiar in our countries.
New Year and Christmas celebrations, for example, have become part of our culture, and some are trying to impose them on our children and communities in a move that would be a mortal blow to our identity.
Some people in our communities do not celebrate Islamic holidays as much as they celebrate non-Muslim festivals. This is a great imbalance of values that will increase in the coming years.
Our identity includes out religious, intellectual and cultural values. It includes the Arabic language, out customs and our Arab and Islamic heritage.
All these will be threatened as long as our economic and development strategies do not include their protection.
Unless this issue discussed at the highest levels and informed decisions are taken for the future, the next decade and beyond will bring real problems that will be bitter for everyone.
The author is a columnist and researcher
