DUBAI - Profile - Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Ruler of Dubai and UAE Vice President, Maktoum is the UAE's prime minister. He inherited these positions from his father Shaikh Rashid, who died in November 1990. He formed a cabinet on Nov. 20, 1990. Before that, when he was UAE deputy prime minister, he was somewhat disengaged from the affairs of the federal state, devoting more time to his role as crown prince of Dubai. That was because his father had been in a coma for years..
Maktoum and his brothers are a close knit group and all were educated in prestigious institutions in Britain, with Maktoum, Hamdan and Mohammed having graduated from Cambridge. Maktoum's 20-year old son died in a car crash in February 2002 as he was racing in Dubai. Maktoum had been tipped for the UAE premiership since 1981, when Shaikh Rashid became seriously ill and made him crown prince of Dubai. His style has not changed much, but he has been able to efficiently project an element of continuity into the functioning of Dubai's government and that of the UAE as a whole. On March 25, 1997, he reshuffled the UAE cabinet for the first time since 1990 after lengthy negotiations with UAE President Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the union's other rulers.
Maktoum, his brothers and his uncle Shaikh Ahmad Bin Said, belong to the "Bani Said" branch of the Al Maktoum family. This consists of the direct descendants of the late Shaikh Said Bin Maktoum Bin Hasher Bin Maktoum Bin Buti Bin Suhail, who ruled Dubai in 1912-58. The other branches include the Bani Jumaa, consisting of the sons of the late Shaikh Said's half-brother Jumaa.
Born in 1943 as the first son of Shaikh Rashid Bin Said and a daughter of a former Abu Dhabi ruler, Shaikh Maktoum got his higher education in Cambridge (UK) in 1961-64. He began his career as an assistant to his father and later became deputy ruler and crown prince of Dubai. He became acting ruler in 1982, when Shaikh Rashid fell seriously ill, and ruler when the father died in late 1990.
Shaikh Maktoum is married to a liberal cousin, the attractive and young Shaikha Boushra Bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, who is from another branch of the Al Maktoum family. With a strong personality, the shaikha is a famous painter and does not wear the Islamic veil. One of her brothers has been head of Shaikh Maktoum's office. Their daughter, Shaikha Hessa, is also a famous artist and one of the liberal women in the UAE. In 1996, she held a major exhibition at the Dubai Trade Centre.
