Day: May 27, 2010

GIP ‘not informed’ about termination of coalition agreement

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan said this morning that his party had not been officially informed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s decision to tear up its coalition agreement with Waheed’s party, the Gaumee Itthihaad Party (GIP).

Twenty-one members of the MDP’s national council voted in favour of the move, out of 23 present. The council also called on President Mohamed Nasheed to remove all GIP members from ministerial positions. Vice President Waheed and Education Minister Dr Mustafa Luthfy are the only two GIP members remaining in Cabinet, after Nasheed dismissed Minister for Economic Development Mohamed Rasheed several weeks ago.

“We no longer trust these guys,” Haleem said. “Our coalition partner is working with the opposition – I think [Waheed] will be joining [the opposition] Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) very soon. I hope so, it would be best for him.”

Haleem added that he hoped the president would “obey” the MDP Council and remove the GIP members from government: “I hope so. MDP’s national council is one of the most powerful arms of the MDP,” Haleem said.

Dr Waheed recently raised the ire of MDP supporters when he held an apparently clandestine meeting with senior leadership of the DRP, including Umar Naseer and MPs Ali Waheed, Ahmed Nihan and Ahmed Mahlouf.

“I think the political sitaution requires that we talk to each other and work together,” Dr Waheed told Minivan News today. “There are bills we have to get through [parliament], especially revenue bills to address the deficit. I believe it is important, and I think I am in a position to speak. I met with opposition MPs partly at their request, and I indicated I would meet them.”

He said he was surprised at the inflamed response from MDP supporters – “I did not realise this would attract so much attention from the press and MDP activists,” he said.

Dr Waheed said the reaction of both parties following the meeting was “not helpful.”

“Under the current circumstances everyone is trying to score political points,” he said.

GIP had not been formally informed of MDP’s decision last night to sever the coalition, he noted.

“If this is true then of course we are concerned. We believe we have a valid agreement to work with MDP together until the end of term.”

The removal of GIP members from government would be an “unfortunate” outcome, Dr Waheed said.

“I had expected some kind of discussion. Since we were not consulted when the Economic Development [Mohamed Rasheed] Minister was dismissed, I felt I had grounds to talk, especially since no reason given except ‘political circumstances’.”

Dr Waheed called for discussions, concluding that “we can’t go on pretending the country has no problems, because that will not solve them.”

The President has not yet said whether he will take the advice of MDP’s national council. Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair was not responding at time of press.

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Profits from resorts that serve alcohol are haram, explains Dr Zakir Naik

Visiting Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik clarified during a question and answer session this morning that profits generated from the sale of alcohol are haram (prohibited), and urged the Maldives to encourage investment in halal (permitted) tourism.

“In Islamic finance, you cannot involve in any business as the owner of that business if it is even one percent a haram activity,” Dr Naik said.

“As a main partner you cannot be involved. If you are investing as a pool and you are a small partner, then a little bit is permitted, but as a 100% owner I cannot say ‘fine, I will have a hotel that will allow alcohol, and that money I will give to charity.’ You cannot say that. Because you are involved in haram activity.”

It was permitted, Dr Naik explained, to invest in part in a mutual fund where a haram activity might be a small percentage of the investment, as “then I can give the small amount to charity, because I have no major say in the business. But if I am a bigger shareholder, I cannot allow even 0.1% of haram activity to take place.”

Under Islam the use, handling and sale of alcohol are considered haram to Muslims, a tenet that led to vigorous opposition against the government’s attempt in February to legalise the sale of alcohol to non-Muslims on inhabited islands. Critics of the regulations claimed they were unconstitutional, as Article 10(b) of the Maldives’ Constitution states that ‘no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives..

However the country depends heavily on tourism for its economy, particularly resorts which profit from the sale of alcohol, many of which are owned by local businessmen.

Dr Naik, who is speaking tonight and tomorrow at Maafaanu Stadium, after being invited by the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, questioned why the Maldives had no resorts that were “100 percent halal.”

“Your country is so beautiful. I have visited many countries in the world and I have to profess, the islands in Maldives are par excellence. I’ve been to many parts of the world, been to many top resorts in the world, but the one where I am staying in the Maldives is par excellence. Allah has blessed you with such beauty, scenery and natural resources,” he said.

“I put forward the proposal that why don’t we have an Islamic resort? I’m aware the Maldives prohibits alcohol for citizens, but those people who come from outside the Maldives can have access to these things which are haram for Muslims.”

Such resorts, he suggested, should be “exclusively halal, free of pork and alcohol, and with proper segregation and dress code – it will be a benefit.”

Similar segregated, alcohol and pork free hotels in other parts of the world had proven very successful, he explained, “with revenue far more than other hotels. The same thing can be done here.”

“The income for people investing in such Islamic resorts will be much higher,” he suggested. “I have spoken to government officials about it, and they say Inshallah, they look forward to it. Believe me it will attract more tourists very soon, in the next couple of years, with better revenue and a better profit.”

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has similarly argued for promotion of Islamic “cultural tourism” within the Maldives, noting that “a lot of hotels, such as the Intercontinental in Medina, are without alcohol. What about developing alcohol-free resorts; Islamic tourism, just like Islamic banking?”

Dr Zakir Naik is speaking at an event at Maafannu stadium tonight and tomorrow, at 8:45pm.

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Feminist group launches letter writing campaign against sponsors of Dr Bilal Philips event

The Maldives’ self-styled ‘underground feminist movement’ Rehendhi has announced joint letter writing campaign with the ‘Enough is Enough’ group in protest against Sonee Company’s intention to sponsor an upcoming lecture by Islamic speaker Dr Bilal Philips.

The event, titled ‘The Call’, is being held in early June by Islamic NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf.

Rehendhi issued a press statement today condemning Dr Philips’ preaching at last years’ Call, accusing him of “preaching that it is Islamic to marry off young girls as soon as they reached puberty, irrespective of their age.

“We refuse to tolerate this misogynistic, regressive and repressive interpretation of Islam, especially in a public lecture,” Rehendhi claimed.

“The Ministry of Health and Family, UNICEF, Doctors Association, Child Protections Unit at the Maldives Police Services, Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Education and almost all the NGOs working on child rights in the Maldives remained silent, reluctant to be labeled as un-Islamic.”

Such interpretations of Islam conflicted with “numerous international treaties protecting the girl child” that the Maldives has signed, Rehendhi claimed, “including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflic, and Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.”

Rehendhi also criticised “the insensitivity of the judges to the rights of the girl child”, claiming that “deficient coordination for the implementation and monitoring of the conventions and laws within the government leave the most vulnerable children in our society exposed to child sexual abuse, sometimes under the legal guise of the so called ‘Islamic marriages’.”

“In an environment where sexualized violence towards children and minors is rampant, irresponsible preaching results in both intended and unintended repercussions that affect our young population,” the group claimed, calling on Maldivian society to “stand up and implement the laws and conventions”.

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said the Ministry had received no information that Dr Bilal Philips’ preaching including the abuse of children’s rights, and “guaranteed” that the Islamic Ministry “would not let such acts happen in the Maldives.”

”We are confident that after our new Religious Unity regulations are implemented, it will be easier for us to take action against anyone who [preaches] this,” said Shaheem said.

Salaf said it did not wish to comment on the matter.

Rehendhi has previously protested “against misogyny in Maldivian society” by claiming to have sent undergarments to conservative Maldivian Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed on Valentine’s Day.

Correction: The protest is a joint campaign by the groups Rehendhi and ‘Enough is Enough’, not just Rehendhi as previously stated. Furthermore, Rehendhi only sent underwear to Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed, coinciding with a public lecture, not “conservative Maldivian Sheikhs” as originally stated.

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Ali Waheed reports leaking of documents to police, “too late” says Zuhair

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed has also reported the leakage of several document concerning the Guantanamo Bay detainees to police. The Foreign Ministry said it was reporting the matter to the police on Tuesday.

Press secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that Waheed was trying to escape after he was accused of being the recipient of a stolen secret document of the government.

Zuhair claimed Waheed had reported the case because ”he realised what he had done.”

”All the collaborators involved in the crime of stealing a government document and spreading it without clarifying its validity are also equally culpable,” said Zuhair. ‘They should be given the punishment that one receives for being a thief.”

Zuhair said the theft of the documents was a crime under articles 12 and 13 of the penal code.

”Politics is not an excuse for crime,” he said. ”Whoever stole the documents is a criminal shall be treated as a criminal.”

He said that government was not trying to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country in secret.

”We will only bring him according to the law,” he said. ”What is the problem with it if he has a valid passport, the threat of being attacked if he goes back to his own country and he is a innocent Muslim?”

He said that Ali Waheed was aware the matter was not unlawful or dangerous, and dismissed counter-claims by the opposition as ”pure political circus”.

”That man [Waheed] has the look of a comedian,” Zuhair said.

Waheed, in a press conference yesterday, announced that he had reported the leaked document to police and said he had requested they investigate the case, so the government’s documents could be safely protected while the National Security Committee was investigating the Guantanamo Bay affair.

”I did not steal anything,” he claimed. “When I received government documents that I believed had the potential to harm the national security of the country I presented it to the national security committee to investigate,” he said.

”I do not believe that it is known as thieving. It was not leaked by my mistake.”

Foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed has also reported the case to the police.

Dr Shaheed said the documents consisted of unofficial communications to the Maldives government from the US government, and a document sent to the Attorney General’s office by the Foreign Ministry.

Dr Shaheed said the documents also included an unofficial letter sent from the US discussing how a legal framework could be established to bring in the detainees.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair has recently said that the document was not leaked but was “deliberately stolen”, which he said caused “a lot of trouble” for the Maldives, by disrupting diplomatic relationships between countries.

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Taxi driver threatens, robs teenage girl on way to hospital

Yesterday a taxi driver threatened a 19 year-old girl with a knife inside his car, reported Haveeru.

Haveeru reported that the girl was forced to give money to the driver while she was traveling to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

The driver put the knife on the girl’s neck and threatened the girl when she refused to pay the money, reported Haveeru.

The girl was not injured during the incident.

Haveeru reported that the police have started investigating the case.

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