Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim has been replaced as the Controller of Immigration and Emigration by Dr Mohamed Ali, who has been serving as Chief of Staff at the President’s Office.
Ilyas was on Thursday appointed as Minister of State for Defense and National Security.
Ilyas is currently under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in relation to the awarding of the contract for a new border control system to the Malaysian firm Nexbis. The ACC told Minivan News that the case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office.
The Nexbis case intensified this week as ACC officials raided the offices of the Immigration Department, eventually seizing laptops after alleged obstruction by department staff.
Former Immigration Controller Abdullah Shahid again voiced his disapproval of the project on Thursday. Shahid, who served between Ilyas’s two stints as controller, has been a long-time critic of the deal.
Shahid questioned the expense of the project, alleging that a free system could have been acquired with assistance from the Indian government, according to local newspaper Haveeru.
“A group of Indian experts had come to the Maldives and conducted and completed their surveys in a month’s time. If I was controller today everything would have been installed by now. Let me tell you something. Those experts from India would not even have to be given a cup of coffee on the expense of the Maldivian government,” Shahid told Haveeru.
It emerged last week that the first of three phases in implementing the Nexbis project had been completed, despite repeated delays pending court rulings.
However, Shahid insisted that no work had been carried out during his time as controller.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) maintains a Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) is “on track” to commence its work, despite the government rejecting the latest nominee forwarded to represent former President Mohamed Nasheed.
The government has announced that the latest nominee, Lt Colonel Zubair Ahmed Manik, was not deemed fit to serve on the Commission. All of Nasheed’s previous nine nominees for the revised commission were immediately dismissed.
Lt Colonel Zubair was said to lack an “undergraduate degree as per the agreed terms of reference”, according to the government. The President’s Office told Minivan News today that it was unsure as to why Nasheed could not come up with a candidate “acceptable to the government and the people.”
The CNI was set up by President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan following the controversial transfer of power that saw him succeed Mohamed Nasheed into office on February 7. The now opposition MDP has alleged that Nasheed was forced to resign under duress in a “coup d’etat” staged by opposition politicians, businessmen and sections of the military and police.
On April 16, The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (GMAG) warned it would consider taking “stronger measures” against the Maldives government should it not revise the composition and mandate of the CNI within 30 days over concerns about its impartiality.
A day before CMAG’s deadline, the government agreed to allow a retired Singaporean judge to co-chair the CNI, and also permit former President Mohamed Nasheed to appoint a representative to the commission. These revisions were endorsed by Commonwealth Special Envoy Sir Don Mckinnon.
Following the visit of Mckinnon to the Maldives earlier this month, the government gave a press conference during which Attorney General Azima Shukoor outlined the conditions for Nasheed’s appointee. These conditions were that an appointee must not have served in a political position in the past two years, must not have taken a public stand on the transfer of power, and must “be of good behaviour and integrity”.
The initial nine candidates fielded by Nasheed include MP and former MDP chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi, former Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam, former Youth Minister Hassan Latheef, former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed, former President’s Member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) Aishath Velezinee, Nasheed’s cousin Hudha Ahmed, former Airports Company board member Ibrahim Saleem, and former President’s Office political appointee Fareesha Abdulla.
The Commonwealth has requested a “suitable nominee” from former President Nasheed be appointed to the CNI by June 1, 2012, so that the revised commission could begin its work by the beginning of the month.
“On track”
MDP Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said today that the party had no comment on the government’s rejection of Lt Colonel Zubair as a nominee to sit on the CNI, whilst processes were “ongoing”.
Ghafoor did raise some concern that it did not “make sense” that the government, whose rise to power would form part of the CNI’s mandate, was allowed to impose conditions on an independent panel.
“I believe that CMAG will work under the assumption that the terms of reference for the CNI has to fit in with the wider guidelines for an independent investigation,” he said. “I therefore see that CMAG’s resolution [for an independent investigation into the transfer of power] will be completed and that everything is on track to ensure this.”
Having rejected the appointment of Lt. Colonel Zubair Ahmed Manik to the CNI, the government said it was also confident that work to appoint a Commission composition acceptable to itself and the Commonwealth was “on track”.
In a statement on the President’s Office website, the government claimed that former President Nasheed had continued to propose “generally unacceptable” candidates under a criteria it said had been agreed with the Commonwealth and CMAG.
“The administration agreed to the terms of reference of the CNI with Sir Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Special Envoy, including the criteria that all nominated candidates have to meet, to serve on the commission. The administration has invited former President Nasheed to nominate a candidate for the commission”, the statement read.
“The latest nomination is Lt Colonel Zubair Ahmed Manik who is a serving officer in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and does not meet the basic requirement of having an undergraduate degree as per the agreed terms of reference.”
President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad today told Minivan News that it was “unacceptable” for Nasheed to send his “family members and cronies” as nominees to represent him on the CNI.
“Can [Nasheed] not come out a someone who is acceptable to this government and the people of the Maldives? At this point, Nasheed has not sent someone with the basic degree qualifications agreed on,” he claimed.
With the Commonwealth’s preferred date of June 1 to have the new CNI in place approaching, Masood added that the government would not itself be forwarding any potential candidates to represent Nasheed.
“We have decided at present to give the benefit of doubt to Mr Nasheed,” he said.
Composition
Alongside the representation of a retired Singaporean judge and Nasheed’s own potential representative, President Waheed has himself appointed three people onto the CNI.
The president has appointed Dr Ibrahim Yasir, Dr Ali Fawaz Shareef and Chair Ismail Shafeeu, Defence Minister under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The Commonwealth has previously said that the criteria outlined for members of the CNI must extend to all members, including the government’s own appointees as part of an agreement reached earlier this month.
The Secretariat of the Majlis had announced that a no-confidence motion against Speaker of the House Abdulla Shahid has been scheduled to be heard on June 5, the day after the parliament reconvenes, reports Haveeru.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) passed the motion on April 17 alleging that Shahid had been making decisions relating to significant parliamentary issues without discussing them first with various political parties.
The motion was signed by 27 of the MDP’s then 32 representatives in the Majlis. The MDP currently has 31 members in the house after Shifag ‘Histo’ Mufeed defected to the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
The party claimed that Shahid had been acting outside of his mandate by deciding to suspend certain parliament regulations, whilst opting to follow others that were alleged to be to his personal benefit.
Haveeru reports that the Parliament’s general committee must now decide on the number of MPs that will be involved in that debate, the extent of that debate and the time allowed for the debate.
The speaker has been targeted by MDP protesters following the motion, with large groups gathering outside Shahid’s residence to call for his resignation on April 21.
Ling Ya is fighting a challenging battle to protect young girls forced into sex slavery in Cambodia. She is a survivor of the sordid crime which is destroying lives of thousands of young girls in the turbulent region.
Khadija is among several lobbyists in Pakistan who are tirelessly working to push authorities to expedite the endorsement of stalled legislations on ending the sexual harassment and domestic violence Pakistani women are suffering.
Bothaina from Jordon is fighting with a system that allows a man to kill his wife for suspected infidelity and escape harsh punishment. Similar to several other Muslim communities, Jordanian young girls and women are forced to marry their rapists or abusers while some parents often dictate decisions for daughters who have to oblige in silence or face unimaginable consequences.
These are just only few stories shared by participants at the UNiTE Global Youth Forum held in Bangkok with a focus on strengthening the youth movement in ending gender inequality and violence against women and girls.
Forty participants aged 18-30 from 29 countries participated and shared their experiences and challenges they faced in ending violence against women and girls. The forum began on May 22 and came to a close on May 24 with all participants pledging to carry forward the UNiTE Campaign in their personal and professional lives.
Listening to these horrifying stories at the workshop, I was naturally prompted to ponder on the comparative successes my small island nation has achieved in ensuring the rights of women and girls. Indeed, we have come a long way forward.
UNiTE Global Youth Forum particpants
Progress in Maldives
In the Maldives – despite our religious conservative exterior – women can choose their spouses, marry, get divorced and even re-marry more easily than anywhere else in the world, while openly engaging in relationships outside marriage is not so taboo.
Not only do Muslim women and girls have equal access to education, health services and opportunities in Maldives – but these rights are guaranteed under the country’s constitution.
Women are also encouraged to be economically active in small and medium scale businesses to jobs in public officesor private companies. They receive equal protection under laws and are subjected to same punishments as men.
There is no institutional discrimination or barriers to political or social activism, thus allowing women to be teachers, police officers, judges, parliamentarians or even the President should she choose to be.
Accessible healthcare to mothers and newborns in Maldives have drastically reduced the maternal deaths and child mortality rates. Today, Maldives ranks as 45th best place to be a mother among 80 developing nations compared in international NGO Save the Children’s 13th State of the World’s Mothers report.
Participants from other countries noted the aforementioned legal frameworks, equal legal provisions and opportunities as some key solutions to solving several problems faced by women.
Perhaps it is these positive approaches that drive some people to ask, “What rights don’t women have in Maldives?” whenever the issue of women’s rights is raised here.
However, I was not surprised when a facilitator commented, “All things we say are needed for ensuring women’s rights are already in Maldives, but the numbers are yet so disturbing.”
What are these disturbing numbers?
Widespread domestic abuse and child molestation
Although the Maldives’ women development performance has been admirable with long standing pro gender equality policies, statistics available from multiple sectors indicate gross violations of women’s rights.
The country is faced with major challenges in addressing gender inequality and combating the widespread violence perpetrated against women and girls while growing religious conservatism is threatening the pace of women’s progress.
The first numbers showing the magnitude of women and girl’s suffering in Maldives was found in a 2007 survey namedMaldives Study on Women’s Health and Life Experiences which revealed that one in every three women aged 15 to 49 have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence during their life time.
Half of the women had experienced ‘severe’ injuries, such as gashes, fractures, broken bones or internal injuries while 6.3 percent women, who have ever been pregnant, reported having been physically abused during at least one pregnancy. Of those, 41 percent were punched or kicked in the abdomen.
“He (my husband) tied me up “face down” on a bed with a woven rope. I was eight months pregnant then…I had to stay like that for four hours. When he untied me, my hands and feet were swollen and cut. My stomach hurt really badly because I was tied “face down”…I cried. I had a stillborn child and the midwife told me that it was probably due to the violent act of my husband,” a respondent reported during the survey.
The survey also flagged that the violence is not limited to intimate relationships either.
Girls reported that male family members, particularly father or step-father perpetrated ‘physical violence’ while family friends, work colleagues and strangers ‘sexually abused’ them.
Meanwhile, the statistics analysed in the report also substantiated the high prevalence of childhood sexual abuse.
“We found that 12.2 percent of women aged 15-49 had been sexually abuse before the age of 15,” the report read. “Approximately 10 percent of women reported that their first sexual experience was either coerced or forced and that the younger the girl at the first sexual encounter, the more likely it was that sex was forced.”
The data also reflected the fact that girls are at greatest risk of sexual abuse by male family members and male acquaintances – this, and several sordid cases of inter-familial or incest cases prompted the authorities to endorse a legislation in 2010, stipulating harsher punishments for child abusers who are in a “trusted position” or otherwise guardians of victims.
However, the enactment of the Domestic Violence Bill in April has filled the gap in the legal system, which has been a great challenge in preventing violence against women and providing justice and protection to survivors of domestic violence.
However, we are yet to witness the positive outcome the important piece of legislation brings while much is needed to raise public awareness on it.
Little or no economic emancipation
Although the 2008 constitution has removed the bar on women from holding the highest political office and there is no institutional discrimination against women in politics and decision making per say—the numbers show a grim reality.
Only five out of 77 elected parliament members are women and 57 out of 1086 elected island and atoll council members are women. Even among the few women who are currently politically active, almost all are notably linked to high status families, or have been appointed to the position.
Only a staggering two percent of the economically active women hold senior decision making position compared to the eight percent of men while, according to planning department, the the unemployment rate for women is nearly double compared to male counterparts.
Over one third of working age women are economically inactive due to the gender stereotyping that demands house work and child care from women, the 2006 Census found. The absence of childcare facilities makes it difficult for women to remain employed after they have children
“I was a teacher for five years. But I had to stop working after birth of my child. I always hoped to start teaching when my son turned four. I did start even. But stopped because my husband’s family complained about looking after my son all the time and there is no child care facility here,” a 28 year old woman with a degree in education told this author.
“Besides, I don’t think my husband will approve putting our son in child care,” she added.
Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has also reported that some employers discourage women from marriage or pregnancy, as it could result in employment termination or demotion.
Meanwhile, the Maldives has the highest divorce rates in the world, with up to 47 percent households headed by females and single mothers.
An audit of the courts found that large amounts of money received as child support has not been distributed to the recipients while some remains uncollected – indicating that single-mothers are bearing the financial burden of raising children.
A monthly allowance of Rf2000 (US$130) is distributed by state to single-mothers; however, flaws in the system and miscommunications leave many mothers empty-handed, especially in the atolls.
“I have a five year old son. His father has not provided child support since we got divorced. But I do not get child support because I am a civil servant. That is very upsetting because I can barely cover the costs,” a school supervisor working on Hithadhoo island commented.
Meanwhile, the high level of drug abuse results in many women co-dependent on drug users, the UNFPA Maldives says. It puts women at high risk of violence and abuse while those women who have experienced violence are significantly more likely to have health problems, emotional distress and thoughts of suicide.
Rising sexual health-illnesses
Reports also suggests that Maldivian women are greatly at the risk of reproductive illnesses due to unavailability of information on reproductive health.
Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) flagged high prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in a report released last year. Eighteen 18 HIV positive cases were detected and over 400 cases of STIs, of which 97 percent were women.
Detection STIs included chlamydia and gonorrhea – both conditions that can cause infertility if left untreated.
Rising STIs were associated with high risk behaviors such as increased sexual activities with reduced contraceptive use, lack of awareness and human trafficking for purposes including sexual entertainment.
Even though no specific statistics are available, anecdotal evidence additionally suggests that the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe aborions have dramatically increased – particularly among adolescents.
The current Health Minister Dr Ahmed Jamsheed acknowledged these disturbing trends in his blog last year.
Dr Jamsheed wrote on his blog in June 2011, “I believe that a high rate of abortion by our women, both in the Maldives and in neighbouring countries have been going on for some time.”
He made the comments following the discovery of three abandoned babies in the same year, out of which two were premature foetusus while the third was a dead new born.
“This is very much a public health and social issue, strongly related to societal values and faith. Criminalisation will never solve it and this will go on unless we address the root causes or have upstream interventions,” Dr Jamsheed argued.
Broader reproductive health should be taught in the schools, either incorporated to the curriculum or as a separate programme, he said. Furthermore, he contended, all barriers to access contraceptives must be removed.
He admitted: “I understand that some people would condemn this opinion, arguing that this will promote unlawful and out of wedlock sex. However, I don’t believe that the availability or non-availability of condom or contraceptives would ever be a factor determining whether two people who want to have sex will have it or not!”
UNFPA Assistant Representative Shadiya Ibrahim also echoed Jamsheed’s remarks contending that research has proven “sex education does not increase promiscuity”. Of 68 studies on family life and sex education in a scientific review, she said, 65 studies found no associated increases in sexual behavior.
“Young people taking part in such programs had higher levels of abstinence, later start of sexual activity, higher use of contraceptives, fewer sexual partners and/or reduced rates of STDs and unplanned pregnancy,” according to Ibrahim.
She added: “Non-health factors such as lacking education, lacking status in family, early marriage make girls highly vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy. It could be lacking basic knowledge and information about sexual and reproductive health and the means to prevent conception.”
“Other unintended pregnancies result from rape, sexual abuse and incest. Sexual education to boys and girls help reduce these instances and provide strategies for girls to reduce their vulnerability,” she observed.
Overwhelming majority of the married young girls are getting pregnant, which brings “high costs in lost opportunities, limited life options and poor health, according to her.
“It also affects the ability to provide opportunities for their children too. When young girls delay starting their families, they have better opportunities for further education and skill development and mean to fulfill whatever dreams they may have and contribute to productive integrated members of the society and economic development.” she further explained.
However, these contemporary strategies have fallen short from being transformed into concrete actions amid religious pressures in Maldives.
In addition, Education Ministry reported last year that girls are not being vaccinated and female school enrollment rates are falling. Both were associated with “religious reasons” which have been described as misinterpretation of religion by some Islamic scholars.
Meanwhile, claims that female circumcision is rising in practice in the Maldives also triggered alarm across the government and NGO sector in 2011.
“We are beginning to hear reports of this occurring, and I have heard on radio and television people justifying the practice. It is quite disheartening,” said President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, who was Vice President at the time.
Though he did not pinpoint a specific area where female circumcision was taking place, but attributed the “general trend” to “rising conservatism and traditional values imported from other parts of the world.”
These perceived influence from growing conservative religious groups in the country, according to gender experts, “are causing fear that recent gains in addressing gender equality could be reversed.”
Therefore, they argued that the authorities must prioritise gender mainstreaming to achieve the international goals of gender equality and also expand the efforts into eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
February 7 and 8, 2012, was the beginning of a very violent period in the recent history of the Maldives inflicted by its own people, the police and the army, on unarmed civilians, writes former Deputy Health Minister Mariya Ali for Child Rights International Network.
The first democratically elected president was deposed in a coup d’état on February 7. Since then non-violent protests have continued mainly in the streets of the capital city, Male. So far, 412 people have been detained as political prisoners.
Testimonies of male and female detainees confirm that varying degrees of physical, mental and sexual abuse were perpetrated by the police. Violence from the police has been witnessed by children either through their families being directly affected by it or via images on television. Children who witness violence are traumatised with varying degrees of psychological damage that they carry throughout their lives.
This year, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) celebrated Maldivian Children’s Day in their full army clothing, with a designated area created to look like a war zone, and with officers helping children to hold real firearms correctly in their hands and showing them how to use them. Although the MNDF declared that the firearms were not loaded, it failed to recognise the timing and the symbolic message behind the event.
Against the backdrop of continuing violence, growing religious extremism in the island paradise, combined with the message from the current President Mohamed Waheed – “Be courageous. Today you are all mujaheddin [those who fight jihad] who love the nation” – children are internalising the use of violence as a norm.
In many cases social scientists have observed that multiparty systems, especially in a presidential political system, have inevitably transformed into two-party contests. While many parties are usually present at birth of a nascent democracy, as it matures the contest for power between these parties slowly become a fight for survival ensuring that only the strongest parties survive.
The video below demonstrates how multiparty systems filter out smaller parties as the democracy matures:
We are not of the view that a two-party system is better than a multiparty system. In fact a multiparty political system allows for more voter choice. We however do think that a multiparty system is much less likely to occur in a presidential system compared to a parliamentary political system (which is perhaps why MDP was right in endorsing a parliamentary political system when it was put to referenda). Maldivian politics too, seems like it is moving towards a two party political system. While it might be too soon to jump to conclusions, here is how we think it might happen;
The reason why we think MDP and PPM are the most likely two parties to survive is because we believe that they are the two parties with strong and exclusive principles. MDP was the founding party of Maldivian Democracy. It has stood boldly for individual freedoms, social welfare and has continuously opposed the use of force in maintaining social order (at least in principle). PPM on the other hand has endorsed a system Maldivians saw for 30 years where the emphasis is on social order, even at the expense of individual freedoms.
DRP though part of Ithihad (coalition), we predict that them moving away from it. First of all they took the bold move of forcing Gayoom to leave the party, and since then tension between DRP and PPM have been unresolvable.
Most PPM supporters feel bitter about DRP and are less likely to work with them. We think that feeling is mutual from DRP supporters towards PPM as well. The only thing now keeping MDP and DRP separated seems to be their disagreement with Mohamed Nasheed. Even then, we think if the earliest elections move to a second round DRP is much more likely to endorse the MDP candidate over Gayoom.
Given that we feel that both MDP and DRP will maintain similar ideologies the question must be answered as to why we believe MDP will survive over DRP. This is because MDP by far has a larger support base than DRP; whose members seem to be still stuck on crossroads after Gayoom left the party to form PPM.
Secondly, MDP is the party that founded democracy, and has continued to mature with these same principles while DRP was a party used to support an autocrat who they seem to disagree with now. In terms of number and consistency, it’s easy to see why MDP will win over DRP. We also predict PPM to win over DRP in the first round of the next election.
Apart from the fact that PPM continues to win former DRP members, PPM also enjoys the potential support from AP and JP as part of the Ithihad. Furthermore, we think that the lack of an exclusive principle in DRP means that swing voters who decide to vote for democracy will vote for MDP, leaving DRP expecting to win votes only from their own members.
The Adhaalath Party (AP) seems to be losing a lot of support it used to enjoy from the highly religious community in Maldives. The recent scandals, as well as the contradictory statements regarding political activism by their leaders have casted doubt on their sincerity, credibility, and commitment to Islamic principles.
Though AP leadership is expected to campaign with PPM in the second round of the upcoming elections, overtime the votes of AP members are most likely to transfer to a party which they feel, can accommodate a favorable Islamic environment.
If the Jumhooree Party (JP) was to support a principle; it would be in favor of liberalised markets and maximum commercial freedom. They seem to support least possible taxation and most possible freedoms in terms on investment and commerce. We argue that the party is likely to make coalition with a party that agrees to maintain the trade liberalisation ideology. We also would like to point out that such a coalition makes perfect sense for PPM since there seems to be no conflict of interest in adhering to the principles of JP.
Overall, our conclusion is that Maldives is likely to move towards a two-party political system as the political history matures. Perhaps parties like AP or JP might not completely die out, but it can be said with relative certainty that the main battles for presidency is to most likely happen between MDP and PPM.
All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]
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