State Minister of Foreign Affairs and daughter of former President of 30 years Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Dunya Maumoon, has said the Maldives would likely leave the Commonwealth if not removed from the formal agenda of the Commonwealth’s human rights and democracy arm.
Speaking at a press conference held in the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, Dunya said, “We call on all the member countries of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to remove us from the agenda at the earliest possible opportunity. We do not altogether deserve to have been put on this agenda”.
Dunya stated that following the release of the report by the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI), many foreign countries had complimented the commission’s work. While she expressed concerns that “reactions from two countries are somewhat worrying”, she declined to name either country.
President Mohamed Waheed’s government reformed the CNI at the Commonwealth’s request, to include a representative from Nasheed and a foreign legal authority as co-chair. The government requested a retired Singaporean judge, and G P Selvam was duly appointed.
The final report, published at the end of last month, concluded that the transfer of power on Feburary 7 was constitutional, that President Mohamed Nasheed’s resignation was not made under duress, and that there had not been a police or military mutiny. It also noted that there were “acts of police brutality on 6, 7 and 8 February 2012 that must be investigated and pursued further by the relevant authorities.”
Nasheed’s representative Ahmed Saeed resigned from the CNI the evening prior to its publication, denouncing its credibility and alleging that the final report excluded testimony from key witnesses as well as crucial photo, audio and video evidence.
While subsequently accepting the report, Nasheed observed that it had effectively set a legal precedent under Maldivian law for the overthrow of an elected government through police or mob action.
This, he said, left the Maldives “in a very awkward, and in many ways, very comical” situation, “where toppling the government by brute force is taken to be a reasonable course of action. All you have to do find is a narrative for that course of action.”
CMAG ministers are due to consider the report in a teleconference on September 11.
Dunya said that should Maldives remain on the CMAG agenda following the teleconference, there were reservations within the government over whether the Maldives would choose to remain as a Commonwealth member.
She said there were a “huge number” of people who felt the Maldives should leave the intergovernmental organisation.
“Should the Maldives continue to be kept on the CMAG agenda, I have to say that there are a lot of citizens and very senior members of the government who have many serious concerns regarding whether the Maldives will stay on as a member of the Commonwealth,” Dunya said.
“There may not yet be an official decision by the President himself, or by any other high-level government official. We do not want to highlight this just yet. But from what I have heard, and the information I have received, there are a lot of people who no longer want [the Maldives] to remain a Commonwealth members.”
Dunya’s comments were echoed by President Waheed’s Political Advisor, Dr Hassan Saeed.
“CMAG seems in no hurry to remove the country from its agenda. This is a continuing infringement on our sovereignty and is tantamount to holding us hostage,” Saeed wrote, in an article for local newspaper Haveeru.
“Since the publication of the CoNI report there has been absolutely no justification for keeping the Maldives on CMAG agenda –not even for a single day,” he claimed.
“In view of this I would now argue that if CMAG does not remove the Maldives from its agenda in its next teleconference on 11th of this month, we should end our relationship with the Commonwealth and look to other relationships that reflect modern realities of the world,” Saeed said.
The CMAG had placed Maldives on its formal agenda in February, at the time citing ‘the questions that remain about the precise circumstances of the change of the government, as well as the fragility of the situation in Maldives’ as reasons.
The government has maintained that the CMAG ‘lacked mandate’ to place Maldives on the agenda. Following this there has been multiple instances where the government had expressed disapproval in what it termed ‘interference’ by the Commonwealth.
Members from the coalition government has submitted bills in the parliament in late April to withdraw Maldives from the Commonwealth.
The government itself has said in March that it “may reconsider” membership in the Commonwealth.
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With the emergence of China and the economic decline of the west, Commonwealth would be even more irrelevant in the next 10 years.
The combined aid of UK in the last 3 years to Maldives would not amount to a fraction of what the Chinese can give immediately. For a poor country like Maldives, we could be better off out of Commonwealth.
Who is the head of the commisssion? Your father's Defense Minister.
From where is the foreign judge brought from? Singapore.
Where does the richest man of Maldives live? Singapore.
Is the richest man related to your father? The richest's sister is married to your Uncle, Ilyas.
What is the ethnicity of Singapore lawyer: Tamil. Indian origin.
Why did President's Nasheed's representative resign? Non of his proposals included in the report.
How many representatives selected by Waheed? 4.
Is there allegations the Tamil judge was bought? Yes.
Did Waheed abolished the Presidential committee elected to find out the billlion dollar crimes made by your father? Yes.
If China gives money, Waheed and his friends shall be pleased to get rid of the COMMONWEALTH
Yes Ramzee. In Sri Lanka the Tamils are considered "Yati Koottu" or undercutters. It is their nature.
Why did Nasheed accepted this guy to be co-chairman, I don't know. Nasheed himself lived in Sri Lanka during his school days.
He should have known better who is a Tamil.
Nasheed should have requested a Sri Lanka judge to be in the committee with the help of President Rajapaksa.
Oh these poor dear little children thinking Maldives is Sovereign.
@Good news.
You need to do some reading. Commonwealth Aid does not come from the UK. The boss of the Commonwealth is an Indian. Aid comes from all 50 odd member states.
Whilst it dishes out aid, China dishes out loans. You really think it's sensible to be climbing into China's bed? You'll have a Chinese military naval base before you can sneeze.
The commonwealth is devoted promoting democracy, good government, human rights and economic development. You think the Chinese give a damn about those things?
Come on, let's leave the Commonwealth. The only other country ever to do so is Zimbabwe and what was the breadbasket of Africa is now a wasteland.
Was your brother, Ghassaan, studying to be a Medical Doctor, in England? Ans: Yes.
Did your brother, Ghassaan, finish his medicine course in England? Ans: No.
Why did not your brother, Ghassaan, finish his medicine course? Ans: To be investigated by the Prsidential Committee, just two days before the coup.
Did your brother Ghassaan take cocaine or marijuana,in England? Ans: To be investigated by the Presidential Committee, just 2 days before the coup.
Did your brother, Ghassaan, kill a person in England? Ans: To be investigated by the Presidential Committee, just two days before the coup.
Did your father, Maumoon, use the treasury to save your brother, Ghassaan, after the "killing scandal"? Ans: To be investigated by the Presidential Committee, just two days before the coup.
Did the country went bankrupt when your father sent millions in Dollars to save your brother, Ghasssan? Ans: To be investigated by the Presidential Committee, just two days before the coup.
Who is the real person who wants us out of the Commonwealth and why? The answers, Maldivian people know!
The answer to the final question by Maanee is: Your father!!!!!
'CMAG's task is to assess the nature of the infringement and recommend measures for collective Commonwealth action aimed at the speedy restoration of democracy and constitutional rule'.
The United Nations, The Commonwealth, EU, US, India, Japan, Australia and even MDP have accepted the CoNI's report that ruled 'Maldives power transfer constitutional and legal'... If this is the case Maldives shall no longer be in CMAG's agenda. But if they do not remove Maldives from their agenda, that means they have no respect to the Constitution of the Rep. of Maldives and their work is clearly biased and out of their own mandate!
Most of you guys have no clue about the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth does not give us any aid or very little aid.
We only joined the Commonwealth during Gayoom's presidency.
As for the Judge, it was the Commonwealth who chose him and then they also chose the New Zealander and the UN sent the other legal expert.
Maldives had no say in that.
It would also be tough to find a Maldivian who at some stage had not worked for the government while Gayoom was the President. Even Gaha Saeed served for the Gayoom government.
It would not be a loss to Maldives, to leave the Commonwealth. By being in the Commonwealth most you get is to get to head of governments meeting and a photo shoot.
Dunya is right that Maldives should consider leaving the Commonwealth if they are biased and promote a certain agenda against this current administration.
Y dont u tell ur fathe to git Africa where you all belongs. Your family is raiding Maldives.
You eather ur bloody killer
Father to give instructions to leave commonwealth.
Ofcourse @Jameel, pls enlighten us with your mystical and rediculois reasoning of impartiality of Judge Selvum
but can u explain this article:
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2012/06/singapores-lee-ruling-familys-attack.html
In addition this pic:
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/A1VH41RCAAArCQP.png:large
I guess if commonwealth puts on the shelf, we should come to you or maumoonists or back to begging from china,,,!!
commonwealth is not one person, or one country that if we leave it, it'll be only the loss of a photo in our album Politician!!The Commonwealth's current highest-priority aims are on the promotion of democracy and development, as outlined in the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration, which built on those in Singapore and Harare and clarified their terms of reference, stating, "We are committed to democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equality, and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalisation.".The Commonwealth website lists its areas of work as: Democracy, Economics, Education, Gender, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Small States, Sport, Sustainability, and Youth. (website)
so you see we seem to know more than you about the commonwealth and it's benifits..
Tomorrow you might argue leaving SAARC,OIC, or even the UN just to legalise a failed governament with irregularities since 7th February 2012'..
Dunya is not fit to be a state minister of foreign affairs. Where is Samad? Is he so timid and so bought over by Maumoon that he can't even stand up to this crazy woman out to save her corrupt father and family at any cost to the nation? Let's hold a public referundum to see what percentage of the population wants Maldives out of the Commonwealth, then we can understand how "huge" this number is.
"Huge Number" We know for a fact, tht a Man ruled a nation for 30 long years, and lost his first election ..shows.. how "huge Numbered" would agree on this...
another model of kaminee brand dictators
Who gives a dam if Maldives leaves Commonwealth? Why don't Maldives then ban Commonwealth tourists and aid altogether? We have enough commonwealth of Gayoum and Dunya et al to to get by and prosper.
Justiceforsome. You are being biased of course. I have no truck with either Gayoom or Anni. Both have been found to be bad for Maldives. Gayoom more so because it is due to him that we get someone like Anni.
If he had gone quietly and long before he was ousted then we may be having real democracy in Maldives.
FYI, I am a member of MDP and probably have joined long before you did but what I do not support is the thuggery they have now and when they were in power.
As for Selvum, this man was chosen not by Maldivian Government but by Commonwealth. Of course the Commonwealth itself is composed of many countries and that is why it is called Commonwealth.
They of course provide lip service to democracy etc but in the end it is the individual countries that matter as you have confirmed it for me.
Countries do not have friends they have interests. Why is that the UK or Canada or Australia is not berating the Saudi Government or the Bahraini government when they so brutally send the military to confront the civilians?
Do you think they say anything or threaten them with sanctions? Of course not. If they love democracy so much why not try and bring some sort of a democracy to these countries.
Compared to these countries Maldives is a paradise.
You can get out on the street, block it and shout "Baghee" to your heart's content at Waheed. You will not be shot.
Try that in Saudi Arabia or any of those countries and see what happens?
In fact it has happened and what did UK do? Their Prime Minister went with a delegation to sell arms.
Get a life and welcome to the real world. UK is not trying to bring democracy to anywhere. Or for that matter any of these so called "powerful countries".
All they want is their interest protected.
To contemporary minds, leaving an international organization in this age of globalization and multilateralism is unheard of. Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth, Syria the League of Arab States and Japan the League of Nations in early 20th Century.
But I do have to admit, CMAG's potential actions in September will be the decider. If it does not take the Maldives off its agenda creates a lot of space to bring into question its impartiality and independence. The Government has a lot of ammunition to use this time, the CoNI report which is backed by the Commonwealth itself and the UN, Gahaa Saeed's biased conduct during the inquiry signed by the observers, and CMAG's own requirements that the inquiry be independent. Tit for tat, the Government decided to allow one of Nasheed's nominee's and 'internationalize' the inquiry itself.
Based on all the requirements, the Government seems to have achieved what the CMAG expected of it on paper at least. Besides, I suspect the Indians would not want the CMAG to interfere any further, they's rather deal with this themselves for better or worse.
The last thing CMAG would want to do is encourage a member state of the Commonwealth to leave the organization. This might be highly embarrassing for the Commonwealth especially after the Maldives had achieved all it was asked to do.
I think this might be a bluff by Dunya, and CMAG would probably call it and take the Maldives off its agenda.
Am happy you think democracy is intrest liked!!
those mentioned countries FYI have what we don't!!!
But may be we should wait as you may have implied for democracy to come to Saudi Arabia or Cuba before we ask for it here?
Or May be they should start shooting all who calls "Baaaghy" since Saudi is your model of governance.
But unfortunately for any Trators, this is not Saudi Arabia and there is nothing would intrest any mad person to invest here after pirates of the Jumhooree square showed thuggery a uniformed performers and actors!!
you should be ashamed calling yourself MDP, cause non of the 3 letters can really tell who you are!!
Oh no! Commonwealth is threatened, scared! Now they will remove Mordis from their agenda!
Dunnya. Pls tell your idiotic father Gayoom that you are the most danjarous person in Maldives., Not Abdulla Luthugee
as he advised state in the Anti State file was sent Interpol.
The Beijing regime is now the best (only?) friend of the baghee and his overlord's daughter. The Chinese love nepotism too so it is a match made in heaven. Now the Gayoom family has a place to seek asylum when democracy is restored to the Maldives, inshallah.
I think the Maldives shoT of the C due to its current human rights situation. You want China, go deal with China.
last comment was to So called MDP @jameel
Dr. Ramee. Don't frame questions to frame people and don't judge people from their outer appearance. The reason is its a cheap way of attacking other's personalities and Maldives being a small country with an intertwined people, framing people in such manner doesn't help. I will give you an example why it does not help.
How Maldivians see Tamils? Ans: Those who came to Maldives on 3 November 1988 coup.
Who are behind 3 November Coup? Ans: Sikka, Lutfy, Shahid and Ameen Faisal. Who is Sikka? Ans: hubby of Ex Prez Nasheed's aunt. Who is Shahid? Ans: state Minister for Defence under ex Prez Nasheed. Who is Luthfy? Ans: the person who gave interview to Island newspaper in Sri Lanka saying Ex. Prez. Nasheed's his close friend. What happened to life-sentence serving Mr. Lutfy during Presidency of Nasheed? Ans: sent to Sri Lanka on medical leave and never brought back to Maldives jail to serve his sentence. Who is Ameen Faisal? Ans: Defence Minister under in ex Prez Nasheed's government.
My comment above was for Raamee and for Dr. Ramzi
kaza, Digging through the archives will bring up a lot more dirt on the members of the current government. Or have you forgotten how Nasir was drummed out of office?
To Jameel.
You make some very valid points. A serious question from someone outside looking in....What is the answer for the Maldives? The political parties are so polarized, and the judiciary and police seem so politicized.
How can a solution be reached for this stalemate?
Sorry to say, just because your father air freighted fruits that were out of season and burgers to feed you .. Doesn't make you a qualified Maldivian to talk of Common wealth and its relevance to us.
Please go and take care of your old guy .. who is out of his mind still .. scavenging all he can even now.. the amount he took from our treasury with the help of your Uncle wasn't enough at all.
Be realistic.
Get rid of the commonwealth and invite the Chinese??? You must be crazy.There is nothing in the Maldives for the Chinese except a possible military base,mid-way between China and [Chinese Africa].They have done nothing for the ordinary african,and if they get onto the Maldives they will do nothing for the ordinary Maldivian except use you all for their own purpose.Do not let the 'money' men of the Maldives buy your slavery for their own gain..
You missed the point here, kaza!
The point is Tamils are bad. You explained it yourself.
Dunya heekuranee dhivehi rayyithunge 5 kulhan'dhu madhu kamah.
Mizamaanuga 5 kulhan'dhu madhee Bangaaalhu meehunge.
Adhi emeehnnaai in'dhegen ulhey meehunge.
Dunya's father in law has been spent a "huge" amount of Dollars from the Maldivian's treasury to pay his hospital bills.
Ex Foreign Minister Naseem says Maldives is trying to 'unduly influence international organizations'. This implies that he in fact BELIEVES that Maldives can influence IOs.
Then he says the opposite. ie, the Gov cannot do it.
And then he makes the most ridiculous statement that 'Government cannot challenge organisations like CMAG', as if CMAG holds the sovereignty of Maldives.
Certainly he does not qualify to be a diplomat.
http://www.miadhu.com/2012/09/local-news/govt-is-trying-to-unduly-influence-international-organisations-naseem/
Dunya's father maybe bad but the point she is making is valid. we joined this commonwealth club to get foreign aid however small it maybe. and jameel is right that we get next to nothing materially from this body.
as for zimbabwe opting out of commonwealth and becoming a wasteland overnight from a breadbasket, this is also more propaganda than context. what happened was the white zimbabweian had 90% of land and the black one had 10%. in numbers the black one was more than 99%. so it was a redistribution of land that did not favour the white man. It has nothing to do with lots and lots of aid losing because of opting out of common wealth. jameel is right that we get only a photo shooting opportunity from that association.
we leave common wealth. Bye bye
Jamalu. you really think you can put the hood on the Maldivians by selective reasoning? Yes you need some amount of facts in order to deliver the BS! So the 10% of black land owners and 99% of blacks come in your hoodwinking.
Well it's one of those 99% who has been decimating his own kind for the last 30 years, as your beloved D's father has been doing!!!
I hear you Jamalu but it was the white man that had the skills to run the farms and to manage the employment. Now what we see out of Zimbabwe is a whole load of subsistence farmers growing tiny plots and a bunch of Mugabe friends and family not having the skillset to manange the large agribusinesses they've been given. That's not fiction.
@Imran
skills also take time to grow. just because the black man is struggling now with the land reforms does not mean he will be forever struggling. are you aware that the first settlers in america and south africa perished because they did not have knowledge to cultivate in that terrain? same goes here. let the blackman have sometime to master the skills and he will be ok
"With the emergence of China and the economic decline of the west, Commonwealth would be even more irrelevant in the next 10 years.
The combined aid of UK in the last 3 years to Maldives would not amount to a fraction of what the Chinese can give immediately. For a poor country like Maldives, we could be better off out of Commonwealth."
Possibly true! But also who could say or tell what awaits us tomorrow!
China is an emerging power with a lot of intention and determination!
We all know that the Monkey Man has his hands on the candy in a hole and is unable to let it go!
This dependence and reliance on China could be a worst trap than we could ever think about!
Waheed did not know what all this was about!
Lord have mercy on us! Grant us the ballot box!
Jamalu>>>those first settlers went into the unknown,,its now 2012 with as much technology available as anyone,black or white,could ever need..Mugabe has massive palaces in various parts of the world,while his 'subjects' die in their thousands of starvation..Some leader he is!!!.You lot let the Chinese into the Maldives and they will empty your country of anything they value,and your 'leaders'Gayoom and all his family will once again top up their bank balances.
@LArry. I am not saying Mugabe is good. But land reform is something that was needed in Zimbabwe. Same goes in Pakistan, infact in many countries of the world, inequitable land distribution causes great poverty which could have been a non-issue in the first place.
As for chinese emptying anything of value in Maldives; let me give an example. we have local resort owners here like the 'Kolige' clan which owns the universal resorts. we have buruma gasim who owns the villa resorts. We have others and these few rich people have so much wealth but what does their wealth do to the common man? v little i say. they pay the smallest wages to their employees and generally treat their employees inhumanely. compare that to the foreign brands of resorts which operate here. the WMaldives, Hilton, Anantara, Banyan Tree, 4 seasons... these hoteliers pay so much better wages and treat staff so much better than the local owners. So just because a person belongs to Maldives does not mean a thing if his wealth does not benefit the masses. So let the Chinese come if they are going to benefit Maldivians. WE can learn a lot from them. They have their Tiannamen sure, but USA has their Hiroshima too, UK is complicit too! commonwealth is a big history of UK; what it did right and wrong.
Thanks Dr. Ramzee for highlighting the POINT. As you said I missed your POINT, that the Tamils are bad bad and bad. Unfortunately, it was the Commonwealth that appointed a Tamil to CONI and tricked Anni. As Ramee said, having lived in Sri Lanka in his school days, Ex Prez. Nasheed should have known this. 🙂