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Review: Breakfast à la Maldivienne

The dozen or so little teashops beckon you when you step into the south-west harbour area of Male.

Located within easy walking distance of Villingilli ferry terminal, the teashops are squeezed together one alongside another, each painted in a vibrant colour with unique names like Fahari café (sister-in-law café), Lhiyanu Café (brother-in-law café) and Meal Deal.

Most of these cafés are famous for specific dishes. We head over to one gaining a reputation as serving one of the best local breakfasts in town.

X-Fresh 1 would be hard to find if you didn’t know its location – a canopy of leaves hides the name on the exterior. However it has the distinction of being one of the few cafes to have an outdoor area, complete with palm trees and coarse white sand.

Inside the café, the red colored walls give off a cheery feel. Even the table clothes are red and the fans follow the same theme with every other blade painted the same colour.

At nine in the morning the place is already starting to fill up. Half a dozen tables are occupied, including office workers in ties, people who’ve just stepped off the boats nearby and those who’ve wandered in off the street for chatter over coffee, tea and the variety of breakfasts on offer.

 

A classic Maldivian breakfast of mashuni roshi
A classic Maldivian breakfast of mashuni roshi

A Classic Breakfast

We choose a table outside. The shade from the palm trees and white coarse sand under foot gives the place an island feel. This reverie is broken every now and again by a passing pick up truck laden with goods being carried to a nearby dhoni (local boat).

Within the space of seconds a waiter appears by our table, his manner brisk.

We order the classic combination of Huni roshi (flat bread with grated coconut, shaped like a disk) and Mashuni (a mixture of tuna and grated coconut).

With an efficiency that would be the envy of top class restaurants, a small bottle of mineral water is served immediately and the food arrives fast on its heels, piping hot.

The disk lives up to its name – it is perfectly round. Legend has it that in the 90s a hota (local teashop) by the name of ‘Disk’ started serving Huni roshi, rounded to perfection. The hota named the dish as a kind of thumbs down to the concept of only the rich owning vinyl disk. A successful case of branding, à la Maldivienne.

The fresh pan-baked disk is baked to perfection with just the right hint of crispness and slightly sweet coconuty flavor.

The accompanying Mashuni is the perfect blend of tropical flavours that comprise the essence of Maldivian food: onion, chilli, lime juice, smoked tuna and freshly grated coconut.

The dish is unpretentious, flavoursome and testimony to the fact that the chef obviously knows his ropes.

The accompanying kurumba (young coconut) drink brings just the right touch to complete the meal.

Well chilled, the balanced combination of fresh coconut juice and soft flesh is a good balance of textures and is a delight to the taste buds on a hot morning.

While we are eating a constant stream of people come and go; a couple ventures in with a baby, as well as numerous well- dressed men. Four waiters in white shirts and black pants do a good job of attending to the customers.

No menus are on display in the café, but it’s generally understood that cafes in harbour area are light on the wallet. Our breakfast is Rf 15, the same price as the kurumba.

A pleasant atmosphere under the trees
A pleasant atmosphere under the trees

Some customers opt to try out the hedhika (short eats) piled on a tray, which the waiter brings to the table. Laden to the brim with savories and few sweet items, a person points at the item he wants, and the waiter serves it with a pair of tongs.

For those looking for more subtle flavors in the morning, toast and eggs are also on offer.

The aroma of coffee proves too tempting, and we order the Italian Lavazza coffee. To our pleasant surprise, coffee was well frothed and though a bit hot and lacking in body, it proved to be one of the best coffees in town.

One breakfast there and it’s easy to understand why people stream there in the morning, with the tables filled even on Friday mornings. In fact, if you turn up for breakfast on a Friday you’ll will be in the company of well-known personalities and MPs.

The usual little tray of betel nuts and betel leaves arrive, and a hastily scribbled bill brings an end to our morning escapade. At Rf 80 for two people it’s a bargain.

X-fresh 1 is a bit out of the way, for a delicious local breakfast at great price in a place reminiscent of islands in Maldives, right here in the capital, X-fresh 1 is hard to beat.

X-Fresh 1

  • Food 7/10
  • Atmosphere 6/10
  • Service 6/10
  • Price 10/10
  • Overall 7/10

X-Fresh 1 is the nearest café to Villingili ferry terminal, located at the south west harbor. Breakfast is served until 11am. Its open from 6am to 12pm and serves a variety of local and international dishes.

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Comment: Silence is not always golden

Silence is not always golden, and never so under compulsion.

The Maldives is travelling on a road not just less travelled but abandoned by most other nations – the road of regression.

Reading the headlines of a Maldivian newspaper is like travelling back in time. Female genital mutilation (FGM), concubines, under-age brides, calls to bring back capital punishment, deportation of ‘suspect’ foreigners, increasing acceptance of man’s alleged superiority over women… concerned about this state of affairs?

The key, apparently, is to say nothing, because whatever you say is certain to be used against you as evidence of your apostasy.

This is the most common and invariably pejorative accusation against any critic of the current Maldivian condition. This emotive allegation is akin to Godwin’s Law, which states that the longer an Internet discussion grows, the higher the probability that a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler will arise, shutting off further discussion.

Similarly, criticise practices negating people’s human rights, obliterating traditions and marauding national identities in the name of ‘Islam’, and the probability of being called an apostate hits the roof, ending any further discourse.

Jürgen Habermas’ initial description of the public sphere may have been utopian, but a democracy cannot function without such a space for rational debate about subjects of societal concern.

Saying Maldivians are being robbed of their identity and culture by those importing a certain brand of Islam into the country is not a criticism of Islam itself. Nor is it a declaration of intent to follow in the footsteps of hate-mongering apostate Muslims who came pouring out of the woodworks following 11 September 2001 such as Dr Mark Gabriel, a doctoral graduate of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, Brigitte Gabriel and Walid Shoebat (to name but a few).

Gender regression

To point out that it is wrong for Maldivian women to be pushed back from a position of relative equality with men to being nothing but obedient child-bearing vessels, and to single out such thinking for criticism represents neither the perusal of a hidden political agenda nor a criticism of Islam per se.

Indeed, Quran 3:195 states: ‘…be you male or female, you are equal to one another…’

It is those who ignore this spiritual equality between men and women that 3:195 makes so clear, and preach contrary messages, that are being put in the dock for thorough and thoroughly required cross-examinations.

When criticism is leveled against the practice of butchering the genitalia of young girls, again, it is not Islam that is being criticized but those who are forcing the Maldives to regress into ancient cruelties its people have virtually abandoned. There is absolutely no mention of ‘female circumcision’ (as some who prefer to package this cruelty refer to it as) made in the Quran either directly or indirectly.

Neither is there a Hadheeth stating the act is required in Islam. While Prophet Mohamed did not explicitly ban the practice neither did he condone it, advising that if it were to be practiced, it should not be needlessly cruel. Criticism of FGM is a criticism of those who, under the name of Islam, are taking the most vulnerable Maldivians back to the times before people knew better.

Intolerance

Nor is it a criticism of Islam to decry policies of intolerance against people of other faiths – the most recent example being the imminent deportation of an American family because they are ‘suspected’ of being missionaries. It is to point out that ‘Islam’ is being manipulated to achieve certain aims and to pursue particular agendas.

Quran 49:13 states: ‘O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another’ [own emphasis].

Recognition of differences, pluralism – not a false dichotomy between ‘us’ and ‘them’ – that is what Islam asks of its followers. For Muslims to do otherwise is ‘un-Islamic’ and for Maldivians to do so is, additionally, ‘un-Maldivian’.

Maldivians, until recently, were renowned for their openness and friendliness. The suspicions with which Maldivians now treat foreigners are consequences of this audacious robbery of Maldivian traditions and nature.

It is this loss that is being lamented by critics, the loss of the friendly Maldivian. The friendly Muslim Maldivian who welcomed foreigners with warmth and endearing curiosity. The Maldivians who have been indoctrinated into treating ‘the other’ with suspicion rather than with recognition as they once did – or as their religion tells them to do – it is they, and the practices that have made them so, that are the cause for concern and criticism.

No clash of civilisations

Islam is not monolithic. Nor is ‘the West’. Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilisations theory is a dangerous and vacuous idea based on Orientalism, colonialism and imaginary lines drawn across civilizations that he conjured up. Read the late Palestinian American intellectual and cultural critic Edward Said for a robust critique of the theory.

Unfortunately, it is a theory that many saw as proven with the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. Criticism of what is happening in the Maldives in the name of Islam does not mean the critics are in favour of the so-called ‘War on Terror’, or are swooning fans of George W Bush who initially used the word ‘crusade’ to describe this seemingly endless ‘war’.

Nor does it mean being in favour of the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq that turned international law on its head and established the so-called Bush Doctrine of preemptive strikes. Neither does it automatically imply these critics are cheering at the inhuman treatment of ‘enemy combatants’ in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib; the ‘extraordinary renditions’; or the continuing surveillance and monitoring of Muslim communities in the name of ‘counter-terrorism’ and prevention of ‘radicalisation’.

Interpretations of Islam

It means none of those things because it is possible to be a Muslim and disagree with regressive and draconian policies that are being implemented in the name of Islam; and because it is possible for a Muslim to agree with certain ‘Western’ ideas and practices without abandoning their own faith.

Just as it is possible to be from the West and/or be a non-Muslim and disagree with inhumane and illegal policies implemented in the name of the ‘War on Terror’, or those that create the undeniably unjust North/South divisions of today’s world.

Such agreement and disagreement are possible precisely because, as quoted from the Quran before, human beings are ‘distinct peoples and tribes’ that should ‘recognise one another’ as such. It is wrong to try and erase these distinctions through violence and/or other means in order to establish a false homogeneity or hegemony of one group/religion/region over another.

In this disturbed world, the Maldives – had it been allowed to be itself and practice Islam the way it had done for centuries – could have stood as an example to the rest of the world that Islam is indeed a religion of peace, that it is diverse, and among its many followers are people of distinctive cultures.

Sadly, that Maldives is being taken away, its people being cookie-cutter-molded to fit the appearance and behaviours of a particular sect of Islam. A vast majority have allowed themselves to be led down this path, like rats by Pied Piper. Those that refused to be lured have been forced into silence, gagged by the implicit threat of being branded apostates, non-believers, Infidels.

Loss of identity

There still is time, yet, to fight the complete loss of Maldivian identity, to stand against the enforcement of this imported alien uniformity. It cannot be done if the first response to rational criticism is irrational accusations of apostasy.

Differences are inevitable and should be not just tolerated, but welcomed. Muslims are not the same world over. It may surprise some of those re-making themselves, willingly or otherwise, in the image of a particular sect of Islam to learn that the biggest concentrations of Muslim populations can be found in non-Arabic countries.

Not every Muslim is an Arab or every Arab a Muslim; nor does every Arab Muslim practice their faith in the same way. Seven percent of the world’s Muslims (over 50 million) live in Europe; two percent (over 7 million) in North America. Muslims today do not live in a world divided between an ‘Islamic civilization’ and a ‘Western civilisation’ nor do they conform to one look, one appearance, one set of customs – just the one God.

To sit and say nothing while Maldivian identity is taken away, while individuals are systematically turned into copies of a non-existent ideal with the argument that the right to individuality and to individual rights is but a covert tactic of ‘Western neo-colonialism’ – all in the name of Islam – now that would be a sin.

Accusations – of having been rendered brain-dead by the seemingly all-powerful silver bullets of Western media; political bias; and, above all, apostasy – should not, and will not, be allowed to silence the voices of reasoned criticism.

In the words, not of a lowly mortal critic, but the Quran itself: ‘there shall be no compulsion in religion’ (2:256).

Munirah Moosa is a journalism and international relations graduate. She is currently engaged in research into the ‘radicalisation’ of Muslim communities and its impact on international security.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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‘Truth and Reconciliation’ Commission proposed for the Maldives

A South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been put forward as a means of mending political and social divides in the Maldives, following President Mohamed Nasheed’s radio address last week calling for the investigation of past injustices.

“I am saying this as a person who has seen these things very closely. Many people have died. Many people were killed. The lives of many were ruined. Many people’s lives were destroyed to the point where they had no future,” Nasheed said, calling on the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) to look to the past and become “a commission that properly works for human rights in this country.”

In an interview today with Minivan News, President of HRCM Ahmed Saleem said while he agreed “that while the violations of the past need to be looked into, I also think that right now the country is divided and facing problems of politics and religion. I’m very concerned – we’re a small country of 300,000 people and we can’t afford to have such divisions,” he said.

An investigation spanning the time of the former government risked “setting a precedent for a witch-hunt whenever there is a change of government.”

“Personally, I don’t think the president wants to dig into the past,” Saleem said. “But he is under a lot of pressure from others in his government who suffered greatly under the former regime. He is a politician and he is doing what he has to do.”

An alternative to HRCM’s involvement, he suggested, was to create a separate commission “to look into the past with the intention to unify, rather than punish.”

Such a commission would not undermine HRCM “because our mandate states that we must send matters to the courts, and we [rarely] investigate anything that occurred before 2000. We try to mediate and find solutions.”

In contrast, the new commission would “allow those who were abused to ask for forgiveness, and those who were abused to forgive,” he said.

“It would need the approval of the People’s Majlis and the major political parties; such a set up would need the power to convict, the power to forgive, and also a lot of money, because the process would have to last at least two years.”

While the South African TRC had the power to convict following the abolition of apartheid, in practice many perpetrators of human rights abuses were given civil and criminal amnesty in exchange in return for truthful testimony. The project was widely considered successful and a key component of South Africa’s transition to a free democracy.

A similar commission in the Maldives would have to be agreed upon by major parties and protected from becoming a political weapon, Saleem suggested, questioning the wisdom of limiting the mandate of such a commission to 30 years.

“We need a strong opposition to keep the government accountable,” he said. “It’s very important for the president, the government and the Majilis to unite the country, and the opposition [DRP] will not agree to any investigation of less than 30 years.”

This would place Ibrahim Nasir’s government within the mandate of the TRC, including his brutal 1962 suppression of the United Suvadive Republic and destruction of Havaru Thinadhoo.

“The mandate must be to learn from past mistakes so as to avoid them in the future, and in the process unite the country and strengthen democracy,” Saleem proposed. “Democracy alone will not unite the country.”

Departure from promise

Shortly after his election, President Mohamed Nasheed famously asked Maldivians “to follow my example and leave Gayoom to grow old here”, a reconcillatory statement many interpreted as a mark of the new president’s forward-looking approach to governing the country. In this sense, Nasheed’s request last week that HRCM to investigate the previous government’s alleged human rights abuses appeared to reflect a change of heart.

“What he said was that he was not going to go after Gayoom,” speculated Shahindha Ismail, of the Police Integrity Commission and former head of the Maldivian Detainee Network.

“If we were to get technical, it could mean he was not going to file a case against him individually,” she said, suggesting Nasheed’s comment was not a reference to institutions with a mandate to investigate human rights abuses like HRCM.

“Now, I think [Nasheed] is plainly not happy with HCRM and the way they’ve been working.”

Shahindha said while she is not sure “we should go back to the time of the kings and dig up all these graves again”, she believes a TRC “would at least acknowledge what people have been through and at give others a chance to take responsbilitity for what they have done – a kind of self-remedy.”

In her experience working for the Police Integrity Commission, Shahindha observed that “many people report an incident in a fit of passion, but when it comes time to carry out the investigation they withdraw their complaints.”

“If I was going to explain [the concept of a TRC] I would describe it as ‘putting it all on the table so you can get on with your life,'” she said, suggesting that simply the process of being listened to might be curative.

But gaining political consensus for the idea would be a challenge, she thought, particuarly since “the DRP will jump to conclusions that this is about undermining their time in government.”

That much proved accurate: when Minivan News raised the idea with Secretary General of the DRP Dr Mohamed Mausoom, he said he suspected the President would use the opportunity to continue “passing all the blame for failure to the former government.”

“There are better things the government should be doing. People elected the them to govern the country, and in a democracy [the MDP] should listen to the people and deliver. Give HRCM enough money to do their job,” he added.

However Shahindha speculated that a TRC “would also likely see senior MDP people appear on the table.”

“It doesn’t have to be a replica [of the South African TRC], but the general concept has been tried and proven. I do think it would be quite effective. However there is likely to be an initial negative reaction from the public. It was the same in South Africa, it took them a while to understand the concept.”

If former police commissioner Adam Zahir, “who is accused of more human rights violations than anyone else in the Maldives”, could sit in open cafes in Male, Shahindha said, “I’m very sure Gayoom could walk down the street without facing any problems. If people come out I don’t think there will be a lot of people running after them. Maldivians might not forgive and forget, but I do think they let go.”

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Comment: Maldives ‘ahead of the pack’ in highlighting climate change

The Government and people of the Maldives have been ahead of the pack when it comes to highlighting the impacts of climate change. Initiatives such as holding Cabinet meetings underwater and having ambitious plans to become the world’s first carbon neutral country by 2020 make a serious point about the impacts of climate change on all vulnerable countries.

With 80% of the Maldives 1,200 islands no more than one metre above sea level a rise in global temperature and sea levels threatens the country’s very existence. Many of you will have already experienced the impacts of climate change; the more frequent and intense storm surges.

That is why the Maldives and the UK Governments have been working hard in the run up to the UN Conference on Climate Change. We both want to see the most ambitious deal possible at Copenhagen.

The UK believes global agreement around a deal limiting the global average temperature rise to a maximum 2 degrees (the Maldives, with other island states, are pressing for a 1.5 – one of the main areas to be resolved at Copenhagen); commits the world to a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and provides a financial package that will help the most vulnerable nations represents, the best way to protect countries particularly exposed to climate effects, such as the Maldives.

That is why the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has proposed a “Copenhagen Launch Fund” to help developing countries tackle climate change immediately. That is $10 billion to be spent on helping developing countries adapt to climate change and reducing greenhouse gases with “payment for results, with priority for the poorest and most vulnerable countries”.

Global discussion and co-operation is crucial to the success of Copenhagen and beyond. The 18th of December does not mark an end to the process. Whatever the outcome of the conference is, the battle against climate change will not be won.

That is why the Maldives and the UK both have a role to play in ensuring that the momentum of Copenhagen is not lost once the last delegate has left the table. Only a continued and sustained global effort from us all will successfully avert the serious risk climate change poses to our future.

Ivan Lewis is Minister of State at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Police arrest Laamu drug dealer

Police have arrested a man in Laamu atoll Mathimaradhu in relation to drug trafficking.

Police claimed that Hassan ‘Achan’ Yoosuf was a major player in the drug trade for Laamu Atoll, and believed to control more than 50% of the drug trade in the atoll.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Azhan of the Drug Investigation Department said police have been keeping tabs on Yoosuf for “quite some time now.”

Police said when Yoosuf was apprehended he tried to dispose of some packets that were in his possession, which were later confirmed to be 50 grams of narcotics.

Azhan said that Yoosuf’s arrest was a huge step forward in the fight against drugs.

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Bill proposed to require parliamentary approval for foreign loans

A bill to amend the financial regulations to require parliamentary approval before the government obtains foreign loans was debated at parliament yesterday.

Presenting the legislation, Maafanu West MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), said he was proposing the amendments to “modernise” the financial regulations.

“My purposes [for proposing the bill] include securing economic independence for Maldivians,” he said.

He added amendments were needed for the financial regulations passed in 2006 as it gave powers to the government that contravened the spirit of the constitution.

The regulations needed to be changed in accordance with article 250 of the constitution, he said, which states “Any transfer, sale, lease, release, mortgage (to any person) or destruction of, any property or assets owned by the state, and any such other agreement, shall only be entered into in accordance with law.”

Abdullah said it was an “injustice” to obtain loans under a regulation first made in 1976, adding it was not his intention to restrict powers of the president.

The mid-term budget for 2010 currently being reviewed by a parliamentary committee includes Rf384 million (US$29 million) in foreign loan assistance proposed to plug a Rf4.6 billion (US$357 million) deficit.

The bill proposes amending the regulations to require the president to submit plans to secure loans either for the government or state-owned enterprises for parliamentary approval.

Moreover, the sale or lease of government property and providing subsidies or assistance must be conducted in accordance with a law to be passed by parliament.

During the ensuing debate, MPs disagreed with the extent of parliamentary oversight and powers over the government, with some arguing such laws encroached on the authority of the executive.

Feydhoo MP Alhan Fahmy said there was a contradiction between the proposed amendments and what the MP said was its purpose.

The constitution gave the president powers to formulate and implement monetary and fiscal policies.

“We have to set aside having the People’s Majlis decide everything in our thinking,” he said, adding MPs should not interfere with setting policy and implementation as it was contrary to the presidential system of governance.

Alhan said the president did not have to secure parliamentary approval to obtain loans to plug the budget deficit and MPs were not financial experts.

Moreover, he said, the article in the constitution did not deal with loans and foreign assistance.

Maamigili MP Gasim Ibrahim, sole representative of the Republican Party and former finance minister, said the amendment was urgently needed for the future of the nation.

Article 97 of the constitution clearly states that the executive shall not obtain or receive any money or property by loan or otherwise except pursuant to a law enacted by the People’s Majlis, Gasim said.

Referring to the sale of the majority stake in the state telecommunication company, Dhiraagu, Gasim criticised the government’s policy of privatising state-owned enterprises without consultation with the people’s representatives.

He urged MPs to approve the amendments to ensure that future generations do not inherit a “hollow shell” of an indebted nation.

Hithadhoo North MP Mohamed Aslam of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party said the amendments would impede the functioning of the government.

Submitting loans required by government companies to parliament every time funds were needed would create difficulties and slow down the proceedings of parliament, he said.

Vili-Maafanu MP Ahmed Nihan of the DRP said the amendments were required to ensure that the government does not exploit loopholes in the regulations in obtaining loans that would indebt the people.

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Police sieze 65 bottles of vodka in raid

An Indian worker residing in Male’ has been arrested in possession of alcohol.

According to Sub-Inspector Ahmed Azhan of the Drug Investigation Department, a raid was conducted on a suspected alcohol brewing and distribution operation. The Indian man, only known as Shibu, was found with 65 bottles of alcohol that police have identified as vodka.

Police are now working to identify the man as he had no passport or other means of identification on him, and believe him to be in the country illegally.

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Drugs found in air freighted vegetables

Customs authorities have seized narcotics packed into vegetable cases on a cargo flight from India on 6 December.

Two cases of vegetables had the drugs attached to the sides. One of the cases contained 1.04 kg of cannabis and the other contained 0.7 kg of heroine.

Police said they have arrested a man in connection with the crime, Ali Ashlah Rashaadh, who has previous drug convictions.

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