Author: Hawwa Lubna

Government lifts week-long ban on resort spas, massage parlors

The government has lifted a controversial nationwide ban on spas and massage parlors with immediate effect while it awaits a ruling from the Supreme Court over the legality of spa operations and sale of pork and alcohol in resorts.

The announcement was made by President Mohamed Nasheed during a press conference today at Kurumba Island Resort, the country’s first resort which opened in 1972.

The week-long ban, which has made headlines in both local and international media, was lifted “because the government does not want the economy to suffer any damage during the time Supreme Court takes to come to a decision,” President Nasheed said.

Sale of pork and alcohol would also continue while other goods and services “such as casinos” demanded by the tourists, said Nasheed, would be allowed under the Contraband Act of 1975 until a judicial declaration is reached.

As the Maldivian constitution states that “Islam shall be one of the basis of all the laws of the Maldives” and prohibits the enactment of any laws “contrary to any tenet of Islam”, Nasheed said that the Tourism Ministry requested advice on legality of spa operations and sale of pork and alcohol at the recently-concluded ‘Islamic Scholars Symposium.’

However the scholars recommended that the government seek a judicial declaration, he revealed. Nasheed urged the apex court to settle the dispute in the near future.

Asked if the ban was necessary, Nasheed responded that the move was prompted by allegations made at the December 23 ‘Defend Islam’ demonstration.

Nasheed also dismissed opposition parties’ contention that the government should bear full responsibility for the economic consequences, arguing that “in a democracy, it is difficult to decide who’s responsible”, though conceding that the tourism sector’s reputation has been damaged in the process.

“We wanted to impress upon everyone where the opposition’s demands were ultimately going to end,” Nasheed explained.

The government’s ultimatum “woke the nation from its slumber and sparked a healthy national debate about the future direction of the country,” he insisted.

“The extremist demonstration on 23 December attracted a sizeable crowd. But their radical demands awoke the silent majority who categorically reject extremism,” Nasheed said.

The reason Maldives tourism industry have flourished for years, said Nasheed, is because the sector has been “free from religious fundamentalist demands.”

Referring to controversy over allowing Israeli airlines to operate flights to the Maldives, President Nasheed said that the tourist arrivals would be adversely affected “if we start saying that only certain nationals or certain airlines can come to Maldives,” noting that a sizable portion of tourists were Jewish.

The government’s decision rests on a decision made by parliament on recommendations by its National Security Committee, he said.

The December 23 religious rally organised by a coalition of NGOs and opposition parties was the “biggest use of religion as a political tool” in Maldivian history, Nasheed contended.

“We all must know such fundamentalist demands will damage the Maldives tourism industry’s [image] in the international community,” he said. “News will not always reach the international community in the way we prefer.”

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Male City Council begins Primary Health Care program

President Mohamed Nasheed has today launched the “Primary Health Care Program” of Male City Council, which aims to facilitate immunization and other health services to children below five years of age.

In its first step the program will conduct a survey to determine the total number of children below five years of age living in capital Male’, Mayor Maizan Ali Manik said during the program launch at Vinares house in Machangoalhi district.

To inaugurate the program, President Nasheed visited that house and helped the children living there fill out primary health care forms.

City council officials are expected to visit every household in Male’ during the survey.

Speaking to the press, the President said the 11-seat council, which consists of nine ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) councillors, is now mandated with the important task of managing primary health care in Male’.

The primary health care program has not been “managed properly” in Male’, though the islands have been running the program successfully, he added.

Under the program, the council will be responsible for recording children’s height, weight, and other health indicators, the President observed.

Mayor Manik reiterated the importance of the initiative, adding that the council has decided to open Primary Health Centers (PHC) in Male’s four districts, as well as nearby Villingili and Hulhumale.

He added that the centers will help “reduce the current pressures faced by the hospitals” as parents can take their children to the paediatricians at the health centers instead of going directly to hospitals.

“The parents can bring the children here. The doctor at the center will recommend if further consultation is required from hospitals”, the Mayor explained.

He added that centers will provide immunization, vaccination and free consultations, among other health services.

The program follows the implementation of the Aasandha universal health insurance scheme, under which Maldivians will receive up to Rf100,000 of free health care per year. Government officials have said the scheme now holds the government to a higher standard of health care.

During the primary school admission process last year, the Ministry of Education observed that an increasing number of children were not properly vaccinated.

Parents are required to submit a vaccination report with the school application form when their children enroll in grade one, at the age of seven.

Following the Ministry’s observation, public health experts stressed the importance of a comprehensive primary health care initiative to ensure proper immunisation of children.

Speaking today to Minivan News, Public Health Programme Coordinator for the Center for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) Dr Fathmath Nazla Rafeeq welcomed the city council’s initiative as an important move to provide easy access to vaccination  and monitoring.

She noted that the Maldives already has a record high vaccination coverage rate in the region, adding that the health centers will help “sustain the coverage”.

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Family court requires criminal records and police reports for underage marriage

A new regulation at the Family Court requires underage couples applying for marriage to submit criminal records and police reports, in a bid to ensure that young girls are fully informed of their partner’s social standing.

Maldivian law allows girls and boys under the legal age of 18 to marry so long as they have reached puberty and have parental consent, and if the court finds no substantial reason to object to the union.

As of January 1, 2012, couples in which one or both partners is underage must now submit criminal records and a police report to the Family court, as well as confirmation of parental consent and medical reports.

The Marriage Registrar will also decide whether the couple holds a valid reason for marriage.

Speaking to Minivan News, Marriage Registrar Ahmed Abdullah said that the new regulation aims to “protect young girls” following observations that in most cases of underage marriage the applicant is a female below the age of 18 who wishes to marry a man of legal age. The man is sometimes found to hold a criminal record, he said.

Abdullah said that these criminal records are mainly related to drug offences- and that the girl and her parents are often “unaware” of them prior to the marriage.

However, he explained that the court would not decline a marriage request based on the criminal history of an applicant, as long as the legal requirements are met.

“Submission of criminal records would only help the girls and parents make a more informed decision about the partner”, Abdullah added.

Contrary to the assumption that most underage marriages in Muslim countries are “forced”, Abdullah assured that the court has not registered any marriage in which the court had identified the “slightest hint that any partner was forced”.

Rather, Abdullah claims that most girls applying to marry between the ages of 15 and 17 do so to escape poor living conditions.

“Most underage girls are from very poor backgrounds living in very harsh conditions, often with no parent or reliable guardian to support them,” said Abdullah. “So, they want to get a better life by marrying”.

In the event that a marriage request is denied, Abdullah said some girls write repeatedly, “pleading for approval”.

According to him, there are exceptional cases where the boy and girl come from very good backgrounds and “they want to get married because parents do not approve of relationships out of wedlock”.

“Most parents are scared their kids might make a mistake, that is why want them to get married,” Abdullah observed.

As a Muslim nation, the Maldives subscribes to social standards in keeping with Quranic teachings, which strictly regulate the relations between a man and a woman. While Maldivian culture similar opposes “dating” in the modern sense, the “boyfriend-girlfriend” relationship, or bitun, is fairly common.

Last year, almost 50 underage marriages were registered at the court.

Although the Maldives is known for its record-high divorce rate, Abdullah noted that the “divorce rate in under age marriages are surprisingly lower” than in legal age marriages.

Former Gender Minister Aneesa Ahmed argued that a lack of information and social pressure combine to make it difficult for young girls to make healthy decisions regarding marriage.

Though it may appear that young girls want to get married, Ahmed said “often they are lured into marriage by their parents” who find the prospect of a wealthy son-in-law appealing. “The girls would not be able to make a good decision about their marriage partners” in that context, she added.

Ahmed observed that in most marriages between a young girl and an older man, the man has wealth, high social status, or both. She added that the girl is rarely consulted, and “parents are often to blame”.

In the event that an underage girl claims to have no parent or legal guardian, the state becomes responsible for her security. Ahmed pointed out that this mechanism does prevent girls from lying about their background, and allows for higher scrutiny.

“The court also must play an important role to ensure the rights to the underage girl”, she said.

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Elections Commission audit report reveals “irresponsible” spending

Elections Commission of Maldives (EC)’s 2010 audit report has revealed that commission members “irresponsibly” used state funds to cover lavish medical insurance, buy ipads and expensive mobile phones while failing to maintain office records and recover money withdrawn from the budget by political parties.

Between 2008 and 2010 EC members and their dependents “irresponsibly” chose the “most expensive” medical insurance scheme available from Allied Insurance at Rf.35,000 per person, raising the level of insurance paid through the budget to Rf1.1 million (US$70,500).

According to the report made public on Thursday, the five EC members illegally withdrew allowances from the commission’s budget to pay a their mobile phone bills, totalling Rf74,155 (US$4,809).

Members of both the Civil Service Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) committed this violation, wrote Auditor General (AG) Niyaz Ibrahim in the respective audit reports.

The AG steadily notes that the salary and benefits of independent commission members are determined by the People’s Majlis (parliament), and that benefits do not cover phone allowances.

An additional Rf81,861 (US$5,308) was spent on the phone allowances of EC staff, which the AG reports was spent without the Finance Ministry’s approval.

The commission has also spent a total of Rf248, 790 (US$16,134) to buy mobile phones over the past three years, while the AG notes that the chosen models were the “most expensive” ones available in the market at the time.

While some phones are now missing, others have been gifted to staff despite the laws prohibiting the gifting of any state property or item to staff, the AG observed. He recommended that the phone costs be recovered from the staff members concerned.

EC staff also received a total of Rf971,807 (US$63,022) as overtime pay, although there was no record to confirm their work.

The report further reveals that EC members bought five ipads worth Rf 77,500 (US$5,025) in September 2011, after neglecting the AG office’s advice to the contrary.

The commission had previously been asked to use the existing 97 laptops and 250 netbooks, of which some were inexplicably lost.

AG noted the laptops were bought in violation of public finance regulation during the 2008 elections, a case now forwarded by ACC to the Prosecutor General Office.

The report also highlighted inefficiencies in the current mechanism for allocating funds to political parties, a task mandated to the EC.

AG Ibrahim explained that the existing policy to distribute 60 percent of the total funds based on the number of party members, and 40 percent equally among the existing parties, provides an “opportunity to misuse state funds”.

According to him, several parties have gained additional money by manipulating the number of party members, a concern often raised by the Elections Commission.

AG added that it is “financial fraud” and urged to take legal action against the responsible parties, while recommending that the fund distribution mechanism be revised.

He also highlighted that among the existing 15 political parties, several do not have the requisite 3,000 registered members while others are politically inactive.

Therefore, he recommends to stop funding parties with membership below 3,000. According to report statistics, nine existing parties would not qualify.

Since the state budget is a deficit budget, AG also recommends that funds allocated for political parties be determined by state income instead of the total state budget.

Currently, 0.1- 0.2 percent of state budget must be allocated to political parties.

In the past five years the commission has fined seven political parties up to Rf435, 000 (US$28,210) for not submitting the annual financial report on time. However, AG notes that 60 percent of that sum has not yet been collected.

AG also concluded that the EC’s financial statements for the past year do not show the “commission’s financial status accurately and honestly”.

The AG concluded that Rf11.4 million (US$740496) was allegedly distributed to atoll offices during the 2011 elections by the EC as an “expense in the financial statement”, however it has “not been spent in real” and some money still remains in island bank accounts.

Of the Rf75.2 million (US$4.9 million) released as an annual budget to the EC in 2010, the report found that only Rf52.3 million was recorded as spent.

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Miladhoo island office set on fire

Noonu atoll Miladhoo island council office was set on fire early this morning, causing extensive damage.

The fire incident occurred around 3:00 am on Wednesday, according to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) fire department.

Although islanders and the fire team put out the fire within an hour, almost everything inside the building was destroyed while the building itself was burnt beyond repair, Hussain Ghassan, President of the Miladhoo island council told Minivan News on Wednesday.

Ghassan said that the council has received “several threats” from some people unhappy with the council, of which a majority sides with opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

“Some even threatened to burn down the office”, he said.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that police also “suspect it is an arson attack” and the investigation is ongoing.

No arrests have yet been made.

Ghassan reported that the council work has been halted due to the incident and they are looking for a new office to continue work.

However, he said it would be difficult to proceed as “all the paperwork, furniture and other items were lost to the fire”. The damage would cost the council around Rf 1 million (US$65,000), he added.

Miladhoo Island court, situated next to the island office, was also damaged due during the fire.

Police are also investigating an apparent arson attack on a car used by a team of American scientists involved in the Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) project based on Gan in Addu atoll.

The incident was discovered by neighbors around 12:51 am on Sunday, and was put out when police arrived to the scene.

Although officials claim it is too early to determine if the incident was random or targeted, Research Assistant Justin Stachnik said there was “no doubt” that the fire had been intentional. However, citing a generally friendly social atmosphere he suspected it was the work of local youth out for a prank.

Still, Stachnik said neighbors reported that nothing like the fire had happened before in the area.

A senior official at Addu City Council told Minivan at the time that a recent increase in religious tensions, as well as the December 23 protests, had exacerbated religious intolerance in Addu.

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Somalians join queue as governments negotiate repatriation agreement

Another three Somalis discovered in Maldivian waters last night have joined the queue of Somali “castaways” awaiting repatriation in Dhoonidhoo Detention Center.

The 17-year-old boy, his 20-year-old brother and their uncle, age 40, were rescued near Gaaf Alifu Atoll by a local fishing boat, while onboard a drifting dinghy devoid of food and water.

According to Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), the castaways were in good health and had identified themselves as fishermen who got lost in the high seas after their engine failed.

MNDF said that they have now been handed over to the police for further investigation, adding that there are now 40 Somali castaways under police custody.

In the past two years, several Somali nationals have arrived in the Maldives in dinghies lost at sea.

Many were found in frail health conditions due to dehydration and malnourishment, and have had to undergo long treatments before being transferred to Dhoonidhoo Detention Center, where they are now awaiting repatriation.

However, authorities explained that the repatriation process has been delayed by the problematic task of identifying the castaways.

No castaways carried any identification documents when they were found and “it has been a difficult task to confirm their identities,” according to police.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Irushaadha Abdu Sattar meanwhile confirmed that the ministry has recently verified through India’s Somali Embassy that the 37 castaways under police custody are Somali citizens.

She added that the ministry has received the travel documents and is “doing everything we can to send them back” as it is also a “financial burden” for the state to keep them under custody.

However, she explained that repatriation also requires the government of Somalia and Maldives to sign an agreement, which is currently under review.

“We have drafted the agreement. Now we are taking the necessary legal advice”, Irushaadha said, adding that the internal politics of Somalia is also hindering the repatriation process.

“As you know there is no central government in Somalia and some areas are autonomous. We have identified people from different areas. So should we sign the agreement with the all the ruling body in different areas? We can’t just go and leave them there”, she said.

Therefore, she added that the foreign ministry has been collaborating with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as they have more experience in the region.

“We are also trying to get an airplane for their transfer as it would not be safe to use the commercial airlines”, she said.

Meanwhile, with an increase in attacks in the Indian Ocean uncertainty remains as to the threat of piracy in Maldivian territory.

Tim Hart, a security analyst specialising in piracy in the southern African region for Maritime and Underwater Security Consultants (MUSC), in June told Minivan News that the two attacks reported that month off India’s southern coast raised wider security issues for the Maldives that have previously affected other nearby archipelago nations like the Seychelles.

However, MNDF has steadily countered that the country’s territorial waters have not come under direct attack from piracy originating in Somalia.

MNDF Spokeperson Abdul Raheem earlier told Minivan News that despite the trend of small Somalian vessels drifting into Maldivian waters – often with engineering problems – no reported attacks or activities linked to piracy were believed to have occurred in the country.

Raheem conceded that the potential for piracy remained a “major problem” in ensuring the security of the archipelago, which depends on tourism for as much as 70 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Raheem said that despite the serious concerns raised over potential piracy attacks in the Maldives, MNDF would pursue existing initiatives to protect its waters in collaboration with foreign naval forces including India, Turkey and the US, which have all taken part in patrols across the country.

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Man walks free after 2-year murder trial

Mohamed Waheed of Maafanu Goalwich, accused of murdering his girl friend’s eight-month old child in June 2009, has been freed by the Criminal Court on the grounds that the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) failed to prove he committed the crime during the two year long trial.

Judge Abdullah Didi who heard the case concluded today that Waheed refuted the murder charge, while no substantial evidence was provided to the court by PG to prove that Waheed had caused any harm to the child.

The Judge noted that in cases such as this, the prosecutors must prove the alleged party is guilty “beyond reasonable doubt” and since enough evidence was not presented, the court acquitted Waheed.

However, the baby’s mother, Noorzaadha Ali of Addu Atoll Hithadhoo, was sentenced to six months imprisonment in April 2011 for negligence.

Ali was not herself charged with murder, although the court ruled that she was in violation of elements of the Penal Code.

According to local media, the presiding judge said at the time that the suspect had not vaccinated the baby, taken proper care to clean the child, and failed to explain internal and external injuries to her child.

On the basis of these findings, the judge declared that Nooruzaadha had neglected her duties as a mother.

The eight-month-old baby boy died in the intensive care unit of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH)  in June 2009.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with allegations that he had been physically and sexually abused. These suspects included the victim’s mother, then 28; her boyfriend Mohamed Waheed, then 46 and from Male’; and a third man whose identity has not yet been revealed.

Addressing media at the time, Inspector Hamdhoon Rasheed, head of the police investigation unit, said initial test results revealed the baby had extensive injuries. The examination also revealed signs of sexual abuse.

Rasheed said the boy had suffered head and neck injuries, and was covered in scratches. The hospital reported the case to police after Waheed took the baby in for medical care.

Nooruzaadha has a long history of criminal activity, according to both police and the prosecutor general’s office.

She was arrested twice in 2002, once for sexual misconduct and the second time for prostitution, said Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem.

She was sentenced to eight months house arrest for the first offence, which she breached, and six months imprisonment for the second.

The same year, she was put under house arrest for disobedience of order, which she violated and was fined Rf150 (US$12). In 2006, she was arrested on the same charge and was ordered to spend two months in jail.

In 2004, Nooruzaadha was handed a six-year sentence for possession of drugs and in 2005 and 2007, she was given two 12-year sentences on each occasion for drug possession.

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ID card unit swamped in anticipation of Aasandha scheme

The Department for National Registration is overwhelmed by the sudden increase in applications for national identity (ID) cards, ahead of the universal health insurance scheme which begins on January 1.

To be eligible for the “Aasandha” scheme which provides government-sponsored coverage up to Rf100, 000 (US$6,500) per year, a person must hold a valid ID.

The department typically experiences a rise in traffic during this time of year as Maldivians take advantage of the annual holiday (October to December) to make trips from islands to take care of necessary business and annual shopping in Male’.

Many are now rushing to the national registration office to renew expired ID cards or apply for new ones.

Assistant Director Abdullah Haleem is in charge of ID card operations at the department, and spoke to Minivan News regarding the matter.

“Since Sunday a lot of people have been coming in. It is very difficult to cater to the increased number of applicants because we lack resources and staff,” he said.

“It is difficult to estimate how many people are coming in. Everyday we are releasing 250 token for applicants. Many who queue up have to leave because they don’t get the token. Sometimes within an hour all tokens are over,” Haleem explained.

Minivan reporters observed that the office was crowded with men, women and children- as all chairs were taken, some stood desperately staring at the board displaying their token numbers.

A father waiting in the queue with his five year old daughter complained about the long hours of waiting, but he said it is “worth it” because his daughter would get free heath care once he had received the ID card.

Haleem also noted that it is mostly parents coming in this week to make ID cards for their children. In order to ease their burden, he said the office has decided to release additional tokens for children between 3:00pm and 4:00pm from Tuesday onward.

The office is usually open from 8:00am to 4:30. However, a staff member noted that they have to put in extra hours to meet the demand.

Meanwhile, bundles of application forms coming in from different atolls are piling up at the registration department.

“We have ID card application form collection centers in all the atolls. So those centers are sending in a lot of forms as well,” Haleem said, noting that the paperwork is “fairly simple”.

He said some applicants may not receive the card before January, however assured that the office is working hard to issue the cards as soon as possible.

The health insurance bill was submitted by Nolhivaram MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed and unanimously approved by with 72 votes on December 21, 2011. It was ceremoniously signed into law on December 22.

According to the bill, citizens receive government-sponsored coverage up to Rf100,000 (US$6,500) per year. The bill includes provisions for medical treatment abroad, and for citizens who require further financial assistance.

Expatriate workers are also eligible for coverage providing their employers pay an upfront fee of Rf1,000 (US$65).

The decision has caught the approving eye of Mexico’s government, which passed a similar bill eight years ago.

“Mexico and the Republic of Maldives are developing countries, but with our universal health insurance programs our people’s health care can be better than that of developed countries such as the United States,” read a statement.

Speaking to Minivan News at the time, President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said that the program has challenged the government “to raise the standards of medical service and continuously improve the care available in the Maldives.”

The Aa Sandha plan coincides with discussions over renovating the procedure for prescribing medications and shifting from a brand-based market to generic drugs.

In a previous article, Minivan News reported that the current system is based more on the business interests of pharmaceutical importers than on the health needs of the community.

“The drugs that are imported are the ones they want to sell, not the ones we want to prescribe,” explained Medical Director at Male’ Health Service Corporation, Dr Robert Primhak.

Chief Operating Officer at ADK Hospital and former head of the Center for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC), Ahmed Jamsheed, added that the shift would benefit people physically and financially.

“The new system would move towards generic drugs which would make it easier to monitor drug quality and standards, and bring down the price,” he said at the time.

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Gasim will “not surrender to pressure” as government closes Villa spas

Opposition MP and tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim has warned the government that he would not “surrender to the pressures” of authorities after they halted operations of his airline, Flyme, and ordered the closure of spas in five resorts in his Villa chain in the past 48 hours.

In a statement released on Monday, Transport Ministry said that Flyme airline, which began operating on October 2, was asked to halt operations while the ministry carried out an audit. The audit is addressed on an incident with the aircraft which took place on December 24.

The audit would be carried out within three months to determine whether the Flyme operations are administered according to the Civil Aviation regulations, the statement read.

However, on Tuesday morning Gasim’s lawyers successfully sought a civil court order to resume Flyme operations.

Meanwhile, on Sunday the Tourism Ministry sent a notice to Gasim’s Villa resorts ordering management to shut down resort spas until further notice, claiming the ministry had received reports of prostitution in those departments.

On Monday, a police team accompanied Tourism Ministry officials to Gasim’s Paradise Island resort to investigate the reports.

However, the resort’s manager Gaisar Naseem rejected the ministry’s order, claiming that  no illegal activity is occurring in the spas, and refused to close down the spas without a court order, local media reported.

Naseem was summoned to appear at Police headquarters for further questioning at 2:00 pm on Tuesday.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police are cooperating with the Tourism Ministry to investigate the allegations against the resorts.

Gasim, Leader of Jumhoory party, has said the government’s recent decisions are targeted to “silence” him because of his work in the parliament and on a political platform.

In a press statement released on Monday night, Gasim assured that his businesses are of high standing and will bring only a good name to the country.

However, he warned that the government’s allegations that he is running “brothels in the resorts” will harm the tourism sector.

Gasim also warned the government that he will “not surrender to the pressures”, and that the government is “foolish” to think otherwise.

During the December 23 protest to “defend Islam”, Gasim criticized the government’s religious credentials.

“We don’t know there is a moderate, higher or lower Islam. We only know Islam, which is above all the religion. The only road we must follow is based on Allah’s callings,” said Gasim, slamming the government’s calls for “moderate Islam”.

Ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs have also recently accused Gasim of proposing amendments to “destroy” the government’s budget for 2012.

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