Author: Ahmed Nazeer

One third of Maldives poor, despite rich natural resources

President Mohamed Nasheed has said that one third of the Maldives population are poor people, despite the Maldives being a country rich with natural resources and able fulfill all the basic needs of the government.

Speaking at an information session yesterday on the Maldives’ social protection program, President Nasheed said that the country’s GDP showed that the country earned US$7000-US$8000 per head.

The only government could compensate for the disparity in incomes was through government aid, said President Nasheed, ”but there are a lot of difficulties for people to receive this money.”

President Nasheed said the government had introduced 10 types of direct aid to the people.

”When one’s salary has to be spent on shelter, it makes him lessen the amount of care given to a child,” President Nahseed said, ”and there will be no money to spend for the children’s education and no money to maintain good health.”

President Nasheed said that the government was seeking ways that would make its revenue to spend in other beneficial ways.

”Our former president spent Rf 500 million annually to operate the presidential palace,” Nasheed said. ”We decreased it to 50 million and used the left 450 million to introduce allowances for the elderly.”

He said there were 32,000 civil servants with salaries of Rf 5 billion.

”To determine whether it is wise to decrease that amount we know what it is being spent on,”‘ he said. ”Some of this could be used for social protection.”

He said the more the government decreased its expenditure, the more social protection increases.

”if we spent all the money on a block of lifeless concrete, it would not be beneficial,” he said, ”instead we shall spend it on the people.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Education Minister and Deputy Trade Minister joins MDP

Minister of  Education Dr Mustafa Luthfy and Deputy Trade Minister Ahmed Inaz yesterday left the Gaumy Ihthihaadh Party (GIP) to join the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Last week the MDP National Council announced it was tearing up its coalition agreement with GIP, and requested President Mohamed Nasheed remove all GIP ministers from public office. Economic Minister Mohamed Rasheed was sacked several weeks ago amid ongoing tension between the two parties.

Dr Luthfy, who was deputy leader of GIP, said  he joined MDP not because he had been influenced or under threat of losing his job, but because he felt that it was “the best way to continue serving the people.”

”I discussed it with GIP Leader Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik before taking the decision,” Dr Luthfy said. ”He said it was sad, but said to do as I wished.”

Dr Luthfy said he did not condone criticising the government while he was a member of it.

”I do not know whether GIP might join the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP),” Dr Luthfy said, ”but I noticed that during a recent GIP rally held at Giyasudeen School, a lot of DRP members attended.”

He said that there was no split between the government and GIP, and that the tensions were rather between the two parties.

”The President told me I could stay in the position as an a individual,” he said, ”but I preferred to join MDP of my own wish.”

He said that MDP had invited him to join the party on several different occasions.

Vice President of the Maldives Dr Waheed Hassan Manik, who is also a key figure in GIP, said the decision by Luthfy and Inaz was their own and he had nothing to say.

He said their decision would not affect GIP and that he was not sad about it.

”[Luthfy and Inaz] discussed it with me,” he said. ”I told them to do as they wished.”

MDP Spokesperson Ahmed Haleem said both the Education Minister and Deputy Trade Minister had been serving the party unofficially long ago, in different ways.

”Now have they returned to where they belong,” Haleem said. ”It will be a progress for them.”

He claimed that GIP was now “close to joining DRP”.

”In my political experience I can say that it is very likely to happen,” he suggested.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Salaf dismisses feminist campaign to withdraw support for ”The Call”

Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has hit back at feminist movement Rehendhi and the ‘Enough is Enough’ group after they called on sponsors to withdraw support from the upcoming Salaf-hosted event, ‘The Call’.

At a press conference today, Salaf said it did not consider the voice of an unregistered, underground NGO “as an official complaint”.

Mohamed Sobah, Secretary General of Salaf who spoke on behalf of the NGO, said that “all NGOs and all Maldivians support the event”, which will feature talks and lectures from visiting Islamic scholar Dr Bilal Philips.

”There might be a few people who are concerned that a professional western scholar is to arrive to the Maldivies,” Sobah said.

Sobah said that as Salaf was a registered NGO,  it did not have to deal with “unlawful, unregistered and underground” groups.

”No one has officially complained about the event,” Sobah said. ”It is surprising that they fear to face us, and it is confusing because they use the internet to raise their voice while we are accessible easily anytime.”

Sobah said that the two visiting scholars, Dr Bilal Phillips and Dr Abdul Raheem Green, would deliver seven lectures on different topics.

”We are working to enhance the security and solving some other technical problems,” he said. ”We hope this event will be a very successful event.”

On May 5 Salaf has announced it would host ‘The Call’, a series of religious sermons to which it expects more than 10,000 people to attend.

Dr Bilal Philips was brought to the Maldives by Salaf last year. Many people attended the sermon and reportedly more than 100,000 people watched it via media.

The Maldives’ self-styled ‘underground feminist movement’ Rehendhi last week announced joint letter writing campaign with the ‘Enough is Enough’ group in protest against Sonee Company’s intention to sponsor the lecture.

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

Sonee Company, reported by Rehendhi as one of the targets of the campaign, said it did not wish to comment on the matter at this time.

Correction: The original press statement from the Rehendhi group referred to ‘Sonee Company’, not ‘Sonee Hardware’ as previously stated in this article. Minivan News apologises for any confusion caused.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

“Bad effects” if Dhivehi and Islam made optional, warns State Islamic Minister

State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has warned on the Adhaalath Party website that making Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects at A-Level would risk “bad effects” to the country.

Shaheem said that changing the subjects from compulsory to optional was one of the biggest disputes regarding the new developing school curriculum.

”In my view it would wiser to instead revise the school curriculum and keep Islam and Dhivehi as compulsory subjects,” said Shaheem.

He recommended that A-Level Islamic studies be improved through the inclusion of topics such as ‘human rights in Islam’, ‘freedom of expression in Islam’, and ‘the Quran and science.’

”It would prove to the students that Islam is a religion fit for all ages, and will lead students to understand how developed it is,” Shaheem said.

He said that changing Islam and Dhivehi to optional subjects was like ”breaking down a good habit attached to the country.”

He said the school curriculum should be designed in a way that would make Islam an interesting subject for students.

”We do not have to demolish mosques because people do not pray,” he said.

The controversial decision to make Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects for A-Level students has sparked a series of protests outside the home of Education Minister Dr Mustafa Luthfy.

Dr Luthfy recently said the decision was not finalised and was ”just a suggestion proposed by the Education ministry’s steering committee.”

The move led Independent MP Ibrahim Muthalib to push a no-confidence motion against the Education Minister over the decision, while the Adhaalath Party meanwhile warned that Dr Luthfy “has put the final nails in his political coffin.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

PA membership drops to less than 3000

A political party membership report published by the Elections Commission (EC) shows that the membership of People’s Alliance (PA) has dropped to less than 3000.

The EC recently sent a bill to parliament that if passed, will mean any political party which does not have a minimum of 3000 members will dissolves by default.

The EC report, published on May 20, indicates that the PA now has 2986 members, 35 less than the previous report published on May 13.

President of the EC Fuad Thaufeeq said that after the bill is passed any political party with a membership of less than 3000 would be given a period of one year before it was disbanded.

He said that he did not know when the bill would be passed and implemented.

PA Registrar Mohamed Rasheed said the party had sent 250 membership forms to the EC which would take the membership number above 3000.

”We focus to maintain the membership at least at 3000,” Rasheed said. ”As we are in a coalition with the DRP we don’t do much work to increase the number of members.”

Rasheed said that people have always been resigning and joining the party.

”400 people may resign within a week,” he said, ”another week 800 people may join.”

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), led by Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, has the highest amount of members according to the EC report, ahead of the Maldivian Democratic Party MDP by 2036 members.

The DRP hada  total of 38,254 on the last report, which was 191 members less than the previous report.

MDP had 36,218 members in it, 1185 members more than the previous report.

The Jumhoory Party lead by Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim was the third largest political party with 6204 members.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Visiting scholar Zakir Naik and family arrives to the Maldives

World famous Islamic scholar Dr Zakir Naik and his family yesterday arrived in the Maldives.

Naik is scheduled to deliver sermons tonight at the Maafannu Stadium on the topic ”Misconceptions of Islam”.

Naik’s wife is also scheduled to deliver a sermon to women at the Islamic Centre.

Zakir Naik will depart on March 31.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

“99.9 percent” sure detainees already in the Maldives: MP Nihan

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan has said that he has information that the Guantanamo Bay detainees have been brought to the Maldives secretly.

”I am 99.9 percent sure that they are here. The information I received on the issue was from senior officials of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who are very familiar with the case,” said Nihan.

Nihan said the absence of Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed from yesterday’s National Security Committee proved that there were “still hidden secrets behind the scenes.”

”If the government has not done anything unlawful and if they are so confident, why would they be so afraid to face the parliament and the people,” Nihan asked.

He claimed the government had kept the matter a secret ”but when the document was leaked the issue became heated and people became aware that this was happening.”

Nihan claimed that the Maldives was now at risk of becoming “a nest for terrorists.”

”When the country becomes a nest for terrorists, others will start hating us,” h said. ”Then we will see our little nation under attack by another country.”

He accused President Mohamed Nasheed of failing to disclose details of the case during his presidential radio address.

”He only briefly said that we should help the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and urged the President of the United States to release the detainees and shut down the jail.”

Furthermore, Nihan claimed that the act of government could potentially disrupt the peace and sovereignty of the country, and claimed the Maldives may “turn into a terrorist hub.”

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem said the foreign ministry did not want to comment on the issue.

However, Press secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair denied the suggestion made by Nihan and dismissed it as ”all lies.”

Zuhair said that Nihans aim was to hype up the population.

”The President gave information about the Maldives accepting Guantanamo detainees last year on November 9, 10 and 11 during his official speeches,” Zuhair said.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)