Author: Minivan News

Tourism and transport ministers appointed

Local media reported today that Adhil Saleem has been appointed Minister of Transport while Dr Mariyam Zulfa has been appointed Minister of Tourism.

Saleem is presently the State Minister for Economic Development, while Dr Zulfa runs a Maldivian law firm, Duckham & Co.

The government has yet to officially confirm the appointments, however when contacted by Minivan News Dr Zulfa said she was “humbled” and “honoured” to be considered for the role.

“With the grace of Allah, I shall do my best,” she said.

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Extremism the greatest threat to Maldivian democracy: Dr Faizal

The greatest threat to democracy in the Maldives is the “growing extremism among Maldivians”, according to Maldives High Commissioner to the UK Dr Farahanaz Faizal.

Speaking to the House of Parliament during a meeting on November 2, Dr Faizal cited objections within the country to the appointment of women to senior posts in the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM). She also highlighted the practice of preaching against the vaccination of children.

Dr Faizal also stated that she believed that although both the government and the current leadership of the opposition were committed to democracy, the greatest threat to democracy “lies in growing religious extremism.”

The meeting, organised by the All Party Group on third world democracy in collaboration with the UK parliament’s All Party Maldives group and assisted by the Maldives High Commission, was chaired by David Anderson MP. Speakers included Dr Faizal, Chair of the UK-Maldives All Party Parliamentary Group MP David Amess, Chair of the Commonwealth Journalists Association Rita Payne, journalist Mark Seddon, Chair of Third World Solidarity Mushtaq Lasharie, and Yameen Shahid, a member of the Maldivian student community and son of the Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid.

Others present were Sir Ivan Lawrence, MP Gary Streeter, members of the Maldives High Commission, Friends of Maldives founder David Hardingham, Paul Moorcraft, Karen Lumley from the Conservative Party, BBC journalist Adam Mynott and Islamic scholar Idris Tawfiq.

Representing young people in the Maldives, Yameen highlighted the need for education on democracy and called for Maldivian politicians to work together and serve the best interests of the people.

Yameen also accused the police of using excessive force towards drug users in the Maldives, claiming that the future of Maldives was bright as young people took the initiative to solve the drug issues facing the country.

MP David Amess and Mark Seddon called for more support for the young democracy in the Maldives, calling it a “fragile flower” that needs support, “especially from the EU.”

Amess went further, calling for more support from the British Government given the long association between the UK and the Maldives.

Idris Tawfeeq the Islamic Scholar maintained that it was important to support the Maldives without interfering in the internal affairs of the country. He also stressed the importance of young people being involved more in political life.

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Ultimate goal of education to create the “perfect citizen”: President

The ultimate goal of an education policy is to make “a perfect citizen”, said President Mohamed Nasheed, speaking at the third anniversary of Hulhumale’s Ghaazee School yesterday.

Students, he said, needed to “be guided by Islam and the values of the country”, as well as earn a good income, be self sufficient, contribute to the development of the Maldives and work to build a healthy family.

Thus it was important to increase not only the number of passing grades, but ensure students actively participated in extra curricular activities, such as sports, literary and other social activities, he said.

The President inaugurated the school’s ‘smart room’, equipped with electronic teaching facilities, and distributed certificates.

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Presdient awards Purple Heart to Defence Chief

Chief of Defence Force Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel received the Purple Heart and Long Service medal from President Mohamed Nasheed during a special ceremony at the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters.

Jaleel was wounded during the failed coup attempt in 1988 while defending the country from a group of mercenaries linked to a Sri Lankan terrorist group.

The Long Service Medal was awarded in recognition of his 30 years of service to the Maldives military.

After the ceremony, President Nasheed praised the service of Major General Jaleel and noted his efforts to modernise and strengthen the armed forces.

The way in which the Maldives military was carrying out its duties free from political influence, despite major transformations in the political system, “was exemplary not only to Maldivians but also to any country undergoing similar transformations,” Nasheed said.

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No will to resolve endorsement dispute, says Deputy Speaker

Neither of the major political parties wish to resolve their disputes over the endorsement of cabinet ministers, Miadhu reported Deputy Speaker Mohamed Nazim as saying.

“I think there is nothing obscure in this. We can move forward, I believe we can move forward with the cabinet endorsement. The reality of the matter is that some are worried over the votes they might get,” said Nazim, also an MP of the minority opposition party People’s Alliance (PA).

“All the parties have taken their positions to hinder the working of the Majlis, unless the Majlis carries out the matter as they want.”

Parliament was cancelled again yesterday in an ongoing dispute over whether to endorse ministers individually or collectively.

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Maldives needs to cut expenditure on salaries: IMF

The Maldives state needs to cease printing money and decrease spending on salaries by “a considerable amount”, according to a financial specialist from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

During a presentation earlier this week Dr Rodrigo Cubeiro observed that the tourism sector had recovered from the recession earlier than expected because of the increasing number of arrivals of Chinese tourists.

However he observed that the Maldives has the highest per-capita government expenditure of any island nation, and urged the government to reduce this before the Maldives’ economic situation became serious.

Reducing that expenditure was in the hands politicians and the government, he said.

In June, the IMF’s Country Report for the Maldives pegged the country’s fiscal deficit in 2009 at 26.25 percent, and noted that while the “political climate for public expenditure cuts remains difficult… the coming months [would] be a crucial test of [the government’s] ability to prevail.”

The IMF report acknowledged that “direct redundancies were proving difficult”, however “the transfer of employees to the private sector (which accounts for about two fifths of the planned payroll cuts) has taken place in line with projections.”

Nonetheless, the IMF calculated that if the government continued to pursue economic reform at current pace and policy, the country’s fiscal deficit would increase by one percent of GDP in 2010 and 4.5 percent of GDP in 2011.

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Disdain for tourists natural when your home is seen as a playground: Seattle Times

“Part of the reason the natives disdain the very people who are the source of their livelihood, I think, is that their customer is there to have a good time,” writes Christopher Elliott in the Seattle Times.

“When your home is seen as nothing more than a playground, it’s bound to lead to misunderstandings and maybe resentment. I always envied the visitors I met when I worked for the simple reason that I had to work and they didn’t.

“Even when the tourists don’t break any laws, it’s not always easy to be nice to them. But like them? That might be asking too much.

“That doesn’t mean people in Orlando, or any other destination with a tourism-dependent economy, hate outsiders. I think it’s fair to say that we wish certain visitors would stay home, but when you’re the number one tourist destination on the planet, you can’t be too choosy.

“When I lived in Europe, we regularly made fun of our own countrymen. You could spot American tourists from a mile away: They were loud, dressed in bright colors and asked silly questions. No wonder people of my generation rolled their eyes when they talked about the Yankees they’d met.”

Read more

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Letter on the housing crisis

Dear Editor,

Suppose a woman who is working has to resign from her job for the caring and upbringing of her very young child, she cannot do it because if she resigns from the job, her family cannot afford to continue paying the monthly rent and the family shall go back to the miserable conditions that they were suffering in for ages, or even worse than that.

Here I am talking about the families who are being provided with the basic housing under an affordable housing scheme by Hulhumale’ Development Corporation (HDC). The reason why people have accepted these pigeon-hole like housing is because they had no place to live. This housing is called Row Houses by HDC.

We hear from the NSPA that families who face such difficulties shall apply for a subsidy but there is no such mechanism. For example, if one applies for a subsidy due to the above reason, this working woman must resign from her job first and then apply for a subsidy which is really a very big risk for them, and may be forced to migrate to a neighboring country where their income is enough to live and support the family.

When the number of families who are leaving behind their beloved and beautiful Maldives are at alarmingly high increase due to such unavoidable reasons, the authorities responsible usually mention that it’s because people have lot of money and that they are living abroad.

I think a responsible authority must think on the real issues before commenting blindly. Because, people are really suffering. This is not something we can hide. Maybe NSPA, HDC or the Human Rights Commission do not get many such complaints from the people but this issue is talked and discussed by the people every day and several times a day. I think people are not interested in complaining on such issues because people know very clearly the answer that they shall get and nothing would change. People do not like to go and talk to those who are at the service counters because we all have bad experiences taking about such issues.

So, I hereby request the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives, the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) and the country’s basic housing providers to please think on this critical issue before a large number of people die without enjoying their right to live in their beloved country.

Regards
Saeed

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter piece, please submit it to [email protected]

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GMR pays US$78 million upfront fee to government

Indian infrastructure giant GMR has paid the Maldives the US$78 million upfront fee to the government for the operation of Male’ International Airport, the finance ministry has stated.

GMR has leased the airport for 25 years in partnership with Malaysia Airport Holdings. As well as the upfront fee, the GMR-MAHD consortium will pay one percent of profits until 2014 and then 10 percent until 2035, and 15 percent of the fuel trade until 2014 and 27 percent thereafter.

The consortium has previously stated that it will invest almost US$400 in upgrading and expanding the existing airport.

The controversial deal has come under fire from a coalition of opposition parties, who have opposed the privatisation on nationalistic grounds and argue that the bidding process was not transparent.

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