Author: Neil Merrett

“Pictures paint a thousand words” for tsunami exhibition curator

A collection of children’s drawings and photographs depicting Maldivian perceptions of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami have been unveiled as part of the first exhibition to be hosted at Male’s new National Gallery building, six years to the day that large swathes of South Asia were hit by the devastating waves.

The exhibition is called Drawing the Wave, which combines photographic images with drawings provided by school children from a number of islands on how they remembered the tsunami.

Amidst canvases of bright crayon illustrations depicting cartoon-like trees and vivid wavy blue lines devouring football pitches, houses and even stick-like drawings of people, questions and phrases are written that are said to have expressed the fears of young people across Meedhoo, Madifushi and Buruni; three islands badly hit by the tsunami.

“Are we a sinking nation?”, “We lost our school. We lost our future. Someone lost their parent” and “Don’t we deserve something better?” are just some of the phrases written upon the images drawn up by students in the eighth and ninth grades back in 2005, based on their experiences of surviving the tsunami.

These writings, according to exhibition curator Ragni Afeef, powerfully reflected concerns about the Tsunami from the experiences of children that have lived through the waves.

“There are three or four drawings created by students in grade eight or nine that contained writing that is very moving,” she said, talking of how the words belied the child-like images on display. “They were teenagers at the time, teenagers who had seen computers at their school destroyed and were unable to sit exams. They were frustrated on another level entirely.”

The exhibition, which was opened yesterday evening in the presence of President Mohamed Nasheed and a number of other guests such as the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Mariyam Zulfa, is expected to remain at the National Gallery for two weeks. It has previously been shown at venues across Norway, from where Afeef is originally from.

“These drawings have travelled a long way,” said the curator during the exhibition’s opening.

Afeef told Minivan News, that she had also contributed a number of photographs to the exhibition of sandals and footwear found discarded and partly destroyed in February 2005, two months after the Tsunami had struck.

During this period, Afeef visited a number of beaches that had been struck by the Tsunami, many of which she had said had been “littered with the footwear” during the devastation.

“I wondered to who did they belong? What is their story,” she said.

Speaking during the exhibition opening, Afeef said that despite the childlike contents of the images, when it came to the seriousness of the content, she believed in the old adage that “a picture can paint a thousand words”.

“This is the first exhibition in the new National Gallery,” she said. “A museum can help explain to a world what it means to be human.”

With the artwork now back in the Maldives, Afeef claimed that she had come “full circle” with the exhibition and was at “the end of this particular journey”, despite her hopes that the government may take the exhibition to the three islands where the art originated from.

However, Afeef claimed that she hoped to fulfill a longstanding plan to return to the islands and try and see how life had changed at the rebuilt schools, “perhaps in a year or so”.

While remaining in touch with a teacher from Meedhoo who helped compile the work shown in the exhibition, Afeef said she had not been able to remain in contact with the children whose work now provided an account of a major moment in Maldivian history for a global audience.

However, as part of what the curator saw as a positive legacy of the exhibition, she claimed that the exhibition had led to collections in Norway that had raised money to provide computers for a future generation of school children in the Maldives.

The Drawing the Wave exhibition is expected to remain on display at Male’ National Art Gallery for the next two weeks. More information is available through the National Gallery on 3310729.

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Flag burnings and assault claims have not dampened Eye from Zion “success”: DMC

An Israeli opthamologist NGO has been praised for providing the “most successful” medical camp the Maldives has ever seen following its conclusion last week, despite protests including the burning of Israeli flags and the alleged assault of a government under secretary, Abdulla Shahid, Coordinator for the country’s National Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has claimed.

Shahid claimed that for the hundreds of Maldivians who had not “been too scared” to travel for a consultation or s surgical procedure on their eyes with the NGO, a free service was on offer that was only available otherwise at the country’s private medical clinics.

“There has never been such a successful camp,” he said, despite allegations of “scare mongering” and an assault on a relative of one patient arriving at a hospital for an operation with the NGO.

However, the visit of the Eye from Zion NGO, which had been working at hospitals across the country offering “eye surgery camps”, has seen a number of protests taking place against it, with high-profile politicians such as Umar Naseer and former State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed joining the movement.

Both men have claimed following a protest held in front of the Tsunami memorial on Friday December 17, that their opposition to the NGO was not anti-Semitic or targeted directly at Jews, but rather a sign of “solidarity” with fellow Muslims about concerns with Israeli foreign policy, particularly in Palestine.

Both politicians spoke along with other figures at a rally of hundreds of people gathered in Male’, some carrying banners in both Dhivehi and English with messages ranging from “Say no to Israeli terrorism” and “Jews said Allah is poor” to “We are with anyone who fights Israel & USA” and “Bloody Zionists”.
However, Shahid told Minivan News that he believed that the protests were more often the result of “political” considerations rather than solidarity with Palestinians. Therefore he claimed that for the hundreds of people screened at camps in Male’, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll and Addu Atoll, who “couldn’t afford to fly to destinations like Bangkok for specialist treatment”, the arrival of Eye from Zion staff on December 9, 2010 was an important sharing of expertise from a “knowledge-based economy”.

“From the first day [the NGO worked] at the hospitals, religious groups had begun displaying their banners outside and they even tried to attack one person. The person has since filed a complaint with the Country’s Human Rights Commission,” he claimed.

According to Shahid, the person who alleged the attack, themselves a political under secretary, claimed to have been assaulted after trying to take a relative for an operation with the Eye from Zion group, a process that was eventually carried out.  The alleged victim was unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News at the time of going to press.

Ultimately, with the screening of some 215 people in Male’ alone, Shahid said that 16 patients had undergone surgery with Eye from Zion doctors in the capital and 104 had received consultations from the NGO. DMC figures stated meanwhile that 137 people were found to have been treated in Thinadhoo, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll.

However, Shahid conceded that the protests, along with a campaign of “scare stories” that were being spread around the country involving “organ harvesting”, had taken their toll on numbers actually turning up for surgery, some of whom he said “were too scared to take part” in the eye camps.
“In Addu Atolll there were rumours going around that the doctors were putting strong glue in the eyes of patients,” he said. “These guys [protests organisers] need to bring surgeons to the country to help start treatments for people.”

These “stories” included claims reported by NGOs such as the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) that it was advisable to take “precautionary measures to avoid any foul play” from Jewish doctors that were “ notorious for illegally harvesting organs from non-Jews.”

The furore over the visit of Israeli surgeons under the Eye from Zion banner has led to NGOs such as Jamiyyathusalaf to call for the provision of “military training to all Muslim Maldivians and familiarise citizens with the use of modern weaponry” before “Jews take over the country”.

Distancing itself from what it called “hysterical” statements such as these, the co-founders of the IFM told Minivan News earlier this month that they believed by adopting a “pro-Israel” stance and working with NGOs like Eye from Zion, the Maldivian government was losing support and credibility among its people.

However, Shahid claimed that from the perspective of the DMC, cooperation with specialist NGOs was seen as hugely beneficial, no matter their national origin.

“There have been several camps all set up with different NGOs. This is the first time we have had a group from Israel,” he said. “However, we don’t have any set practices in regards to what nation we invite NGOs to visit from. We would welcome help from anywhere.”  Former Deputy Leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Umar Naseer, who had been one of the speakers at the Tsunami Memorial protest, said last week that he believed that protests continuing throughout the week were a reflection of “concern over the continued relationship” between the governments of Israel and the Maldives.

“Israel continues to bombard cities and continues to occupy Palestinian lands,” he said. “As Muslims, we have one basic principle; if one of us is hurt, we all are. Similarly, if Palestinian people suffer, so do we,” he said.

Naseer claimed that the government had turned a “blind eye to the frustrations of its people” and that the protestors believed that the “Maldives should not accept Israeli NGOs or their aid”. “Once we have settled the issue [of Palestine], then we can have normal relations,” he said.

Before resigning from his position as the Islamic State Minister on Thursday December 23, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed of the religious Adhaalath party said that he didn’t see the protests against Eye from Zion “as a religious problem” but as a reflection of dissatisfaction with Israeli foreign policy. “The thing is injustice, we are not enemies of Jews and Christians,” he said. “We don’t want Jews to kill Palestinians; they are not obeying the UN or international law.”

Prior to his speech at the Tsunami memorial protest, Miadhu last week reported that Shaheem had used his Friday sermon on the same day – December 17 – to claim that the history of Jewish people was “full of deception, trickery, rebellion, oppression, evil and corruption”.

According to the report, Shaheem had said that they [Jewish people] were always seeking to cause “mischief on the earth and Allah loves not the mischief-makers”.

“So it is not it is not acceptable that one who would stab the ummah in the heart could heal the eyes. This philosophy is not acceptable,” he said.

Shaheem did not elaborate or confirm if he had said these comments when questioned by Minivan News at the time. The former Islamic State Minister claimed that he had used his Friday Sermon to call for peaceful protest.
“I asked for no problems to be created for the [Eye from Zion] doctors,” he said.

Ultimately, Shaheem said that protests against the policies of the Israeli government have been occurring all over the world in London, Paris and New York and this didn’t mean “these people were against all Jews”.

“Our problems are with groups like Zionists,” he said.

Shaheem pointed to the London-based protestor, Brian Haw, who has spent many years camped outside London’s Houses of Parliament in part of ongoing peaceful demonstration linked to opposing UK governmental policy such as backing invading Iraq back in 2003, as a reflection of the “democratic” importance of protesting and solidarity.

“He is just one man sleeping in a tent protesting, yet he is not a Muslim,” Shaheem said.

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Afternoon deadline set for MPs’ budgetary amendment proposals

MPs had been given until 4pm this afternoon to recommend amendments for the 2011 State budget after the completion of a parliamentary joint committee evaluation on Thursday, Ahmed Nazim, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament has said.

Nazim has said that following a multi-party evaluation that took place last week by both members of the country’s finance and economic committees, the 2011 budget is expected to be tabled tomorrow in front of parliament, with discussions expected to take a few days.

The passing of the annual budget is constitutionally required to be completed before the end of the previous calendar year, with the government said to be keen on spending cuts as part of plans to try and reduce the country’s budget deficit to about 16 per cent.

There had been concern over when the evaluation process was set to be completed; however, it is thought that there will be a few days worth of debate as within parliament as members attempt to ensure amendments within the final expenditure document before passing it through the Majlis.

The government is under considerable pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce the budget deficit, which President Mohamed Nasheed last month said was around 26.5 per cent.

Acting finance minister Mahmood Razee today said that he believed there had been “no major changes” to the main objectives of the budget during the evaluation, particularly in regards to the predicted deficit.

“We believe that the 16 per cent figure will be maintained,” said Razee in relation to the government’s stated aim of trying to cut the deficit.However, with a deadline on member-supported amendments set for this afternoon in parliament, Razee added that there could be a number of recommended changes yet imposed on the final budget.

“Any potential changes will now depend on amendments being supplied by MPs,” he said. “We expect the final vote to take place about December 29.”

However, there has been some criticisms of the budget – both among opposition MPs like Ahmed Nazim and independent members like Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed – over claims that there is insufficient detail about the exact nature of certain government spending projects.

Nasheed, an independent MP who was not involved with the evaluation committee, said last week that he had identified some preliminary concerns over spending allocation, particularly in areas such as decentralization, despite stating optimism the budget would be passed before the New Year deadline.

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Opinion divided over budget evaluation deadline

Acting Finance Minister Mahmood Razee has said progress is being made within an ongoing multi-party evaluation of the 2011 State Budget, despite claims by Ahmed Nazim, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, that talks “have not gone well” due to a lack of details on planned state spending.

Opinion appears divided within the ongoing parliamentary joint committee evaluation, which is being overseen by members from both the country’s finance and economic committees, upon how near the budget is to being agreed upon by parliament before the deadline of the New Year.

Razee, who was allowed to present the budget this month despite ongoing battles in the Majlis over cabinet appointments, said he was confident the government could still meet its aims to cut the country’s budget deficit to about 16 per cent, despite allowing for concessions requested by opposition MPs.

The government is under considerable pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce the deficit, which President Mohamed Nasheed last month said was around 26.5 per cent.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Razee claimed that the parliamentary joint committee was generally “committed” to trying to find an agreement that would allow for reductions of the budget deficit. He therefore hoped to have the evaluation completed by Sunday, December 27.

“The basic principles [of the budget] remain the same, the budget deficit needs to be reduced and this is accepted by most parties,” said Razee. “We maybe will need to make some adjustments during the evaluation. A budget deficit of 16 per cent is what we are targeting given the current circumstances.”

Ahmed Nazim conceded that a need to meet a looming New Year deadline to approve the 2011 budget would require members within the parliamentary committee to put aside their political differences and “let bygones be bygones”.

However, the parliament Deputy Speaker claimed that the finance Ministry has “not been communicating” with the Majlis on the budget, a situation he said that was reflected within the evaluation process.

Nazim cadded that anticipated delays in providing information on the budget could make the discussions “go right to the wire” in terms of meeting an evaluation deadline of December 30.

“We are not looking for concessions, the government has a mandate to pursue its own economic policies,” he said. “But there are so many problems with the budget, which is lacking details regarding a number of projects and figures.”

As the evaluation process has continued, Nazim claimed that Information had been arriving “in bits and pieces” to help provide greater detail on budgetary spending, however he said expected that the evaluation process will ultimately take a “long time” to complete.

“We are looking for a reasonable budget,” said Nazim. “Reasonable, like for example, with housing funds, where the government is looking to sell land in Male’, but where is the land that can be sold? They have gone on to say it will actually be land in Huhlumale’ and other islands.”

Due to the levels of cost involved, the Deputy Speaker added that the evaluation committee has “asked for breakdowns” regarding individual expenditure – pointing to an apparent lack of funding in the budget for the Maldives National Broadcasting Corperation (MNBC), despite the government admitting it will be providing money.

“There is no budget [for MNBC], yet they have given Rf54 million [to the broadcaster],” claimed Nazim.

Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, an independent MP who is not involved with the evaluation committee, said that despite holding some preliminary concerns over spending allocation, particularly in areas such as decentralisation, he believes the budget will be completed within its New Year deadline.

“I think it will be done, there is willingness,” he said.

However, Nasheed claimed that he had been concerned that the initial budget had failed to outline any finance plans for local councils once they are expected to be formed following February’s elections.

IMF concerns

Beyond trying to outline funding of the state for the year of the ahead, the passing of the annual budget within a constitutionally mandated deadline of the end of the calendar year is also being seen as vital to groups such as the IMF.

Back in November the IMF delayed its third disbursement to the country because of the government’s inaction on the matter of the budget deficit during 2010, pending the release of the 2011 budget.

While the IMF program itself is worth US$92.5 million, other foreign donors and investors consider the IMF’s opinion of a country’s fiscal policies when making decisions.

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Islamic Ministry has “no issues” with government despite Shaheem resignation: Mohamed Didi

The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has claimed that both himself and Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari have no “major issues” with the government despite today’s resignation of Islamic State Minister, Mohamed Sheikh Shaheem Ali Saeed.

The resignation, which has not yet been officially confirmed by the President’s Office, has been linked by figures within government to alleged differences of opinion between the State Minister for Islamic Affairs and President Mohamed Nasheed, particularly in relation to recent protests that have taken place in the country concerning the work of an Israeli NGO.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Mohamed Didi, said he had been taken by “surprise” this afternoon after being informed of the State Minister’s decision to resign by a colleague within the ministry.

“This is a complete surprise to me, I wasn’t aware of the decision until I saw some news reports and a member of staff here then told me,” he said.

Speaking to Minivan News this afternoon, Didi said that although he had yet to speak with Shaheem about his decision to resign, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs would continue to function as normal as Dr Bari remained in his position.

“I don’t see any differences as a result of the resignation while the Minister is still here,” he said.  “As part of the Ministry’s policy, there is no difference of opinion between us and the government.”

Dr Bari is a member of the religious Adhaalath Party along with Shaheem.

In looking to at the long term status of the Adhaalath Party in the Islamic Ministry, Didi said it was “a bit early” to tell what sort of action, if any, might be taken as a result of the resignation.

While the President’s Office confirmed that it had received a letter from Shaheem today, it was unable to disclose the contents of the document until they had been seen by the President himself, who is currently away on a visit to the country’s northern atolls.

Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, told Minivan News that in light of a recent number of protests against government policy that had allegedly involved Shaheem, “it was possible that the State Minister may have decided his position was untenable”.

Zuhair claimed that there had perhaps been concern that as both a prominent member of the Islamic Ministry and the religious Adhaalath Party, Shaheem had appeared to “overstep boundaries” by allegedly using his Friday sermons to incite “political protest” and “demonstrations” against the government he worked for.

“Things came to a head this morning when a group of parents from Arabiyya School came to the President’s Office over concerns about funding, a  political advisor then held a meeting with them about their concerns,” he said.  “Protests then took place outside containing a number of individuals considered to be members of the Adhaalath Party.”

Zuhair claimed that “well wishers” to the government, said to include members of the Adalaath Party, had suggested that some of these protestors may have “met last night with Shaheem”.  He claimed that if this was true, then this could have amounted to “provocation” against the government from one of its own state ministers, making Shaheem’s position difficult to maintain.

Both Dr Bari and Shaheem were unable to respond to calls from Minivan News at the time of going to press.  However, Shaheem last week spoke at a mass protest meeting gathered against eye surgeries being conducted in the country by an Isreali medical NGO called Eye from Zion, which had met with the president during their visit.

According to Haveeru, the speech given by Shaheem “warned of ‘direct action’ if the government continues with its ‘anti-religious’ policies.”

“The President’s Office sent me a letter giving a warning to not to speak about Islamic studies,” the paper quoted him as saying during his speech.  “Where is their shame? What is the meaning when they ask to keep quiet in response to the head of Islamic affairs in the Maldives?”

Correction: The article had originally incorrectly stated that Permanent Secretary Mohamed Didi was a member of the Adhaalath Party.  Minivan News apologises for the error.

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Maldives’ sustainability success requires emissions action post-Cancun: WWF

The impacts of climate change talks concluded earlier this month in Cancun, Mexico, which have been praised by President Mohamed Nasheed for supporting the Maldives’ own sustainable commitments, remain as yet “too vague” to discuss in terms of success, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has said.

Martin Hiller, who heads Climate Policy Communications and Campaigns for the WWF environmental NGO, told Minivan News that despite the “positive” outcomes from the Cancun talks in terms of encouraging “cohesion” between nations, it remained too early to assess any long term impacts upon sustainable initiatives.

“Success will be when emission reductions are happening, and so far they are not yet,” he said. “Success will be when adaptation action is happening, and is financed. [Climate change talks in] Durban next year needs to result in concrete commitments.”

The Cancun talks have aimed, alongside other initiatives, to secure emissions reductions from every developed and developing nation, while also raising US$100 billion in funding each year to aid sustainability initiatives based on low-carbon developments for smaller economies from 2020.

Although conceding last week that Cancun alone would not be enough to aid national commitments on becoming carbon neutral by 2020, the President’s Office said it believed the talks “anchored” Nasheed’s green commitments as outlined under the Copenhagen Accord.

Despite not yet having outlined a “masterplan” for how the Maldives can actually begin to meet it aims of being completely carbon neutral in less than a decade, Nasheed said last month that failure to meet these goals would be a “disaster” for the nation and wider global arguments for developing sustainable economies.

Hiller agreed that “the Maldives had promised something and it now needed to deliver”.

However, he claimed that beyond domestic sustainability initiatives that will required by every nation, groups like the WWF are trying to establish an international system that better supports carbon neutral efforts made by nations like the Maldives – not just in terms of finance, “but technology transfer, logistical support and training.”

“In the end, we are looking at a huge transformation on this planet – either we manage that transformation ourselves and have a possibility to say what it should look like, or temperatures get out of hand, and nature will react and change the world according to the laws of physics and biology,” he added.

In considering the Maldives’ commitments on trying to develop into a low carbon economy, Hiller said he believed that it will be vital to find a “holistic” national sustainability strategy. He said such a strategy could then be used to adopt a wide selection of sustainable intiatives beyond one particular focus, helping to ensure a greater likelihood of sustainable efficiency in both cost and output.

Ultimately, Hiller claimed that the Maldives and its president had become “important players” in publicising and representing sustainable commitments like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

He added that this importance could be seen particularly in the way the country has acted as a leader in the cause of Small Island States and all other countries perceived as being vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change.

“The Maldives have an important role to play in the multilateral politics around climate change. They are definitely a figurehead,” Hiller added. “I’d also want to watch the progress of [the] country’s low carbon development, as this will help all us others to learn.”

Business concerns

However, not everyone has been convinced that the potential impacts of climate change on rising sea levels within low lying nations like the Maldives are a vital issue to address, at least in terms of business sensibilities.
Andrew Harrison, who was recently appointed CEO of GMR Male’ International Airport, said that at least from the viewpoint of insurance companies, the risk of sea levels increasing to a point that disrupted operations at the site were not even considered in its premiums.

“When we became involved in the bid process, we engaged three leading companies who are at the forefront of analysing geophysical activity, climate change and the impact rising sea levels,” he said. “Insurers are notorious for considering even unimaginable risks, so I can tell you that if no insurance company considers this in any of their policies for the Maldives, we think that the risk is pretty low.”

Speaking to Minivan News last month, environmental organisation Greenpeace said it believed the Maldives acted more as a symbol than a practical demonstration of how national development and fighting climate change can be mutually exclusive.

Wendel Trio, Climate Policy and Global Deal Coordinator for Greenpeace International, believed that the Maldives can nonetheless play an iconic role in promoting the potential benefits of adopting alternate energy programmes.

In looking specifically at the Maldives, the Greenpeace spokesperson accepted that the country is somewhat limited by its size in the role it can have as an advocate for more sustainable business and lifestyles.

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“Maldivian feel” central to flight group’s Gan to Hong Kong aspirations

The arrival of a new year is also expected to see a new local airline called Mega Maldives take to the country’s skies in what it has said is an attempt to bring a greater share of the lucrative tourist transportation market into local hands, at least should everything go to plan during its launch.

After today obtaining an Airline Operating Certificate (AOC) from the government that will allow it to operate flights both inside and out of the country, the new company has claimed that it hopes to launch the first of a number of scheduled services between the destinations of Hong Kong, Male’ International Airport and Gan Airport from New Year’s Eve.

The new airline said that although most of the paper work required to begin flight operations alongside the AOC has been completed, it expected to receive confirmation that it can commence flights between the Maldives and Hong Kong during the next 10 days or so.

Having obtained permission to fly, Mega Maldives has become the latest in a growing number of flight operators announcing services to try and tap interest in travelling to the Maldives from destinations across Asia to airports both in Male’ and Gan during the last 12 months.

Package companies such as India-based MakeMyTrip said they have been operating scheduled flights to Gan since early October, while budget airlines such as AirAsia and SpiceJet have also announced plans to begin flying to the Maldives by the first quarter of 2011.

Tourism officials in the country have claimed that tourist interest within the Maldives has begun to strengthen again in 2010 after a difficult 12 months in 2009, with official figures showing a 21.8 per cent rise in visitor numbers up to October.

Mifzal Ahmed, a board director for the 55 per cent Maldivian-owned Mega Maldives joint venture, told Minivan News that the company aimed to follow in the footsteps of operators such as Hawaiian Airlines by attempting to tap into interest for authentic local experiences and services – even from within an aeroplane.

The Maldives already has a national airliner under the Maldivian brand, which is operated by Island Aviation Services and currently operates services to Trivandrum, India, alongside its domestic services.

Maldivian has itself expressed interest in possible plans to expand to more international destinations upon an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its stock, expected around halfway through the next decade.

However, Ahmed claimed that Mega Maldives has been created in an attempt to offer international passengers from across Asia “something different” in terms of travelling to the Maldives, aside from being one of a few international airlines currently flying to Gan.
“First of all we have a crew that is more than 50 per cent Maldivian, which reflects our aim to try and bring a Maldives feel to our services,” he said.

Alongside having a cabin crew that the airline said would be dressed in uniform that reflects traditional Maldives’ style, the company is also considering looking at incorporating elements such as local music, crafts and even possibly food dishes into its services, according to Ahmed, a Maldivian himself.

“We will try this, it will depend on in-flight catering, but to us this will feel like a Maldivian service.”
Mega Maldives is a joint venture company with 55 per cent of its operations owned by Maldives-based ZM Holdings and the other 45 per cent belonging to US-based group, W-Cap.

It is this Maldivian element within the business that Ahmed said had helped encourage the group to begin flying to Gan, where he claimed foreign rivals may, by contrast, have worried about the possible financial “danger” in travelling to a destination that is not as well supported by international flight services.

“On one side there is a cost aspect in flying to Gan,” he said. “On the other hand, there is strong interest in creating more services to the destination, the government and airport are very keen to have us flying there.”

Ultimately, Ahmed said that the service would not been bound solely to Gan Airport and would initially aim to fly between the southerly Maldives’ island, Male’ and Hong Kong as part of a multi-destination flight service.

As an entirely new flight provider, Ahmed claimed Mega Maldives was not too concerned about potentially going up against established flight groups already flying to the Maldives, such as Emirates, Qatar and Singapore Airlines, as they were looking to operate a different kind of service.  “We operate on a scheduled charter model by working with travel agents, which will allow us to provide more reasonable fares,” he said. “Much like all flight operators in the Maldives, most of our traffic will be through tourism, though we can develop special partnerships with travel agents to offer special and one- off routes to destinations like India.”

Ahmed claimed that this strategy could also allow Mega Maldives to put on occasional “one-off” services to allow Maldivians to travel to special sporting or religious events abroad in the future.

In the long-term though, Ahmed claimed that Mega Maldives does also have aspirations for regional expansion of its services.

“We have interest in other markets in Asia, though we know we have competition, so we are keeping our cards close to our chest at the moment,” he said.

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Elections Commission calls for “changes” to party registration after “dead” members row

The president of the Elections Commission (EC) has hit back at criticism from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) that suggested the independent body had failed to carry out its duty after it removed deceased members from the party’s registry, by claiming the entire political membership system requires legislative “changes”.

EC President Fuad Thaufeeq told Minivan News today that it had acted on “information supplied by Island Officers” on December 2 this year, which found that six people on the DQP’s membership registry had died during 2010, requiring their removal under the commission’s regulations. He claimed that new regulations currently awaiting approval in the Majlis are expected to remove similar confusion and “concerns” in the future over remaining a member of a political party after death.

Thaufeeq was responding in particular to criticism of the EC made this week by the DQP, with the party alleging in a statement that 32 of its members had been removed from registration within the party after they were found to be deceased.

The DQP is now reportedly set to file charges against the EC, which the party claimed needed to be “stronger and more careful in order to achieve democracy” or risk losing the public trust.

“Because Elections Commission has neglected its duty, DQP has decided to file charges against the Elections Commission. It has been decided to request the court to recheck the cases of all the members who were removed from the party’s registry,” the party reportedly stated, according to Haveeru.  The DQP was unable to respond to Minivan News at the time of going to press.

However, Thaufeeq said he was unsure why the DQP had stated that 32 of its members had been removed from its registry, with the EC having removed just six party members that were found to have died between January 1, 2010 and early December 2, this year.

“I don’t understand what is behind the issue,” he said. “When we notified the party earlier this month [of the six membership removals], we asked them to inform us of any objections [the DQP] had – they have been silent.”

Beyond the current DQP criticisms of the EC, Thaufeeq claimed that political party members were required to be removed from a registry once they had left the organisation or died; a rule he said was important to ensure that political funding allocated to parties on the basis of their membership size was correct.

The EC President added that he believed that for a number of the country’s political organisations -including the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the opposition Dhivehi Rayytithunge Party (DRP) – there appeared to be reluctance to update memberships.

“They are very keen to add membership, but not so concerned about reducing their numbers,” he said.  “Initially we expected all these areas [informing the EC of members who have left a political party or died] to be carried out by the parties themselves,” Thaufeeq said. “When we started getting many complaints from former members that their parties were not removing their registrations, we started acting on the issue ourselves.”

Multi-party “problem”

Thaufeeq claimed that updating member registries has become a problem common among “almost every political party in the Maldives”, with the EC acting to remove any members that it can verify to have died or left a particular part.

The commission said that it uses information sourced from a number of bodies like Island Officers, the Ministry of Health, the Department of National Statistics or confirmation by the deceased’s family to verify its records.

“We don’t think the DQP case is too significant,” he said. “This is a straight forward case; when a person is dead they cannot remain a member.”

According to Thaufeeq, the EC is looking for the approval of new legislation in parliament that will “outline changes we want to bring to the registration system.” “These laws have been sent to parliament for approval, which we believe will provide solutions to the current problems [of membership registries],” he claimed.

Membership benefits

Thaufeeq put forward a number of suggestions to what he believed may indicate why the issue of registered party members appeared to be a concern for political organisations.

Primarily, he claimed that under current government funding agreements for registered political parties, 40 percent of allocated expenditure was divided equally among the group. The additional 60 percent was then rewarded on the basis of parties with the highest memberships, Thaufeeq claimed.

“Also, a group wishing to register as a political party must initially have more than 3000 registered members to qualify. After that, there is no regulation or rule that would change back their status if they fall below this figure,” he added. “There are political parties with less than 3000 members.”

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Police share “concern” over sex abuse case delay

A spokesperson for the Maldives Police said the service shares “concern” about the impact to its reputation of delaying investigations of alleged sexual abuse by four officers, but claimed the force remains committed in working with its independent integrity body on the case.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that despite reservations from the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) about delays in supplying information requested on the case, the Police Service was waiting on additional documents that had not currently been made available, even to itself.

“Actually, the investigation team had briefed the Commission [PIC] on its work,” he said. “The PIC have also requested information on our investigations, but we are still waiting on documents from other authorities, not just those within the police.”

Shiyam was unable to give details “as of yet” on the nature of the documents that the Maldives Police Service was waiting on, though he claimed the force was trying to get the information as soon as possible. Shiyam said he accepted that there “was concern about delaying the case” within the Maldives Police Force in relation to its reputation among the public.

A spokesperson for the PIC told Minivan News that growing “media interest” into allegations of sexual abuse being carried out from within the Police Force had led to growing “concern about when the case will be sent to the Prosecutor General”.

PIC Commissioner Shahinda Ismail yesterday told Haveeru that the independent body had requested investigation reports concerning the sexual abuse allegations from the Police Service, but had been unable to get the information so far.

According to Shahinda, the Police Service is required under the Police Act to provide any information that has been requested by the PIC.

The PIC was established in its current form back in 2008 under the Police Act to work to indentify and investigate any alleged offences committed by employees of the Maldives Police Force.

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