Author: Ahmed Rilwan

Government reveals first hundred day achievements

The government has today marked its first hundred days’ achievements by making further pledges and demanding a parliamentary majority as a requirement for their fulfilment.

Minister at the President’s Office, Abdulla Ameen described it as “the best first hundred days in the history of Maldives in terms of achievements” at a press conference held to highlight the new administration’s economic and social achievements.

“In order to continuously benefit from the achievements among the first hundred days pledges, it is very important to have legal empowerment; that is why the government is working to get as many seats in the parliament,” said Ameen.

Although the government announced a series of goals that it said would be achieved within the first hundred days of Abdulla Yameen’s presidency, it was not made clear at today’s press briefing how much of the programme had been achieved.

Education

One of the key achievements highlighted from the Education Ministry was the introduction of Qur’an to grades 6 and 7 as a separate subject. The subject had previously been just one element of Islamic Studies classes.

Minister of Education Dr Aishath Shiham stated that the ministry had “started working on” 22 goals announced to be achieved within the one hundred days.

Focusing particularly on the policy of “leaving no child behind” she highlighted the decision to allow students to learn technical skills through Maldives Polytechnic, the introduction of O’ Level standard technology subjects, and working to further incorporate language and nationalism into the education system.

While the ministry’s hundred day plan included establishing special education units in five schools, and two dedicated regional, Dr Shiham today said the ministry “will open more opportunities for children with special needs within the year”.

She noted that work is in progress with regards to increasing allowances for teachers.

Commenting on the minister’s statement, President of the Teachers Association of Maldives Athif Abdul Hakeem said the organisation had no knowledge of such efforts, and was still awaiting an opportunity to meet with ministry heads with regards to pay discrepancies.

“The government have started some things within this period, and they maybe important things and good policies. But it is more important to fix the existing loopholes in the education system,” said Athif.

He said the association was still planning to go on with the nation-wide strike “as a last resort” and that it was currently in the process of gaining parents’ support for the cause.

Health

The achievements of Ministry of Health and Gender were relatively high compared to other institutions, with Minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela noting that the pledge to increase staff at health centers had seen 76 new nurses employed at IGMH, with a further 38 nurses employed and 62 awaiting employment  in Hulhumalé and in the atolls .

“We are contacting medical students studying abroad to direct their training to our needs and recruit them for service. We have also sent job offers for foreigners as well,” Shakeela said, noting that the ministry was also working to find more training opportunities for locals.

While free cervical cancer screening was introduced at Malé ‘Dhamanaveshi’, the ministry failed to introduce the service at HulhumaléHospital as pledged. The minister said that 57 people have been screened at the center and the ministry was working on providing further help in case a person is found positive for cervical cancer.

The ministry pledged to introduce free public transport for the elderly and persons with disabilities, however it was only able to give special consideration for them at service counters for health and some other public services.

While an MoU has been signed between the Education Ministry and Health Ministry with regards to school health programmes, the preparation for another screening of school children has already begun.

“As you know, this sort of things in health sector cannot be achieving at once within a single day. It has to be planned in a certain way,” Shakeela added.

The ministry also achieved the goal of building safe houses for women, children, and persons with disabilities, and finding an easy way for mothers to receive child support money following divorce. The ministry has started working on arranging child support money to be delivered to a special trust fund.

Dr Shakeela said that IGMH chemotherapy services have been arranged and will be covered by Aasandha, and the necessary medicines for the procedure are “on the way to Maldives”.

She said that a psychiatrist is working in Kulhudhuffushi and another will be stationed in Addu City starting tomorrow – the first time such specialists have been stationed outside Malé.

Collection of information has begun for “a doctor for every family” program at Villimalé and Addu City and general practitioners have been allocated for both areas.

Economic Development

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adeeb said that in terms of economic development within the first hundred days, the government has “completed ground work and is heading towards an action plan”.

He said that within a week the government will open for detailed proposals for building the bridge between Malé and Hulhumalé.

Another economic achievement was “reducing state expenditure” and aiming for a balanced budget within a year by reducing the deficit.

Adeeb said 70 percent of the Progressive Party of Maldives economic manifesto depended on the recently drafted “special economic zones bill” and that regional development and population consolidation cannot be achieved without such a bill.

He said that research is going on with a number of pledges such as gas and oil explorations, and ports within the special economic zones. With regards to developing Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, the consultants for runway building and axiom financing are in the country now.

Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Maleeh Jamal said the cabinet’s economic council met almost every day from 10:30am till 12:30pm and has met with companies in which the government holds shares – such as STO, MTCC, HDC, MACL – to find solutions for various challenges.

He credited President Yameen’s official visit to India for finding a solution to the Construction material issue and said it was great achievement within the hundred days. India’s restrictions with regards to construction material came in 2012 following strained bilateral relations under Dr Mohamed Waheed’s presidency.

“They [IMF and investors] noted that peace and stability has come to the Maldives following the inauguration of the country’s elected government, President Yameen’s government. Protests all around the country has come to an end,” Maleeh said.

An online poll by ‘Haveeru‘ has indicated that more than 52 percent people believed the first hundred days of President Abdulla Yameen’s government was a failure.

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‘Doctor for each family’ programme launched for Villimalé residents

The government has launched it’s ‘doctor for each family’ program by providing a doctor for every 2,500 people at the Villimalé Health Center (VHC).

Registration for the program was opened today for anyone who has been living on the island for at least three months. The deadline for registration is 8 March 2012.

The program is one of President Abdulla Yameen’s campaign pledges and also part of the government’s roadmap for the first hundred days which will be reached next week.

Ahmed Zahir, Director at Villimalé Health Center said that through the program a general practitioner, a community health officer, and two nurses will be dedicated to serve each 2,500 people group.

“Through the registration process we will collect information on everyone’s medical history, so their dedicated doctor will be familiar with it. Their [dedicated] doctors will see them and forward the cases to specialist doctors if there is a need,” he explained.

“They will also attend patients who are unable to come to the center in their homes,” he added, noting that in case of emergencies patients could see any doctor they wanted.

Zahir said that after collecting information from Villimalé residents, the center will also do any further tests required.

“The teams will make routine visits as scheduled, and will also be active if there is an epidemic of any sort.”

The schedule for doctor’s visits is yet to be formulated. Currently five doctors have been selected for the programme, and more doctors will be employed after the registration process is completed.

Zahir said that the VHC will be opening a State Trading Organization (STO) pharmacy within three weeks, though no progress has been made on the hundred day pledge of turning the VHC into a hospital.

Other hundred-days pledges of the government included introducing tertiary hospital services in the atolls, improving regional hospitals, establishing cancer and kidney disease treatment facilities, expanding dialysis services to more centers, and introducing mental health care services.

Last month free cervical cancer screening services were introduced at DhamanaVeshi, though the service is yet to be introduced at Hulhumalé  hospital as promised.

The pledge to reform doctors’ pay structure was set to be implemented before being suspended by the president after criticism for the reduction of take-home salaries by MVR10,000 (US$648).

The Ministry of Health and Gender had also pledged to improve the social health insurance system and to increase the number of local doctors working at state health centers.

Building safe houses for women, children, and persons with disabilities on four islands, introducing free public transport for the elderly, providing services of a clinical psychologist for victims of abuse, reducing the negative of divorce on families, and working towards creating a drugs free society was also part of the hundred-day pledges.

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Emergency water supplied to Alifushi bacteria infested, says council

The emergency water supplied to Alifushi island contains bacteria and dust, the island’s council has said.

Vice President of the council Ibrahim Shuaib said that, following a water shortage,  the island requested 185 tonnes of drinking water from the government – the capacity of the council’s water tanks.

After the island was  presented with 40 tonnes of water, it was subsequently found to be bacteria infested.

“After we received complaints about the water, we tested a sample from the health center here. They found that there were bacteria and dust in it. So we have asked not to use that water,” Shuaib said.

He said that complaints have officially been filed with the National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

“The EPA asked to send an official letter – we sent that too. But we still haven’t got an answer. Some people are now using that water after boiling,” revealed Shuaib.

Speaking to Vnews NDMC denied the claims, saying that the water was produced at Dhuvaafaru water plant and that no complaints had been received from other islands that had received water from the same plant. Both the EPA and the NDMC are investigating the matter.

With a population of 2700, the council estimates there are approximately 1600 people currently residing on the island. According to the council, the island faces water shortages every year around this time.

Traditionally, Maldivians have depended on groundwater, supplemented by rainwater, for drinking and cleaning. However, the contamination of ground water following the tsunami, and the failure to harvest rainwater, means that water shortages during dry periods are increasingly common.

While every house in capital Malé city is supplied with desalinated water, there are no sustainable systems to supply water on most islands. Water shortages all around the country have become a regular occurrence in the past few years during the dry period – which falls between February and April.

According to the NDMC, during the dry seasons of 2009 and 2010, the Maldivian government supplied desalinated water to over 90 islands at a cost of Rf10 million (US$640,000).

Last year between 3 February and 25 April 2013, some 53 islands reported water shortages to the NDMC. Plans have been underway to find more sustainable solutions to the issue in the past few years.

Minister of State for Environment and Energy Abdul Matheen Mohamed has said that the government was emphasising integrated water management systems in order to make the best use of the resources currently available.

“Our policy is to use the available resources as much as possible,” said Matheen. “Just basically to reduce the water costs.”

Earlier this week he island of Gulhi, in Kaafu atoll, became the first place in the world to produce desalinated drinking water using waste heat from electricity generation.

The project – a joint venture between state electricity supplier STELCO and UK registered charity the Aquiva Foundation – can produce around 8000 litres of water for local consumption.

In January, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development chose the Maldives from amongst 80 applicants to receive concessionary loans worth US$6 million (MVR92 million) for a clean energy project which could produce up to 62 million litres of desalinated water per year.

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Speaker expresses concern over weakening of parliamentary privileges

Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Abdulla Shahid has expressed concern over the weakening of parliamentary privileges and fears over a return to how pre-2008 restrictions on politicians.

“As the speaker of the People’s Majlis I would like to say that all the constitutional rights guaranteed for the members of the parliament to express themselves without any fear in order to protect citizens’ rights have now been taken away,”  he said, speaking at the inauguration of a campaign center for MDP Gaddhoo-Vaadhoo constituency candidate Ibrahim Ameer,

Shahid noted that Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim was imprisoned under President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration for expressing an interest to become the speaker of the People’s Special Majlis(constitutional assembly), after which Abbas Ibrahim -Gayoom’s brother in-law – was elected speaker.

He said it was to prevent such thing from happening that the Parliamentary Privileges Act had been designed in a way that no MP could be detained during a no-confidence vote against the president, cabinet, or institutions.

“We made that decision because such things have happened in the Maldives’ past. But this article has now been invalidated by the supreme court,” he said, stating that the government can now once again control votes by arresting MP s over petty charges.

Shahid also said that,  if the government coalition wins a majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections, the constitutional mandate for the People’s Majlis to hold the government accountable will become ‘useless’, adding that was crucial for the opposition MDP to win the election for this reason.

“The Majlis has a duty to hold the government accountable, how can one hold oneself accountable? If those who control the government win the parliament, Article 70 (b) 3 of the constitution will become useless.”

The article in reference states that parliament has the power to supervise the exercise of executive authority and to ensure executive authority is accountable for the exercise of its powers.

Shahid said that, prior to the 2008 constitution, Maldivians never got the chance to hold their government accountable and that anyone who dared to do so faced suffering, pain, and torture.

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EC receives complaints of damage to campaign banners and posters

Read this article in Dhivehi

The Elections Commission (EC) has said that it is receiving complaints of damage being done to campaign material – such as posters and banners – from most candidates contesting in the parliamentary elections.

The commission requested people not do anything that could violate the electoral rights of candidates, and called upon both candidates and supporters to work according to the code of conduct given in Article 23 of the “People’s Majlis Election Regulation 2013”.

EC president Fuwad Thowfeek said that the commission was receiving a number of such complaints everyday, particularly from Malé City.

“Such acts could disrupt social harmony, and we request everyone refrain from doing any such thing. Parliamentary candidates want to serve the public, and involvement in such things is not a very good start, said Thowfeek.

“While it is not our first preference, we will have to take legal action too. We will seek police assistance in controlling such things.”

He requested that campaigners paste posters only where it is permitted according to the regulations. During the presidential elections in 2013, the EC received a number of complaints regarding anti-campaigning, though Thowfeek noted that no such issues had come up this time.

“But we urge candidates and supporter to refrain from anti-campaigning. We will take action against them,” Fuwad said.

Last week, the Adhaalath Party issued a statement condemning acts violating their Hulhuhenveiru candidate Dr Mohamed Iyaz’s electoral rights. The party claimed that posters of some Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidates were pasted over Iyaz’s posters and that his campaign banners were cut down.

The MDP candidate for Henveiru North, MP Abdulla Shahid, has also filed a similar complaint with the EC. Shahid’s campaign office said that his campaign posters and banners in the Henveiru North area were ripped and replaced with Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidates’ campaign material.

Campaign activities for the parliamentary elections are escalating as the election scheduled for 22 March draws near.  A total of 316 candidates are competing for 85 seats this election, more than sixty percent of candidates representing political parties.

Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency requested that all contestants ensure that campaign material does not litter the streets of the country, as was often the case during the presidential poll.

Th opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is running for all 85 seats, while the ruling PPM has divided the seats among their coalition members, with the party retaining just 50 seats.

The remaining seats were divided between Jumhooree Party and the Maldives Development Alliance. The Adhaalath Party and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party are also competing in the election, while 125 independent candidates will also contest.

EC yesterday opened for voters re-registration for those intending to vote at a polling station other than that listed with the commission. The deadline for re-registration is 28 February.


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Police arrest three foreigners for illicit sexual activity

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has arrested three Bangladeshi nationals in the capital Malé last night for engaging ‘illicit sexual activity’.

Two men aged 32 and 34 years, along with a woman of 29 years, were arrested at around 7:30pm after information had been given to Maafannu Police station.

Following the arrest, police found videos of the suspects involved in similar activity.

Police confirmed that sexual activity between foreigners out of wedlock is considered a crime in the Maldives, noting that any reports of unlawful activity will be investigated.

Under Article 173 of the ‘Regulation on the Conduct of Court Proceedings 2003’, a wide range of activities are listed under ‘illicit sexual acts’ without any specific definitions of what comprises an ‘illicit’ sexual act.

It is commonly understood that most sexual acts out of wedlock are considered to be in this category.

The penalty under the article for ‘common’ illicit sexual acts carried out privately is 1 -2 month house arrest , and for ‘serious’ illicit sexual acts carried out privately the sentence is 7 -10 months banishment for men and 7 -10 month house arrest for women.

Homosexual acts and those with a married person, however, result in heavier penalties.

Ways in which a private illicit sexual act can be considered ‘serious’ include the participation of more than two people, photographing of the act, or committing the act in the presence of another person.

Article 190 of the regulation states that, with the exception of flogging, non-muslim foreigners shall be treated the same as Maldivians, while the penal code also makes no exception for foreigners who commit crimes within the jurisdiction of Maldives.

The common practice in cases where foreigners are investigated for illicit sexual acts, however,  is usually deportation without prosecution.

With around one million tourists visiting the Maldives each year, there are no known cases where tourists have been prosecuted for private ‘illicit sexual acts’. Marriage certificates are not a requirement for visiting honeymooners, which surveys suggest comprise nearly a quarter of visitors to the country.

Police have recently looked into such acts allegedly carried out by Maldivians at a Sri Lanka nightclub, while last month President Abdulla Yameen returned the sexual offenses bill to parliament, citing the inclusion of ‘unislamic’ provisions.

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Maldives Olympic Committee to increase women’s participation in sports

The Maldives Olympic Committee (MOC) has decided to step up women’s participation in international sports by introducing guidelines to encourage sports associations to support female athletes and officials.

The MOC has informed all national sports associations that, while funds will be released based on their performance and training, the committee will now give priority to women.

The committee will set a target of 33 percent of games contingents to be women,  alongside a requirement that half of sports officials be female.

“We have noticed that when when women officials participate in international games, they are very involved in it afterwards. But there are very few officials currently, we want to encourage them,” said Secretary General of the committee Ahmed Marzooq.

At least one official for women’s individual sports and either the Chef De Mission or the Deputy Chef De Mission must also be a woman.

“Very few women’s sports have the opportunity to represent Maldives at international level. We want to give them equal opportunities,” said Marzook.

For the upcoming Asia Games – to be held in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 til October 4, 2014 – the committee will spend MVR1.89million on teams, based on this new policy.

With nearly two hundred members, the Asia Games contingent will be the biggest that has ever represented the Maldives at an international sports event.

The Commonwealth Games 2014 – to be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3 – will also be funded under these policies. While there, the Maldives committee is also planning for its athletes to join the Glasgow Muslim community in marking a women’s sports.

“In awarding a training scholarship we ensure there are at least two women for each sport, we want equal opportunities in the area as well,” Marzook added.

“We want people to know that even after retiring as an athlete, there are opportunities for women in coaching, as managers, referees, doctors.”

International women’s sports in Maldives

As a traditionally moderate Muslim nation, women’s participation in sports haven’t been restricted by law, or widely discouraged in the Maldives.

The 2012 Olympics marked the first time that countries like Brunei, Qatar and, Saudi Arabia sent female athletes, while other Muslim majority countries have tended to keep women’s participation to a minimal level.

Starting with just 2.2 percent in 1900, nearly 45 percent of athletes at the 2012 Olympic games were women. Since then, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also set goals such as a 20 percent female representation criteria for the executive boards of National Olympic Committees.

By 1992 there was a demand for the IOC to take more strict action against countries that banned female athletes from their teams after 34 of 169 competing countries had no female participants.

Barcelona was the Maldives’ second Olympic Games, marking the beginning of Maldivian women’s participation in the games. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Maldives’ flag bearer was a teenage girl, Aminath Rouya Hussain.

According to the MOC, between 2010 and 2012 the Maldives participated in eleven international games, with a 42 percent female participation rate.

The current Minister of Youth & Sports Mohamed Maleeh Jamal said the government considers providing equal opportunities for women in sports to be a priority.

“We will focus on women’s sports in establishing a number of sports arenas around the country. We will include Bashi (a local sport played mainly by women) courts in these places and we will include aerobics centers too. Jogging tracks will also be created for women,” he said.

Opportunities for women athletes

In 2010 a women’s basketball team represented the Maldives for the first time internationally, the very next year bringing home a silver medal from the 3-on-3 basketball event at the South Asian Beach Games.

Shizna Rasheed – a member of that historic team – feels that there is a great future for women’s basketball in Maldives.

“It was a great achievement for Maldives, especially considering we didn’t get to practice much.”

Still in her twenties, Shizna started playing basket ball thirteen years ago is now volunteering as a member of the recently established women’s committee within the MOC. She was also the women’s basketball team’s assistant coach at the 2010 Asia Games.

Shizna said that, with the right opportunities, there is a future for women’s basketball in the Maldives and that there are also plans to introduce women’s handball at a national level.

“With increasing funds more opportunities are opening now. There should be equal opportunities for women, and I think these new measures [introduced by the committee] are very encouraging. It will provide more opportunities for women athletes,” she said.

Aishath Nazima, a volleyball player with twenty years of experience, expressed similar sentiments about the measures:

“As it is, only a few women’s sports have that opportunity [to participate in international sports], it is worse for team sports. So most teams don’t practice through out the year. But this can change things. If there are games to look forward to, associations and players too will get more serious. A lot of players even quit due to lack of opportunities.”

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JSC president attempts to remove parliament’s representative

President of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has attempted to remove the parliament’s representative – Bileiydhoo MP Ahmed Hamza – from the commission.

In a letter sent separately to MP Hamza and the President Abdulla Yameen, Supreme Court Judge Adam Mohamed stated that Hamza is no longer a member of JSC as he is running for parliament.

Commenting on the attempt to remove him, Hamza said that the decision was unlawful and unwarranted.

“For one thing, I believe it is an incorrect interpretation [of the JSC Act]. And the president of the commission cannot make such a decision sending a letter by himself,” Hamza said.

Article 10 of the JSC Act states that the post of a commission member shall be deemed vacant if a member is “contesting for a political
position elected under the constitution or a law”.

However, Article 14 (a) of the Act states that certain appointments to the commission, including the representative appointed by the parliament, can only be removed from office by the appointer – in this case, the People’s Majlis.

Stating that Article 10 of the act is not a general statement, he said that if the JSC president’s interpretation is to be followed, the Majlis speaker’s seat would also be vacant.

“There seems to be a contradiction, I believe parliament members or the speaker running for the parliament shall be an exception [under article 10]. Otherwise it creates a legal vacuum,” he said.

Following his decision to remove the MP, Judge Adam Mohamed today asked for the removal of Hamza from a JSC meeting. When Hamza refused to leave, the JSC member representing the public -Sheikh Shuaib Abdul Rahman – proposed a motion requesting that no meetings be held until the matter had been settled. The motion was passed and the commission is expected to meet within the week.

Rahman has also criticised the JSC president’s decision:

“It is not his [Adam Mohamed’s] mandate, and it goes against article 20 [of the JSC Act]. He may have discussed it with certain members on the phone, but it should be decided by the commission.”

Accusing Judge Adam of trying to control all affairs of the commission, Rahman said that the judge “withholds any agenda item he wants, and prioritises and postpone cases at whim” – an accusation frequently made by former presidential appointment to commission Aishath Velezinee.

Rahman said that Judge Adam had sped up some cases and held back others without any regard to the urgency or importance of the matter in question.

The public’s member on the commission unsuccessfully attempted to file a no-confidence motion against Adam last August, later alleging that the commission’s president had refused to table the issue during meetings.

Rahman has accused Judge Adam of being responsible for the judicial watchdog‘s “state of limbo”, accusing him of failing to back the JSC’s investigation of Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed’s sex-tape scandal, and abusing power to release press statements on behalf of the commission.

MP Hamza today said that Judge Adam had not taken such an action in previous cases where questions had arisen regarding the validity of JSC membership.

“Even in Gasim Ibrahim’s case [when he ran for President while still as parliament’s representative at JSC], he did not act like this. Gasim stepped down by himself,” said Hamza.

Hamza was appointed to the commission in October, being approved after the narrow rejection of Jumhooree Party MP Ilham Ahmed.

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Government shuts down mosque due to congregation of “extremists”

Malé City Council has shut down the Dharumavantha Rasgefaanu mosque to stop unauthorised Friday prayers by a group described as “extremists” by the Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali.

A City Council notice posted at the mosque said that on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ request it was to be temporarily shutdown following yesterday’s morning prayers.

Minivan News observed at the time of A’sr prayers that the mosque did not have any group congregation, however the notice posted at the mosque was no longer visible. Only a few individuals worshippers were present.

A copy of the Home Ministry letter signed by Minister Umar Naseer – posted along with the notice –  requested the shutdown “as a first step” against unauthorised Friday prayers performed in the mosque.

The large congregation gathered at the mosque last Friday expressed their opposition through prayers asking Allah to weaken and current government and it’s leaders, CNM reported.

The worshipers at the mosque also prayed against the heads of the government, Islamic ministry and city council, asking for their ill-health and for a calamity to befall upon them.

The congregation asked Allah to destroy the government and to give victory against the “irreligious” government which attempts to obstruct the spreading of Allah’s message and to shut down mosques. Requesting victory, they also asked from Allah to destroy and send his wrath upon military and police officer who implement the government’s orders.

Jurisdiction

Following the Decentralisation Act of 2010, jurisdiction for all mosques falls under the island and city councils.

Malé City Councillor ‘Jambu’ Hassan Afeef who is in charge of managing the city mosques said the council will cooperate with the government, whether it is the police or the Islamic Ministry, in whatever measures needs to be taken to resolve the issue.

He said the Islamic Ministry had earlier sent a letter to the council regarding the mosque.

“We replied saying that the council’s mandate is to provide basic services for the public. If there is some irreligious activity going on, the ministry should get involved. And if something unlawful is going on, the Home Ministry and police should be involved,” said Afeef.

While police would not comment on the issue, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the length of the mosque’s closure remains up to the city council and that the ministry has not yet decided on any future steps to be taken regarding the issue.

Minister Shaheem has previously stated that the ministry had no mandate to act against “undesirable activities” carried out in mosques. Shaheem and his Adhaalath Party have on various occasions demanded that mosques and Imams function under the Islamic Ministry’s authority.

“Broadening the role of mosques” was among the key eleven policy objectives recently revealed by the ministry.

Religious divisions and moderation

Umar Naseer has earlier acknowledged the existence of religious divisions in the Maldives and pledged to put an end to it. “Creating divisions in Islamic nations is the handiwork of enemies of Islam,” Naseer was quoted as saying in local media

Moderation was at the center of the Islamic Ministry’s recently revealed policies, while it was earlier criticised by members of the ruling coalition.

Minister Shaheem has earlier stated that the preaching at the Dharumavantha mosque can sometimes be “very extreme”.

Praying in congregations separate from the state-approved mosques under state-approved imams has often been described as a sign of Islamic extremism. Despite opposition from repeated governments, the practice has continued with the rise of religious extremism in Maldives.

An Azhar educated Islamic Scholar himself, President Gayoom has been accused of persecuting radicals and Wahhabis, including torturing religious scholars and groups who rejected the then-state approved version of Islam.

Commenting on the situation, a former member of the Dharumavantha mosque congregation told Minivan News that shutting down the mosque or arresting the members of congregation was unlikely to end it.

“You can’t change what people believe using force. Under Gayoom, I was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for weeks and sometimes months for praying in separate congregations and being involved with such groups. If anything, my convictions became even stronger and my thinking more radicalised,” he said.

He explained that many of his friends stopped going to the mosque around 2009 after being convinced it was wrong after dialogue with Islamic scholars.

“We are not one hundred percent happy about the way things are, but we realised we should be part of the community and not creating divisions. Now we are currently working with Islamic NGOs to create awareness – not just in Islamic issues but also social and even health issues,” he said.

“There is concern that things might be returning to how they were. But that will only make things worse. They should be educated and guided. I don’t agree with what they are doing either. But this is not how it should be dealt with,” he said.

Under President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, regulation of religion was left mainly in the hands of conservative Adhaalath Party. More radical elements that strayed from the state-approved version of Islam were not persecuted at this time, despite their actions still being unlawful.

The government’s policy in combating extremism shifted to a rehabilitation model within this period.

Questioning the success of these efforts, the current Islamic Minister Sheikh Shaheem – who had earlier advocated for a similar model – has labelled it a failure.

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