Category: Society & Culture

“Maldives lied”: New7wonders controversy continues in South Korea

A documentary regarding New7Wonders, aired on South Korean national broadcaster KBS, has drawn on the Maldives’ experience with the foundation and ignited controversy in the country regarding the nature of the competition.

Korea’s Jeju island was announced as one of the winners in the competition, along with the Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, Argentina’s Iguazu Falls, Indonesia’s Komodo, the Philippines’ Puerto Princesa underground river, and South Africa’s Table Mountain.

Votes were collected online and via paid SMS and phone voting in the various countries, in collaboration with telecom sponsors. Final vote counts for the winners were not revealed, however New7Wonders maintains that the process is “uniquely democratic”.

Following the airing of the program in South Korea, founder of the Swiss-based New7Wonders operation and self-described filmmaker, museum curator, aviator and explorer, Bernard Weber, visited the country to denounce it.

“Only a few reporters were able to attend the conference due to the short notice,” noted the Korea Herald.

“Since the announcement [about Jeju] was made, however, media outlets and activists here have been raising suspicions concerning the foundation’s identity, the money Jeju spent to be chosen and whether it was fair for government officials to take part in the voting multiple times,” the paper reported.

During the press conference, President of the Jeju Tourism Organisation Yang Young-keun revealed that Jeju residents and tourism officials spent 20 billion won (US$18 million) on international phone voting for the competition.

“With the tourism industry accounting for more than 80 percent of Jeju’s economy, 20 billion won does not seem like an unreasonably large amount of money,” Yang added.

Park Dae-seok, an official at Korea’s National Committee for Jeju New7Wonders of Nature, was also quoted as stating that “with Jeju’s 500,000 people, it would have been impossible to have the island named the New Seven Wonders and it is only fair to allow multiple voting in this sense.”

The Maldives’ cabinet announced it was withdrawing from the competition in May 2011, after claiming to have received unexpected demands for cash not explicitly specified in the original contract, in order to continue to “compete meaningfully” in the competition.

Indonesia followed suit, with the country’s tourism authorities announcing the withdrawal of Komodo from the running. In both instances, New7wonders insisted that the Maldives and Komodo remained in the competition while seeking new promoters in both countries.

Demands included ‘sponsorship fees’ (‘platinum’ at US$350,000, or two ‘gold’ at US$210,000 each) and the funding of a ‘World Tour’ event whereby the Maldives would pay for a delegation of people to visit the country, provide hot air balloon rides, press trips, flights, accommodation and communications.

In a comment piece published on Minivan News, New7wonders spokesman Eamonn Fitzgerald responded that the authority to withdraw a participant from the campaign “is a decision for New7Wonders alone, not for any government agency.”

“With the Maldives still a finalist, the critical choice to be made by the key decision-makers in the Maldives is whether to support the campaign or not,” Fitzgerald said at the time.

“I think that it would be a good idea for all the leaders in the Maldives to be active participants in the campaign for the simple reason that it makes good business sense. After all, this is why so many countries, with their public and private sectors, are enthusiastically involved in this global event.”

Voting controversy

Besides Jeju in South Korea, other winning countries responded energetically to the campaign, notably developing countries with large populations desperate to boost tourism revenue.

Vietnam’s central bank in November 2011 sent an urgent communication to the country’s financial institutions, urging them to force their employees to vote for Vietnam’s Halong Bay in the New7wonders competition.

According to the UK’s Financial Times, staff at one of Vietnam’s state-run bank were set quotas of 600 paid SMS votes each.

“Vietnamese officials, perhaps mindful of the growing importance of tourism to the economy, are going the extra mile to try to secure victory, pulling on the many control levers available to the pervasive Communist party,” the FT reported.

However some Vietnamese tourism officials cited by the FT raised concerns about the country’s expenditure on paid voting to win the competition, suggesting that the money and time “would be better spent cleaning up the worsening pollution in Halong Bay, raising safety standards on tour boats after two fatal sinkings in recent years and improving the overall environment for tourism.”

President of the Philippines, Noynoy Aquino, also urged his population to hit the phones and vote for the Puerto Princesa Underground River.

“In the Philippines we have no less than 80 million cellphone users sending nearly 2 billion text messages every day. All we need is one billion votes, so that is half a day,” Aquino said, during the river’s campaign push – a commitment of US$58 million, at PHP2.50 (US$0.058) a vote.

In the Maldives, the Swiss foundation approached telecom provider Dhiraagu seeking US$1 million in sponsorship to be its telecom partner in the Maldives, a figure that dropped by half when the company complained that the price was too high.

In a recorded interview with Korean journalists, obtained by Minivan News, Bernard Weber defends the sponsorship as “not a requirement, but a proposition.”

New7Wonders Director, Jean-Paul de la Fuente, interjects: “The Maldives people basically lied. They said if they did not bring sponsors we had threatened they would be expelled from the campaign. That’s a lie. There was no conditional sponsorship, and the proof is that five of the seven winners had no sponsors.”

Fuente continued: “The reason the Maldives person lied is because he had a personal financial interest in another business. What he did was show selected documents that clearly said there was no condition. When he resigned an alternative civic group tried to become a new committee, and he threatened them not to become a new committee.

“Unfortunately the Maldives was until recently a dictatorship, and maybe they still have some of the bad habits of a dictatorship. But we are absolutely clear that the Maldives lied,” Fuente said, and identified Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC), Simon Hawkins, as “the main problem.”

In response, Hawkins told Minivan News today that “the only financial incentive and gain was to save the country over 500,000 US dollars for ridiculous charges from a disreputable organisation, and I succeeded. The Cabinet did their own investigation and reached their own conclusions, which was the same as ours. I also fail to see how Mr Weber can say that we were lying with the concrete evidence against him.”

Following the Maldives’ withdrawal, New7wonders approached the Maldives Association of Tourism and Travel Operators (MATATO) to take over from the MMPRC as the organising committee of the Maldives’ campaign – a move opposed by the MMPRC, as “the democratically elected Government of the Maldives is the only legitimate authority to act in the name of the Maldives and its people”.

Secretary General of MATATO, Maleeh Jamal, said at the time that the association was considering taking over the event in the government’s stead, as the studies offered by New7Wonders promised an “enormous return on investment”, and “US$500,000 for such an award would be quickly recovered. Although the money was a concern, we had a fair chance of winning,” he said at the time.

Asked today whether the MMPRC had threatened MATATO not to continue in the competition, Jamal said he did not wish to comment: “It was a huge controversy and now the whole saga is over,” he said.

Business model

The studies referred to by MATATO were also referenced by Fitzgerald in a letter to Minivan News following the cabinet decision to withdraw:

  1. Study published by Pearson of London in April 2010: US$5 billion overall in economic, tourism and brand image values for the participants and winners in the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World campaign;
  2. Study published by Grant Thornton of South Africa in April 2011: US$1.012 billion each in economic and employment value for the first five years for being successful in the New7Wonders of Nature;
  3. New study published by JDI of South Korea in May 2011: up to US$1.837 billion each per annum in economic benefits for being successful in the New7Wonders of Nature.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature was the second competition of its kind to be held by the foundation. The first, concerning man-made wonders of the world, awarded the title to Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Colosseum in Rome, Great Wall in China, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, and the Taj Mahal in India. The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt – one of the original 7 wonders, was eventually awarded an honorary title after the Ministry of Tourism complained.

Following Indonesia’s decision to withdraw Komodo, Indonesian blogger Priyadi Nurcahyo Faith collected 15 years of tourism statistics for three of the winning attractions in the first competition, as well as national tourism arrivals, and graphed them in an attempt to correlate the effect of winning the competition.

Visitor numbers to 2007 New 7 Wonders winners. Source: Priyardi's Place

Machu Picchu recorded high growth in (overseas) visitors between 1998 and 2000 of over 20 percent a year. Visitor numbers slumped over 16 percent in 2001, returning to 40 percent in 2005. By 2006, visitors had plunged to 1.14 percent. In 2007 – the year Machu Picchu was announced a winner of the New 7 wonders competition, it had risen to 14 percent, slowing to 12 percent in 2008. In 2009 growth plunged 5 percent, worsening to 18 percent in 2010. Overall arrivals to Peru increased 41 percent in 2004, and 14 percent in the year of the competition. Arrivals dropped 4 percent in 2009.

The Taj Mahal in India showed a broadly similar trend. Foreign visitors increased dramatically 62 percent in 2005, before plunging 17 percent the following year. In 2007, visitor numbers grew 19 percent, but in 2008 the increase was less that 1 percent. Visitors dropped almost 17 percent in 2009. The increase in tourism arrivals to India as a whole continued a downward trend from 13 percent in 2005 to 7 percent in 2008.

Petra, which recorded both foreign and domestic visitors, saw a significant spike in 2007 of over 60 percent, building on a broadly positive trend from a dramatic increase of 93 percent in 2004. Visitors increased 38 percent in 2008, dropped nine percent in 2009, and increased 34 percent in 2010.

At the same time, overall visitors to Jordan dropped 3 percent in 2007, despite almost 19 percent growth the year before.

The blogger’s conclusion was that the New 7 Wonders contribution to visitor numbers was difficult to correlate amid other factors – but was likely “not so significant”.

The controversy surrounding Indonesia and the Maldives’ withdrawal from the competition, and most recently the growing attention in South Korea, has sparked interest in the foundation’s business model.

A ‘New7Wonders Foundation’ is registered in the Swiss canton of Zurich as a charitable foundation, however the New7Wonders own website describes it as “a major, global-scale proof of a business concept based on mass virtual online dynamics creating concrete economic positive outcomes in the real world”.

The Maldives Tourism Ministry initially paid a US$199 participation fee and signed a contract not with the foundation, but rather a commercial arm of the operation: New Open World Corporation (NOWC), which listed its address on the contract as a law firm in the Republic of Panama.

The fate of the money paid to NOWC by tourism authorities, sponsors and telecom partners in unclear. Funds raised, the website states, are used “to set up and run the global New7Wonders voting platform, to run the first campaign that chose the Official New 7 Wonders of the World, to run the current campaign electing the Official New7Wonders of Nature, to run the New7Wonders organisation, [and] to create a surplus for distribution.”

Swiss law does not require charitable foundations to disclose how much they pay executives, unlike the UK, and no filings, declarations of assets or record of funds distributed are available on the foundation’s website.

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Protests to continue as police threaten zero-tolerance

Maldives Police Services has said it will adopt a zero-tolerance policy during protests if opposition demonstrators continue their current, increasingly violent trajectory which has sent four police officers to the hospital in the past two days.

Citing protesters’ recent use of fireballs, petrol bombs and bricks, police have said they will exercise full legal authority to prevent the ongoing anti-government protests from developing into acts of terrorism.

Opposition rotesters have demonstrated every night since January 16, when Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by military forces and detained at a training facility in Kaafu Atoll Girifushi. Opposition party members have drawn crowds of approximately 200 to 300 nightly to the area in front of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) near the Male’ fish market, while ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members have taken to gathering at their party camp on the other side of the island.

Police and military forces have patrolled key areas of the island on a regular basis, nightly arresting individuals for violent activities.

Speaking of last night’s demonstration, Sub-Inspector Hussain Haneef said 37 individuals were arrested “for violence and acting against police orders.” He added that nine individuals have been released.

Mohamed Haisham, a protest coordinator and member of opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), said most individuals arrested last night were women and blamed any violent agitation on MDP, “who is giving money, drugs, alcohol and knives to gangs who are causing the problems.”

Haisham said protesters are undeterred by the police warnings. “Tonight’s protest will be very strong,” he informed Minivan News, adding that protests will continue until “the biggest one”, a rally scheduled for February 24.

Last night’s unrest also led to the breaking of windows at MDP headquarters and the Finance Ministry, as well as the windshield of a city bus.

Police have also launched an investigation into a Henveiru ward fire which broke out last night in the home of musician Ibra Rasheed, destroying a majority of the musical equipment belonging to himself and his son.

Rasheed, who claims not to belong to any party, has been producing music against the former government since the 1980s; between 1988 and 2003 he was arrested, jailed and banished to an island. “They arrested me for drugs, but everybody knows I don’t use drugs. They really arrested me for my music,” he said.

Since the current government came to power in 2008 Rasheed has been able to produce and sell six albums, however he claims being hassled by supporters of the former government for his work.

In 2010 Rasheed released the song “Black 30 Years” criticising the lifestyle of Abdulla Hameed, former Atolls Minister and half-brother to former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. “After that I was walking by the postal building and saw Shaheem Hameed [his son]. He refused to shake my hand and said he would sue me for what I did to his father,” Rasheed said. Soon after he was beaten up in the street, he said.

In the past several weeks, the threats have become more frequent.

“There are guys who come around on their motorbikes and tell me they are going to beat me and kill me. With these protests now they are coming more often, I am scared anything might happen to me so I stay at home. I think they were the ones who started the fire [in my son’s room].”

Rasheed said the door to his son’s room was locked and vacant when smoke began pouring out. House residents forced open the door and put out the flame, however all of the equipment inside was destroyed. “We kept my son’s computer for mixing and the guitars and most recording stuff in there,” he explained. “Someone told me the Islamic Bank can provide financial support, but I haven’t talked to the bank yet.” Rasheed said the damages amounted to Rf80,000 (US$5,200).

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Push for mid-market tourism starts in Laamu Gan

The Maldives first resort-style tourist guest house to operate on a local inhabited island opened yesterday on Laamu Atoll Gan Island, the Maldives largest island (six kilometres squared) and three times the size of capitol Male’.

President Mohamed Nasheed attended the opening of Reveries Diving Village along with over 600 island residents, several government officials and a few representatives from neighboring resort Six Senses Laamu.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Nasheed said the guest house would benefit the island by providing jobs and boosting local industrial activity and income.

At the moment, a majority of the guest house is staff is Maldivian. “They are a very friendly group, not terribly experienced but very willing,” said Reveries Manager Boris A. Salam.

President Nasheed elaborated that industrial expansion on islands is directly proportional to government priority. To support development on all islands, the government is obliged to provide clean water, efficient sewerage systems and durable roads for its people, he said.

Reveries Diving Village was designed by a Maldivian architect and developed by BISON Maldives Pvt Ltd; it is owned by BISON Chairman Abdul Majeed. The President pointed out that Reveries is part of a larger push to expand tourism to inhabited islands and incorporate local businesses in the nation’s leading industry.

Re-inventing the Maldives’ traditional “one island one resort” theme, Reveries encourages guests to explore the local side of Gan through sight-seeing excursions, picnics, fishing trips and meals at local cafes, while maintaining a variety of standard resort services including a spa, conference facilities, PADI certified dive school and water sports facilities.

The location will also likely attract an ambitious surf community–famous surf points Yin Yang, Isdhoo Bank and Refugees Lefts are easy to access.

Offering 25 guest rooms and one villa for under US$200 per night (Rf 3000) and compliant with Shariah-based regulations, Reveries aims to serve the needs of vacationers, business folk and backpackers alike–foreign and Maldivian.

“The island life and serenity of Laamu Gan, added with the unique features such as a mythical freshwater lake that is estimated to be 60 meters deep and old Buddhist Temple ruins add distinctive value to any traveler,” reads a press release.

Manager Salam said he had received positive feedback about the guest house’s humble intent. “People said that from the outside the building doesn’t look like much, it could be anything. But when they come in they’re very nicely surprised, the design immediately makes you feel cozy,” he said, observing that the public beach area in front of the house adds a neighborhood feel.

Reveries is part of a string of recent developments on Laamu Gan, which is connected by causeways and bridges to three other islands in the atoll forming a total land area of approximately nine kilometres. The domestic airport on nearby Kadhoo island affords easy transportation to and from capital Male’, located 250 km to the North.

Harbours and a hospital developed by the French Red Cross have improved the economy and lifestyle of Laamu residents, and an international school is also expected to open this year.

The addition of Reveries appears to please Laamu residents. Reveries Manager Boris A. Salam said “people are curious, they’ve been popping in during the development stage to see what’s happening.”

According to a press release one lifetime resident, Hussein, said, “this is the happiest I have been after the opening of the airport. It will create a lot of jobs and opportunities for small business to grow. The success of Reveries will surely bring more investments to the region.”

Reveries plans to develop a second property in Laamu Gan later this year with Amin Construction Pvt. Ltd. The property will offer 20 rooms in 6 villas, along with a swimming pool and other food and beverage facilities.

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Protesters not covered under health insurance schemes: participation “high risk and voluntary”

State television journalist Moosa Naushad has had a successful operation in Colombo for injuries sustained during a protest on Male’ last week, and will return to the Maldives in a few days’ time, according to Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) Director Adam Shareef.

Naushad was attacked outside of MNBC by 15 people while covering an  opposition-led protest on January 23. The aggressors broke his hand and left him with fractures to his shoulder blades and feet, while MNBC editor Thoyyib Shaheem was tasered after trying to intervene. Both sides of the political spectrum blamed the other for the attack, with the opposition alleging that MDP activists mistook Naushad for a VTV reporter.

Since the nightly  protests began on Male’ over two weeks ago a number of journalists, activists and police officers have sought medical attention for related injuries. Although security personnel are covered by their employer, others have discovered that injuries sustained during a protest are excluded from coverage by most available insurance programs, including the government’s recently introduced Aasandha scheme for every Maldivian citizen.

“As far as I know, no insurance scheme in the Maldives would cover somebody injured during a protest,” said Allied Insurance and Aasandha Program Manager Ahmed Shabiq, pointing out that protests are considered high-risk and voluntary.

To fill the coverage gap, Naushad’s injuries have been treated with “a gift from the government, and some contributions from MNBC,” MNBC’s Shareef said. He added that the station tries to cover injuries other journalists have sustained while working, but said that there is no company insurance program.

Some hospital patients have been surprised to discover the caveat, and several have filed queries and complaints with Aasandha. Shabiq pointed out that “that policy is clearly listed in our exclusions section, printed in pamphlets and on the website. But I think people just aren’t aware of those details.”

However, “it’s not so easy to identify if someone was involved in a protest, and if they’re responsible for their injury.”

All injured individuals are treated on the assumption that they did not engage in high risk behavior until evidence to the contrary is presented. Shabiq claimed hospitals are asked to determine the individual’s level of involvement in any high-risk behavior, while another Allied official said police reports are used to clarify responsibility.

Private practitioner at Central Medical and Clinic, Dr Ahmed Razee, agrees with the policy: “Insurance should not cover intentional injuries. If you jump off the roof of a house you jump off the roof of a house!” he said.

However Dr Fathimath Nadia at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) believes the scheme’s policy leaves room for skepticism.

“I think injuries should be covered, but then again if you go to a protest I guess you have to expect that something could happen. But it’s difficult for a medical staff member to know if a person has been injured because of something they did or not.”

Dr Nadia suggested that the policy could have a preventative impact.

“At a protest you should expect that injuries could happen, so if you’re not going to be covered then maybe you won’t go, or you’ll be very careful,” she supposed.

In a separate case, Dr Nadia pointed out that some of the most important partnerships exist in the no-coverage grey zone.

“Three days ago I saw a 22 year-old boy who had had a diving accident. He needed a decompression chamber so we wanted to send him to Bandos but Bandos isn’t part of Aasandha so he wouldn’t be covered,” she explained, adding that the high cost of decompression chambers – of which only one of the Maldives’ five is not operated by a resort – effectively reserves them for the elite.

“It’s a problem, because we see a lot of dive- and sea- related injuries. The boy is now paralysed from his waist down, but what to do?”

However, Dr Nadia pointed out that Bandos had seen the boy and to her knowledge the family had kindly not been billed.

Health insurance programs around the world have their limits. The Maldivian public appears keen to find out first-hand just where those limits lie.

In a previous article Minivan News reported that hospital traffic had increased dramatically since Maldivians became eligible for up to Rf100,000 (US$6500) in free health care annually.

Public health expert and Chief Operating Officer at Male’s ADK hospital, Dr Ahmed Jamsheed, noted in a January 16 blog post that during the scheme’s first two weeks ADK had seen a 50 percent increase in specialist consultations and a 100 percent increase in demand for basic services.

In addition, 41,000 individuals sought health care at ADK – 11 percent of the country’s population – costing the scheme millions and raising serious concerns over its sustainability, Dr Jamsheed observed.

“In the absence of an ongoing epidemic, statistically and epidemiologically speaking, it is unlikely that so many people would be sick needing health care simultaneously,” he wrote, later noting that some patients are seeking multiple and even extraneous appointments.

At IGMH, Dr Nadia has also seen the appointment book fill up. She suggested that repeat appointments stem from a public belief that bi-monthly check-ups are merely proper maintenance – you can’t have too much of a good thing.

However, she noted that the validity of a person’s complaint could be hard to gauge. “It’s difficult to know if a person will receive correct medication from the pharmacy staff, and what they will do with that medication. We can’t follow them to find out,” she said.

In Dr Razee’s opinion, multiple visits to the doctor are important, even if only to put one’s worries to rest.

“Medically speaking, it’s not a waste of time or money,” he said.

“Many people are coming in with complaints that they couldn’t afford to address before. And they are seeing several doctors in succession because they want to get a second, even third, opinion, or they are looking for a doctor they feel comfortable with, or they were unable to tell everything in the short period of time they were first given with the doctor and they want to finish the story,” he said. “It’s normal human nature.”

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Smokers react to dramatic rise in price of cigarettes

Ahmed Lizneen was just 14 when he first smoked. What started as an “experiment for fun” has now become a habit – he has struggled to quit over the years, but to no avail.

“It was my friends who gave the cigarette to me first. I had it for fun. Then I also started buying. Not the whole pack, but a few cigarettes at a time as it was cheaper. Slowly it became an addiction. I tried to stop many times, but just could not,” Lizneen explained.

Alarmingly high tobacco consumption

Statistics reveal an alarming proportion of the Maldivian population – especially youth – have succumbed by one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced: the tobacco epidemic.

The Center for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) estimates that the 44 percent of the total population use tobacco, mainly by smoking.

According to the Maldives Demography and Health Survey (MDHS) 2009, 42 percent of people in the age group 20-24 are smokers while 20 percent of 15-19 years age group smoke.

Similar findings in a 2007 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) showed that nice percent of the surveyed students are either smokers or have smoked in the past – while 48.7 percent students are exposed to second-hand smoke at home and 69.4 percent of students are exposed to it elsewhere.

A worrying trend has been observed with rising numbers of girls becoming smokers.

Statistics show that overall tobacco use prevalence is high compared to international standard with 57 percent of men and 29 percent of women having used some form of tobacco.

Based on customs data, in 2010 alone 346 million cigarettes were imported into the Maldives at a cost of Rf124 million (US$8 million) – a disproportionate figure considering the 350,000 populace. In 2009, Rf110 million was spent to import 348 million cigarettes – mostly included well known brands such as marlborough, camel, and mild seven.

Based on those figures, the average Maldivian smoker consumes 2312 cigarettes a year – six a day.

Leading public health experts have raised their voice on the issue.

Former Director General of the CCHDC Dr Ahmed Jamsheed wrote on his blog in July 201 that the “available statistics on smoking in the Maldives are alarming”.

“The Maldives still seems to be on the rising curve of the tobacco epidemic (we can still change this) and it will take several years to peak and show the full health impact of smoking and tobacco products. There is a lag of many years between the health effects of tobacco and the time people start smoking,” he wrote.

Meanwhile Ahmed Afaal, a public health service manager and tobacco prevalence researcher, says much needs to be done to control the growing “menace”.

“To protect the majority of the smoking Maldivians from death before they reach their potential life expectancy, strong laws are needed to reduce the supply and demand for tobacco,” he wrote on his blog in October 2011. “We are way behind!”

Tobbaco products price increased

In a bid to control the rising demand curve, legislation was passed in 2011, increasing the 50 percent import tariff on cigarettes by four fold.

With the increase of import tariff by 200 percent the price of cigarettes doubled, subsequently raising complaints from “tobacco addicts”.

Unlike many countries which already impose strict supply controls and high prices on tobacco products, the Maldives has long enjoyed cheap rates with a pack easily available from shops between Rf18-25 (US$1.16-1.62), subject to brand, while a single cigarette costs one rufiya.

Following rise in import duty in the Maldives, the cheapest brand is available at almost Rf35 (US$2.27) and a single cigarette costs almost two or three rufiya.

By comparision, a pack of cheap cigarettes costs the equivalent of Rf66 in the USA, Rf112 in the UK and Rf158 in Australia.

To understand how the smoking habits have changed since the price hike, Minivan News interviewed five smokers aged between 18-40.

Every respondent claimed the daily number of cigarettes smoked remain unchanged, although one who is 20 years old claimed to have reduced it a “little”.

“I finish a pack [almost 20] everyday,” a 35 year-old said. “It is really difficult since the price has increased but I can’t control it. Sometimes I smoke secretly because my wife does not like it”

However, during the interview which was conducted at a café’, the man cancelled an order for a cigarette pack after the waiter mentioned the price. “It’s way too costly at the restaurants,” he says.

Lizneen, 24, also claims his smoking habits still remain same – almost 10-20 cigarettes per day.

However, he revealed an interesting trend among the smokers: “We don’t share anymore,” he explained. “There are some smokers who take one or two from others, but because it’s expensive now most who buy cigarette packs hide it or do not smoke in front others who ask for smokes. I do that. My friends too”.

Meanwhile, another 28 year-old who spoke to Minivan News said the change in price “brought no change to my demand and habit”.

“I started smoking at the age of 15 to make my Dad angry for abandoning us while we were still studying. I tried to quit for my wife because she did not like it. But I gave up trying because she left me,” he said.

An 18 year-old, who similarly started smoking at a young age, claimed he would “continue to smoke even if the price increases to Rf100”.

“I can’t stop even if I want to. So why try? There is nowhere I can go to get help. I don’t even know where I can get the help,” he said. “Nobody even cares. It’s all politics now.”

Fight continues

Deputy Director at the CCHDC Hassan Mohamed, who also heads the Tobacco Control Unit, observed that tobacco use is  a “global menace” which has been rooted in the Maldives “since our forefathers’ time.”

Laws have been passed to control tobacco use over the generations, with the first to be enacted in 1942, while the latest Tobacco Act passed through the existing parliament in 2010.

However, Mohamed argues that “law itself does not solve the issue” and it is the implementation, collaboration and taking initiative that will help to make the Maldives “tobacco free”.

Acknowledging that the existing Tobacco Control Act is “weak” and has “limitations” that have to be bridged by legislation which are now under review, he pointed out that the laws are adequate and the fight against tobacco can be continued.

He added that the rise in cigarette prices has been a “positive move” and will reduce demand in the long run, acting as a heavy barrier to the recruitment of new or potential smokers.

“Affordability is the key factor that determines smoking habits. When the price increases, depending on the threshold, research has shown that smokers do tend to quit,” Mohamed observed. “Since the price hike, we have received phone calls from the islands and to our office from people asking for help to quit smoking.”

Meanwhile, he said that the introduction of four pieces of legislation currently under review would provide more control over the tobacco supply chain, with zero advertising, strict packaging guidelines and heavy penalties in addition to enhanced protection of second-hand smokers with the banning of smoking in stated public areas.

“The legislation would prohibit sale of single cigarettes,” he claimed, pointing out that Health Ministry requires support from other authorities as it had limited jurisdiction over businesses.

He observed initiatives to treat tobacco addicts are limited and an increased effort is required through civil society and community.

Work is also underway to provide quit smoking services, targeted to begin this year. “We have already trained some people. We will soon open a cessation clinic in Male’ and run a four month pilot project,” Mohamed added.

However, he says the Maldives  is facing a “global menace” with multi billion dollar multinationals deliberately exploiting consumers health and well-being to make profits.

“We must keep in mind that in the Maldives we are also fighting against a multi-billion dollar industry. There will be pressures from the global arena and from factors exclusive to Maldives,” Mohamed said. “But we can fight it.”

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Police arrest six on suspicion of murder in Kudahuvadhoo sorcerer case

Police have arrested six persons following the murder of an alleged sorcerer living on the island of Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu Atoll.

Two weeks ago Ali Hassan, a 76 year-old man, was found murdered with multiple stab wounds on Kudahuvadhoo.

Hassan was found knifed at an abandoned house around 8:00 pm on the evening of January 8.

A police spokesperson confirmed Minivan News that the arrests were made and that none of the suspects had so far been released.

“We are currently investigating the case and will provide details later,” he said.

A special team from the Serious and Organised Crime Department was dispatched to the island the day of the murder.

The victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and whose body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

Island Council President of Kudahuvadhoo Ibrahim Fikry today told Minivan News that the islanders were all frightened after the incident.

“After the death of the woman the islanders were scared, and then this incident occurred and now the islanders are worse,” he said adding that no one walks on the roads now after the sun goes down.

“The injuries sustained were horrific,” Fikry told Minivan News at the time, claiming to have seen the body of the man.

Fikry said that the victim’s forehead was slashed and that his neck was slit. “There were deep stab wounds to the chest and back, revealing the bones. The intestines were visible from a slash to the stomach,” he recalled.

Speaking to Minivan News, an islander from Kudahuvadhoo claimed that the victim was “unpopular” in the community for his alleged practice of sorcery.

Hassan was formerly Deputy Island Chief of Gemedhoo in Dhaal Atoll, which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. When the population resettled in Kudahuvadhoo, he was removed from the position over allegations of child abuse, said a council member.

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Elderly being forced out of family homes to live on streets

I was riding home around midnight after buying a handful of hot spicy short eats in the drizzling rain, when I spotted what seemed like a human body lying on the pavement of a street near the local market in capital Male’

Curious, I asked my friend to stop the bike and walked closer to confirm my impression. Under a thin piece of ragged bed sheet – to my astonishment – lay a wrinkled old lady shivering herself to sleep.

That was the first encounter with Kadheeja Adam (or Shiraanee, as she prefers to be called), an elderly woman living alone on the streets of Male’.

For almost five years, she says, her home has been the streets surrounding the market. She survives on handouts from the local vendors, and occasional offerings from sympathetic passersby. She showers in the pay toilets around the block. Dressed modestly in dirty and frayed clothes, she keeps her few belongings tucked closely to her as she sleeps on the sheltered corner of a storehouse gate near the market.

Shiraanee says recently some of those clothes were mistakenly taken away as trash by the municipal officials one night, but she is happy because her favorite tin full of areca nuts was not taken.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Shiraanee replies bluntly each time I inquire why she is living on the streets.

Judging by her impaired vision, frail face and emerging grey hair, she appears to be in her 50s or 60s. But the most telling sign of age is her deteriorating mental capability.

Shiraanee says her house on Kandumaavaidhoo island of Haa Dhaalu Atoll was destroyed in the 2004 tsunami, forcing her to seek refuge in relatives’ homes – where she was never wanted.

“I moved from island to island. Stayed with some relatives and people I know. But nobody wanted me. So I came to Male’ on a ferry to live with my daughter,” Shiraanee said.

Shiraanee claims her daughter Aminath lives in Male’ with her husband and kids, and that she was planning to live with her. “But there was no space for me.”

When asked if she moved out or was abandoned by her daughter, Shiraanee does not respond. She claims not to know where her daughter lives anymore.

“I don’t know where she lives. They moved to a new house people say. She used to come ask for money before. Not anymore,” she said.

A few local vendors at the market who spoke to Minivan News said that it was rumored that Shiraanee is very stubborn, and moved out on her own to live on the street. I asked why.

“How do we know?” they responded. “There are so many people who are living on the streets nowadays.”

Distressing but true, Shiraanee happens to be just one among the growing number of “homeless” in Male’ – an upsetting trend which is quietly being “accepted” as a part of the society, despite the fact that maltreatment of the elderly is illegal and also considered to be among the greatest sins in Islam.

To the local fishermen and vendors at the market area lines of beggars, mostly old people of both genders, is a common annoyance.

No less than 10 people sit near the market to beg everyday from dawn, scattering away at nightfall.

Market vendors say many beggars have families or houses in the capital. “I really don’t understand why they are living like this. Some of them even refuse to go when their children come to get them,” said one vendor.

But he acknowledged that an unfortunate few like Shiraanee who have nowhere else to go spend their nights on the streets, in open parks or hidden in empty buildings – at the mercy of the cold nights and hooligans.

Some beggars claim being robbed or harassed by boys on the street.

“I have not been attacked,” Shiraane said. “When I give them some money they go away.”

One beggar said a Male’ shop owner used to pay him some small sum to sleep next to the shop and keep the burglars away.

“I get some cash or free stuff sometimes when I sleep there [near the shop]. But the shopkeeper hired a watchman later. So I beg near the market during the day and sleep in the fisherman’s park,” the 70 year-old man said.

Police are apparently “useless” when it comes to resolving the situation.

During the two nights I sat with Shiraanee listening to her story, policemen patrolling the area came to question what I was doing out there. So I responded with questions pretending to be a concerned citizen: “Why don’t you question the woman sleeping on the street? Shouldn’t you do something about this?”

The policemen said that it was a “common” problem and that they have requested the people not to sleep on the roads.

“Some of them [people living on streets] come from islands. So we identify them we take them to boats and ask them to go back. But the next day we see them here [in the market] again,” one policeman explained. “There is nothing we can do. We can’t keep them under our custody. So we refer the case to the ministry.”

However, the absence of an effective initiative to address the queue of beggars or old people living on Male’s streets indicates that the plight of homeless people is far from a resolution.

As opposed to most countries providing shelters for the needy, Maldives does not have any existing shelters or elderly care centers – therefore, hope that homeless will find a safe place to live seems bleak.

The government-operated “Home for People with Special Needs” on Guraidhoo island of Kaafu Atoll rarely accepts the destitute elderly; authorities have repeatedly pointed out that the facility – which is already under-equipped and cramped – is meant for the disabled, rather than the homeless.

Last year, the cabinet approved a resolution to allow private parties to develop residential home for the elderly under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, but progress remains unclear.

At a time when social issues such as sexual abuse, gender discrimination and drugs make headlines, and abandoned babies elicit public outrage, should not the misery of the abandoned elderly receive equal attention?

Or must we wait until the night when a passerby finds the dead body of a homeless man or woman lying cold in the street?

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Protests slow at start of third week

Opposition protests in the capital city of Male’ appear to be deflating as they stretch into their third week of late-night stand-offs with riot police.

While opposition-led crowds continue to congregate outside the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) building, some bearing posters reading: “No one knows where the judge is” and “We want democracy”, the action has been pushed back towards the fish market by the sudden construction of a ferry terminal by Male’ City Council in the area used for the nightly gathering.

Minivan News understands that fishermen sleeping on the docked boats opposite the MMA had complained to the council about the nightly clashes between police and opposition demonstrators.

Protesters also appear to be voluntarily dispersing at earlier hours. Speaking last night to Minivan News, protest regulars said “a few speeches” were made near the fish market, but that they had drawn to a close well before midnight. Whereas last week opposition supporters had waited until midnight before advancing on police forces, last night the gathering had thinned out by 11:30pm with no reported confrontation with authorities.

Members of opposition parties have protested the “unlawful” detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed since he was arrested by the military on January 16, after he attempted to block his own police summons. He is currently being detained at a military training facility in Girifushi, his whereabouts and wellbeing established during a visit two weeks ago by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

In response, the government applied for international legal assistance to resolve its stand-off with the judiciary, which it claims is unsuited to its duties and dysfunctional. Among its grievances are the former Supreme Court’s 2010 decision to tenure itself, allegations of corruption within the courts, and the Civil Court’s 2011 ruling against the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) investigation of the judge.

While meetings and statements are made by day, opposition protesters have agitated by night, injuring several policemen as well as journalists. A targeted attack outside state television station Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) left one videographer with a broken hand. The Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) as well as the government have condemned the attacks, and security forces are maintaining surveillance of the station. Government homes and property have also been vandalised during the exchanges.

Violence is unusual for Male’, despite the often heated political rhetoric at such gatherings. Both opposition and ruling party activists have accused the other side of deploying paid thugs to create unrest and disrupt the other’s gatherings, while local gangs are known to be employed by various political figures, accepting payments for scare tactics.

Over the weekend Dhiyana Saeed, formerly SAARC Secretary General, called for President Mohamed Nasheed to be impeached. Last evening she was removed from Republic Square by police officials for protesting in an unauthorised area. It was the second time in four days that Saeed had attempted to protest in that area and had refused to comply with police orders.

Police officials emphasised that Saeed “was not arrested, and has been released from police charge.”

Saeed did not respond to phone calls at time of press.

Although protest activities appear moderately subdued, a habit seems to be developing. When asked if there were further plans for achieving their goal, one protester near the fish market simply said, “we will continue the protest here, every night.”

Still, as midnight approached most citizens in the area headed off on their motorbikes while others walked home.

Meanwhile, activities at the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) camp near MNBC, last week a protest target, have also calmed.

While ruling  party supporters awaited the arrival of an estimated 40 opposition members who were supposedly approaching the area, a film was screened in which four young people’s relationship was used to illustrate that MDP members could not be bought by the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), viewers explained.

When police forces established road blocks around the area at midnight, half of the crowd gathered outside the camp dispersed from the area, sensing trouble. As a group of opposition protesters appeared at one end of the blockade, onlookers cautioned Minivan News to be wary of thrown objects. However no confrontation developed and the protesters quickly moved on.

MDP members watching the film outside the party camp meanwhile peered down the road from their stationary bikes to observe any possible commotion, shrugged their shoulders when nothing occurred, joked amongst themselves and returned to watching the movie.

The protests – which have typically consisting of 200-400 people – now represent one of the longest running demonstrations over a single issue since the new government was elected in 2008.

Howver the opposition-led demonstrations are effectively an extension of last year’s anti-government protest to defend Islam, none have drawn crowds comparable to those who appeared at the December 23 rally.

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Land plots awarded under Veshi Fahi program

Fifteen land plots were awarded today to Maldivian citizens qualifying for housing under Category A of the Veshi Fahi Male’ housing program, a government initiative to decongest the capital Male’ by expanding residential and industrial infrastructure to surrounding islands.

The plots are part of a 250 land plot package currently being awarded to applicants, along with 1000 newly constructed flats with a capacity of 7,000. Although the 21,000 applications for the housing program exceed the government’s initial pledge to house 10,000 people by 2016, Veshi Fahi program officials indicate that the government steering committee is considering adding an extra 100 plots to the program.

Speaking at today’s inaugural ceremony on Hulhumale’, President Mohamed Nasheed pledged to provide housing to all applicants. “In the Maldives every citizen should be have the option of living in whichever part of the Maldives he or she wishes,” he said.

Connecting today’s event with the ongoing judicial crisis which has gripped the country since January 16, the President observed that “national development involves all parts of a system.” Veshi Fahi Program Director “Sarangu” Adam Manik elaborated that the housing project’s success leans heavily on a robust judiciary.

“What we need is a proper judiciary to interpret land and housing contracts,” he told Minivan News. “If a judge does not have the proper education, degree and qualifications to interpret such contracts as well as the law, how can the system work?”

Affordable housing is one of the five pledges which form the backbone of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) manifesto, along with pledges for a nation-wide transport system, affordable living costs, affordable quality healthcare, and the prevention of drugs and narcotics trafficking.

On January 1 2012, all Maldivian citizens became eligible for free health care. Ferry systems have gradually improved transportation and communication within atolls as well, while the southern island of Fuvahmulah opened a new airport last year.

In July 2011, the President awarded documents of guarantee to the recipients of ten flats on Hulhumale’.

Male’ is the most densely populated city in the world with approximately 50,000 people per square kilometre, eclipsing Mumbai. Approximately one-third of the national population of 350,000 live on the capital island. Manik claims the pressure is already being released.

Launched in November 2010, the Veshi Fahi program aims to combine the development of Malé, Vilingili, Guli Falhu, Thilafushi, Hulhumalé and Malé International Airport. Under the program, applicants are categorised according to need: those living in extremely overcrowded conditions, those with land in Male but an interest in living in Hulhumale’, and those interested in housing in any of the nearby islands.

Under the program Male’ residents are asked to trade their land on the capital island for land in the nearby developing suburb- allowing Male’ City Council to develop areas of Male’ for community needs such as parking, dust bins and small parks. However, given the dire conditions of some Male’ housing units 3,000 new units will be constructed on the capital.

“We are very much on track,” Manik said. “Some projects are even ahead of schedule, such as this one,” he added, gesturing to the construction site where the basic structures of 1,000 flats have already been raised by Chinese and Bangladeshi laborers.

“By 2016 there will be no problems with shelter on Male,” he claimed.

As the housing issue dissipates, rent costs are expected to drop. Rent in Male’ currently rivals rates in New York in London, however officials expect half that sum on Hulhumale’ will give a person the same facilities and even more space than a flat on the capital island.

While people are expected to begin moving into the new housing on Hulhumale’ in July of this year, land plot recipients have two years from the date they receive the land title to construct their new home and move across the water.

“Many people can’t afford the move right away, so they need time to get loans and make plans. The concern is not that land will be left untouched, but rather that people need the time to connect the dots and establish their home,” said an official from the Veshi Fahi office, who requested anonymity.

Minivan News understands that recipients of the 250 land plots on Hulhumale’ will also receive housing loans from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

Meanwhile, the program’s rapid progress has encouraged more Male’ residents to apply for new housing.

“The previous government didn’t give people hope for these things,” said the official. “Now, people are seeing titles and deeds being awarded, they are seeing the flats go up- I think more are interested in applying during the second round.”

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