Category: Society & Culture

New NGO ’39’ hopes to promote traditional Maldivian culture

The inauguration of new NGO Thirees Nuvaeh (‘thirty nine’), dedicated to promoting traditional Maldivian culture, has been postponed until next week because of rain in Male’.

The name ‘39′ is a reference to Article 39 of the Constitution, which states that all citizens will “participate in the cultural life of the nation.”

The organisation claims it will work towards “strengthening and consolidating democratic principles, human rights, gender equality and social justice; and, to lobby the government, the parliament, the judiciary, political parties, independent commissions, private agencies and individuals.”

One of the founding members of 39, Mohamed Nazim, said “we are losing cultural activities, because some groups and political parties are trying to push other ways of life.”

He said the purpose of the NGO was to bring back traditional Maldivian culture, and things people are no longer doing “because of political and other reasons.”

These include to traditional activities like thara jehun and bandiya jehun, traditional music and dance, both of which will be part of the inauguration ceremony tomorrow night.

Nazim said women in particular had stopped taking part in these activities “because they are not allowed or have been convinced it’s not good for them.”

“We are trying to tell people, ‘keep your eyes open, we are losing something valuable to us,’” Nazim said.

He noted they had approached most political parties, who have “indicated assistance and support” for the organisation.

Nazim said since “party politics are the main show of the town,” it was good to have close ties to the parties, but that while “we will take advice”, the NGO will not be a political organisation.

“We are trying to stay out of politics,” he said, adding that 39 has “members of all political parties” already signed up to the organisation.

Nazim said the NGO was founded after a group of 32 young Maldivians approached the president earlier this year to talk about Maldivian culture and moderate Islam.

He said there were currently no civil groups advocating for the strengthening of culture in the country, and “there was nothing they or the government could do.”

So they decided to found the NGO and lobby for cultural activities to be a more prominent part of Maldivian life.

“We want to bring these issues to the public,” he said.

The NGO will offer “seminars, functions and training sessions” to the public, and will bring professionals from overseas to help with the material.

“They will help us on how we’re going to survive and keep our rich culture growing,” he said.

Additionally, 39 has been contacted by many local NGOs from the islands and by foreign organisations who wish to assist them. The group said it hoped to work local organisations who are “like-minded” and promote their ideas.

Nazim explained that many of the local NGOs have “great ideas and objectives” and could do a lot for the country if they had better funding.

“Many NGOs are still not functioning because of lack of funding,” he said, noting that they already had pledges for funding from different people.

There are twelve founding members in Thirees Nuvaeh, but no full membership as of yet, “as we only received our registration from the Home Ministry yesterday,” Nazim said.

The inauguration was scheduled begin at 8.45pm on Friday night, but has been postponed due to the weather. Details about the new date will be available next week.

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Comment: Such is this mob rule called ‘democracy’

The freedom to think, which we Maldivians claimed for ourselves by ousting a dictatorial government and replacing it with a ‘democratic’ one, appears to have rendered us incapable of rational thought.

There appears not a single principle that is not up for auction in the market of ‘public opinion’. Everything from our faith to our humanity carry with them a political price tag. At the helm is a government which oscillates so wildly between the political right and the left that any keen observer would suffer more repetitive strain injury to the neck than a spectator at a Wimbledon tennis final.

Take for instance the decisions by the Youth Ministry first to maybe-allow, then to disallow and then to definitely-allow, the Muslim televangelist, Dr Zakir Naik, to provide Maldivians with The Biggest Event of their lifetimes.

The latest decision, perhaps by no means the last, must have been arrived at after much soul-searching and in-depth analysis. It must, no doubt, have taken into account the experience of another country where sports grounds were taken over for ‘religious activities’. The Taliban turned Kabul’s main stadium into a hub for ‘religious devotion’, treating their masses to spectacles of execution, death by stoning, hanging and amputations. No doubt the audience departed much enlightened about ‘true Islam’.

Public opinion is a tricky idol at the altar of which to worship. The government must be perplexed at the opposition to its agreement with the United States to relocate some of the ‘Enemy Combatants’ or ‘Illegal Detainees’ from Guantanamo Bay to the Maldives. Why is a society that is so eager to stress its Islamic purity, and promotes its ‘100 percent Muslim’ status with the same zeal as a restaurant promoting a coveted Michelin star, opposed to relocating to their lands these people who have been so utterly wronged by the United States? Did not the eminent Dr Naik himself assert that the 11 September 2001 attacks were an ‘inside job’? By this very learned logic alone, these detainees can be nothing but innocent.

The opposition, however, is not willing to pay any heed – either to the venerable Dr Naik or to empirical evidence. Hosting these ‘convicts’, they cry, would make our country ‘a target’.

No thought is spared to consider:

(a) for a person to be labelled a ‘convict’, they need to first be convicted of an offence defined by law. Most of the detainees have never been charged with a crime let alone convicted of one.

(b) If they were ‘terrorists’, why would then a terrorist organisation attack us for sheltering them? Should they not, by the same logic, then be beholden to us?

(c) No country, other than the United States, has ever attacked another for ‘harbouring terrorists’. And, in light of the disaster that has been the ‘War on Terror’, no government is likely to disregard (or be allowed to disregard) international law again – at least in living memory – to the extent that the neo-conservative Bush government did.

Now the new US government is seeking to relocate these victims of one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in modern history. We are hardly going to be top of President Obama’s list of countries to attack next by ‘harbouring’ them.

“Even a country like the United States would not take them,” cries the opposition.

Even a country like the United States? Is this the extent of our liberalism? That we assume that any Western democracy is right, no matter how obviously wrong it is?

‘Public opinion’ – yes, that old chestnut again – and a highly right wing and conservative establishment are preventing President Obama’s government from closing the atrocity that is Guantanamo Bay. The ignorance of a vast majority of the American public, whose fears the Bush administration played like a maestro does an orchestra and are held aloft at a crescendo by Fox News, that bastion of balanced journalism, are now being uncannily echoed in the national theatre of Maldivian ‘public opinion’.

“We have not been told anything! We don’t know why they are in prison!” The opposition is hysterical, claiming to have been left “totally in the dark”.

It is hardly the government’s business to plug the gaping holes of ignorance in the opposition’s knowledge. Over 700 of the 50,000 ‘Enemy Combatants’ that the US apprehended in their War on Terror have been held in Guantanamo Bay. A vast majority of them are innocent. Information on how they were treated in US captivity is widely and easily available in the global public domain from the legal memos that deprived the Detainees of the Geneva Convention to those that redefined ‘torture’ as ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ to detailed prison logs that demonstrate what these innocent victims were put through in the name of ‘intelligence gathering’.

Profiles of over 500 detainees held at Guantanamo, diligently compiled by law professor and counsel to two detainees, Mark Denbeaux of Seton Law Hall, are also available for public perusal should one care to concern oneself with such minor details, in addition to the profiles compiled by Cage prisoners.

Given that the number of detainees currently being held at Guantanamo is 181, this information would contain within it details relating to the unfortunate souls destined for the Maldives to find ‘sanctuary’ among their ‘100 percent Muslim’ brothers and sisters.

Deliberate ignorance does not justify selling our humanity for the dubious pleasures of political gainsaying.

It is well and good for the government to advise those agitating against these dogmatic opinions and beliefs to organise themselves and form a viable alternative to the blatant evangelism of the religious right. This, however, becomes near impossible if the government remains unclear where it stands, and vacillates from one end of the political spectrum to the other in any given week.

There is a reason why liberal Maldivians cannot form a coherent whole in their own country – the space in which their ideas can flourish diminishes by the day as the government gives in inch by inch, and the extreme religious right takes mile after mile.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Maldivian man arrested for rape of 13-year-old girl

A 53-year-old man suspected of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in Addu Atoll Hithadhoo was arrested today.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that the suspect was taken into custody after the case was reported to the police.

Shiyam declined to divulge further information regarding the case.

Local daily Haveeru reported today that the girl had a mental disorder.

Ahmed Mohamed, head of Hithadhoo Regional Hospital, also confirmed the incident occurred, ”but we do not have further information on the case,” he said.

Both the health ministry’s child and family protection unit and the Hithadhoo councillor also declined to provide any information.

Meanwhile, an employee at the hospital confirmed that the girl was brought to the hospital to get a medical report.

The hospital staff member claimed the suspect was an employee at the hospital.

”He is a man from Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll,” he said. ”It happened in another district so we also do not know much about the case.”

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Religious unity regulations on hold

The new regulations under the Religious Unity Act of 1994 drafted by the Islamic Ministry will be reviewed and amended by the Attorney General’s office before publication in the government gazette, the cabinet decided yesterday.

While the regulations were completed last month, its publication was delayed due to “ambiguities and policy issues”, according to Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary.

Zuhair told Minivan News at the time that the president’s office received complaints from individuals and religious NGOs regarding some of the provisions.

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said today he was “very happy” with the cabinet deliberations.

“They actually raised some good points. They’re not really policy issues,” he said. “I believe the recommendations and suggestions that were made could improve and strengthen the regulations so that they will be more beneficial to society.”

Shaheem said the changes recommended to the draft regulations were “minor” and to “a few provisions.”

“We are working together with the attorney general’s office and Insha Allah it will be published soon,” he said.

He added that he will reveal the specific amendments or changes at a later date.

The Islamic Foundation of Maldives called on the government not to publish the regulations yesterday as it had identified five issues that could be problematic.

On the criteria for issuing preaching licenses, the Foundation argues that requiring scholars to be at least 25 years of age was both unconstitutional and not specified in Islam.

Article 27 of the constitution states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought and the freedom to communicate opinions and expressions in a manner that is not contrary to any tenet of Islam.

The association “strongly condemns” sub-clause four of provision 16(b), which would disqualify anyone convicted under the Religious Unity Act, as the law was used to imprison religious scholars by the former government.

Religious scholars arrested under the former regime reportedly had their beards shaven with chili sauce.

Moreover, the Foundation argues, a provision that requires foreign preachers to be mindful of Maldivian culture and traditions was unnecessary as scholars should have the opportunity as long as the sermons were in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

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Education Minister has “put the final nails in his political coffin”, says Adhaalath

The religiously conservative Adhaalath Party has condemned a decision by the Education Ministry to make Dhivehi and Islam optional subjects for A-level students, sparking protests outside Minister Musthafa Luthfy’s home last night.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that one police officer was injured during last night’s demonstration.

”Somebody from the crowed punched a police officer in the mouth,” Shiyam said. ”He was taken to hospital last night but has now been discharged.”

The Adhaalath Party yesterday issued a press release ordering its branches to protest against the ”incumbent Education Minister’s decision to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects.”

”It appears that in his zeal to secularise the education of this Muslim nation, he has put the final nails in his political coffin,” the press release said.

The party claimed that Luthfy had told Adhaalath officials in a meeting that he would take the issue to cabinet or parliament before taking a decision.

”Mr Luthfy should have learned a lesson or two from the recent controversy created by the Youth Ministry regarding the venue of Dr Zakir’s lecture,” the party said, “or the controversy about selling alcohol in inhabited islands. But obviously our Education Minister is a slow learner.”

”One wonders what is wrong with these people. They seem to be obsessed with creating one controversy after another,” it added.

Last night a group of people gathered near the minister’s house at around 10:30pm. Riot police arrived and dispersed the crowd after almost an hour.

Luthfy told Minivan News that the controversial decision of making the Dhivehi and Islam subjects elective was not finalised.

”It was a suggestion proposed by the Ministry’s steering committee,” Luthfy said. “It is not even a decision that has been approved.”

Luthfy added that it was not the responsibility of a political party to decide which subjects should be compulsory.

”I accept the expression of opinion in a civilised way that respects the rights of others, others,” Luthfy said. ”In my house there are many people who have no connection with the matter at all, and it is not fair to disturb them.”

Deputy Education Minister Dr Abdulla Nazeer noted that last year 10,000 students sat for their O-level exams, but only 1500 continued with their A-levels. Many others had continued their education outside the formal system, he noted, where subjects were not compulsory, he explained.

The Ministry would ensure the Islam and Dhivehi subjects “are available at every school where students are willing to take the subjects,” Dr Nazeer said.

President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Youth Ministry concedes football ground for Zakir Naik event

Minister for Human Resources and Youth, Hassan Latheef, has agreed to release the  Maafaanu football grounds to the Islamic Ministry to host visiting Islamic scholar Zakir Naiks’s sermon.

The decision comes after Latheef said yesterday that the venue requested was ”only for football’,’ and would dishearten the youth who practice football there every day.

Latheef said that the decision was made yesterday ”despite the difficulties.”

”It was very, very difficult to release the land for any purpose other than sport and music,” Latheef said, ”but we have decided to give that land as the Islamic Ministry has requested.”

Latheef said the football ground will be given to the Islamic Ministry for three days.

”This type of land belongs to the Youth Ministry,” he noted. ”We have drafted a law that determines which place can be used for what purpose.”

Spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry, Sheikh Ahmadulla, said that the ministry was writing a letter to the Youth Ministry to confirm the decision.

”We also heard the Youth Minister saying that in a television programme,” Sheikh Ahmadulla said, adding ”we will send a letter to the Youth Ministry asking for the confirmation.”

Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, said that the land was used by youth to play football every day and the minister was concerned about social issues that might be raised due to the restriction of the grounds during the days of the lectures.

”But now they decided to give the land because the Islamic Ministry, after checking several venues, said that the requested football ground was the best,” Zuhair said.

”This is a time where all the Islamic NGO’s are acting in a very competitive spirit, with one NGO trying to hold a bigger event than the other,” Zuhair said. ”It will be very difficult if everyone starts requesting such land for other purposes.”

Zuhair said that there is now another request by a religious NGO to use the Galolhu National Stadium.

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Religious unity regulations contradict freedom of expression: Islamic Foundation

Religious NGO Foundation of the Maldives has called on the government to amend the new Religious Unity regulations, saying it opposes several articles that are contrary to the ”freedom of expression” given under the article 27 of the constitution.

Other articles could potentially be used as a political tool, the NGO warned in a press release issued today.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair has similarly expressed concern over the new regulations, claiming they contain ambiguities and policy issues.

The Islamic Foundation NGO highlighted several articles in the regulations  it believed should be amended prior to publication of the regulations in the government’s gazette, such as the criteria for issuance of preaching licenses.

The Islamic Foundation noted that under the regulations, the preaching license requirement that a person be older than 25 years of age was not a criteria required under the tenets of Islam, and furthermore claimed it was contrary to article 27 of the constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression.

The NGO also raised concern over Article(16)(b)(4), which claims preachers must not have been found guilty in a Sharia Court of having violated any clause of Law 6/94 of Religious Unity Act.

It condemned the articles as ”many religious scholars have been given several punishments under the religious unity Act in recent years for political purposes,” and added that that article 27 of the constitution did not restrict a person’s right to express their opinion even though he had been found guilty in a court of law.

The NGO also expressed concern over Article(19) requiring foreign preachers to respect local norms, claiming it was not necessary for all foreign preachers to understand the traditions and culture of the Maldives.

Article(27), which governs illegal actions while preaching or giving sermons, was also concerning, the Foundation claimed. In particular point (2), which prohibits encouraging violence; inciting people to disputes, hatred and resentment; and any talk that aims to degrade a certain sex and gender in violation of Islamic tenets, and the telecasting and broadcasting of such speeches, could be interpreted in different ways and “used for political purposes”, it said.

The Foundation also criticised Article(27)(4), which bans the promotion of any opinion contrary to religious ruling as unanimously agreed upon by the Fiqh Academy of Maldives, claiming that the Fiqh Academy “was not a committee based on independent scholars.”

”We believe that there should be the freedom for a scholar to express how he thinks on a specific doubtful issue,” the press release said.

On Article(38), concerning punishment as prescribed in Law 6/94 of the existing Religious Unity Act, the Foundation claimed the law narrowed freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution and said was “not acceptable.”

Moreover, it referred to the constitutions article number 63, article 64 and article 268 and called on the government to amend the mentioned articles of the new religious unity act.

State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed however stated that while the Ministry respected opinions and comments on the new regulations, it had been drafted with the assistance of 11 reputable scholars and widely approved by both government and police.

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President ratifies Decentralisation Act

President Mohamed Nasheed has today ratified the landmark bill on decentralised administration but vetoed the complementary bill on local council elections.

Addressing press today, Nasheed said Attorney General (AG) Husnu Suood advised the president’s office that although the decentralisation bill would not hamper the implementation of government policies, some provisions were “legally questionable.”

“If the bill becomes law, both the attorney general and this office has noted that there could be legal problems in enforcing it without amendments,” he said.

As the constitutional deadline for local council elections elapsed in July last year, he added, a further delay was not advisable.

Although the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) removed the concept of provinces from the government’s bill, Nasheed said the Act does not prohibit the creation of province as it stipulates that new legislation would be needed to form “province councils.”

Opposition MPs argued that grouping atolls into seven provinces was unconstitutional as 21 administrative areas or atolls were clearly specified in the constitution.

Nasheed stressed that it was important to distinguish between political decentralisation, or the formation of local councils, and administrative decentralisation.

The constitution empowers the president to create posts and offices in the atolls to provide services of various government ministries located in Male’, he explained.

“For example, the ministry of economic development registers companies,” he said. “In the past, to register a company you had to come to Male’, fill out the form and get the seal.”

Apart from providing services directly to the region, he continued, the province offices would work together with island and atoll councils on speeding up development projects.

13 points

A statement highlighting 13 legal points raised by Attorney General Husnu Suood regarding the decentralisation bill was issued by the president’s office today.

Suood noted that the bill does not preclude either the creation of provinces or collaboration among constituencies or administrative areas.

Moreover, the law does not prohibit either a government ministry or an independent institution from targeting services to two atolls or undertaking development projects for one or more atolls.

Thirdly, as the bill distinguishes between the central island and the capital island of an atoll, the powers and administrative framework of former atoll offices would be transferred to the atoll council.

It will therefore be left to residents of an atoll to to designate an island for the administrative office of the atoll council.

The AG notes that the composition of city councils specified in the bill was unfair as the city council of Male’, with a population of 125,000, will have 11 members, while the atoll council of Addu, with a population of 29,000, will have 12 members.

Further, the bill does not prohibit island councils from entering into agreements with the government’s utility companies, created for the seven provinces, to provide electricity, water and sanitation.

As the guidelines specified in the bill for island councils and atoll councils to offer municipal services differed significantly, “it is important to streamline the guidelines for providing these services.”

In the case of Fuahmulah, the only island in the Maldives that is also an atoll, the AG points out that its eight island councils with three members each, in addition to a six-member atoll council, was proportionately a high number of representatives compared to other atolls.

While the 9,000 people of Fuahmulah would have 30 elected representatives, the 125,000 people of Male’ would have 11 representatives on its city council.

Moreover, a government minister has to be on the board of the local government authority and is required to answer to parliament, but might not be elected as the chair of the board.

If the minister is not elected to the chair, Suood notes, it is doubtful whether he or she could report to parliament as mandated by article 140 of the constitution.

The AG recommends amending the law to require the chair of the board to report to a minister designated by the president.

Meanwhile, a provision that would allow councils to plan and organize services provided by government ministries was “unconstitutional” as it would strip the ministry of its authority and ministers could not answer to either parliament or the president.

Granting powers to local councils to invalidate contracts and agreements made in the constituency after the ratification of the new constitution “did not make legal sense” and was “unfair” as it could leave third parties without any avenues for redress.

On the twelfth point, the AG recommends designating council members apart from the president and vice-president “non-executive” members with lower pay.

As there was going to be around 1,200 council members in the country, between Rf400 million to Rf500 million would be needed annually for salaries and allowances.

Since the Decentralisation Act stipulates that elections must take place within 150 days of ratification, Suood notes that the local council elections bill must be ratified before June 15.

Local council elections bill

Although the president vetoed the bill on local council elections today, he conceded that he would sign it into law If parliament passes it again without an amendment to allow remote voting.

Fuad Thaufeeq, president of the Elections Commission (EC), told Minivan News earlier this month that the two bills had to be ratified within 28 days of each other to comply with the periods specified in both pieces of legislation.

At the press conference, President Nasheed denied claims by opposition parties that the government was stalling the elections to prolong the tenure of appointed island and atoll councilors.

Nasheed said the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) proposed at the Special Majlis that the parliamentary and local council elections should have preceded the presidential elections.

The number of island chiefs and deputies appointed in the past was above 800, he said, while the number of councilors would not exceed one to each island.

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Zakir Naik venue “only for football”, says Youth Ministry

The Youth Ministry has denied the Islamic Ministry use of the Maafaanu football ground for the sermons of visiting Islamic scholar Zakir Naik.

Minister for Youth Hassan Latheef said that the ground was a football stadium which was used by many young people every day, ”so it is very difficult to give that land.”

Latheef said that if the ground was given for the sermon then “others” will also start requesting use of the venue.

”That land cannot be given to do anything other than football,” Latheef said. ”If you take a look, you can see people playing everywhere, in the middle, sides and outside also.”

Latheef said that the Youth Ministry was now speaking with the Islamic Ministry to see if they would like to have the ‘Alimas’ Carnival Stage instead.

”We spoke with the Municipality council and they said the carnival stage was possible,” Latheef said, ”but the Islamic ministry said that land was not large enough.”

He said the Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari had telephoned him while he was out of the country, ” and told me the Islamic Ministry was hosting a sermon by Zakir Naik and asked if the football ground was possible,” Latheef said. ”I said yes, let’s see whether it is possible.”

He said the Ministry has now received another request from a religious group requesting the Galolhu national stadium for a religious event.

State minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said that the Youth Ministry had recently told him that the football ground was available, but now denied it.

”Later they said it was a land only for entertainment purposes,” Shaheem said.

He said the Islamic Ministry was now searching for another venue to host the event and would announce it very soon, but he noted that the carnival stage was not big enough for the expected turnout. The Islamic Ministry has previously claimed that Naik’s visit will be the biggest event ever hosted in the Maldives.

”There are many challenges that we face,” Shaheem said, ”from many people and in many ways. I want to tell everyone that by God’s will we will host the event – everyone be patient and don’t commit any violence,” he said.

The Adhaalath party meanwhile expressed anger over the issue on their English language website, noting that the Islamic Ministry “has spent a large amount of money to print posters mentioning the stadium grounds as the venue.”

“The decision of the Youth Ministry not to give the stadium grounds for holding the lecture event will only add to the piles of questions about this government’s loyalty to the religion of this nation,” the party said, in a recent post.

“The pretext given was that they cannot do without the ball for one whole week. The youth who play there may not like it. What about the thousands of Maldivians who want the event to be held in the most spacious and suitable ground available? Don’t their feelings count?”

“The irony is that the majority of the people who will be attending Dr Zakir’s lecture will be youth,” the party said.

“Such blatant acts of obstruction to Islamic activities will only help in further plummeting the popularity of this government. It would appear that this is a ‘tit for tat’ by the secular minded people in the establishment because the Islamic Ministry and many citizens of this country criticised the Akon concert.

“What these people do not realize is that the people of Maldives are watching. Everyday their actions are exposing them for what they are: men who don’t care about the wishes of the vast majority of Maldivians. They continually forget that this is a Muslim country. They have very little, if any, loyalty to Islam and the nation.”

President of Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussain Rasheed told Minivan News that the land “should be given equally to everyone.”

”The Youth Ministry just don’t like it because it is religious event,” Sheikh Rasheed claimed.

Sheikh Rasheed said that there would also be youths attending the event.

”I just want to thank the youth ministry for raising this as an issue and campaigning like this,” he said. ”Before we were expecting 10,000 people for the event, but now we are expecting 20,000.”

Speaking in a press conference on decentralisation today, President Mohamed Nasheed said the government would endeavour to provide a venue for the event, “and there is no doubt about that.”

“There is freedom of expression in this country and people should be able to express their viewpoints within the basic boundries of our law, so we have to find a venue for them,” he said.

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