Day: January 20, 2007

Residents of Addu are scandalised after hip-hop dance classes were given to young people in Addu Atoll.

Locals have called for the “bodu beru” and hip-hop dance classes organised by the National Centre for Arts to stop, saying the dances are not religiously acceptable. The classes, which teach people how to hip-hop dance and play musical instruments, began on January 14 and have received mixed reviews from residents.

During the inauguration ceremony of the classes at Muhibbudeen School hall, many residents protested outside, chanting ‘Allah Akbar’- God is great and telling participants they were going to hell.

“Residents were protesting, saying that they cannot carry out their classes there. But the President of the Feydhoo Women’s Committee came out and said that if the dancers were going to go to hell, kindly leave them to go to hell,” said an eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous.

Some then carried on protests outside classes held at the S. Maradhoo/Feydhoo vocational centre, holding banners saying such activities should be stopped.

“We do not mind if they carry out their fun and games at some other place, like in one of the atoll’s uninhabited islands. We provided the funds to build the vocational centre from our own pockets so it belongs to the residents of the island,” said a resident who did not want to disclose his name.

Some protesters claimed women participants of the “bodu beru” class were told to wear outfits that were “as tight and short as possible.” Some buruqa clad women were also asked to wear shorts under the same guidance, protesters said.

Members of the NCA team did not attend the centre due to the protests. Demonstrators were eventually sent home after police intervened.

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Phillip Wellman, a journalist for this website, has been forced to leave the country and has been blacklisted for two years. He joins Minivan News Managing Editor, Paul Roberts, on the government’s blacklist for foreign journalists.

The Maldivian Government’s move to deport Wellman came just five days after he returned to the Maldives from a previous expulsion. He will now be unable to return to the country until 2009.

He was originally expelled on November 3, 2006 along with a freelance photographer working for Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “They will be welcome in the Maldives in two weeks’ time,” said Chief Government Spokesman, Mohamed Hussein Shareef in November.

Wellman then returned on January 15, but after only two days in the country he was summoned to see immigration officials and was given 48 hours to leave the country.

The government first said they would need three days to make a decision on whether Wellman was allowed back into the country. But when he arrived at Male’ airport, he was informed he would not be able to return for two years.

At that point, imigration officials asked him to sign a document. They gave him no time to read it, and told him to hurry in order not to miss his flight. Wellman refused to sign the document until he knew what it said. At that point he was threatened with “detention.”

Wellman eventually missed the flight and left on the next one available. Not one immigration official knew exactly why Wellman was being deported. The only reason they could cite was that he did not have the proper authorisation to enter the country. He entered the country on a tourist visa, awaiting the renewal of his work permit from the Employment Ministry.

He says he believes the decision to throw him out has come directly from the President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, via Immigration Controller, Ibrahim Shafiu, who he describes as Gayoom’s “right hand man”.

Shafiu, who is also a DRP Special Majlis member appointed by the President, said Wellman does not have “permission” to be in the country. Minivan News contacted the government before his arrival to inform them of his intention to return and received no objection to the proposal.

Wellman, an American citizen, was informed of his deportation the day after a U.S. delegation, including Ambassador to the Maldives, Robert O. Blake, left the country.

Managing Editor of this website, Paul Roberts, gave this response to the news: “Time and again the Government of Maldives displays its contempt towards press freedom. In light of Phillip’s deportation, it is difficult to see the reform process as much more than well packaged public relations.”

British based human rights NGO Friends of Maldives has also condemned the deportation. “The Government of Maldives is once more showing its lack of commitment to freedom of expression in the Maldives and seems intent on disrupting the work of independent media,” said the organisation in a statement released yesterday on its website.

“Abdulla Saeed (Fahala), Minivan Daily reporter is still serving a life sentence for trumped up drug charges, and Ahmed Abbas, well-known artist and political cartoonist is serving a 6 months sentence for a quote he gave to Minivan Daily,” FOM said.

Press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders said in November: “The harassment of Minivan and MinivanNews.com journalists must stop…We once again point out that an opposition media has as much right to work freely as a pro-government media,” the organisation said.

Wellman’s deportation comes only days after the publication of a damning 2006 annual report by the South Asian Press Commission (SAPC), which said the Maldives “continues to be a journalist’s prison.”

“The continued detention and house arrest of a number of journalists is an issue of serious concern, as are the charges against five journalists and editors working for Minivan, which would appear to constitute a concerted effort by the authorities to target this publication,” said the report.

The SAPC’s study referred specifically to an incident in which Minivan News’ offices in Colombo were raided by Sri Lankan Interpol officers on a false tip-off from Police Chief, Adam Zahir, that the office was being used to store weapons.

“The Mission deplored the abuse of Interpol against exiled journalists and overseas Maldivian media, the blocking of Dhivehi Observer and Maldives Culture websites, and the jamming of the shortwave frequency of Minivan Radio.” The report added.

Minivan News has recently been working hard to assert greater independence and produce more objective and balanced news. The website has received much praise for its efforts and is seen by people within both the government and the opposition as the premier English language publication on the Maldives, read by many influential members of the international community.

The Maldives currently ranks 144th in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, slightly lower than Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but higher than Russia and Iraq.

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Gary Streeter, Member of the UK Parliament for the Conservative Party, told over a thousand people in Thinadhoo, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, last night that their country, “isn’t paradise because you do not have the government that you deserve and you do not have the freedom and the democracy that you deserve.”

He spoke as part of a five day-visit to the Maldives to explore the possibility of further cooperation between his party and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). “We are here from the British Conservative party not to tell you how to run your country…your form of democracy must be your own and it must suit you, your country and your culture.

“We are here to lend a good, old-fashioned British helping hand,” he said.

Streeter, who is Chairman of the Conservatives’ International Group, told the party faithful that their work was: “not just about electing the MDP to government. It is about electing the MDP to government for a purpose, and that purpose has to be to make your country better.”

He told the party: “It is now time to move onto the next level…we want to help you with training and know-how and expertise.”

“Your duty is to prepare and get yourselves ready so that when those elections are called it will be the MDP that will take its message to the people and will triumph,” he said.

He also discussed the importance of democracy, saying: “It isn’t something that comes from the west. It isn’t something that comes from Christianity. It is a system of government that has been thrashed out it many parts of the world, over many generations, by many countries.”

“With democracy comes those essential building blocks that we need to build a prosperous and stable country. With democracy comes freedom of speech. With democracy comes the rule of law so that nobody is above the law and that the cases are settled by independent judges. Democracy brings with it a strong civil society, organisation and charities which are the lifeblood and strength of any community,” he said.

“Democracy brings with it a respect for human rights so that you do not fear a knock on the door and two in the morning, so the police do not come after you with their truncheons, just because you simply choose to demonstrate in a peaceful manner,” he added.

He urged the MDP to continue its work, promising: “Even better than electing a government of your choosing is getting rid of a government that you don’t want any more. And that is the best thing about democracy.”

Echoing the words of the British High Commissioner, Dominick Chilcott, he said it will take time: “It’s taken the British people 800 years of grappling with our own democracy and we still have not arrived at our final destination – it is still not perfect.”

But he also praised the MDP on the “remarkable” achievements they have made: “I want to congratulate the MDP for the great progress and advancement it has made in a very short space of time.”

He ended the speech on a positive note saying: “I believe it will be your experience in the near future is that you will have the reforms you want and you will have the elections you want.”

Founder of the MDP, Mohamed Latheef, also spoke at the regional council meeting. It was his first speech in the country since returning from three years of voluntary the day before.

Speaking to people from his native island he said: “A very old gentleman from this island came from me and said, ‘look, I have only one request from you son and it is: I never asked my island’s name to be changed. He – the president – does not have the right to change the name of our island without our permission’. And he said, ‘all I ask is for you to give me back my name and my island.”

Responding to Streeter’s observation that the British and Maldivians have a long history of cooperation, Latheef said: “I think when the Maldives republic failed the British didn’t do much to help us but I am very glad that you are making amends. I am very glad that we have so much support from the Conservative Party and other people in the Labour party.”

Latheef went on to promise that the MDP will try to establish rule of law and will not seek revenge if it is elected to government. Instead, he promised a “process of conciliation”.

“Together we shall overcome and we shall prevail,” he promised the people of Thinadhoo.

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