Day: November 18, 2009

The Maldives slipped 15 places on the corruption perception index since last year and continues to rank below Sri Lanka and India in the region, global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said in a report released this week.

The Indian Ocean archipelago scored 2.5 on a scale of zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of corruption and 10 very low. The score is down from 2.8 in 2008 and 3.3 in 2007, signalling worsening levels of perceived corruption.

A TI analysis of the region concluded that major political upheaval in the Maldives and the passage of political reforms over the past year had not been entirely smooth.

Last August, the Maldives ratified a new constitution that established separation of powers and a bill of rights. This was followed by the country’s first-ever multi-party presidential election, which saw incumbent President Mohamed Nasheed unseat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia’s longest-serving ruler.

In its analysis, TI further noted that a number of human rights abuses and corruption cases have been exposed since last year.

In 2008, Gayoom appointed an independent auditor general who has since published over 30 audit reports detailing corruption in state institutions. Now in opposition, Gayoom’s party, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party and its coalition partner, People’s Alliance, have rejected the reports and the auditor general as biased.

“It’s a perception of corruption levels so what would have happened is that in 2008 there was a lot of corruption cases that have been unearthed so that means the corruption perception would have increased. There was not necessarily more corruption,” said Thoriq Hamid, project co-ordinator at Transparency Maldives.

Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, told Minivan News today that the decline was most likely because the Maldives was experiencing transition.

“If you covered it in other countries where there was regime change, the same statistics would happen mainly because there was been a flurry of activity at the end of the last regime to cover up what had been going on,” he said.

Zuhair added information about corruption has become available for the first time, noting a number of independent institutions which directly or indirectly deal with corruption under the new constitution.

These include the anti-corruption commission, the police integrity commission and the judicial services commission. “All these commissions need to speed up their work and become strengthened,” he said.

Zuhair further pointed to the government’s efforts to document corruption. In May, President Mohamed Nasheed established a commission to investigate the allegations in the auditor general’s reports, whose activities the opposition have called a “witch-hunt”.

The CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector and is prepared using surveys asking questions relating to the misuse of public power for private benefit.

TI gathered data from four sources and covered both 2008 and 2009. The sources were the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, the country risk service and country forecast by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the global risk service by IHS Global Insight.

One of the purposes of the CPI is to offer a the views of businesspeople and experts who make decisions about trade and investment.

Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that saw a decline in their scores include Malaysia, Nepal and Afghanistan while Bangladesh, Japan, Tonga and Vanuatu saw their scores significantly rise.

Regionally, the Maldives ranks 23 out of 32 countries while globally it ranks 130 out of 180 countries.

According to TI, the global financial crisis and political change in many countries last year revealed defects in financial and political systems as well as failures in policy, regulations, oversight and enforcement mechanism.

As a result, 13 countries saw a drop in their scores from the 32 countries in the region. 

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Senior Maldivian judges met their counterparts from other South Asian countries during a two-day colloquium on equality and non-discrimination, held by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Four members of the Maldivian judiciary, including Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdullah Saeed, met 18 judges from eight other countries at Bandos Island Resort to share experiences of implementing human rights law and international treaties.

The UN’s coordinator of the event, Rory Mungoven, emphasised that the while the colloquium had only invited two judges from all other countries, “this was a regional event, not a Maldives focused event.”

“This was the first event of its kind in the region and I think it’s very significant that it happened here in the Maldives,” he said.

“You have a new constitution, a newly emergent judiciary, and a government that has engaged very positively with the UN on human rights issues,” he added.

The new constitution came into effect last year introducing a separation of powers and a bill of rights.

Mona Rishmawi, head of the UN’s Human Rights Commissioner’s branch of equality rule of law and non-discrimination, said the Maldives had experienced many changes over the past few years and like any country going through constitutional change and testing relationships under the separation of powers, “clearly has serious issues to address.”

“There are really significant issues [facing] this country and I think meeting like this and seeing how other countries establish courts, what is the rule of jurisprudence, case management and how you deal with a backlog, is very important for new courts and especially important for a judiciary trying to re-initiate itself under different rules.”

Abdullah Saeed, chief justice of the Maldives Supreme Court, acknowledged the judicary faced obstacles. “We are in a stage of infancy [regarding] the separation of powers and so there are some issues arising in terms of understanding constitutional principles,” he said.

While he considered the process mostly peaceful, some conflict with other branches of government “was natural” for a fledgling judiciary, he said, adding that a “presidential system of government is not a very easy system in any jurisdiction.”

Saeed expressed hope that parliament would pass the new evidence bill, which would allow increased use of forensic evidence by the courts and lessen reliance on direct evidence.

The evidence bill is at committee stage and if passed will offer witness protection and forms of evidence other than just confessions as in the past.

“When this bill is passed as law it will give clear ideas and guidance of how to use new ways of [admitting] material or circumstantial evidence, especially evidence based on forensic science,” he said.

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The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) said the government had both failed to protect Islam and was undermining Islamic traditions and weakening Maldivians’ faith.

The DRP would block the government’s decision to authorise the sale of alcohol in tourist hotels on inhabited islands, said MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, DRP deputy leader, at a rally on Artificial Beach last night.

“Our whole social fabric is being weakened because of activities like this,” he said. “This will cause serious harm to our society. These things are serious atrocities attempted by today’s government and we condemn it.”

Thasmeen criticised the Islamic ministry for being ineffectual in their opposition to the regulations.

“The way things are organised in the Maldivian government, there is no role for the institution responsible for Islamic affairs. There’s no way for them to work. There’s no weight to what they say. They are set aside,” he said.

He further said the attorney general’s remarks, that the regulations did not have legal bearing and should not be implemented, revealed a lack of coordination and inconsistency in the government’s policies.

“Does the attorney general only have a role when the people take to the streets?” said Thasmeen.

Last week, the economic development ministry revised regulations on the import and use of alcohol, pork and products to revoke liquor permits and authorise sale of alcohol in tourist hotels on inhabited islands.

But, following pressure from the public, NGOs and the Islamic ministry, it withdrew the regulations and sent them to a parliamentary committee for advice.

At a press conference on Sunday, Economic Development Minister Mohamed Rasheed said he did not believe alcohol should be sold in an Islamic country and the lack of a monitoring mechanism for liquor permits issued by the previous government for expatriates had created a black market for alcohol.

“So we were studying ways to control it. But in controlling it, we have to consider that our economy is based on the tourism sector and how we could control it in a way that does not weaken the tourism industry,” he said.

Rasheed said the regulation was drafted following consultations with police and customs and was intended to control the illegal sale of alcohol.

“Yellow talk”

Thasmeen went on to say the ministry had not consulted the public before revising the regulation and were now trying to justify its decision by saying it was intended to tackle the illegal sale of alcohol. “This is all yellow talk,” he said.

He added the DRP was concerned because alcohol would be sold across the country.

“The biggest challenge facing us today, the biggest danger, the biggest threat is the effort to weaken our Islamic faith,” he said. “The danger of the effort to destroy, dismantle and weaken our Islamic character.”

The rally was attended by a large number of party supporters, with some bearing placards that attacked the government’s record on religious matters.

Among the speakers, MP Dr Afrashim Ali, a religious scholar, said the decision to authorise sale of alcohol was evidence of the government’s attitude towards Islam.

Afrashim said he believed the government would not win even 12 per cent if a vote was taken today.  

No loopholes

At Sunday’s press conference, Adhil Saleem, state minister of economic development, said the revised regulations were complete and did not have any loopholes. Hotels with over 100 beds would be allowed to have a bar that would only serve foreigners.

Further, it will be illegal to keep alcohol in mini-bars at the hotels on inhabited islands or sell it anywhere apart from the hotel’s main bar.

Maldivians cannot be employed at the bar and all employees of the bar must be registered with the economic development ministry after a police clearance; the bar must further not be easily accessible to people who enter the hotel or visible from outside.

An inventory of the alcohol in storage and daily sales must be maintained and made available to police on their request, while CCTV cameras must be mounted at the storage room at hotel.

Rasheed said police told the ministry the new regulations would make it easier for police to target the illegal sale of alcohol in Male’.

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Dear Editor,
Alcohol is a social evil and needs to be banned not on religious but social grounds.
It is mind boggling to see efforts to lift the ban on use of alcohol in inhabited islands in the Maldives while the rest of the world is struggling to control alcohol through heavy taxes, imposing age resticitions, restrictions on place of sale, times of sale, etc.
We dont seem to realise the unique position that we are in, with alcohol already banned on inhabited island.
Medical professionals need to take a strong stand against lifting the ban on alcohol in inhabited islands.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
As Maldives is a Muslim nation, the news editors should be careful in publishing religious issues.
I believe a letter which supports homosexuality should not be published in a Muslim country, as Islam does not support it.
Publishing the letter was an insult for the Muslims.
I would not say the decision of Islamic Foundation was wrong. In a way it was right. They have expressed their views, anger for insulting Muslims.
Publishing the letter was like slaughtering a cow in front of a Hindu.
The editor should believe, if a controversial letter like this was published in a country like Iran, Pakistan or India, the religious organisations would have gone for direct action.
Few say that the editor should not take the responsibility as it is not the view of Minivan News, because the letter was sent by an independent author. But, the regulation on registration of dailies and magazines clearly states the responsibility shall be taken by the editor.
I read Minivan News daily. And it is one of the best news online in the Maldives. But I call the editorial of Minivan News once again to be careful on publishing issues related to Islam.
We want democracy, but a democracy which does not contradict Islam.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
I think it’s a good decision that the government took to sell alcohol to the hotels and inhabited islands. What’s wrong with that?
Come on guys stopped talking crap.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
The will to freedom and safety of the Maldivian people has been crushed and oppressed for far too long by corrupt judges. The ruthless vanity of the judiciary will soon come to a horrific end at the hands of the enraged masses if justice and saftey is denied for much longer!
Judges, you have failed to protect the people from the cruelty of blood thirsty gangsters. You have failed to protect the masses from being economically raped. Your own hands are therefore stained with the blood of the innocent due to your filthy greed and lack of compassion for the people’s safety.
You have mocked the cause of the needy and the fearful, and have offended the Creator of Heaven and Earth who is one with the oppressed! The vendetta will be terryfying when the oppressed arise in majestic triumph over the tyrants! The vendetta of the oppressed is the wrath of the Divine!
Every day the atmosphere is intensifying with frustration, hunger for justice, hunger for freedom and desparation for safety. The combustion of this oppressed primeval universal will to freedom is going to be unleashed like a volcanic eruption, and the fierce rage that shall be unleashed will pound the tyrants with a velocity so immense that they will be shattered into an eternity of helpless agony.
Don’t say you have not been warned – judges, this is not me making a threat, this is how nature works.
Regards,
Anonymous

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A case was filed at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday alleging misappropriation of funds from the Islamic ministry by three high-profile members of the Adhaalath Party, including Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, state minister of Islamic affairs.

In his letter to the ACC, Mohamed Raaidh from G. New Moon in Male’, alleged that Shaheem, Sheikh Ilyas Hussein and Sheikh Ibrahim Rushdie each received Rf15,300 from an Islamic ministry account.

The letter alleges the money came from account number 410 of the Islamic ministry’s account at the Maldives Monetary Authority, which is used to deposit both domestic and international aid to promote Islam.

ACC Vice President Muaviz Rasheed confirmed to Minivan News that a letter had been sent today but said he was unable to provide details at this early stage of the investigation.

Ahmadullah Jameel, assistant director general at the ministry, denied the allegations in the letter.

“No member of the Adhaalath Party has been given money from the Islamic ministry,” said Ahmadullah. “This is propaganda spread by certain people to ruin people’s reputations.”

Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Hussein Rasheed Hassan said the funds were from the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) for four people, the three party members and a Qur’an teacher to participate in an international meeting.

The WICS is a non-profit body, composed of more than 250 Islamic organisations from around the world, funded by the Libyan government.

The Libyan government sent the funds with the names of the recipients to the Maldivian government, said Rasheed.

“I think it was about US$250 each,” he said.

Rasheed said the money was received by the foreign ministry and forwarded to the finance ministry. He added the Islamic ministry’s finance section asked the finance ministry to deposit the money in their account.

“It’s actually got nothing to do with the Islamic ministry,” he said.

Rasheed claimed the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) were behind the allegations.

The Adhaalath Party are a member of the coalition government and are in charge of running the affairs of the Islamic ministry.

“DRP is a name for the corruption party. If you look into any money that’s been stolen, you’ll find them at the bottom,” he alleged. “So they’re trying to spread these lies and ruin people’s reputations.”

But DRP Secretary General Abdulla Mausoom told Minivan News today that the allegations were unfounded.

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