Month: November 2009

Dear Editor,
There is much speculation about the outcome of the no-confidence motion against the foreign minister. As much as such a motion is unpalatable to the government, such things cannot be avoided in the democratic process. Even if the foreign minister survives the motion, his reputation is tarnished not least by his own actions. Dr Shaheed in his defense is trying to convince the Majlis memebers that even during the previous regime, the government was reaching out to the Israelis.
Didn’t the people vote in this government because they wanted change, not only a change of a few faces, but also a change in the way government is run? So why is Dr Shaheed trying to justify his actions saying it was done earlier. I think that the foreign ministry is one of the few places where you don’t see much change and this can be evident when you visit our missions abroad. Unlike other countries who change their mission staff with the change in government, we are still going on with the same lot as if there is nobody capable enough to replace them. Even if there is a regime change tomorrow, we will see the same faces since the present lot were sent there by the previous regime in the first place.
I think deep down what matters to certain “big shots” is not adherence to an ideology but the gut necessity to cling on to what one has at any cost and hence one sees this inter-hopping from one party to another regardless of what that party stands for.
Maybe in time this will change and Maldives will have a mature democracy with equally mature political actors.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
I feel that Dr Shaheed has proven to be a hypocrite and a liability for the whole nation. His conduct is unbecoming of a Maldivian foreign minister. Dr Shaheed’s recent baseless allegation accusing Russia of committing more atrocities against Muslims than any other country in the world alone is enough to remove him from office. Even if the allegation is true, it is unnecessary for our foreign minister to make such an accusation at a time when we enjoy good relations with Russia. Such irresponsible behavior should not be tolerated.
Regards
Anonymous

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Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam said he was confident participants at the two-day climate change summit would adopt a declaration to go carbon neutral.

“It’s positive thinking that they have about a carbon neutral goal. Based on their statements and interventions we have written a draft declaration and circulated it to them,” he told Minivan News at the end of the first day of negotiations.

Aslam said the participants would now go and make necessary changes before returning to the final day tomorrow to hopefully sign the declaration.

The environment minister said the worst-case scenario would be if there was no consensus, but added he was certain some countries would be willing to sign.

“We will just be adding to the club…we are always seeking new members to the club,” he said.

Aslam said the declaration would allow signatories to go to the landmark UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December and ask developed countries for assistance for a clear plan.

“We can say we need your assistance. And we will do it to the extent we can even without your help,” he said.

In March, President Mohamed Nasheed announced plans to make the Maldives the first carbon neutral country in the world by switching to renewable energy and offsetting carbon emissions.

At the inauguration ceremony today, the president called on vulnerable countries to show “moral leadership” and form a carbon neutral bloc ahead of Copenhagen.

The bold move to form a group of vulnerable countries committed to going carbon neutral comes three days after the final found of climate change negotiations in Barcelona reached an impasse.

Rich and poor countries remained divided over how to apportion the burden of emissions cuts and how much financial assistance was necessary to fund the deal.

“Continued negotiations year after year get us nowhere so what’s really innovative here is some of the poorest countries with the least resources beginning to offer the most in getting global carbon cuts,” Mark Lynas, the British environmentalist who drew up the Maldives’ carbon neutral plan, told Minivan News.

Lynas, who was yesterday appointed advisor on climate change, said he thought African countries such as Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania had showed they were the most like-minded today.

“Even if it’s only aspirational it will make a difference. They obviously can’t make their entire national policy on the hoof and will still have to do the costing,” said Lynas.

“But all these developing countries are constantly asking for money and the money never materialises…But as the president said money follows where inspiration begins.”

Ten participants from the countries most vulnerable to climate change attended the Climate Vulnerable Forum hosted at Bandos Island Resort. These include Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Kiribati, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania.

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Dear Editor,
This is purely anecdotal but I have spoken with quite a cross-section of DRP “activists” and members on several occasions and what has always surprised me is that they are poorly educated on the need to take a stand on political matters. Case in point, the DRP has never unambiguously said whether they leaned left or right in political matters, often alternating between ill-defined irrational religious conservatism (condemning the establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel and promoting capital punishment) and anti-establishment views (debating the religiosity of veiled women in Islam). This lack of consistency may be very convenient for the DRP’s leadership, however, its members almost unfailingly come across as confused individuals who cannot explain the reasons why they oppose or support the actions of their own party.
Although it is acceptable in politics for political leaders to goad the masses with dumbed-down slogans without fully explaining the rationale behind campaigns, the DRP takes too much advantage of its members, in my view. Their lack of internal democracy has ensured that most of their general members do not understand democratic processes. However, I do believe that most DRP members would place national interest at the fore if they weren’t so frenzied up by leading DRP activists who seem to view matters of state as a soccer match between the MDP administration and the DRP-controlled legislative. What the DRP needs are a few individuals who truly believe in democracy to educate those of the general public registered as DRP members and lead them in a revolution against the present leadership and then they might actually become the opposition they wish to be.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
It’s sad that an HIV positive man is able to use underage children to satisfy his needs. My worry is that there will be more people involved including adults. It is a must that HIV patients undergo regular counselling sessions and be monitored by the public health officials of the island. Was this done? If not why? What is the role of their parents to look after them? Someone should take the responsibility. Our days of letting our children play unsupervised is over. We should take more care to look after our children. I feel so sad for these two children and many other children who ge raped and sexually abused.
The government must investigate this case and take steps so this is not repeated at any cost.
Regards
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
It’s a pity to know thats an AIDS patient on loose had sex with two underaged girls. Well firstly, a person like that shouldn’t have been on the loose in the first place. The question here is not the underaged girl; patients of AIDS need to be known to the public.
The general public should have the right to know who among them has contagious illnesses like AIDS, so that they can protect themselves from such people’s evil acts. Giving religious summons against AIDS in the mosques will not alone prevent such sad incidences. Just as an AIDS patient has the right to live, there should be the same right for the healthy people to protect themselves from diseased patients.
That’s how it works everywhere in the world. I don’t see any reason why the Maldivian Health Ministry would keep such people in the closet and put oursleves and our children at risk of getting illnesses from such people. There should be a national AIDS, Hepatitis B & C register where the public can access in order to protect themselves from such people.
Regards,
Ibrahim

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Dear Editor,
Tuesday’s vote of no confidence vote against our Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed is really a vote of no confidence against the Majlis.
Speaker Abdullah Shahid has turned the Majlis into a circus by tabling this motion and has lost whatever credibility he had left. Not only has Abdullah Shahid failed to follow required protocol in such matters, he has forgotten the oath he took to uphold the honour and integrity of the Majlis.
As for Majlis members we will see on Tuesday just who remembers the promises they made to us during their campaigns and the oath they took as Majlis members to uphold our constitution and the will of the people. And who sold out.
The vote of no confidence against Dr Shaheed brings shame on our nation. If ever we needed proof of just how badly we have fallen in our morals and ethics and just how corrupt our politicians are, this is it.
Perhaps it is not a bad thing after all. In many ways it is a relief for we will know once and for all on Tuesday who our heroes are and who are the enemies of our nation.
For only those who put their own agendas above that of the people can vote against a cabinet minister who stood for and worked so hard for the democatic new Maldives we have today.
Shame on you Abdulla Shahid. Shame on you DRP-PA.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,

Last few weeks have been a real test about what some quarters of the Maldivian community deem as irreligious – same sex relations, liquor permits and Christian weddings.

In a recent press conference the minister of tourism was asked whether he was thinking of allowing ‘wedding tourism’ in the country to which the minister answered in the affirmative. The journalist asking the question also highlighted that the minister’s predecessor had decided that wedding tourism was not for us Maldivians as it would have meant the allowing of non-Muslim weddings to take place on (Muslim) Maldivian soil. Listening to this dialogue it appeared to me that the journalist asking the question was oblivious to the fact that now we are allowing non-married couples to visit the country and commit ziney (fornication out of wedlock, and considered haraam in Shariah and Maldivian law) as the country’s tourism laws and regulations do not require visiting tourist couples to be married, let alone to be Muslims.

Out of the more than 600,000 tourists visiting the Maldives every year, most are couples who reside in private bungalows or rooms where they are left alone to do what takes their fancy, including sexual intercourse. And they have well stocked mini-bars to boot. To me it does not make sense not to allow non-Muslims to be married on Maldivian soil, if at the moment the situation is as described above. What harm does it cause to us Maldivians if we allow non-Muslims to be married on Maldivian soil, when on that same soil we are allowing non-Muslims to have sex outside marriage, drink alcohol, display their nudity or be scantily dressed – all on the same Maldivian soil throughout the country?

Another issue that recently made headlines was that of the government’s consideration of allowing the serving of liquor and alcohol products on the recently opened Holiday Inn in Male. The moment the ministry of trade and economic development – the government authority mandated with giving out liquor licenses for tourism purposes – broke the news of the consideration of permitting Holiday Inn to serve liquor, there were several statements issued to the media from groups who claimed they were defending religion in the Maldives.

At the moment, the tourism regulations and law does not allow liquor to be served on tourism establishments based on inhabited islands. The premise here being that liquor will not be served on islands where Maldivian communities reside as it may serve as an incentive and encouragement for Muslim Maldivian’s to consume alcohol. However, the definition of an inhabited island may need some revision after more than three decades of tourism in the country given the mixed results the policy seems to have achieved so far.

Maldives has followed a policy of ‘one resort, one island’ since tourism arrived in the country in the early seventies. Tourists have dress codes and many other guidelines to follow and special permits to be taken if visiting inhabited islands. Similarly, the Maldivian staff who work on these resorts have two lives to relate to; that on the resort and that with the rest of the Maldivian community. The average resort employee works 10 to 11 months on the resort. This leaves roughly one month out of every year to be with his family on the island where he is registered (the island to which he is seen as ‘belonging’). This raised serious questions as to the definition of an inhabited island for the purposes of allowing liquor to be served.

We could assume that the underlying assumption of the ‘one resort, one island’ concept is to ‘protect’ Maldivians from any corrupting influences the tourists may have on Maldivians. It stems from the Islamic ideology that Maldivians have enshrined as the primary source and cornerstone of the Maldivian constitution and ensuing laws. In the constitution, any Maldivians using liquor or choosing to fray from the tenets of Islam is punishable in various ways, including the negation of Maldivian citizenship. Hence, they have created a marvelous way to deny the rights they are willing to give to the 600,000 plus visitors coming to the Maldives every year as tourists. Other than the use of liquor, Maldivians cannot even choose which religion to believe in. And to me this is ridiculous as it assumes that Maldivians are never mature enough to be able to choose right from wrong. It is all the more laughable when we know thousands of expatriate workers are sold alcohol under a permit given by the government. These expatriates, mind you, do not reside in some island allocated specially for them, but live on Male and other inhabited islands. And given the living conditions in Male and in other atolls, mostly they reside in houses or buildings where several other Maldivian families including children live. Giving a license to sell liquor in Holiday Inn or other city hotel or guest house will not do anything more harmful than what is happening right now, right here.

Best wishes,

Ahmed Fahmy

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Dear Editor,
I am not surprised to hear from the clinician Dr Niyaf that Maldives could be considered as one of the endemic areas of Dengue Fever. In fact I would say the Maldives is one of the areas and should have been considered long while ago. I had three kids from my family diagnosed with Dengue two years ago and my mother got Chikungunya last year which took her more than six months to recover from.
All these illnessess in Maldives are not something new and have been here for the last five years. The question is how much is the government going to do to eradicate the mosquitoes (the main carriers of the bugs) from the Maldives. When I contacted my local island office last year during the rainy season to spray against the mosquitoes, they simply turned a blind eye to it.
We need a strong and an active campaign to completely eradicate all these mosquitoes by spraying all the inhabitat islands of the Maldives. We cannot stay quiet and put our citizens especially the children at the risk of Dengue Fever and its serious complications. Maldives can be rid of all these mosquitoes.
We did get rid of dirty rats in the late eighties and nineties, why can’t the government do a similar programme against the mosquitoes now? The local island offices, department of public health, NGOs, Ministry of Health, hospitals and of course the Defence Force – we all need to start a campaign to free the Maldives from all these mosquitoes. The developed world did, why cant we such a small country do it? The government needs to atl east initiate and manage such a programme.
Regards,
Ibrahim

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