Month: November 2009

Dear Editor,
I’m very suprised that Minivan News acts so dumb when it covers what the government does or says. Anyone with any sense would know that the wind farm project is just another one of President Nasheed’s usual tactics to deceive the public. It is just another project like the Thimarafushi Airport project.
According to DO, the company that Nasheed claims is implementing the Wind Farm project has said that it is yet to do a feasibility study on the project. Without as much as feasibility study President Nasheed even went on to tell us the price the company is going to charge for each unit of electricity.
Regards,
Ragib

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Dear Editor,
One would really think that the current government is really doing hard to relieve Maldives from financial crisis these days. That’s all they have been bragging about since Mr Nasheed took over the office of presidency. He has dismissed hundreds of people from jobs, brought about nearly 20-60% pay cuts and made our lives a misery in the name of a low budget and a financial crisis.
People are struggling to get the basic necessities of life. Breadwinners in families have lost jobs while the cost of living remains elevaes day by day. But apart from all these, there is one thing which is not stopping Mr President Nasheed and his Vice President Mr Waheed from doing: Their FOREIGN TRIPS.
It’s nearly a year they both came into power but none of them have stayed more than a month on Maldivian soil. They have had far too many foreign trips at the expense of the governement money while they themselves say all the time that we are in a financial crisis and have cut so many peoples’ jobs and salaries.
Well Mr President and vice president, do you mind cutting off your foreign trips all over the world and staying at home, doing some work here during these difficult financial days of Maldives? We (Maldivians) didn’t pay by losing our jobs and accepting pay cuts for both of you and your family to enjoy foreign trips all the time.
If the country is really in crisis, perhaps you should also realise that and sacrifice all these lavish trips abroad. There are Maldivians still suffering to eat a meal a day while you are eating at posh hotels from New York to Sydney. Just think about it!
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
So I guess I missed out on the infamous letter. I never got a chance to read this letter but did see Minivan News’s press release regarding the letter. If I am not wrong Minivan did remove the letter from the website, right?
Why, though?
Again I haven’t seen this letter, but from what I have read I believe it is a letter regarding homosexuality.
Now, what really baffles me about Maldivian society is the fact that people actually “think” and “believe” that everyone in the Maldives is straight. If anyone had a brain and thought about it, isn’t it obvious that this is not true. So not talking about it, not addressing it, is not going to make it go away.
I hope that in the true spirit of freedom of expression, Minivan indeed will publish this letter and also help me locate the letter in reference here.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
It is depressing and worrying to read that what some people are most concerned about is the fact that the president spoke out about the growing radicalisation of the country and recruitment by the Taliban. Not the fact that this radicalisation is happening and Talibanisation is on the rise.
Burying our heads in the sand is going to concede even more ground to those who wish to turn the Maldives into a society of intolerance and extreme religious beliefs. While some in the religious community attack others for being too ‘liberal’ and ‘brainwashed’ by a ‘Western education’, they tend to forget that the brand of Islam they preach is no more indigenous to the Maldives than is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and certainly less indigenous than the Maldivian attitude of tolerance, acceptance of the other and equality for women.
I would like to thank the president, and recently the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives, for having the courage to speak out against the growing radicalistion of Maldivian Society. If we do not speak now and act now, we will lose this tolerant and moderate scoeity to one that is intolerant and one that most of us want nothing to do with.
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor
I fully support what President Nasheed said in recent interviews to CNN-India regarding the Maldivians in Pakistan recruited to Jihaad.
We have spent nearly three decades without proper knowledge of what the majority of our students are doing in Pakistan. What the past government knew was hundreds of students leaving to Pakistan for free education in Islamic Madrassas. Who knew what they were doing in those Madrassass? Who was monitoring on what they were studying?
The government turned a blind eye to what those students were doing. I am not saying that all those who study in Pakistan are Jihaadheens, there are number of students who come out from Pakistani universities and institutes who are now in service in our nation building.
Today, when government began to speak about it, people started pointing fingers at the current regime. The aim of the current regime is to reverse such wrongdoings. The end results of such critical issues kept in a vacuum would be more damaging. It’s time to speak about it now and bring our children on to a safe ground. Speaking about those issues doesn’t meant that Maldives will be labelled as terrorist country.
Even the Pakistani government would think about not giving further opportunities to our students from such Madrassas in Pakistan which would eventually stop our students going into gun points. The central reason why those Maldivians joined (if any) in terrorist organizations abroad was due to the failed former regime that turned a blind eye to those innocent Maldivians.
I pray Allah to save our country from such terrorist mindsets.
Regards,
Anonymous

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