President Mohamed Nasheed opened a football stadium on Hinnavaru island.
The stadium was built by Palm Beach Resort and Spa and was opened in a ceremony on Sunday, which was followed by a football match was played between a Hinnavaru team and a Palm Beach team.
Nasheed said the stadium would assist the development of sport in the region.
(0)Dislikes
(0)The ministry of economic development has announced plans to develop Male’ International Airport.
Eight parties have shown interest in developing the airport, and the government will receive the bid proposals from next week, reports Miadhu.
The government has previously said the cost of developing the airport is prohibitive and it should instead be opened to private investment.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed visited the a rehabilitation centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dr Waheed made the visit while on an unofficial trip to the country and met Maldivians currently enrolled at the centre.
The president’s office reports that Waheed secured 35 spaces at the rehab centre for Maldivians.
(0)Dislikes(0)The first ever book on dangerous, venomous and poisonous marine animals in the Maldives is to be launched at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) at noon on Thursday.
The book “Dangerous Marine Animals – Biology, Injuries & Medical Treatment” (Kikinger, Lindner, Wiesbauer-Ali 2009), was written by two marine biologists and a doctor.
The authors first decided to write the book after they experienced first-hand local doctors’ lack of knowledge regarding such issues.
The book will have many underwater pictures of harmful animals, and a Dhivehi dictionary to help identify them.
(0)Dislikes(0)The only domestic airline in the Maldives, ‘Maldivian’ has increased its fares.
The airline has increased fares to Hanimaadhoo, Gan, Kadhoo and Kaadedhoo by MRF 50.
In addition MRf 220 will be added as insurance and fuel surcharges.
According to TVM, the increase in prices is due to the rising costs for the airline, and because the company wishes to maintain the services it is currently providing.
Maldivian announced it would not be increasing fares for its international flights.
(0)Dislikes(0)VB Sports Club has been fined by FIFA over the contract terminations of two foreign players in 2007.
The two players, Sergio and Bovaria, both from Argentina, were among the first foreign players bought by the club after its re-branding from Island Football Club, to VB Sports.
According to Haveeru the club CEO has confirmed that club had been fined by FIFA, but did not know the exact amount.
However, Haveeru reported that the amount was believed to be USD 50,000.
The reason for the contract termination was due to the players not being up to standard. The only game they played was the tsunami charity match, and both had given a very poor performance.
Their contracts were terminated before the season had started.
Haveeru reports that the club is barred from participating in the AFC cup, until they paid the fine.
Over the last few weeks VB have been signing many big names in preparation for the AFC cup.
(0)Dislikes(0)A body of a 30-year-old woman was discovered at a construction site in Male’ last night.
The body was discovered yesterday evening around 6.30pm, at Maafanu Angaagirige, hidden under a pile of sand bags.
Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam said a man suspected of involvement in the case has been taken in for questioning.
Police could not reveal any details of the man or his connection to the deceased.
According to police, the woman was Mariyam Sheereen of Laamu Gan Thudi ward.
“She has been reported as a missing person since the the 31st of December,” he said.
Shiyam said police had not determined the cause of death yet and the body was still at the morgue for an autopsy.
At a press conference today, Inspector Hamdhoon Rasheed, head of the organised and serious crimes unit, said the body was identified by the forensic department using fingerprints.
Police revealed last night that the decomposing body was found by a construction worker under a pile of garbage and sand bags.
(0)Dislikes(0)Islamic NGO Salaf Jamiyyah has condemned plans to revive bodu maaloodh (big feast) in Thaa atoll Kadoodhoo, a tradition that was banned under the previous government.
Bodu maaloodh was traditionally celebrated on the Prophet’s birthday as a social event where people from neighbouring islands get together for a feast.
“Salaf believes it should not be revived and that it is a bidah (innovation),” said Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, president of the association.
Bidah
Bidah refers to innovations within Islam that are not part of the religion. In Sunni Islam, innovations in religion are believed to sinful and blasphemous.
In April last year, the government announced it planned to end the segregation of tourists and locals by introducing community-based tourism and establish seven cultural centres in the seven provinces to promote cultural tourism.
Abdullah added reviving such rituals in the name of promoting cultural tourism could have “dire consequences” on society as they were in conflict with Islam.
“If all such practices are to be brought back, they might even revive old Buddhist traditions,” he said.
Abdullah said celebrating the Prophet’s birthday was an innovation because it was not practiced either by the Prophet’s companions or during the three centuries that followed his death.
Moreover, it was not prescribed in the Prophet’s Hadith (sayings) or Sunnah (practice).
Cultural tourism
RaajjeIslam.com, a website that posts Islamic literature and writings of local Sheikhs, scholars and associations, reported yesterday that Ahmed Mujthaba, state minister for home affairs, met the people of Kadoodhoo and encouraged the revival of the practice.
“At the meeting where a lot of men and women of the island were invited, the state minister said he will make sure islanders are able to do it and that the province office will cover all the costs,” reads the news statement.
It adds that the state minister told RaajjeIslam.com that it would be revived under the government’s policy of introducing cultural tourism.
The statement calls on the government to stop the “spread such irreligious practices” and advise those intent on reviving it.
Such bidah were discontinued in the country due to the efforts of many scholars, it reads, as it had been practiced as part of religious worship in the past.
Social bonds
Speaking to Minivan News today, Yousuf Nizar, Kadoodhoo councilor, confirmed the state minister encouraged people to organise a bodu maaloodh at the meeting.
Nizar said the tradition was discontinued over five years ago when the previous government refused to give permission.
While there might have elements of unIslamic traditions in the practice, such as in some of the Arabic chanting, he said, it was celebrated as a cultural ritual or a gathering intended to strengthen social bonds.
“I don’t believe it conflicted with Islam even back when it was stopped,” he said. “It is a cultural practice, not a religious festival.”
The councilor stressed that the feast would be planned this year only if islanders wanted to resume the practice.
In the past, he said, the island ended other practices such as putting up fire lights as it was believed to date back to the time when Maldivians worshipped the sun.
Protecting Islam
Izzudheen Adham, communications officer at the ministry of Islamic affairs, told Minivan News today that the practice was an innovation as scholars believed it was not in the sunnah or hadiths.
The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the previous government campaigned to discontinue and ban various cultural traditions that were seen to be contrary to Islam, he said.
Izzudheen said bodu maaloodh was believed to have been introduced to the Maldives by Indian Borah traders, who borrowed it from a Sufi sect in India and Sri Lanka.
The ministry believes it should not be continued as it also involved prayer and supplications for blessings.
The ministry would be able to take measures against such practices when its new regulations were enforced, he said, as it would empower the ministry to stamp out unIslamic traditions.
“Our mandate is to protect religion in the Maldives,” he said. “If people are trying to revive it, we will take whatever measures we can to stop it.”
Izzudheen said the ministry will consult with the tourism ministry and other relevant authorities to ensure that the promotion of cultural tourism does not bring back traditions that conflict with Islam.
In a statement issued today, the Maldivian Detainee Network (MDN), a human rights NGO, said it views the call to ban bodu maaloodh as unconstitutional.
Article 39 of the constitution guarantees the right to participate in cultural life, while article 19 states, “A citizen is free to engage in any conduct or activity that is not expressly prohibited by Islamic Shari’ah or by law. No control or restraint may be exercised by a person unless it is expressly authorised by law.”
“Given the fact that there is no law which expressly prohibits the practice of bodu mauloodh, MDN calls upon all parties to respect the constitution on this matter and allow the cultural event to go ahead,” reads the statement. “MDN further urges those opposed to the practice to publicly air their concerns, and partake in religious debate if necessary, to discourage the practice on a cultural level. Calling on the state to ban the practice without such debate and public consultation goes against the spirit of both the constitution and democracy, especially when it infringes on rights guaranteed in the constitution.”
(0)Dislikes(0)In 1915 World War I was in full swing, but the people of the Maldives were continuing simple lives in relative peace and security.
But, the peace of Kudarikilu, a small island in Baa Atoll, was shattered when local fishermen found an unusual object floating in the sea.
Abu Bakuru Mohamed, a judge at Baa atoll Kendhoo, recalls the stories his old friend Mohamed Manik had told him about the incident.
“Mohamed Manik was alive in 1915, and he saw the events that unfolded on Kudarikilu,” recalls Abu Bakuru.
According to Manik, it was a clear Thursday and fishing vessels from Kudarikilu and Kendhoo were out on a nearby channel.
“The Kendhoo dhoni got a call from the Kudarikilu people, they said ‘we found something, come help us.'”
The round object with the “silver skin” was in fact a drifting contact mine. During World War I, many countries protected their shores by dumping a plethora of naval mines. These were cheap and deadly. Often, floating mines would break away from their moorings and drift with the currents: a disaster waiting to happen, as many of these mines could stay active for years.
Normally, foreign objects would have been taken to the atoll office, but since the weekend was Thursday and Friday and the atoll office was closed, the fishermen decided to tow it back to Kudarikilu.
The crew brought the mine ashore near the eastern side of the island, where all the vessels were moored. Rolling it onto the beach, they left it there.
The next morning, the people of Kudarikilu went about their usual routine and in the afternoon went to Friday prayers.
Manik recalled that in the afternoon, the people went down to move one of the dry docked dhonis back into the water.
In many Maldivian islands, people gather to witness and lend a hand in this process. While down at the beach people also gathered to investigate the strange metal device.
“A young man, started playing with the screws and prodded it with a stick,” says Abu Bakuru.
All of a sudden there was a massive commotion as the mine started to smoke, he said, and it then started spinning and partially dug itself into the sand.
People moved in closer to investigate when it exploded with an almighty bang, sending a massive shock wave through the island.
“There was a massive explosion, it was terrible, there was bits of body everywhere, skin was plastered onto the coconut palms, people even found fingers all the way across the other side of the island.”
Abu Bakkuru recalls people on Kendhoo telling him about the loud bang. Even the island of Kendhoo, which lies four miles off Kudarikilu, felt the explosion.
“People told me of a huge plume of smoke that followed the explosion,” recalls Abu Bakuru.
Over the years the story has had many different versions, while the death toll varies with every telling.
According to Manik, 60 people lost their lives in the incident. Naval mines from that period carried up to 80 kilograms of explosives, and were designed to rip the hulls off massive iron clad ships.
However, Kudarikilu Councilor Hassan Firaaj says according to reports only seven to nine people died.
Immediately after the explosion, fishermen from Kendhoo instantly knew it must have been something to do with the object they found on Thursday.
“That silver ball they found exploded, I am sure of it!” one of the Kendhoo fisherman immediately claimed.
After some deliberation, the islanders of Kendhoo sent a dhoni to investigate the scene.
Manik said that the explosion had caused the whole lagoon to turn into a slight yellow colour.
“It must have been the explosive chemicals inside the mine.”
The Kudarikilu people quickly sent a message to the atoll office who came and investigated.
Abu Bakuru said that since all dhonis were still running on sails, the news of the incident did not reach Male’ for quite some time.
Today, there is a harbour on the site of the mine explosion.
Abu Bakuru recalls, “Sixty years ago I visited the site, the crater was still there, just as if it had happened yesterday. It was massive.”
The people of Kudarikilu still tell the story of the unfortunate events of that Friday afternoon, passing it on from generation to generation.
Although drifting naval mines were banned after World War I, some countries continued to use them.
(0)Dislikes(0)