Day: February 14, 2010

“In victory be magnanimous”: President of Timor-Leste visits Maldives

Visiting President of Timor-Leste (East Timor) Dr José Ramos-Horta was met with a seven-gun salute this morning at the president’s jetty, the first day of his state visit to the Maldives.

The two countries signed an agreement to promote cultural exchange and encourage travel through a visa agreement.

Introducing the Nobel Peace prize-winning head of state, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said Timor’s experience with transitional justice following its independence provided valuable insight for the Maldives’ own process of national reconciliation.

“His excellency [Ramos-Horta] is no ordinary head of state – he is a renowned, fearless and uncompromising champion of human rights,” Nasheed said. “We can learn from their experiences building democracy and of transitional justice.

Ramos-Horta thanked Nasheed for the invitation, joking that “some people at home were suspicious as to why I was going to the Maldives on Valentines Day. I had to show them the letter from the president to prove it was not forsecret romantic purposes.” He also said he was “nervous about coming, in case the President invited us to a meeting underwater.”

He pledged Timor’s support for the Maldives’ bid to join the UN Council of Human Rights, praising Nasheed’s “creativity, commitment, and conciliatory and compassionate approach to past political opponents”.

Timor Leste, like the Maldives, was one of the few countries “to have ratified ever human rights instrument, on day one our our succession to independence,” Ramos-Horta said.

“It took 24 years of occupation [by Indonesia] before we freed ourselves, and tens of thousands of people died. And yet there is no anger or resentment between us and former occupiers – we have the best possible relationship, and thousands of Indonesians are still living in Timor without abuse or discrimination.

“The greatest act of justice is that we are free. We are free because Indonesia also freed itself in 1999 with the fall of the Soeharto regime. Indonesia won by freeing itself of East Timor – and they did. If you look monthly import-exports, [Indonesia] wasted a lot of money on Timor. Now our import bill to them is huge, in the millions of dollars. Our independence restored Indonesia’s honour and dignity.”

Ramos-Horta said a conciliatory approach following Timor’s independence had led to heavy criticism from “heroic bureaucrats” in the United Nations and Brussels, who favoured an “international tribunal to try everyone in Indonesia who was involved in the crimes of the past.

“[Such an approach] would have shown on our side a lack of wisdom and insensitivity to an Indonesia [which was itself] in turmoil and in transition to democracy.”

Ramos-Horta said he himself had “lost brothers and sisters, some of whom we cannot even recover the bodies. That happened to thousands of people.”

“Each country has its realities; its challenges and complexities,” he explained. “I prefer to be criticised for being soft on people who committed violence in the past than be criticised for being too harsh or insensitive in putting people in jail. Our approach fits our reality, an approach the president of the Maldives and I share – the need for magnanimity.”

“Immediately after our independence in 1999, I said: ‘in victory be magnanimous. Don’t rub the wounds of those who feel they lost. Make they feel they won, also.'”

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Four children taken to hospital in “very serious” child abuse case

Police and the Ministry of Health and Family have confirmed they are concurrently investigating a “very serious” case of child abuse.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed a number of children had been taken to hospital, but did not divulge further details.

Minivan News understands four children were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) by ministry workers yesterday to undergo medical examination following allegations.

Inspector Mirufath Faiz, head of the family and child protection unit, said the children had suffered from physical abuse and neglect. She explained authorities were withholding all information for the sake of the investigation.

“There are so many things we need to find out,” she said. “When we have more information that we can share, we will share it.”

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Mariya Ali said all details are being withheld for the protection of the children.

“We have the childrens’ best interest in mind, and that means we cannot give out any information that might put them in danger,” she said.

Mohamed Shihaab of Child Abuse Watch Maldives said he understood the authorities’ fear that evidence would be corrupted, or that the families of the abused children would suffer more if their identities are known.

“There is no need to disclose the identities of the children or their families, but the incident needs to be reported. It’s important that the community knows if something like this is happening,” he said.

Shihaab said he believed people are not reporting incidents for several reasons, one of them being the lack of confidentiality for the victims. The other is the need to provide witnesses so an abuse case is taken seriously.

“People need to know that justice will be carried out,” he says. “If they do not have enough evidence, their case could be dismissed.”

IGMH has not commented on, or confirmed, the case.

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Attackers burn sleeping woman with electric wires

A sleeping woman was badly burned after a group of men broke into her house at night and tied live wires to her feet.

Police said the group entered her house in Laamu atoll on Wednesday night and tied the wires to her toes, then connected it with mains electricity.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the 35 year old woman suffered cuts and burns to her legs.

”They used electric wires and live electricity to create the shock,” he said.

Person in-charge of Laamu Gan Regional Hospital, Ali Faisal, said the shock had badly burned the toes on the woman’s left foot. He added that she had now been discharged.

Haveeru reported that the woman was still unable to walk.

Police are investigating the case but no arrests have been made so far.

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DRP claims MDP influencing Elections Commission

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has accused the Elections Commission (EC) of failing to register members who have shifted to the DRP from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Mohamed Hussain ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, spokesman for the former president and DRP member in charge of the Noonu atoll branch, said he noticed the problem when 66 newly-joined DRP members from the island of Miladhoo in Noonu Atoll failed to appear on a list from the EC.

”As soon as we figured out these people were missing from the EC list, we scanned it to see whether people from other atolls were missing as well,” he said.

That recount revealed many more DRP members from Haa Alifu Atoll and Gaafu Aalifu Atoll missing from the list, Mundhu claimed.

“People who shifted from Adhaalath party and Qaumeee party were in the list, but those who came from MDP were not there,” he said, accusing the MDP of influencing the EC.

He said that the DRP had sent a letter to the EC two weeks ago to clarify why the people were missing from the list “but they have not responded.”

President of Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq said the claims made by the DRP that members were missing from the list were untrue.

He said that by law people could only be members of one political party, “and sometimes when people try to join a party without resigning from another registered party, we will not register them.”

Thaufeeq furthermore stressed that the commission was working independently ”and nobody can influence us.”

Spokesman for MDP Ahmed Haleem said the EC was an independent institution and accused the DRP “of inventing a new story about MDP everyday”

”They spread these type of rumours just to gain popularity,” he said. “They can’t get famous without saying something against us,” he said.

DRP MP Ahmed Mahloof said he had heard no information about the issue while MDP MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik claimed “nobody from MDP would resign to join DRP.”

”The EC works independently; it was elected by the parliament,” Moosa said. “They were elected not only by the vote of MDP MPs but DRP MPs voted for them as well.”

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Comment: We think violence is okay

This government clearly has every kind of trouble imaginable when it comes to the religious front. We have extremists, conservatives, suspected missionaries, Taliban freedom fighters, Afghan parliamentarians, jihadists, and zealots of every denomination. So what is the government doing about it?

This government is led by some of the most liberal minds in the country. But that is to their detriment. They cannot make liberal policies because they will be attacked for it. They are constantly threatened, warned, and then shunned by the conservative community. The only reason Adhaalath tolerates MDP is because MDP has fundamentalists like Fareed, and Adhaalath is getting their own ministry as a result of that tolerance.

But that does not seem to be enough. So now, the only way to get these people (meaning conservatives and not just Adhaalath) on our side seems to be to ensure that there is no doubt as to the fact that we will not unduly prosecute them – even if justice demands it.

Appeasement

When the Himandhoo residents attacked the police with knives, batons, and rocks they crossed the line. They chose violence. We cannot tolerate violence in any form. If they had blocked entry and sat in front of the mosque in non-violent protest, then this would be a different story. But that was not the case.

I’ve written about the human rights which must be afforded prisoners and today I want to remind everyone that these rights apply to our police officers as well. We all know members of the armed services, and we know them to be diligent, caring and disciplined citizens. And though there are institutional problems, they deserve to have the support of the people for working towards the lawful protection of the nation. When the Himandhoo residents attacked them, they crossed the line.

Mr President, I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for you, but this is not something that members of the liberal community can find acceptable. Even though we understand the reasons for it, there needs to be more due process, if for no other reason than to honor the policemen who were forced to go up against them.

How can the Himandhoo residents just be released again? These are residents from an island which has been heavily influenced by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the largest terrorist group in our region. They constantly violate human rights, create a repressive environment, and allow child abuse in the form of underage marriage. They actually picked up arms against the government in defense of a radical and conservative ideology. Will a simple workshop convince them of the error of their ways? No.

Violence is okay

Instead we will send a message to the conservative community that their actions were okay. That it was understandable. I mean, they were only defending a mosque right? Only defending their holy place. So it is okay right? No. It is not okay. They blocked entry and threatened other Muslims. The police could have easily taken off their shoes and entered the premises in a respectful manner, but instead the Himandhoo residents chose violent confrontation.

Many specific mosques are becoming places that are forbidden to many of us now. Even in Male’ – many mosques are hostile to certain people praying in them and all forbid women from the main spaces. One of the first moves the Islamic Ministry made was to shut down all women’s mosques. And where was the backlash?

Those of us who do nothing are sending the message that this kind of action is okay. And this message is being spearheaded by government policy. Recently we released nine Maldivians who were arrested on the Waziristan-Afghanistan border.

When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was questioned about this, Shaheed said that “if we release anybody, it is because our laws require them to be released.” So then why were these people repatriated in the first place without any accompanying documentation of charges? If they have not been tried or convicted, then why are they not formally charged before being released? Why did Shaheed allow them to be brought to the Maldives without any investigation in their actions or collaboration with the Pakistani government? Why did he not seek information about the three Maldivians who died in Pakistani custody? And finally, why did he pass the buck to the Maldivian Police Service saying that the Maldives Police Service had determined that “the best thing to do was to release them to their families and put them under surveillance”, while their activities abroad were investigated?

So do the Police now have an international investigative unit? Do they have the money and capacity to pull off this kind of investigation? No. These people are the rest of our problem now. That we are repatriating our would-be jihadists is apparently of no concern. That Lashkar-e-Taiba is active in Himandhoo (and anywhere else in Maldives) is also apparently no big deal.

Against extremism

Though appeasement does seem to be rampant, at least we have been making some headway against fundamentalism. The rapidly formalised defense agreement with India was aimed at protecting our boarders from terrorism. The Maldives was a focus because Lashkar-e-Tabia, who was responsible for the Mumbai Terrorist attacks, as well as being linked to the Sultan Park Bombing and Himandhoo, is obviously active in our country. We have also objected, very mildly, to having Afghans come for official negotiations without informing the government beforehand.

All in all, we release violent jihadists and the Himandhoo residents. With Shaheem, from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the delegation who visited them, it’s quite obvious that this is a religious issue and not just a matter of the previous government “treating them unfairly.” It is an active policy of appeasement towards the conservative religious community. But toward what end? Maybe it is because there are so many of them that we can no longer stand against them. Maybe we are finally giving in to the threats and warnings. Maybe it is just so we have a little bit of support and cooperation. Or maybe it is so they don’t blow up the Holiday Inn once it finally gets issued its liquor license.

www.jswaheed.com

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Man injured and motorbike destroyed

A 17 year old man was seriously injured when he lost control of his motorbike and hit a wall on Addoo Link road on Friday night, reports Miadhu.

Police said the man suffered serious injuries and the motorbike was completely destroyed.

The man did not have a driving license, they said.

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President inaugurates Islamic Fair 2010

President Nasheed inaugurated the 2010 Islamic Fair yesterday afternoon. The fair has been organised by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and is being held at the Islamic Centre in Malé.

This is the first-ever Islamic Fair held in Maldives. President Nasheed told Miadhu that such fairs would be held across the country in the future. He also said the fair shows the Islamic Ministry is fulfilling its purpose by showcasing the country’s Islamic faith.

There are different stalls which provide the public with books, CDs and information on Islam, democracy and the country. The President visited the stalls after the inauguration.

The fair will continue until 15 February.

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President Nasheed meets with Indian Chief of Army Staff

President Nasheed has met with Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, this morning at the President’s Office.

The meeting focused mainly on security issues and the close ties India and the Maldives have had in the past. President Nasheed said relations between the two countries have been ‘at a very high level’ for the past four decades, and he wants to continue and enhance cooperation between the neighbouring countries.

President Nasheed also wished to thank the Indian government and army for their continued support and investment in assisting the Maldives, and pointed out that the country is currently facing issues of terrorism and piracy.

General Kapoor assured him his country would continue to assist the Maldives, and said he was very happy to meet the President.

This meeting follows the recent agreement between India and the Maldives to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) against terrorism, as well as the visit of Indian MP Rahul Gandhi, who met with President Nasheed last Monday to speak of security and trade issues.

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