Day: March 2, 2010

“The driver did it” says Reeko Moosa

MP for Hulhu-Henveiru and MDP parliamentary group leader ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has claimed his driver was bribed to put “cheap alcohol” into his car in an attempt to frame him for the crime.

Last week police arrested four expatriate men loading 168 bottles of whiskey and menthol gin into a car registered to Moosa, on the same day controversial liquor licensing regulations were unveiled by the Ministry of Economic Development.

“My car is not a pickup or a truck,” Moosa said. “Claiming it can fit 168 bottles is unacceptable.”

Moosa was in Singapore when the police arrested the four suspects, including Moosa’s driver.

“I was due to return on the 23rd – the night the incident happened. But that evening I cancelled the flight online because I had to take my wife to the doctors on the 26th. Even my family in Male’ didn’t know that.”

He said he suspected his driver had been “threatened or bribed”, and said the man was no longer in his employ.

Last week DRP Vice President Ibrahim Shareef said he doubted the case “would go very far”, noting that “in the worst case scenario Reeko’s driver will be implicated and that will be the end of the story.”

Moosa however claimed he believed the incident was “politically motivated”, and noted that the television station DhiTV “has been showing the incident non-stop for 24 hours.”

“The last time I was in an advertisement for a liquid was with my brother in a television ad for Sun-Up,” he said, suggesting that he should now be paid royalties for every bottle sold.

“A media channel in this country has used my photo, my car, my family, my children and my name to do business and I want to sue for compensation.”

During his address to an MDP rally on Sunday night, Moosa implied he knew who was responsible for the incident, calling on police to “summon him for an investigation”.

“The country’s economy in the past was in the hands of a few rich businessmen, and they are unhappy that the new government is not giving into their demands,” he said.

“We don’t want this country’s assets in the hands of three or four businessmen.”

Police are currently investigating the incident but have yet to draw any conclusions.

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President Nasheed criticises judiciary for “carelessness”

President Mohamed Nasheed criticised the judiciary during a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally at the artificial beach.

“When there’s Rf5 million in a bag underneath the bed and the judge doesn’t think it raises any kind of doubt, I wonder how they perform their duties as a judge,” said the president at the rally on Sunday.

He added that the government would not back down and will continue to arrest other drug dealers.

Following the rally, the MDP called for those concerned to “raise their voices against a justice system that is repeatedly careless about these acts.”

The criticism of both the president and his party follows the Criminal Court’s decision to acquit Adam Naseer of H. Reendhooge earlier this week. The government had previously alleged that Naseer was one of the country’s six major drug lords.

Naseer was arrested last July after police searched his house in Addu Atoll and found over Rf5 million in cash, as well as some drugs found outside his property.

This week, Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf found Naseer not guilty of dealing drugs due to lack of evidence.

President Nasheed said MDP was pledged to combat drug trafficking and abuse as there was “not one family untouched by the heroin endemic.”

Also speaking at the rally, MDP chairperson and MP Mariya Ahmed Didi called on everyone who protested against the proposed liquor licenses to demand the enforcement of the drug laws.

“Come out and call for the enforcement of the law on illegal drugs,” she said, asking for the support of the coalition of NGOs and the Adhaalath party, which brought thousands of people to the tsunami monument on Friday.

Mariya claimed the judiciary was not cooperating with the government in sentencing drug dealers.

According to the MDP statement, “one of the most important pledges of the MDP government is that of tackling the problem of drug abuse.”

The party mentioned the Naseer case, saying it “finds it worrying that the justice system is opening doors for these criminals to escape” and “we call upon the Prosecutor General to take this matter to the Supreme Court and work to achieve a speedy and just outcome to this matter.”

Naseer’s case has sparked controversy because he has previously been arrested and acquitted on drug dealing charges. He was also included in President Nasheed’s ‘top six’ list of drug dealers. Police investigated him for months before placing him under arrest in July 2009.

The MDP’s press statement claimed that “despite the forensic evidence found by the hard work of police, the justice system rules against the evidence and is careless in implementing justice.”

Police Spokesperson Abdul Moosa said “in every case we submit evidence at hand when the investigation is over.”

He did not specify what evidence was submitted for Naseer’s case or if it was admissible in court.

The PG’s office has said it will be appealing the case to the High Court, but did not respond to Minivan News today.

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) had not made a comment at time of publication.

President Nasheed said yesterday in his Presidential Address to the People’s Majlis that in 2009 “there was an increase of 41.4 per cent in the number of people arrested for drug abuse, when compared with 2008 figures.”

The president did not mention if the number of convictions had also risen.

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MDP now the largest political party, says Elections Commission

The Elections Commission has announced that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has overtaken the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to become the largest political party in the country.

President of the Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq said the MDP is now the largest political party with 31,171 members, narrowly overtaking the DRP’s 30,775 members.

Fuad noted that there was a possibility the DRP would regain its position once another 2000 membership forms were processed.

DRP Secretary General and MP Abdulla Mausoom claimed the EC had not included the forms of 2400 DRP members in the list it had released.

”We want to believe that EC is an independent commission,” Mausoom said, ”but sometimes questions arise about them.”

DRP MP Ali Waheed accused the the commission of failing to include DRP members, claiming it was influenced by the ruling party.

”We are visiting the atolls this weekend,” he said, ”and during that  visit we will reveal what action we plan to take.”

Fuad rejected the allegations as false information.

”We cannot be influenced by any party,” he said, noting that the commission did not support or depend on any political party. In a previous interview with Minivan News, Fuad has noted that sometimes existing members seeking to join other political parties failed to realise they had to leave their current party before applying.

MDP MP Alhan Fahmy said the DRP’s claims the EC was being influenced were “regrettable”.

”Everyone must respect the independent commission,” he said, ”and when things do not go the way [DRP] planned it is unfair to say the commission was influenced.”

Alhan said when he joined MDP, “many DRP members followed.”

Umar Naseer said he respected the EC and did not believe it was being influenced, but suggested DRP’s membership would top MDP when the new membership statistics settled this week.

By the numbers

After the two major parties, the third largest party in the Maldives is the  Jumhooree party with 7565 members, followed by the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) with 5359 members and the  Adhaalath party with 5163. Former President of the IDP Umar Naseer is currently attempting to dissolve the IDP, however the EC has ruled against this decision.

The People’s Alliance (PA) has the least number of members at 3107, below the Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP)’s 3480 members.

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Second honeymooning tourist dies while snorkelling

A Chinese tourist died yesterday while snorkeling at Chaaya Lagoon Hakurahura Island Resort, less than a day after a German man also died in a snorkelling accident at Embudu Village Island Resort.

Police confirmed the 30 year old was visiting the Maldives from China on his honeymoon.

A senior staff member at the resort told Minivan News that the man died while snorkelling off a boat with his wife near the edge of the reef with a group of tourists, less than a kilometre from the resort’s jetty.

”After they finished snorkelling and everyone came aboard the boat, the boat crew noticed one man was missing,” the staff member said. “The crew immediately started searching for him and informed the hotel management and diving school.”

He said the man was eventually discovered by a team of three resort divers who had been sent out to search for him.

One of the divers told Minivan News that the man appeared to be dead when he was recovered from water.

”When we brought him up there was blood coming from his mouth,” the diver said.

He noted that when the diving team discovered the man he was holding his snorkel tube in his hand “but the mask was missing.”

The team pulled the man aboard the dive boat and attempted to resuscitate him, but he was not breathing.

The man was taken to Meemu Atoll Mulee Regional Hospital and doctors confirmed that he was dead when arrived.

Police sergeant Abdul Muhsin said the man was brought to Male’ today morning and placed in the mortuary. He said a team of police forensics specialists were now investigating the case.

The case is the second snorkelling fatality in as many days. The day prior, a 69 year old German man died while snorkelling at the Embudu Village Island Resort.

Permanent secretary for the Tourism Ministry Ahmed Solih said he would not comment on the cases but noted that the ministry was verifying that safety regulations were being followed by the resorts.

Sim Ibrahim Mohamed from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said the resorts needed to be more careful guiding snorkellers, particularly older divers.

The Maldivian resorts’ procedures for guiding and instructing snorkellers were very good, he explained.

”All the resorts have said they inform tourists about the nearby water conditions and tides, and they also tell them the do’s and dont’s.’ But they need to be more careful with old aged people,” Sim said.

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Development bank to be established this year

President Mohamed Nasheed has announced the establishment of a new development bank specialising in providing investments for small and medium enterprises, to be ready at the end of the year.

President Nasheed added the main challenge for these enterprises is lack of funding, and said he hopes a new development bank will solve the problem.

The president said the ministry of Economic Development is providing financial assistance to these enterprises through a fund worth MRF 18.8 million. He said 41 per cent of those receiving assistance were women.

President Nasheed added that the government is working to bring in more foreign investment. In 2009, 18 foreign investments were approved. According to the president, the total foreign investment registered in 2009 was US$22 million.

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Comment: The heady brew of religious extremism, democracy and public opinion

This government is legless, three sheets to the wind, incapable of walking a straight line, has blurred vision and cannot remember from one second to the next what decision it made yesterday, never mind last month. If only this was heaven, the real mother of a hangover that is sure to come could have been avoided.

But alas, this is real life, and it is time this government stopped being intoxicated by the sense of achievement that has come with having given the Maldives deliverance from an autocracy. Wake up, and smell the theocracy that is in the air. Is it not sobering enough?

Wahhabism is in the Maldives to stay. Osama bin Laden made it clear that his ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate across the globe. There are many who are willing to die for the cause, and many of them are now in the Maldives.

If the government continues to oscillate, gutless and indecisive, in the current manner, the Maldives could easily become the first member of this envisioned Caliphate. Twice now the government has changed its mind about bringing in new legislation regarding the sale of alcohol. Twice now it has back-tracked, citing ‘public opinion’. What is at stake here is not the availability or lack thereof of alcoholic beverages, but the ability of the current government to be a strong and capable leader of the nation.

Who is the ‘public’ that the government cited? The Wahhabi clerics? Has it come to the stage now where a Maldivian man is only a Maldivian man if he wears a bushy beard that covers his face?

Is a Maldivian woman only a Maldivian woman if she has covered herself from head to toe, or at least covered her hair with a Buruqa that complements the figure hugging PVC cat-suit she has on?

Is a Maldivian only a Maldivian if s/he is happy to listen to the Qur’an or some Dharus or another all day, every day?

Is a Maldivian only a Maldivian if s/he believes that women are inferior to men?

Is that the ‘public’? And what is ‘opinion’? Even if one does not buy into the elitist position that public opinion can never be informed enough for it to ensure that all democratic decisions are informed decisions, it is a valid question to ask of this government: what has informed this ‘opinion’ to which you have once again bowed? How has this ‘public’ arrived at this ‘opinion’ that has you so cowed?

Opinion, by definition, is a judgement or view based neither on fact nor knowledge. When the lack of knowledge is used by a particular group of people to ensure – through religious propaganda – that everyone holds the same view, what is expressed is not an opinion but dogma. Religious dogma.

The majority of Maldivian people are not free to think for themselves any more. After thirty years of being told what to do – from good table manners to good praying etiquette spelled out by the Great Leader – and being denied the opportunity to develop intellectually as free thinking people; the void where knowledge should have been is now being filled with unrelenting religious propaganda that saturates the Maldivian airwaves.

Every single medium of the various types available in the twenty first century is being utilised by these well-organised and well-funded Wahhabbis. They have numerous websites (dhiIslam.com; Dharuslive.com; Click4Islam.com; Raajjeislam.com; Islam Maldives; Dharuma.net to name but a few) and a strong presence on social networking sites and YouTube. They organise public sermons and lectures covering everything from Valentine’s Day to good husbandry and housekeeping. They fly in international scholars to preach their message and convince the youth that life is better lived after death.

To respond to this well-organised, well-oiled invasion of our country, this brutal rape of our identity in broad daylight, this daily negation of our rights under the name of Islam by suggesting that all ‘beloved citizens who might harbour what might be considered extremist ideas and opinions’ should perhaps ‘moderate and soften their ways of thinking’ makes President Nasheed look as effective a political leader as a newly crowned Miss World breathlessly avowing her goal to attain world peace.

‘Might’ harbour what ‘might’ be considered extremist ideas and opinions? Where is the doubt coming from about the extremism of their ideas? They are openly and clearly saying that women are inferior to men. They are indoctrinating Maldivians to believe that Wahhabbism is the only form of Islam that Allah recognises. Might be considered extremist?

Yes, public opinion is vital to democracy. There is, however, no system in place to effectively measure public opinion in the Maldives. There are no regular polls, no surveys, no studies to gauge what the public’s view of anything is. Nobody has their finger on the public pulse, just a hand around its throat.

Hiding behind the buzz words of democracy is not going to deliver Maldivians democracy – it may be rule by the people for the people, but it might well be worth remembering that people at religious boot camp with Wahhabbis may not have had the freedom to arrive at a considered opinion about anything of their own free will. ‘Freedom of opinion’ as a democratic right extends not just to freely expressing an opinion but to freely forming it as well.

Staggering from one side to the other (a foreign policy that finds allies in counter-terrorism; a domestic policy that is victim to an extremist Islamic sect) and bending over backwards to appease both sides while trying to stand upright; that kind of behaviour is far better suited to a public house than to the house that runs the public, would you not agree?

Munirah Moosa is a journalism and international relations graduate. She is currently engaged in research into the ‘radicalisation’ of Muslim communities and its impact on international security.

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

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President begins tour of northern islands

President Mohamed Nasheed began a tour of some of the islands of the northern atolls in the Maldives.

The president will visit some islands of Shaviyani Atoll and Noonu Atoll.

As part of his tour, President Nasheed inaugurated Beach House Maldives Resort, now part of the Waldorf Astoria Collection, at Haa Alif Manafaru yesterday afternoon.

Beach House Maldives is the first Waldorf Astoria Collection property to open in Asia.

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Government “suppressing media”, MJA tells Asian Tribune

The government is suppressing media in the Maldives by “continuing the draconian measures of the previous dictatorship”, according to an interview with the Maldivian Journalists Association (MJA) by the Asian Tribune.

The MJA’s comments were prompted by the decision by the Department of Information to dock five points from the broadcast license of the radio station DhiFM, following its coverage of the protest outside the president’s residence on 28 January.

In the AT article the MJA called the Private Broadcasting regulation a “draconian law”, and accused the government of having “no genuine intention of amending the law.”

“Rather, it is now trying to act on the draconian measures that were all too common features of the previous dictatorship,” the MJA told AT.

Minister of Tourism Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad, also responsible for the Department or Information, last week described the disciplinary procedures for broadcast media as “not ideal”, and noted that it was seeking the creation of an independent media council.

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2010 to be a productive year at parliament, promises speaker

Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid said he will work to make 2010 a productive year at parliament, reports Miadhu.

Out of 77 MPs, 64 were present at yesterday’s meeting, the first parliamentary session of the year.

Shahid said 2009 was also a productive year. Since the new parliament was sworn in on 28 May 2009, the Majlis have conducted 33 deliberations and adopted 6 legislations.

There will be priority given to those issues that were being discussed when parliament was called into recess in December 2009.

Kulhudhuffushi South MP Mohamed Nasheed has criticised the parliament for taking a two month long recess, arguing that it will be difficult to complete the parliament’s work in the six remaining months of the transition period.

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