Day: March 10, 2010

Alhan Fahmy criticises Adhaalath Party for “use of Islam as a political tool”

MP of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Alhan Fahmy has demanded the resignation of Adhaalath Party members from cabinet posts should the party continue “to take advantage of the political situation by using Islam as a tool.”

Fahmy’s comments, made at a recent MDP rally in Hulhumale’, came in response to claims made earlier this week by Adhaalath Party’s Vice President Asim Mohamed, suggesting that no political party in the Maldives would be able to run the government without the party’s support.

Asim furthermore stated that the party would cooperate with whichever major party ran the government, and that the Adhaalath Party’s religious knowledge and cooperation was very important for the country.

The party recently spearheaded protests against regulations licensing the sale of alcohol to non-Muslims at establishments on inhabited islands, together with Islamic NGO Jammiyyathu Salaf and others.

The leading role taken by Adhaalath Party member Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, also the State Minister of Islamic Affairs, was considered by some to be an act of political defiance. Shaheem claimed at the time that other senior members of the Islamic were also prepared to resign from the government over the issue.

“I don’t think that would have been a bad outcome,” said Fahmy, speaking to Minivan News, “however the president is more mature on this [subject].”

Fahmy said that if the Adhaalath Party was willing to be in coalition with government, “it should not be working against it and threatening it by saying no government can exist without the support of the Adhaalath Party.”

He observed that the large crowd of protesters had gathered over the issue of liquor regulations, and not necessarily in support of the Adhaalath Party.

“They were rallying against the cultivation of alcohol in areas where they lived. That’s different,” he said.

“Adhaalath are a political party, and the objective of any political party is to overtake the current government. But they are playing a very damaging game by being part of the government and using Islam as a tool [for political support].”

Fahmy said he was concerned about “extremist” elements in the Adhaalath Party and its attempts to dictate government policy, but noted it also had a moderate side.

“Shaheem is generally thought of as moderate,” Fahmy said. “He was my room mate when I studied at the Islamic University in Medina, which some people used to call a ‘terrorist training institute’. I know about the whole idea of the Maldives becoming a democratic country so as to remove the legal barriers for scholars to preach their ideas.”

“But I feel using Islam to leverage grassroots support against the government is dangerous for the country,” he said.

Spokesman for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that “while I have publically stated that the president has full confidence in the scholars of the Islamic Ministry, as a politician and a member of a political party Alhan may be voicing the sentiment of grassroots elements in the party.”

Zuhair said at the time of his election the president had promised he would leave religious matters in the hands of qualified religious scholars, “and the Adhaalath Party was the only party that showed interest in political administration and the only suitable political partner that was available.”

President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed Ahmed claimed that Alhan Fahmy “is an agent sent from the DRP infiltrate the MDP”, observing that the former DRP politician had been “fed and grown by the DRP” and “has not yet given a valid reason for leaving the party.”

Sheikh Hussein also noted that the MDP was sharing the government with the Adhaalath Party, and explained that it would not have come to administration without Adhaalath’s support.

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Francophonie day celebrated in Male’

The croissants looked appetizing, right next the classic Maldivian breakfast of disk roshi and mashuni.

A quatre quart cake was brought over by a French lady residing in Maldives, while in another corner were stacked hot crepes.

The mixture of French and Maldivian dishes left you spoiled for choice, and the venue – the garden of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies (FHTS) – was the ideal location for a leisurely brunch held on the occasion of Francophonie (French speaking) day by the Alliance Française (AF).

Like the food, the conversation flowed in French, Dhivehi and English, among people of diverse nationalities.

The Tourism Minister and member of the AF committee Dr Ali Sawad was in attendance as well as people from all walks of life. Amid laughter new students tried out the few French words they knew, while secondary school French students livened up the place with their laughter and exuberance.

“This is a very nice atmosphere, and the activities planned are so good, this will enable us to improve our French also,” says Aiminath Nafaa, 14, a student of Aminiya School. She says she chose to study French as it’s a popular international language and she feels it will prove to be beneficial for her in the future.

Celebrating Francophonie

Half a billion French speakers around the world will celebrate International francophonie day on March 20th. In Maldives as the day falls on a holiday, celebrations were held last Saturday.

In 1998, the day was first declared as the day for the 49 members of the francophonie to celebrate their common bond, the language and also their diversity.

The newly inaugurated AF, which was opened in December last year, organized the event.

Over the years the French language has not played a major part in the Maldives aside from a few students who received scholarships to study in the prestigious Sorbonne University, one of the oldest in Europe in the early 70s.

France currently holds fourth position in terms of tourist arrivals to the Maldives, and with the start of the Franco-Maldivian Association the French language has found a firmer footing in the country.

The demand for the language is palpable in the tourism industry, and keeping this in mind, the education minister has introduced French as a third language in three secondary schools this year.

There are also future plans to train Maldivian teachers to teach the language, and introduce it to more atolls.

President of College Council, and herself a student of French language, Rashida Mohamed Didi says “teaching French language to Maldivian students will offer them numerous benefits; they can go for further studies to France, broaden their horizons by being exposed to French literature and francophone cultures, and since France is an important market for the tourism industry, also help them professionally.”

Poet 1
Francophonie Day celebrated in Male'

AF propagates the promotion of French language and culture, and also places great emphasis on celebrating the local culture. To this effect, a Franco-Maldivian poetry event was organized for the evening.

Sultan Park was the setting for the poetry event, which began with three young Maldivians reading and enacting out one of the oldest forms of Maldivian poetry, Raivaru.

To say it was captivating would be an understatement – a verbal duel between two men over a lady dressed fetchingly in a traditional Dhivehi libaas, ended with one of them giving his blessing to the man who captured the lady’s heart.

Jaadulla Jameel, a leading Maldivian poet and joint organiser of the event, says “we should hold more literary events like this, as there are too few such events now.”

He expressed happiness that participants seemed to enjoy the event and showed so much interest.

“Having French and Maldivian poems lets us see the different thinking of the cultures and it broadens the mind,” he said.

Later Jaadulla read out his poem, while a student read the French version.

Meanwhile poems by Maldivian poets like Fares Amir and Ali Shareef were read by their authors, while others were read alongside that of French poets like Baudelaire, Verlaine and Soupault.

Each Dhivehi poem had a French translation, and each French one a Dhivehi: Baudelaire’s ‘Albatross’ in Dhivehi captured the majesty of the bird and its subsequent capture, and the parallels to poets appealingly.

Moosa Ali’s poem ‘Mee magey ufanbimey’ brought across the pride in being born in such a beautiful land even in French. Like music poetry also knows no barriers.

Apart from French and Dhivehi poets, Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali was read out, in French and English, aptly by an Indian French student Uma Mani.

A Senagalese poem by Senghor, the founder of Francophonie, about the beauty of African women added to the diverse voices and ideas.

The screening of the recent Film Coco Avant Chanel with the delectable Audrey Tautou capped off a perfect day of francophonie, a celebration of French language, culture and above all diversity.

To become a member of AF, email [email protected]. A lecture by Ramanujam Sooriamoorthy on the place of the French language in the age of globalisation will be held in FHTS on Thursday at 20h.

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Bill on government preschools to appear before parliament

A bill governing pre-schools has been presented to parliament by Independent MP Ahmed Shiyam and was accepted by all 64 members present.

If the bill is approved the government would assume responsibility for funding the country’s preschools, which are now largely privately operated.

Deputy Minister for Education Shifa Mohamed said preschools were very important as they represented the first stage of education.

But she also noted that it was very difficult for the government to handle and develop preschools at a time when it was focusing on widening the availability of higher education.

”It would be very difficult for the government to handle the preschools as the country’s economic condition is also not very good, and I do not think the approved budget would be sufficient,” Shifa said.

She called on the MPs to include sufficient funding in the budget and increase it as necessary.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the government supported the preschool bill, approved by the majority of MDP MPs as well.

”Every one dollar spent on preschool education represents seven dollars saved in secondary,” he explained.

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Thirty coconut palms vandalised on Nadella

A group of people have cut down 30 coconut palm trees on the island of Nadella in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, the same area where President Mohamed Nasheed had promised to develop a football stadium.

Councilor of Nadella Abbas Ali told Minivan News that given that the price of one grown palm tree was Rf500 a sapling Rf100, the incident on Monday night represented a total loss Rf3500 to the community.

“Some of the people earn money by selling coconuts and items made from palm trees,” he said.

”In that area there are 430 palm trees belonging to 25 people. It is a very big loss for some people.”

”Apparently they had used electric or petrol saws.”

Abbas said the Island office informed about it to the police yesterday morning.

He said the islanders had disputed the development of a football stadium in the area because recently land was reclaimed to develop the stadium in another area.

He said the palm trees were growing 300 feet away from where people lived.

Mohamed Rasheed, a man who lost two palm trees in the incident, said the trees had belonged to his grandfather and he had been waiting for them to get old so he could use the logs.

”I also use the palm trees to get coconuts,” he said.

Head of Gaafu Dhaalu police station Ahmed Naseeh said the police yet to begin investigating the case.

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Director general of WHO visits Maldives

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Margaret Chan has visited the Maldives on invitation from the Minister of Health Aiminath Jameel.

Chan said there were two main purposes of her visit to the Maldives, “to see how the WHO is working with the government and to see the economic impacts of climate change on the country.”

Chan said the government had done ”very well” with the health sector and been particularly successful in controlling communicable diseases, such as the H1N1 virus.

She said non-communicable diseases, such as mental health, remained a significant challenge for the country.

She also noted that a significant percentage of the country’s medical staff were expatriate, including 60 per cent of its nurses and 90 per cent of its doctors.

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Government spending on tourism marketing comes under scrutiny

A tour operator has claimed that the government should not spend so much money marketing multi-million dollar resorts, particularly since it receives such limited revenue from the industry in return.

Ahmed Firaq, chairman of tour operator Inner Maldives, said the government should not be so much money on tourism advertisement marketing resorts as many had their own marketing campaigns.

Firaq told newspaper Miadhu that the “amount of money being spent on tourism advertising is the same money which could go into the development of social services”.

Government tourism advertising

State Minister of Tourism Thoyyib Mohamed Waheed said the government’s budget for tourism, including marketing, is planned each year in advance.

“The money [for marketing] comes from both stakeholders and the government,” Waheed said, mentioning that the industry adds to the budget if it is asked by the government.

“If there is not enough funding, we approach the industry,” he said.

Waheed said the “industry is quite cooperative” but added the government “does needs more help and support from it.”

Secretary General for the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) Mohamed Maleeh Jamal said after the 2004 Tsunami the marketing budget “drastically increased” to about US$9 million per year.

This number remained unchanged until the 2008 economic depression, when the budget decreased to its current amount of US$2.5 million, used mainly for destination marketing.

Sim Mohamed from Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said the government has “very little money to play around with. When this government took over, [the country] was broke.”

Sim said marketing was essential in times of crisis, particularly following events such as the 2004 tsunami or the financial depression, as “you need to let people know you are still here.”

Jamal noted that MATATO’s main concern “is the total number of rooms is increasing and the [marketing] budget is down. If it is reduced further, in the long run we will be disadvantaged.”

Jamal estimated this year’s spend on tourism marketing across the Maldives to be around US$30 million. The industry, he said, was providing around US$20 million for specific product marketing.

He said in a time when the tourism industry is being “expanded north to south” the government should at least maintain the previous budget, if not increase it.

With the new tourism taxation bill being considered in parliament, (a bill that will phase out the ‘bed tax’ which currently stands at US$8 per night) the government will be getting an additional six percent in revenue from the tourism industry, “but they are still reducing the marketing budget,” Jamal claimed.

Marketing the Maldives as a tourist destination

Sim agreed that “the government should get out of [marketing] all together” and “business should be left to businesses.”

But he expressed his appreciation for the government’s efforts to help the industry, saying “we like what the government is trying to do.”

Sim believes “the government should regulate and set national and industry standards” and not focus so much on advertising.

“It is tour operators who sell the Maldives,” Sim said, and “they are doing a good job at it. We should keep them happy.”

He added that “the tourism industry is not about resorts alone, but also employment, transport and aviation.”

He also questioned on whether the government should be spending any money on marketing the Maldives as a tourist destination, saying “it sells itself.”

And although there are other similar products on the market, Sim says the Maldives offers “unique features” and not a lot of money is needed to market it as a travel destination.

However Jamal said competition in the region is a major concern. He noted that the Sri Lankan government has allocated US$50 million to tourism marketing this year, a significant amount compared to how much the Maldivian government is spending.

“We need to maintain occupancy,” Jamal said, adding that the Pacific islands, the Middle East and African countries like Mozambique were quickly becoming major competitors.

One of the main marketing strategies for the Maldives, according to Jamal, is “destination branding”. This brings another major concern for MATATO to the surface.

Jamal said tour operators “now say the Maldives is sinking”, and asked why travel agencies would send their customers to a “sinking” destination.

Other traditional marketing strategies for the Maldives have been road shows and travel fairs. Jamal says road shows in China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East have been cancelled for this year, and that the Maldives is attending eight fewer travel fairs than it did last year.

“We don’t see much [advertising] in magazines,” Jamal said, adding that existing advertising contracts with television channels BBC, National Geographic and CNN will expire this June “and there is not enough budget to renew them.”

“The success of the tourism industry in the Maldives depends on whether or not we maintain advertising,” he said.

On his return from Copenhagen President Mohamed Nasheed said the Maldives’ growing significance on the world stage as an icon of climate change – and the associated free publicity – was worth far more than the government could ever spend on paid advertising.

Tourism Revenue

One of Firaq’s complaints was that the government should be spending this money on development for social services and not on tourism advertising.

When asked about Firaq’s statement that the revenue from the tourism industry should be spent on developing social services and not on marketing, Waheed noted that the money “doesn’t come straight to the ministry, but it goes to the Treasury.”

The Treasury then decides how the money is allocated; some of it goes to social services and some goes back to the tourism industry.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said “there is no direct relationship between tourism revenue and social service development.”

He added that the expenses of tourism marketing are jointly assumed by MATI, the Tourism Ministry and the Tourism Board.

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Total shark ban to imposed on 1 July decides cabinet

The long-expected ban on shark trade and export of shark products will come into effect on 1 July 2010.

The decision to impose the ban, which was meant to come into effect on 1 March 2010, was made yesterday in a cabinet meeting chaired by Vice President Mohamed Waheed.

At the meeting yesterday, the cabinet also decided the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture would assist shark fishermen to find alternative livelihoods.

The cabinet also decided to ratify the Agreement on the Establishment of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO).

One of the main objectives of this agreement is to develop standards for the region, and to facilitate intra-regional trade.

Cabinet members noted that with the ratification of this agreement, ‘consumer confidence on Maldivian local products will improve’.

The Maldives will also benefit from SARSO assistance in formulating national standards for products.

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President talks climate with German Minister for Environment

President Mohamed Nasheed met yesterday with German Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Dr Norbert Röttgen, at the Federal Ministry for Environment.

President Nasheed thanked Minister Röttgen and Germany’s constructive role at COP15 last year. He asked the EU for support in implementing the Copenhagen Accord.

President Nasheed also sought German assistance for adaptation and mitigation projects. He also discussed the importance of reaching a legally binding treaty in COP16, the next international climate summit to be held in Mexico later this year.

Dr Röttgen praised the president for his role in the Copenhagen Summit and said Germany would continue to support the Maldives in its efforts to tackle climate change.

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President Nasheed meets with financial sector experts in Germany

President Mohamed Nasheed met with officials from the development banking sector in Germany yesterday.

President Nasheed discussed investment and assistance for the Maldives at a meeting with representatives from KfW Entwicklungsbank (German Development Bank), German Investment and Development Company (DEG), and Senior Expert Services (SES).

They focused on the areas of investment in renewable energy, tourism and the fisheries industry.

The president sought assistance from the SES in restructuring state-owned enterprises.

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