Comment: United we stand, divided we fall

After reading the article on Minivan News titled “DRP celebrates ‘beginning of the end’ for government” I can only say I hope MDP takes this as a wake up call.

We saw Maldivians uniting to bring down Gayyoom’s regime. Now it looks like Maldivians are uniting to bring down President Nasheed’s regime.

Surely, something must be seriously wrong in how the country is governed. Otherwise why would everyone unite to bring down a government for whose success in the presidential elections they so passionately worked?

Gayyoom could not digest why he failed when he failed. I am not sure whether he has still recovered from that blow. And from what I am hearing from people like Reeko Moosa, it looks like MDP is also in an euphoric state from which a defeat is seen as what is next to impossible, if not as impossible.

The Nasheed-Waheed team is a dream team. Maldivians saw this.

Anyone who has any doubts about this will need to think of what happened in the parliamentary elections when the dream team decided to split and go on their own. The result was Nasheed could not win majority and Waheed could not win a single seat. But together, they formed a team that won the blessings of almost all the other presidential contestants and as a result the majority votes in the presidential elections.

If Nasheed made someone else his VP, will the others back him? Or will he even get enough votes to go for a second round? Only God knows. But because the Nasheed-Waheed team won the presidential elections, and is serving us today as our leaders, it is only fair to say they are a dream team.

From the news of Waheed’s dissatisfaction we have been hearing lately, it is obvious that the dream team no longer works as a team.

According to an article on Haveeru, Reeko Moosa says, the allegation that the president is running the country as per his and Mariya’s advice is true. Form what he says, I understand that it should only be expected. Moosa says the president MUST govern the country according to the guidelines formed by the MDP parliamentary group and MDP members.

This to me is where things are going terribly wrong.

This is not an MDP government. We have a coalition; by which I mean we have a government that SHOULD run not as an MDP government but as a coalition.

I want this government not just to work, but to do it successfully. Otherwise this could be seen as such a mockery of Maldivian politics.

In my mind, President Nasheed rightly deserves the post. After all, he fought for it; he struggled and suffered as a result. But his vision for the people kept him strong. His pledges impressed me and I don’t think they are impossible things to do. And it would be so wrong to say he is not trying to fulfill his pledges. Then why are we hearing so much of criticism of his government?

I have a feeling he is receiving all the bad rap because he is influenced too much by his own party and also by some of the international agencies who supported his cause. This obviously is not helping. Otherwise there should not be even a moment where the government appears to be on the brink of a collapse.

MDP’s euphoric state will perhaps make them blind to the government being at the “beginning of the end.” They will probably not agree with Umar Naseer in this. But, from all we are hearing, the government’s end seems to be not at the horizon, but much closer than that. This to me is a pathetic state of affairs.

The only solution for the government is, to seek vide ranging advice and opinions that will open all lines of thinking. The ‘drawback’ of this is that such consultations will not allow everything to be done the way MDP wants. Even so, I am sure no one in the coalition will act as a hindrance in implementing the MDP manifesto. And this is not at all a drawback considering that this will keep the government standing.

United we stand, divided we fall.

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President departs for China

President Mohamed Nasheed and First Lady Madam Laila Ali concluded their visit to Bhutan to attend the 16th SAARC Summit and departed for China today.

In China, the president is expected to inaugurate the Maldives pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, a global event expected to draw 70 million people.

President Nasheed will also conduct talks with senior Chinese government officials during his visit.

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President participates in CNN Earth Frontiers debate

President Mohamed Nasheed participated in the CNN Earth Frontiers debate in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday, along with Academy Award-winning director James Cameron, Puma’s CEO Jochen Zeitz, and Changhua Wu of The Climate Group.

Climate skeptics are indicative of societies in decay, the president said, calling for greater urgency in dealing with climate change.

“If we cannot become carbon neutral by mid-century, then we won’t be around here. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Reruns of the programme will be aired today at 10.30pm local time as well as throughout the day on Sunday.

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Diabetes Society marks 10th anniversary

The Diabetes Society of Maldives of Maldives celebrated its 10th anniversary at a ceremony at Dharubaaruge (convention centre) last night.

Speaking at the event, Vice-President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik stressed the importance of disseminating information of diabetes to students and young adults.

In his speech, Mohamed Waheedeen, chairman of the society, said the association was planning to introduce laboratory services next year.

The Diabetes Society of Maldives (DSM), with membership exceeding 900 people, provides support for diabetics and conducts fund raising activities for children with diabetes.

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Kooddoo loses Rf22 million in three months

The Kooddoo Fisheries Complex faced losses of Rf22 million in its final three months under the state-run Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO), State Minister for Economic Development Adhil Saleem has revealed.

Adhil met with employees of Koodoo on Thursday after taking over management of the fisheries complex last week, according to Voice of Maldives.

Kooddoo was detached from MIFCO by the finance ministry following a dispute between MIFCO senior management and Kooddoo staff over changes to duty shifts.

Employees at the factory had staged demonstrations on the island last month in response to reduced benefits and working hours.

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Parliament postpones recess

Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday to postpone its recess until the bill on local council elections could be passed.

The resolution proposed by opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed was sent to the general affairs committee with 62 votes in favour.

On Thursday, Independent MP Nazim Rashad, chairman of the committee, presented the resolution back to the floor without any amendments.

The resolution was adopted with 45 votes in favour out of the 51 MPs in attendance.

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Govt to propose amendments to Employment Act

Amendments to the Employment Act will be presented to the next session of parliament, Minister of Human Resources, Youth and Sports Hassan Latheef has said.

In an interview with Voice of Maldives on the occasion of May Day, the minister said the amendments have now been sent to the president’s office and were part of the process of ratifying conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The minister said a draft legislation on introducing trade unions and collective bargaining has also been completed.

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) will hold a May Day rally in Male’ today.

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