Day: August 23, 2010

“Woodstock of the mind” coming to the Maldives

Imagine Ian McEwan, author of Atonement, performing a reading or participating in a panel discussion on a beach in a Maldivian island.

That is exactly what Hay Festival Maldives promises to do.

Famously described as “the Woodstock of the mind” by former US President Bill Clinton, the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts is among the most famous literary festivals in the world.

And for the first time, the festival is going to be held in Maldives from October 14-17 this year.

The festival is Europe’s largest literary and arts festival, which started in the sleepy village of Hay-on Wye in Wales – a village made famous for having the highest ratio of bookshops to inhabitants with over 30 bookshops for its population of 1,846.

Over the last few years the Hay Festival has gone global and now holds Festivals each year in Lebanon, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Kenya and India, with the Maldives the latest to join the list.

Hay in the Maldives

“The Maldives has gained fame in the world for its beaches and the sea, with this festival we hope to showcase the 2000 year old rich cultural heritage of the Maldives to the world,” says Xiena Saeed, Hay Festival Volunteer.

At the press conference announcing the Hay Festival Maldives, Xiena said she hopes that the festival will help start a vibrant literary and arts culture in the Maldives.

In keeping with the Hay tradition of fostering the exchange of ideas, the festival will bring together local and international writers, thinkers, musicians, filmmakers and scientists.

An exciting line-up of local and international artists promise to make the first Hay Maldives a memorable one.

Confirmed artists so far include well known local personality and writer Ogaru Ibrahim Waheed, and Fathimath Nahula, film director and writer of several screenplays and books.

They will speak alongside internationally famous authors like Ian McEwan, and historian and biographer Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and Mao.

With the growth of Hay Festival audience over the last 23 years from 1,000 people in Hay to 28,000 visitors on four continents each year, the festival is very conscious of the impact it has on the environment.

“In 2006 we started the Greenprint Project to audit our impacts and put in place actions to improve our sustainability,” says Andy Fryers, Project Director Hay Festival Maldives and Director of Greenprint.

The objectives of Greenprint are firstly to reduce the direct impacts of the Festival, and secondly to help the visiting public to reduce their own impacts, and thirdly, to programme debates, conversations and lectures, educating people about sustainability and stimulate action.

Andy says “the Maldives Festival follows similar lines to our other Festivals but with a stronger emphasis on the environment given the likely climate change impacts on the islands.”

This is reflected in the line up of environmental writers and campaigners like Montagu Don, Tim Smit – the businessman who founded the Eden project, the largest green house in the world – Mark Lynas, activist and author of several books on climate change including the acclaimed Six Degrees, and Chris Gorell-Barnes.

Musicians like popular band Fasy live and Mauritian-born electronic fusion artist Ravin,have been roped in to perform at the event.

As more artists are in the process of being confirmed, Xiena says “We would like to invite local writers and artists to get in touch with us if they are keen to participate in the festival.”

“This would be a good platform for local artists to showcase their talent and become known to a global audience .”

Festival Programme

The three-day festival will kick-start with a performance of live bands at Carnival grounds in Male at 7:00pm on 14th October.

It will then move on to the presidential retreat island of Aarah.

“We will start the next day’s programmes after Friday prayers at Aarah,” says Xiena.

Panel discussions and debates will take place at Aarah for the next two days. This will be a rare opportunity for the public to gain access to Aarah, as it had been used as a presidential retreat since the 50s.

“Aarah was chosen as its a suitable venue near the capital, we want to ensure that it is easy for Maldivians and tourists to to mingle freely and celebrate the arts and culture Maldives.”

On the last day of the festival on the 17th, writers and artists’ workshop will be held in schools and colleges to encourage a new generation of artists.

Later on with National Centre for the Arts (NCA), which is facilitating the holding of the festival, Hay Festival Maldives plans to develop a rolling programme of workshops for this year and next.

Xiena explains that “The workshops will teach children and young people to interview their parents and grandparents, to gather and record legends and stories and experiences of life in the Maldives over the past century.”

The stories are to be collected in a huge online library to be launched at the second Hay Festival Maldives 2011.

A limited number of tickets are being sold keeping in mind the capacity of each venue.

2000 tickets will be available for the music show that will be launching the festival.

“1000 tickets will be sold for each day at Aarah, because that is the capacity of the island,” informs Xiena.

The tickets will be sold from the first week of September at NCA, and Xiena promises “the tickets will be at an affordable price for the locals, as we want a high participation from Maldivians.”

The event will also be marketed to tourists – at a different price than locals – however with the Hay Festival being a non-profit organisation tickets will remain reasonably-priced, organisers claim.

Hay Festival Maldives promises to be an exciting literary and arts event, the first major cultural festival to be held in the Maldives in recent times, and one not to be missed.

The participating Maldivian artists are currently being programmed, if you wish to be considered please send details to [email protected]. If you would like more information about the festival please drop by the festival desk at Olympus Theater between 21:00pm to 23:00pm.

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Seized swords imported under company name of “prominent businessman”: Customs

Swords seized recently by the Maldives Customs Services were imported to the Maldives in a shipment under the name of a company belonging to a “prominent” businessman, according spokesperson of the Maldives Customs Services, Mohamed Ibrahim.

Ibrahim however declined to reveal the name of the person or the company, “as the investigation of the case is ongoing.’’

The stun weapon intercepted at the airport

A shipment of swords and 260 toy guns were intercepted by customs inspectors in July. The inspectors discovered the weapons inside a container imported to the Maldives that was originally loaded in China.

Photos of the guns released by Customs identified them as realistic-looking ‘Airsoft’ guns, which fire small, hard plastic pellets and can be purchased from toy shops in places such as Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“The toy guns and the swords were both found in two containers imported by one cargo ship,’’ said Ibrahim. “But they were cleared by the customs individually so [the guns] were found on a later occasion.’’

Maldives Customs Services yesterday seized black masks and a high-voltage Chinese-made electric stun gun. Such weapons inflict pain and momentary paralysis when the two probes are applied directly to the target.

One of the intercepted pellet guns

“The stun gun was found inside the baggage of a 22 year-old Maldivian who arrived from Colombo on flight UL107. Four black face masks were also found with him,’’ Ibrahim said.

One of the masks found in a passenger's luggage

“Another five black masks were found with a 25 year-old Maldivian who arrived with him. They have both now been handed over to police.’’

Aside from their luggage Ibrahim said the two men “looked decent” and appeared generally unremarkable.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the two men remained in police custody but would not give any more details of the case.

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Adhaalath Party’s Pakistan relief fund nears Rf400,000

The Adhaalath Party’s fund to help flood victims in Pakistan has raised almost Rf400,000 (US$31,000) reported SunFM.

The party’s president Sheikh Hussein Rasheed told the station that Rf392,699 total had been raised up to last Saturday.

The money earned by the fund will be delivered to the government of Pakistan after Eid, according to the SunFM report.

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Kurumba management evacuates guests as strike talks deadlock

An ongoing strike at Kurumba Maldives resort near Male’ has prompted management to move the island’s guests to other resorts run by the Universal Group, while other visitors have chosen to leave the country.

More than 150 Maldivian and expatriate staff are on strike after complaining of poor staff facilities, low wages, unfair distribution of service charges and discrimination between local and foreign staff.

Assistant Human Resources Manager Ibrahim Hassan told Minivan News that no staff were currently working at the resort, as “almost all” were now involved in the strike action. Nearly 250 guests had been relocated to other resorts or had cut short their holidays and left the country, he said.

“At the moment [the strikers] are very calm. They are standing in front of the Human Resources [office] and not coming out of the staff area,” Ibrahim said.

“Yesterday it became serious when they came out of the staff area and threatened senior management. Some senior managers have [subsequently] left the island.”

A third meeting between staff and management yesterday failed to resolve the deadlock, he noted. No staff member had yet been dismissed, he added.

Police have meanwhile arrived on the island to monitor the situation. Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said a police team was sent after police received reports that management were being threatened.

A staff member on strike told Minivan News that the workers decided to continue the strike after management “did not give us an adequate answer” by the workers’ deadline of 4:00pm yesterday.

“Nobody is on duty and guests have complained about the poor services, so the management decided to transfer all the guests to other resorts,” he said.

Striking staff complain to senior managers

During the last meeting resort management had given the staff a written reply to their demands, promising the construction of a new staff accommodation block in September and the formation of a staff committee representing various departments.

“We have four main concerns: wages, service charge [payments], food and accommodation,” he said. “For food and accommodation they gave a pleasant answer. But regarding wages and the service charge, they could not give an adequate answer – they said they were revising the salaries but did not know when they could increase them.”

When staff said the response was inadequate, management replied they were unable to alter the decision, he said.

“That response caused outrage among staff and some of the senior management officials were forced to leave the island,’’ he added. “Police came to the island to control the situation.’’

The staff claimed they would strike until management fulfilled their demands, he said.

Sim Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) described the industrial action at Kurumba as “a clear reflection of what little protection is provided to investors and businesses under the present laws pertaining to the conduct of business in the country.”

“The reality of the situation is that an investment of millions of dollars can be crippled andheld at ransom within a few hours by its own employees, whose grievances may or may not be real,” Sim said, adding that this situation had recently occurred in several resorts.

“The situation in Kurumba is a case in point. On Sunday August 22 the resort occupancy [percentage] was in the 80’s. Towards evening that day occupancy had fallen to less than 20% percent,” Sim said. “Tourists, tour operators and senior management have been too terrified to remain in the resort, and today the resort is empty.”

“There should be no ground for any party to reduce visitors and businesses in this country to a state of fear and terror, whoever may be at fault. The government must provide tourists and investors with adequate protection,” Sim said.

The Universal-run resort near Male’ is one of the oldest private resort islands in the Maldives, reopening as a five-star luxury resort in 2004 following renovation.

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Terrorism tip-off letter sent to DRP MP, forwarded to authorities, media

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) is publicly claiming to have received an anonymous letter warning of a supposed terrorist attack against the Maldives.

DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf said he received the letter at around 8:30pm on Saturday evening, signed by “someone who loves their country”, purporting to have information regarding an attack later this month and detailing a list of targets, including the past and current President, senior officials, MPs from both parties, Criminal Court judges and foreign diplomats.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, DRP Deputy Leader Umar Naseer said the party had yesterday “learned of the plot [concerning] a foreign group planning to attack the Maldives”, while People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdulla Yameen – chair of the National Security Committee – confirmed there would be a meeting on Monday.

Umar went on to reveal the supposed ‘hit list’, which included President Mohamed Nasheed, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, MDP MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Gasim Ibrahim, Yameen, DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, DRP MPs Ilham Ahmed, Ali Waheed and Mahlouf, former Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, former Supreme Court Justice Mujthaz Fahmy, Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, UN Resident Coordinator Andrew Cox, and himself.

Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) media coordinator Major Abdul Raheem confirmed that Chief of Defence Forces Major General Moosa Jaleel had been verbally informed of the letter, and an investigation was underway.

“There is no information as to the origin [of the letter], but we are taking it seriously and looking into the matter,” he said.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said police “are not saying anything officially.”

Mahlouf acknowledged the “odd” choice of targets for a supposed foreign terrorist group, but noted that the letter had asked him to pass the information to the concerned authorities. It was written in Dhivehi, he noted.

“I don’t know if it is true or false or a trick to threaten us. Still, it’s a letter I take very seriously,” he said. “In 1988 there was talk that the then defence minister received information about the attempted coup, but action was not taken because it was not thought to be serious.”

“Even when I first read [the letter] I thought it was a joke, but I discussed with my fellow MPs and decided to send it to the police,” he said. “I called Gasim and he said he had also received a note.”

Mahlouf said the DRP MPs had further decided to publicise the threats in the media “because we believe some people would try to frame the opposition as being involved in this. Also if there is an attack planned, [the attackers] may not go ahead because of the publicity.”

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the government wished to thank the DRP MPs for bringing the threats to the government’s attention, and said he believed “there might be some truth” to the claims as the MNDF had said they were “not isolated to one source.”

“It coincides with the importation of a stun gun and other security [events] by a Maldivian individual,” Zuhair observed.

Maldives Customs stopped two men aged 20 and 25 with a stun gun and nine masks from the midnight Sri Lankan Airlines flight. The 3,800 watt stun gun was found on the 20-year-old.

In past weeks, customs officials found five 3-feet long swords in a general cargo shipment at the Male’ commercial harbour, while on August 9, customs seized 250 toy guns guns and handed them over to the MNDF for investigation.

Zuhair added that he did not subscribe to the “theory of others” that the publicising of the letter was an attempt at political gain, but that rather its release showed the opposition “is trying to gain the confidence of the government following conclusion of the interim period.”

However, regarding the threats in the letter sent to Mahlouf, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed said he had “never heard anything more ridiculous in my entire life.”

“Obviously there’s a madman on the loose. But why wasn’t the information shared just with police? It doesn’t require scaremongering. My concern is that this is scaremongering, and that is not very helpful.”

Dr Shaheed further observed that “the collective wisdom of the ages is that one shouldn’t cry wolf if there is no wolf, and if there is a wolf, the concerned authorities should be allowed to make a swift, sharp and discreet investigation. Terrorists may be mad, but there is method to their madness.”

The concept of a military coup remains a sensitive subject in the Maldives, following an attempt by 80 armed mercenaries of the Sri Lankan People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) to overthrow the Maldives government in 1988.

The plot was foiled when Indian paratroopers arrived less than 12 hours later on request by then-President Gayoom. 19 people died in the fighting, along with several hostages.

More recently the government has expressed concern at rising levels of Islamic fundamentalism in the Maldives, culminating in the 2007 bomb attack in Sultans Park that injured 12 tourists, and an armed stand-off between islanders from Himandhoo in North Ari Atoll and police who were attempting to close the unsanctioned Dhar al Khuir mosque. Footage from a video taken inside the mosque prior to the police raid would later appear in an Al Qaeda recruitment video.

Last week, two of the three men sentenced to 15 years prison for the Sultans’ Park bombing, Ahmed Naseer and Mohamed Sobah, had their sentences commuted to suspended sentences by the government under the new Clemency Act, with accompanying promises that they would be “well observed”.

The bomb attack near the Sultan Park was the first such incident to occur in the Maldives and received widespread publicity around the globe, damaging the tourism industry.

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