Day: August 29, 2010

Private channels are run with “ill-gotten” money, claims Moosa

Parliamentary Group Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik, has claimed that private broadcasting channels in the Maldives are operated with “ill-gotten” money.

“These TV channels misuse freedom of media to assassinate the characters of political figures whose minds do not coincide with theirs,’’ alleged Moosa.

Moosa criticised the country’s private channels for “never speaking about anything done right by the current government.”

“Everything we do: these TV channels will talk about it wrongly as if it was bad for the people,’’ Moosa claimed.

“Even though we construct a mosque on an island, they will speak about it as if it was not good for the people,” he said.

Moosa accused Villa TV (VTV), owned by leader of the minority opposition Jumhoree Party (JP) Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim, and DhiTV, owned by Hassan ‘Champa’ Afeef, of misleading people by hiding all the development projects conducted by the government. The announcers of the channels “who cooperate with these organisations should be ashamed to do so,” he claimed.

“Freedom of expression is not only for the benefit of the media – if the media is falling from the right path, people have the right to express opinions against the media,’’ Moosa said.

Editor of DhiTV, Midhath Adam, said that Moosa’s remarks were obviously aimed at the owners of VTV and DhiTV.

‘’If Moosa was referring to the DhiTV news, that technically means he is attempting to narrow freedom of expression,” Midhath said.

“Whether Moosa likes it or not, we have to broadcast the different opinions and ideas of different people,’’ he said. “Anyway, this is just Moosa’s point of view. We can digest criticism and we are not outraged because of these comments,’’ he said.

In a press statement last week, the Maldives Journalists Association “strongly condemned” remarks made by Moosa on August 17, when the MP publicly threatened “action” against VTV for “repeatedly misleading and broadcasting news in a way that smears respect for MDP”.

“MJA also sad to note that a senior official of MDP – a party known for voicing free media – has repeatedly slated the media… and incited public hatred against journalism,” the MJA said.

In a retaliatory statement, Moosa claimed “some TV stations were established with the intention to cause civil unrest among the citizens, smear the respect of political figures in the country, and bother their personal life.”

“I am astonished that the MJA is silent about this matter,” he said, adding that the fact media were airing such claims was evidence that media freedom existed.

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John Keells Holdings switches leases from Alidhoo to Dhonveli

John Keells Holdings has concluded a leasing switch of tourism properties in the Maldives, according to a report in the Sri Lankan Sunday Times.

In a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the diversified group which – together with Aitken Spence – is a large Sri Lankan leisure operator in neigbouring Maldives, said that it “divested the head lease of loss-making Alidhoo Island as consideration received the head lease of Dhonveli Island for a period of 18 years.”

The group previously had a sublease of Dhonveli until 2021.

“While the transaction itself will not result in a capital gain or loss in the profit and loss statement of the group, the sale of the loss making Alidihoo Island, which is located in the Northern-most atoll in the Maldives and the acquisition of the head lease of Dhonveli Island, which is profitable and just fifteen minutes by speed boat from the capital Male, will have a positive impact on the profitability of the group going forward,” the statement said.

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Universal issues statement “deeply deploring” actions of strike organisers

Universal Enterprises has issued a statement announcing the return of guests to the Kurumba Maldives resort from August 26, following last week’s industrial action.

The statement said the company “deeply deplored” the actions of strike organisers at Kurumba last week, claiming they “sent employees armed with makeshift weapons to blockade the main kitchen and physically threaten staff serving meals to guests”.

Staff at the resort – the first in the Maldives – declared themselves on strike early last week, complaining of inadequate staff accommodation and food, discrimination and unfair distribution of service charges.

“As a direct result of the violent acts witnessed by guests at the resort, all guests at Kurumba Maldives vacated the resort, while a number of booking cancellations were made, and Kurumba Maldives operated with zero guest occupancy between August 23 and 25,” Universal said in its statement.

Universal claimed that striking employees had been acting “under significant misconceptions, particularly in respect of some crucial aspects relating to computation of service charge and wage policies.”

“However, despite having key financial staff on standby from late evening on August 21 until the early evening of August 23, Universal was prevented by the organisers of the action from providing accurate and detailed information to the employees.”

“The organisers of the action continued [a] pattern of threatening behaviour together with unruly demonstrations directly in front of guest areas, when the Universal delegation presented Universal’s promised response in the presence of a representative from the Ministry of Tourism and three officers from the Labour Relations Authority,” the statement read.

“Despite Universal taking immediate action to resolve the matters of contention, and furthermore despite Universal’s pledge to thoroughly investigate all employee complaints, the organisers of he strike took just ten minutes to unilaterally reject all of Universal’s proposals and incite roting on the resort,” the company said.

“Despite the rioting that took place, Universal persisted in its attempts to resolve the situation peacefully. However, despite repeated requests, and in particular attempts by the governmental officers to persuade them to meet for discussions, the employees refused to commit to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. As a result, both the Tourism Ministry and the Labour Relations Authority withdrew their representatives from the resort.”

The protest was resolved peacefully on August 23 after Universal withdrew its consent for employees to strike on the privately-owned island. A team of police then mediated the return to work of the majority of employees, while four resigned. 19 staff were taken into police custody at Dhoonidhoo pending an investigation into intimidation and vandalism. The Criminal Court last week ruled that those staff should not leave Male’ for a period of five days during the police investigation.

Universal claimed that during the rioting, “and in most instances in full view of the guests, senior management staff were pursued through guest areas by mobs, physically assaulted, received death threats and warnings of physical dismemberment, and generally put in fear for their lives.”

“Doors were battered down, and attempts made to prevent vessels from departing the island. Universal also notes that the three officers of the Maldives Police Service then on the island were manhandled, threatened with physical harm, subjected to gross verbal abuse, and even physically obstructed in the execution of their duties. In addition, the representative from the Tourism Ministry and the officers of the Labour Relations Authority were subjected to harassment and grossly intimidating behaviour, threats and verbal abuse.”

President of the Tourism Employment Association of the Maldives (TEAM), Ahmed Easa, who is also an MP of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said claims of guests being intimidated and staff deploying makeshift weaponry “were nonsense”.

“All we tried to do was collect staff to sit down in an open area, and not even use a hotel building or property. These claims are total nonsense and an attempt to place blame on us,” Easa claimed.

He acknowledged that a staff member had chased the secretary of the resort’s General Manager, “after she used bad words”.

“Police were there the whole time,” he said, claiming that allegations of three police officers being manhandled by strikers were “probably rubbish”.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam would not confirm whether police officers had been obstructed and manhandled, but noted that police “had received these complaints and are investigating the matter.”

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Maldivian mother give birth to conjoined twins

A Maldivian mother has reportedly given birth to conjoined twins in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

Hospital Spokesperson Zeenath Ali declined to disclose information about the twins, stating that the family had requested that information regarding the incident not be disclosed, and that the hospital’s medical staff also did not wish to disclose any information about the babies.

“Truly, we also do not know about it,” she said, adding that the hospital’s record system “will only show that a person gave birth, and does not include what kind of baby was born or its condition.”

Local newspaper Haveeru, which claimed to have pictures of the twins, reported that they were both female and shared the one heart, and that their condition was serious.

Conjoined twins, also known as ‘Siamese twins’, is a rare phenomenon thought to occur between one in every 50,000 to 100,000 births, with a higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa, and a greater frequency among females.

Approximately half conjoined twins are stillborn, while a smaller percentage of those pairs born alive  “have abnormalities incompatible with life”, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the subject.

The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25 percent, while most cases of surgery to separate twins are extremely risky and life-threatening.

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MBC to take MNBC issue to court

The Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), established under a law enacted by parliament, has said it will take the government-created state media body Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) to court, in a dispute over which organisation would take control of the state media’s assets.

Daily newspaper Haveeru reported that the MBC will request in the Civil Court that the MNBC transfer all the assets, money and staff of MNBC to MBC.

Political Adviser for the President, Hassan Afeef, recently stated that the MNBC would not be dissolved even though parliament had established the MBC.

Afeef claimed that the two channels of the state media, Voice of Maldives and Television Maldives, were assets of MNBC and no asset of a company shall be transferred to another company without the consent of the owners, and that therefore the two channels could not be given to MBC.

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President reaffirms commitment to rule of law

Speaking in his weekly radio address over the weekend, President Mohamed Nasheed reaffirmed his commitment to the rule of law.

The Maldives government recently came under heavy criticism internationally for its nine day detention of People’s Alliance (MP) Abdulla Yameen in the Presidential Retreat of Aarah, after accusing him of vote-buying and treason. The Civil Court last week ruled that this action was unconstitutional.

Speaking in his radio address, President Nasheed expressed concern over the misuse of laws and the courts, claiming that “some politicians think of laws or even the courts as political tools”.

“The expectation of laws is compliance, and the expectation from decisions by courts is that people could have confidence in them,” he added.

Nasheed claimed that using laws for the wrong purposes undermined the rule of law and made them useless.

The President also discussed the historical significance of the day, the 17th of Ramadan, on which the Battle of Badr took place. The Battle of Badr is considered a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point the Prophet Mohamed’s struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca.

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Maldives to donate Rf3 million (US$233,500) to Pakistan relief efforts

The Maldives will donate a total of more than Rf3 million (US$233,500) to Pakistan in humanitarian aid for victims of the worst flooding in the country’s history.

A fund was launched by the Adhaalath Party after the floods struck quickly drew participation from other political parties and NGOs, raising Rf1.6 million towards relief efforts. Organisers commented to newspaper Haveeru that they hoped this amount would rise to Rf2.6 million.

The Maldives government has meanwhile donated Rf400,000 to a relief fund launched by the Pakistani High commission, which confirmed to Haveeru that Rf1.5 million had been received so far.

The Teachers Association has set up fund collection boxes in several supermarkets in Male’, with others in the fish market and local market on Saturday.

“We have decided to hold a rally at artificial beach area today afternoon. We also intend to set up fund boxes at every mosque after Friday prayer,” head of the association, Abdulla Mohamed, told Haveeru.

Local companies, resorts, and private parties are also donating to the fund, the newspaper reported.

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British Council to expand projects in Maldives

The British Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maldives, defining the scope of future British Council programmes to be delivered in the Maldives.

Country Director of British Council Sri Lanka, Gill Westaway and the Maldives Minister of State of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed Waheed, signed the MOU on Thursday.

“While maintaining many of our current services, particularly examinations administration and advice in studying in the UK, we have already put in place an exciting menu of projects which represent new departures in the way in which we want to work with the Maldivian people,” said Westaway.

“One is our desire to recruit three Maldivian Climate Champions who will work with us as part of an India Sri Lanka regional programme on climate change.”

Alongside the signing of the MOU, the British Council also launched its climate Cchange programme in the Maldives, a programme that has been successfully implemented for the past three years by British Council India and Sri Lanka.

One of the key areas of work in Climate Change is the global roll-out of the ‘Climate Champions’ programme. British Council currently has 70 Champions in India and five Champions in Sri Lanka working on community and grassroots level projects. The programme launched in the Maldives will select three young Maldivians as new International Climate Champions.

The British Council will also collaborate with the organisers of the world famous Hay festival in Hay, and will support the festival in the Maldives.

One of the primary drivers behind this event is to reflect Maldivian culture to the world, while demonstrating that the islands are more than sun, sea, and sand – the image it has in the eyes of many, the British Council said in a statement.

The Hay Festival is scheduled to take place from 14 – 17 October 2010 and is planned to be held annually over the next three years.

British Council Sri Lanka is also seeking to provide training to staff of the Maldives National Library, through work attachments and job shadowing in the Colombo office. This capacity building will be delivered to the staff in September 2010.

With the British Council office in Male’ set to relocate to new premises in the National Museum Building, the UK’s cultural relations organisation is firmly committed to strengthen its work in the Maldives and offer programmes in key new areas, as demonstrated by the launch of their Climate Change project.

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