Day: September 6, 2010

Downturn in European market offset by increased tourism from Asia

Tourists arrivals to the Maldives, where two Sri Lankan conglomerates own or operate resorts, are recovering from recession but construction of more hotels is seen hitting room rates, reports Lanka Business Online.

Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence and John Keells Holdings had long relied on their Maldivian resorts to compensate for lower earnings or losses in their local hotels during the island’s ethnic war.

But earnings from Maldivian hotels were hit last year owing to global recession which reduced arrivals from the main market in Western Europe.

Although arrivals from Europe are likely to be affected in the short to medium term by the region’s economic woes, CT Smith Stockbrokers said in a report they expect this to be mitigated by increased arrivals from Asia, especially China.

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Maldives witnessing a classic test of democratic ideals

Two years after the Maldives attained the Wilsonian democracy, it’s witnessing a classic test of democratic ideals with a political struggle emerging between President Mohamed Nasheed and the opposition dominated parliament, writes Balaji Chandramohan for the Atlantic Sentinel.

“The struggle has “invited” regional mediation from Sri Lanka with the countries as China, India and Pakistan wanting to have a crack at solving the problem as well. The United States, meanwhile, have urged Malé to accept international (i.e., not regional) mediation.

“The problem with the Maldives’ politics is multiplied by the paradox of its constitution. The constitution, which was adopted in August 2008, establishes a presidential system of government though vests significant power with parliament. It is a classic example of decentralization with extended checks and balances. This becomes problematic in case parliament is controlled by the opposition as is the case in the Maldives today. The opposition is then able to obstruct the core functions of the executive, such as raising taxes and providing subsidies.

“The escalating political rift in the Maldives casts doubt upon Malé’s ability to host the 17th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation Summit next year. The Maldives were supposed to host the 16th SAARC summit in July 2008 which the government was unable to facilitate because of preparations for the October elections.”

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Police uncover new drug network, seize drugs worth Rf 500,000

The Maldives Police Service’s Drug Enforcement Department (DED) claim to have discovered a new drug network during a special operation conducted last night, and have seized suspected narcotics potentially worth Rf 500, 000 (US$38,910).

Head of DED, Superintendent Mohamed Jinah, said the drugs were discovered inside a rented apartment in Male’ and that four suspects had been arrested in connection with the case.

“This is a new drug network we have discovered. The packets we found contained about 427 grams of suspected narcotics,’’ said Jinah. “One of the persons’ fingerprints matches fingerprints on the packets.’’

Jinah said the imported packets did not appear to have been repacked, and police suspected it to be a type of heroin.

“The street value of the seized narcotics would be Rf 500,000,’’ he said.

He declined to reveal the location where the arrests were made, noting only that it was “a place leased for rent” and appealed to landlords to be more careful.

‘’There are more people to be arrested in connection with this case an we are currently looking for them,’’ he said.

He also noted that the four suspects already arrested did not have any police records.

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Lawsuit against Thasmeen “a political game”, claims Nihan

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan has claimed that a lawsuit lodged in the Civil Court against leader of the opposition and DRP MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali was “a political game.”

Local newspaper Haveeru reported that three board of directors of Victorious Travels and Tours – Aishath Alima of Machangoalhi Binmatheege, Thohira Hussein of Falhogasdhashuge/Dhaal atoll Kudahuvadhoo and Shaheedha Zakariya of Alivaage/Baa atoll Eydhafushi, had lodged three lawsuits against Thasmeen seeking compensation totaling more that Rf5.4 million (US$420,000) in a dispute over Kabaalifaru island in Kaaf Atoll.

According to Haveeru, the three women alleged the island was sold to Thasmeen under an agreement between him and Ali Shareef of Machangoalhi Anaavilla, who won the bid through Victorious Travel and Tours.

The travel agency demanded Shareef pay the amount received from the sale of the resort to the company, however in 2007 the company resolved to bill Thasmeen, Haveeru noted.

Thasmeen’s lawyer Ahmed Faiz told the newspaper that his client denied the charges and no agreement was made with the women.

‘’The articles on several media outlets lack information,’’ said Nihan. ‘’It does not mention the percentage of share those persons owned, and it’s very confusing.’’

Newspaper Miadhu reported that the plaintiffs owned 25 percent of the company.

Nihan said that although the matter was being touted as front page news, “the story is not really that sensitive an issue.”

Thasmeen said that as the case was now logged in court, he would not comment without the advice of his lawyers.

‘’My lawyers will issue a statement regarding the issue,’’ he added.

This is not the first time Thasmeen has been been taken to the civil court for unpaid debts.

On January 31 this year, People’s Alliance (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen filed a court case against Thasmeen for debts of US$100,000, two days after Thasmeen was elected uncontested to leadership of the DRP.

At the time the DRP quashed speculation that the DRP-PA coalition was under strain, however Yameen spoke to newspaper Miadhu claiming the elections process within the DRP was “not free and fair”, and that it was undemocratic that the party’s leader should be automatically selected without an election. Miadhu noted that Yameen’s own party had elected him as leader uncontested.

Furthermore, in a Bank of Maldives audit report released in January 2009, revealed that 60 percent of the US$633 million worth of loans issued in 2008 were granted to 12 parties.

According to the report, US$45 million was granted to Sultans of the Seas and US$36 million to Fonnadhoo Tuna Products, which comprised 13 per cent of the total loan amount in 2008.

The report noted that Fonaddhoo was owned by Thasmeen, while the owners of Sultans of the Seas were “closely associated” with the DRP leader.

Former Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem, who was recently dismissed in a no-confidence motion by the DRP-majority parliament, claimed at the time that defaults on bank loans issued to influential political players “could jeopardise the entire financial system of the country.”

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Comment: Political parties will not resolve current conflicts

The killer headlines these days are about the standstill to Maldives political party peace talks.

The UN has spent more than US$40,000 to recruit a peace negotiator, and the resources allocated towards this are justifiable. There have to be efforts made to resolve the bickering and barking of the political parties.

In my graduate studies in human rights and peace studies, I was asked in one course to research a paper on how to connect human rights and peace. It was challenging as these were two varied disciplines and the advocates of both notions have different discourses.

Oftentimes during conflicts, the human rights advocators desire to settle scores with the human rights violators and bring justice. If the human rights violators are the past regime or the government, the government will reject all peace talks.

At the same time, peace keepers may show some indifference to human rights violators as their main aim is to resolve disputes and conflicts so that peace processes and peace talks can resume. When you study the history of peace negotiations in conflicting countries, each country has undergone dissimilar transformations.

We can consider the examples of good peace negotiations and try to adapt a workable methodology that may be appropriate to Maldives.

No external expert can resolve the case without internal and domestic willingness to resolve the political differences to accord peace to the citizens of the Maldives.

Maldivian context

The international community has been adamant that the Maldivian politicians would be able to settle their differences for the sake of the Maldivian people. I was skeptical and shared my views with the international diplomatic missions, statesmen or whoever came during the past few months to influence the Maldives politicians to resolve our domestic political affairs.

At the beginning there were reservations by Maldivians and politicians that the good name of the peace talks could be stolen by external experts and foreign countries. When Assistant Secretary of US State Robert Blakes met us in July, I was critical and open.

I shook my head negatively at his hypothesis that political parties will resolve the conflict.

There was a series of successive visits by foreign diplomats before his visit and afterwards. Another visit was a mission from UN Department of Political Affairs who met stakeholders but kept nodding off through nearly all the meetings.

I predicted at the time that the peace talks will be boycotted sequentially. I predicted that the sudden quick agreements will stall if there are no international negotiation facilitations. I suggested having an international negotiation facilitation team of 2-3 members with local consultants.

It will be a costly affair but I felt it has to be done.

Psychological warfare

Do you know what happens when two kids starts fighting over a toy? Each kid will tug at the toy, trying to gain control and power. The stronger kid will always win.

A smart kid knows how to cajole, and sweet talk will win over the other kid. Nice is manipulative and always wins. We need this kind of approach in the resolution of politics in the Maldives.

Nobody wins at all rounds, some lose and some win. We have to learn to accept defeat sometimes.

Immature political games

The deadlock in parliament’s deliberations has been challenged several times, at a cost in public spending of Rf400,000 a day. When the deadlocks are at climax, the pressure rises from the public. The general public starts calling for the resignation of MPs through radio and television channels, which are their only outlet.

Local television polls have shown that the public believes the MPs are not doing their jobs, although the political parties do not take these polls seriously are claim this is work of the opposition or government.

Again, are there any laws where the public, ultimately the highest authority in the Maldives, can make the MPs accountable?

Unfortunately, there seems to be no such laws and the MPs seem to be above law. They have failed many times to pass the required laws as per the Constitution. The public has witnessed the MPs name-calling on the parliament floor, accusing everybody of corruption without citing credible sources, accusing each other of fraud, vulgarity and theft.

Many times we have seen the MPs committing criminal offenses in parliament by hitting each other, but none of these cases have been put to trial.

Each MP – not to be outdone – presents that he talks on behalf of the public. This is an old story we are sick of hearing.

How many MPs can truly say that they have talked and understood the voices of the public? The general public elected the MPs with high expectations and hopes for a better democracy.

Way forward

Dialogue, dialogue and more dialogue.  We understand the Maldivian context, we are going through a democratising process and there will be many political hurdles, but not at the cost of public spending, our public life, and political peace.

The MPs are paid large amounts of public money for their salaries and they have to fulfill their obligations. How can, the ruling Government, the opposition or the independent candidates say that they are not ready for dialogue or peace talks?

The only way forward to any political solution in the Maldives is to keep up the dialogue. Ask any Maldivian citizen and you will hear same thing: we need the politicians to talk and bring solutions to the political conflicts.

Also, the peace expert should climb down from his chair and talk to the average citizens to hear our grievances. To the politicians, if you are not ready to dialogue, please resign from the political scenario and give peace to average citizens.

We have bigger issues in trying to make ends meet and earn a living, what with the high rents, spike in food prices and living costs. In addition to this, we have to deal with drug and gang warlords, fear, and sadly a society disintegrating moral values.

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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