Month: October 2010

Hay Festival sells out, more tickets printed

The Hay Festival Maldives has sold out of tickets for the events at the presidential retreat of Aarah this weekend, with many Male’ residents ringing around trying to desperately obtain tickets at the last minute.

The Hay Festival launches this evening with a free concert held at the artificial beach in Male’ from 8pm until midnight. The line up includes an acoustic number from singer songwriter Appi and Fa’thu, the reggae rhythms of the Dinba Family, Bodu Beru drumming, Fasylive Silver and retrospective Hindi-pop from The Olympians.

The meat of the Hay Festival – two days of speaking sessions, storytelling and lectures by local and international luminaries and screenings of films such as the documentary End of the Line at, begins tomorrow at Aarah. Workshops for students will be held on Sunday.

Despite a slow beginning – less than 10 tickets were sold on the first day they went on sale – huge last minute demand has forced organisers to issue 200 more tickets for each day.

“We had to go back to the printers and get more tickets made up,” said Maldives Hay Festival spokesperson Aishath Fasohath. “We’re now expecting 1,000 people on each day. It’s been very successful, we very pleased.”

The additional tickets will be on sale at the launch this evening.

While the national and international line-up is impressive, with renowned authors such as Ian McEwan and Jung Chang mingling with climate scientists and local historians, lending the event its moniker ‘the Woodstock of the mind’, many Maldivians are curious to see the island used by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as a private retreat.

The Maldives government has not stated what it plans to ultimately do with the island, while the former president’s luxury yacht “Arumaaz” is to be sold at Saturday’s international boat show.

Most recently Aaarah was used to detain Abdulla Yameen, Gayoom’s brother-in-law and leader of minority opposition party the People’s Alliance (PA), after the government accused him of vote-buying and treason.

Ferry transfers to Aarah for Hay Festival ticket holders will depart throughout the weekend from jetty four in Male. Police will be conducting random bag searches prior to embarkation.

Friday 15 October:
Male’ to Aarah: Ferries will run from 2pm-3pm, and one at 5:30pm.
Aarah to Male’: One ferry will depart at 6:30pm, with multiple services running between 10:30pm-11:30pm.

Saturday 16 October
Male’ to Aarah: Ferries will run from 9am-10am, with a single service at 11:30am and 3:30pm.
Aarah to Male’: Ferries depart between 10:30-11:30pm, with a single service at 12:30pm and 4:30pm.

Full schedule of the Hay Festival Maldives

Minivan News is a media partner of the Hay Festival Maldives.

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Women earn half as much as men in the Maldives, finds WEF report

A report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked the Maldives 99th out of 134 countries for gender disparity, narrowly beating Azerbaijan.

The Global Gender Gap Index examines the gap between men and women in four fundamental categories: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.

Of the Maldives’ neighbours, Sri Lanka ranked 16th, Bangladesh 82nd, and India 112th.

Scandanavian countries Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden led the index, while Pakistan, Chad and Yemen were ranked last.

The Maldives ranking has changed little in three years, and scores fairly well for health and educational attainment in comparison with the region.

However data in the WEF’s report identifies a significant under-representation of women in business (to the point of negligible at a decision-making level) and politics, especially parliament and ministerial positions.

Moreover, men earn almost twice as much as women for the same level work, at a per capita income level, with an average annual wage of US$3,597 compared to US$6,714 for men.

Labour force participation for women is at 59 percent, compared to 79 percent for men.

The mean age of marriage for women in the Maldives is 23, the report found. It also noted that contraceptive prevalence among married women was 39 percent.

“The Global Gender Gap Report demonstrates that closing the gender gap provides a basis for a prosperous and competitive society,” observed the WEF report’s authors, Laura Tyson, and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management at the Haas School of Business, University of California.

“Regardless of level of income, countries can choose to integrate gender equality and other social inclusion goals into their growth agenda – and have the potential to grow faster – or they can run the risk of undermining their competitive potential by not capitalising fully on one-half of their human resources,” the authours noted.

“The economic incentive for closing the gender gap in health, education, economic opportunity and political power is clear.”

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19 year-old alleges torture in police custody

A 19 year-old has alleged that he was arbitrarily arrested near his home on Monday night and tortured in police custody.

Ali Shuaib, 19, showed Minivan News bruises and swelling on his leg, hand and nose.

“Police arrested me while I was waiting near my house to have a chat with my friend,’’ he explained. “While waiting there, before the police squad arrived, we saw a group of people fleeing; we did not knew what was going on and we did not pay much attention.’’

Shuaib claimed a squad of police officers arrived after a short while and told him not to move.

“Unaware of the situation, I stayed calm, they came and checked me, told me I was clear and had nothing with me,’’ he said. “But they said their superiors had ordered them to detain me for 23 hours and they handcuffed me and took me to Galolhu Police Station first.’’

At the Galolhu Police Station, he continued, police officers filled his detention form and transferred him to the ‘Atholhuvehi’ custodial in Male’.

‘’While I was there, a police lance corporal came and asked ‘what the hell I was doing there’. His voice was aggressive and he spoke rudely,’’ he claimed. “I told him it was none of his business because police custodial is not his property.’’

After some verbal sparring, Shuaib claimed that the police officer hit him in the face.

“I hit back and fought in my defence,” he said. “A while later the whole duty shift came and attacked me, they hit me in the chest and back with their ankles, hit my foot with a tin trash can.

“Then when I was almost unconscious they put me in solitary confinement, handcuffed in a cross position with both hands and feet locked together. They even stepped on my back and pressed hard while I was kept in that position.”

The next duty shift came in after about two hours, he continued, and removed the handcuffs and transferred Shuaib to another cell after offering him water and medication.

“When I was released from the handcuffs I could hardly breathe; the next duty shift came and gave me water and poured water on my head and kept me on a chair till I felt better,’’ he said.

Shuaib was released without being presented to court.

“It is very common now, police arrest any person they wish and keep them in custody for 23 hours,” he claimed.

According to the Constitution of the Maldives, any person detained should be presented to court within 24 hours of arrest.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News today that if such a case was filed with the police, “police will investigate the case applying professional standards and take necessary action.’’

Shiyam said if Shuaib was not confident with the police he could file the case with the Police Integrity Commission. No case had been lodged, he said.

Shuaib was recently arrested on suspicion of crimes including murder, robbery and assault, but was released without charge.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that custodial torture is “strictly prohibited” by the president.

“It is not something that should happen, and there are many ways [Shuaib] could pursue the case,” Zuhair said. “He could file the case at the Human Rights Commission, and Police Integrity Commission, and the case would be investigated.’’

On July 15, police and the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) arrested almost 60 people, including minors, in a joint special operation to curb escalating gang violence in the capital.

Many of those who were arrested  in the special operation alleged that they were mistreated and abused during their arrest and detention.

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Three police officers injured in drug bust

Three police officers were injured in an special operation conducted last night to arrest an alleged drug dealer.

“Police went to Henveiru Kahafathi with a court warrant after receiving information that suspected narcotics were hidden inside the house,’’ said Sub-Inspector Mohamed Dawood. “A person named Mohamed Ahmed attempted to obstruct the duty of the police and attacked three police officers using two knives.”

The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Department (DED) said that police discovered 18 bullet-sized packets of suspected heroin worth of Rf65,000 (US$5,058) hidden inside the bathroom of the house.

‘’I presume he attacked the police to protect his illegal drugs,’’ he added.

The suspect trafficker is now in police custody.

‘’In another operation conducted this week, police seized eight cases of vodka inside a dhoni (traditional boat) docked at Male’,” he said. “Police checked the dhoni in the presence of an expat working in the Dhoni and he is now under arrest.’’

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Filladhoo islanders horrified after youths record nude footage in bathrooms

The Maldives Police Service have arrested three youths on Filladhoo in Haa Alif Atoll after they allegedly recorded and released explicit footage of islanders bathing with spy cameras.

Haveeru reported islanders as telling police that the suspects had deliberately targeted adolescent girls at the local school, with one of the videos reportedly showing a 17 year old girl having a shower.

“The school students are really scared. No one is sure whether there is not a nude video of him or her,” an islander told Haveeru. “This is not something people should do. Some are not even going out of their homes because they are ashamed.”

The bathrooms of many local houses on islands are traditionally unroofed, however the incident has reportedly led to a number of islanders trying to roof their bathrooms.

The three youths were arrested after nude videos of girls from the island were found on a hard disk.

One Filladhoo resident told Haveeru that “we are lucky that we do not have a girl in our house.”

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Mass absenteeism at foreign employment section provokes lockdown

Staff at the foreign employment section of the Ministry of Human Resources, which handles visa applications for migrant workers, have gone on strike.

Human Resources Minister Hassan Latheef told Minivan News today that he has not been able to identify a specific reason for the strike, which has “jammed” the service.

‘’Only this morning we learned that they were not coming out for work,” he explained. “Every day many people come for the services from the department and we had to transfer the staff of other departments to that section. People gathered near the gate of the ministry and were furious as they had to wait long.’’

He added that irate members of the public had locked the gate from the outside while all the staff were in the building.

“We reported to the police and they arrived and broke the lock,’’ Latheef said. ‘’And the department commenced providing services again.’’

The ministry is now trying to ascertain why the employees have gone on strike.

“I do not think that it is a coincidence that all the staff were absent on one day and none of them is responding to calls,’’ said Latheef.

Permanent Secretary for the Human Resources Ministry Mahid Shareef also said the reason for the mass absenteeism was yet to be clarified.

“They usually complain about the lack of staff there, but we do not know whether that is the reason they did not come for work today,’’ he said.

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Addu Atoll to become ‘city island’

Addu Atoll is to be considered a single administrative island to be developed as a city, following the outcome of the public referendum on Saturday, President Mohamed Nasheed announced yesterday.

Speaking to press at the President’s Office, Nasheed said that after official discussions with the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), the parties agreed to jointly propose amendments to the Decentralisation Act, based on the results of the referendum, and list administrative constituencies by October 17.

“When the islands are announced, there will be a major change to the largest atoll in the south, Addu Atoll” he said. “In my view, the results of the referendum showed very clearly that citizens of the atoll want to develop as a city. So we will designate Addu Atoll as one city island. Addu Atoll is an island with the districts Hithadhoo, Maradhoo-Feydhoo, Maradhoo, Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo.”

Instead of an atoll office, he continued, the southernmost atoll will have a municipality run by an elected municipal council.

With over 30,000 inhabitants, Addu Atoll is the second largest population centre in the country. However, as much as 60 percent of some islands currently reside in the capital Male’.

President Nasheed denied that the results and the low turnout was a failure of the government, as small islands rejected the government proposal for administrative consolidation with larger islands.

“In a democracy, if an election is seen as useless, there’s nothing I have to say about that,” he said.

Moreover, Nasheed argued that establishing a nationwide transport network was the government’s policy on population consolidation, as outlined in the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) manifesto, as opposed to “taking a population and settling them in another island.”

While the referendum revealed that small islands did not want to “lose their identity”, Nasheed said that a secret ballot was needed to determine the views of the electorate as he routinely received petitions from islanders requesting relocation.

According to official results, of 26,676 people who participated in the referendum, 8,402 voted in favour of the proposal while 16,695 voted against it.

However, of the six islands in Addu Atoll where voting took place, citizens of Hithadhoo, Maradhoo, Maradhoo-Feydhoo and Hulhudhoo endorsed the proposal, while islanders of Feydhoo and Meedhoo rejected it.

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President appoints ACC member and HRCM president

President Mohamed Nasheed has appointed Hassan Luthfee as a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), and Mariyam Azra as the President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

President Nasheed said he was “very pleased to appoint a female president to HRCM” and expressed confidence that Azra would “diligently work to protect and defend human rights in the Maldives.”

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Island Aviation to transfer three departments to GMR

Island Aviation Services (IAS) will lose its profitable cargo services, ground services and Maldivian ground operations to Indian infrastructure giant GMR when it takes over the operations at Male’ international airport, reports Haveeru.

IAS Managing Director ‘Bandu’ Ibrahim Saleem told Haveeru that the company recorded a Rf67 million profit from the three departments in 2009 (Rf56 million in 2008).

GMR is to transfer 248 employees to the same posts and salaries under a two year contract commencing in late November, IAS Admin Manager Ali Nashaath told Haveeru.

“We got the assurance on last Monday. We have already started the transferring process,” she said. “We transferred those departments as we did not have any other choice,” adding that ministers had sought to extend the arrangement to 2012.

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