Day: November 23, 2010

Ministerial appointment system “defective”, says MP Nasheed

The process of appointing cabinet members has been criticised as ‘defective’ by an Kuludufushi-South MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, who has claimed that constitutional changes within the Supreme Court will be required to address the nation’s ongoing political deadlock.

The independent MP today told Minivan News that yesterday’s votes on ministerial appointments, which saw a boycott of the sitting by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs before the approval of just five of 12 cabinet posts by the opposition majority parliament, may require court intervention before being settled.

The claims comes as Miadhu today reported that Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, head of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), threatened to turn to the Supreme Court if the seven ministers rejected in yesterday’s vote remained in office.

Despite the stalemate over the cabinet appointment issue, MP Nasheed said parliament today functioned “normally” with a number of bills under discussion, such as the proposed strike legislation.

However, the independent MP claimed that differences of opinion, particularly between the MDP and the DRP, highlighted to all sides that there were “defects” within the constitution concerning ministerial appointments.

The appointment process remained “beyond resolution” in a highly partisan political environment.

“The [current] political environment is not conducive for a resolution within parliament,” he explained.

According to Nasheed, this difference of opinion stems from two very different processes of thought currently within parliament.

MDP rationale, Nasheed said, was that cabinet ministers could only be rejected under a motion of no-confidence that required 39 parliamentary votes to pass. However, he added, opposition groups remained unable to table possible no-confidence motions for cabinet members that had not been appointed by the Majlis.

These differences, he suggested, revealed a major defect in the appointment process.

“Only when all these processes are agreed can there be a cabinet,” he added. “I think the matter will need to be resolved through the Supreme Court.”

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News today that parliamentary rules required 39 votes to pass a no confidence motion concerning an individual cabinet minister.

With individual voting for every appointee during yesterday’s sitting falling short of the number of votes required for a no-confidence motion, Zuhair said the President “is happy the ministers are rightfully in place.”

He claimed that ministerial appointments were “not a case of popularity, but confidence”.

All 12 cabinet ministers were reinstated to their positions in July following a protest resignation about what they claimed were the “scorched earth” politics of the opposition-majority parliament.

Despite talks of legal action from the opposition, Parliamentery Speaker Abdulla Shahid – himself a DRP MP – said he was optimistic that the rival parties could reach an “amicable solution” within the current political framework.

“I am urging parties to engage in dialogue,” said Shahid, who claimed the ministerial statemate created by yesterday’s decision would not adversely affect important upcoming legislation such passing the 2011 budget.

Shahid told Minivan News that despite its fledgling status, Maldivian democracy “had a history of engaging in dialogue to overcome political deadlocks. We will find an amicable solution.”

Despite ongoing uncertainty resulting from issues such as the cabinet appointments, Shahid added that it was vital to establish ‘customs and norms’ within the Maldives’ parliamentary proceedings.

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Shaheeb Consultancy journalism course commences

A 10-day journalism course conducted by Shaheeb Media Consultancy commenced this week with 60 students, reports SunFM.

The course, run by the consultancy firm in collaboration with MNBC One and Maldives Polytechnic, aims to offer an instruction in basic journalism and writing skills as well as information on the challenges faced by the burgeoning free press in the Maldives.

The students, most of whom recently completed their O’ Levels, are charged a course fee of Rf2,500 (US$195) to enrol.

Shaheeb, CEO of the first media consultancy firm in the country, explained that the course is intended to help school leavers choosing journalism as a profession to kick-start their careers.

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Maldives Customs Service celebrates 120 years of operation

The Maldives Customs Service yesterday celebrated 120 years of operation at a special function at the Dharubaaruge exhibition hall in Male’.

The event, attended by Vice President Mohamed Waheed, was held to commemorate the work of Customs officials in the country as well as to launch a Strategic Plan from next year that will outline the department’s work up to 2013.

Alongside playing a ‘big role’ in matters of national security and drug prevention, the Vice President also claimed that the expansion of the service to a number of regions around the country has been a vital contributor to wider development issues, particularly in terms of the economy.

Speaking at the ceremony, State Minister for Home Affairs Mohamed Aswan, acting head of customs, said that promoting public confidence in customs services and “improving the public image of customs” would be a main priority in the coming year.

According to local daily Haveeru, Aswan said that a number of reforms will also be made to change procedures, apply risk management principles in all sectors and introduce information technology facilities.

Aswan revealed that changes will be made in valuation for import duties when a customs bill currently before parliament is passed to adhere to valuation agreements with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Established in 1890, Maldives Customs currently has over 700 staff in eight regional offices. It became a member of the World Customs Association in September 1995.

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Price of an open society “is one we gladly pay”, says visiting Danish minister

Many of the climate-change related impacts occurring in the Maldives appeared to be problems “of planning and capacity building”, visiting Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Søren Pind told Minivan News.

The Danish delegation yesterday toured the islands of Fares-Mathoda and Thinadhoo in the south of the country, both of which are suffering from flooding due to poor drainage, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the UNDP to provide assistance.

Pind said that as a Development Minister it was also very interesting to see first-hand the challenges faced by a country following a transition to democracy, “such as the fight between those who wish to go backwards and those who wish to go forwards – and it’s not always possible to tell the difference.”

Pind noted that Denmark had only adopted a parliamentary democracy in the early 1950s, after a process “that took us 100 years. We had a nasty fight in 1870-1901 between the king and those who wanted a new democratic government.”

Scandinavian countries such as Denmark regularly top human development indices. The country has the highest level of income equality, and in 2006 to 2008 was ranked “the happiest place in the world” by Forbes magazine based on indices of health, welfare and education.

Growing radicalisation

Pind acknowledged that in the years following a transition, “of course there is a threat to democratic stability. I asked President Nasheed and he said he sees radicalisation as a key challenge.”

The way to counter growing radicalisation, Pind suggested, was to foster and promote “open society – civil institutions, NGOs, people fighting for gender rights and freedom of speech – these things counteract the same very conservative thinking that benefits from that prerogative.”

And if a society was found to be going backwards and not forwards, “identify those forces of destabilisation”, he suggested.

Radicialisation, Pind noted, was not a problem unique to the Maldives. “All these countries I’ve visited recently – Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia – all their politicians are talking about this, and referring to some sort of ‘foreign influence’. It seems to be a common problem.”

Pind said he found it sad that concepts such as education, free media “and the whole idea of inalienable human rights” had become a religious issue, “when I have heard people who know Islam say this is not a religious issue, but a political one.”

Asked how he felt the Danish government had handled the issue of the controversial cartoons published by one of its newspapers, Pind said Demark had “never seen it as a confrontation with Islam.”

“But we had to face the fact that one man had drawn cartoons that were published in a major newspaper. We had a hard time explaining that in this country the government could not interfere with the media. That is the price of an open society, and we pay it gladly.”

The Danish delegation – including Pind and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Dr Lykke Friis, visited the Maldives to announce funding of climate mitigation programs in Kenya, Indonesia and the Maldives as part of its US$40 million ‘fast-track’ climate change initiative, but showed a strong interest in other matters affecting the country.

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MDP concludes primaries for Male’ city council

The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) conducted primaries in the capital yesterday to choose its 11 candidates for the Male’ city council.

Provisional results show that Male’ municipality president ‘Sarangu’ Adam Manik received the most number of votes in the primaries.

The winning candidates from yesterday’s primary who will contest on the MDP ticket for the local council elections on February 5 are ‘Maizan’ Ali Manik for Hulhu-Henveiru, Lufshan Shakeeb for Mid-Henveiru, Mohamed Abdul Kareem for Henveiru South, Mohamed Afrah Haleel for Galolhu North, Adam Manik for Machangoalhi South, Mohamed Aiman for Maafanu South and Arham Hussein for Vili-Maafanu.

The rest of the candidates – Abdulla Shafeeq for Galolhu South, Ahmed Samah Rasheed for Maafanu North, Mohamed Falah for Maafanu West and “Jambu” Hassan Afeef for Machangoalhi North – ran uncontested.

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Taliban factions “rub shoulders with the jet-set and dodge women in bikinis”: BBC

The incredible natural beauty of the Maldives, its blue waters and warm welcome are not only a main attraction for honeymooners, sun-worshippers and divers – they also seemed to go down pretty well with the rather different visitors from Afghanistan, writes Daud Qarizadah for the BBC.

“Afghanistan is land-locked and for many of those present, this was the first time they had seen the sea. Some had never even left Afghanistan before.

“One first-time delegate in the Maldives said: “It is a beautiful Islamic country and the scenery is amazing.” Another delegate who was also there for the first time added that he “wished Afghanistan would become as peaceful as the Maldives one day”.

“As soon as the delegates arrived at their hotel in Paradise Island, the contrast was striking. They had to hold talks just metres away from where women in bikinis were sunbathing or had just been swimming.

“Whenever the delegates encountered women in bikinis, they turned their eyes away in order to avoid becoming sinful by looking at half-naked women. This was a difficult situation for some to cope with – especially for those delegates who want women to wear the all-covering burka.”

Read more

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Economics and value praised by industry body for ongoing tourist turnaround

The Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators (MATATO) believes an improving economic situation in a number of key travel markets has helped drive a bounce back in visitor arrivals to the Maldives during 2010, when compared to the same period last year.

Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, Secretary General for the group, said that an improving economic climate and better complimentary packages have been positive developments for the industry after recent negative headlines generated in light of the high profile ‘false wedding’ video widely circulated in the press and online.

The comments were made as tourist arrivals to the Maldives were found to have increased by 19.7 percent during October compared to the same period last year, marking improved fortunes for the country’s travel industry during 2010, according to new official figures.

The statistics from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture found 74,707 visitors had arrived by air to the Maldives, up from 64,432 a year earlier. The growth continues a successful nine-month period for Maldives tourism that has seen year-on-year visitor growth of 21.8 for the last ten months.

In addressing the increases, Jamal told Minivan News that an improvement in the global economic climate had aided tourist industry commitments to try to be more competitive by offering more complimentary offers like an additional night’s stay or free transfers.

Alongside an explosion of interest from Chinese tourists that the MATATO Secretary General expects to continue during the next few months and years, a ‘good number’ of travellers from established markets in Europe also continued to flock to the nation’s atolls to provide a more balanced revenue source.

Between January to October 2010, Tourism Ministry figures found that 63.3 percent of visitors to the Maldives came from European markets. Asia Pacific territories contributed 32.3 percent of overall travel demand to the country.

The figures come after a turbulent month for Maldivian tourism, following a video recording of a ‘false wedding’ conducted at the Vilu Reef Resort and Spa that depicted some staff members mocking a Swiss couple in the local dialect of Dhivehi during a vow renewal ceremony being leaked online. The incident garnered both local and international coverage.

Jamal said that with many people now deciding to take or research holidays over the internet, the high profile nature of the incident was definitely likely to stain the country’s reputation as a hotspot for luxury and honeymoon travel.

“To be honest, it was a strange incident that we never would have expected to happen,” he added. “We don’t know yet how much of an impact it will ultimately have on tourism. It is not good, but [the impact] has not yet been as bad as we first thought.”

Addressing the incident, Ahmed Solih, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism told Minvan News that he was reluctant to use the term ‘false wedding’ in regard to a ceremony that had been booked as an authentic experience for the couple who had been filmed.

In response, Solih pointed to a number of high profile apologies made to the couple – including a personal call from President Mohamed Nasheed with an offer to come back to the country as his guests – as a reflection of the serious anger among the industry and Maldivians about the incident.

The Permanent Secretary added that although it is impossible to speculate how the wedding video would impact tourist demand in the future, it was now vital for the industry’s reputation to prevent any repeats of the incident in the future.

Solih said that although the incident was isolated to a single occurrence on one of the country’s more than 90 tourist resorts, a number of e-mails and correspondence had been received reflecting the bad taste left by the incident on the tourism market.

In looking at current tourist growth though, Solih believed that the complex nature of tourism means that there are many contributing factors to the growth beyond just fauvorable economic conditions.

The Permanent Secretary claimed that the Ministry was itself focused on trying to diversify the nation’s appeal to a wider number of markets and nations wads vital to try and protect the industry from external factors such as economics that it has no control over.

“Along with the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) we have spent years of hard work researching and looking to new markets,” he said.

Aside from lucrative emerging economies like China, Solih claims that the industry had been making inroads to Middle Eastern and American markets in attempts to try and broaden the Maldives’ appeal around the world.

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Police appeal for witnesses to ambulance accident

The traffic police have requested those who witnessed an accident in which an ambulance collided with a 25 year-old man at the intersection of Orchid Magu and Chandaanee Magu over the weekend to come forward.

According to police, the ambulance was driving with its siren sounding en route to an emergency pickup.

The man sustained injuries to his head, face and arms in the collision and was taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Police said the most accurate witnesses would be persons on vehicles waiting at the intersection of Orchid Magu and Chandanee Magu.

Police requested all persons who had information on the case to contact the police duty officer on 988 8999, or traffic police number 333 3835 or the police toll-free number 119.

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Vice President inaugurates Counter Terrorism workshop

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed yesterday inaugurated a Counter Terrorism Workshop organised by the government and the British High Commission.

The President’s Office said that it was a two day workshop that began in Aarah yesterday, and aimed to develop a counter terrorism strategy for the Maldives and share experiences on the topic between the Maldives and the United Kingdom.

”There is nothing more important than creating and maintaining a peaceful environment for the people in our country,” said Dr Waheed. ”The Maldives is not exempt from the risks associated with international terrorism.”

He also said the threat of terrorism was affected every country in the world and highlighted the importance of making counter terrorism strategy an integral part of the national security policy.

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