Month: November 2010

Umar Naseer vows to take legal action against “government and opposition figures who took bribes from GMR”

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Umar Naseer vowed to take legal action against “government officials and opposition figures who accepted bribes from [Indian infrastructure giant] GMR”, following allegations that surfaced on the Dhivehi Post website last week.

Speaking at a joint opposition rally on Thursday night at artificial beach, Naseer told opposition supporters that “those in the government and those among us who took bribes” would receive “just punishment” we will give just punishment.”

That morning the GMR-Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) consortium took over management of Male’ International Airport.

Naseer’s claims comes a week after local media republished allegations that surfaced in an anti-government tabloid website claiming that DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid each accepted a bribe of US$1 million from GMR.

Both Thasmeen and Shahid, neither of whom attended Thursday night’s rally, have strongly denied the allegations.

“These allegations originated in an internet site called the Dhivehi Post,” Thasmeen told Minivan News last week. “If you go through it you can make a reasonable guess as to who they support.”

The website today published what it claims to be copies of ticket reservations Shahid and Thasmeen made to travel to India via Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Dhivehi Post claims that the two spent 55 minutes in transit at the Delhi airport on October 30 and returned to the Maldives the same day after meeting GMR officials at the VIP lounge.

Meanwhile, at a party rally in Kaafu Atoll Maafushi last night, DRP Deputy Leaders Ali Waheed and Ibrahim “Mavota” Shareef moved to defend the party leaders, condemning efforts by senior members to “divide the party”.

In an apparent rebuke to the party’s other Deputy Leaders Umar Naseer and Ilham Ahmed, Ali Waheed said that disagreements within the leadership did not mean DRP members should “hold rallies with other presidential candidates”.

“Given the state of the country today, the biggest betrayal to the nation and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party would be to split up this party,” he said.

Defending the DRP Leader from the bribery allegations, Shareef pointed out that “if Thasmeen wanted US$1 million, he would not have had to take an indebted party onto his shoulders.”

In July, four opposition parties in parliament – DRP, People’s Alliance (PA), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Jumhooree Party – signed an agreement to form a united opposition front against the airport privatisation deal.

Speaking to Minivan News last week, Managing Director of GMR Male International Airport Limited P Sripathy described the allegations of bribery as “totally false and baseless, and very disappointing and damaging to our reputation. We have never met any members of the opposition to date.”

“The GMR Group is in Male’ on serious business – to build a world class, benchmark airport that people of Male’ and the Group will be very proud of,” he added.

“Economic enslavement”

Addressing supporters at the sparsely attended rally on Thursday night, PA Leader Abdulla Yameen asserted that “auctioning off the airport below price” would bring no economic benefits to citizens.

Referring to the November 3 coup attempt in 1988, Yameen said that the Maldivian people were now experiencing “a second enslavement” in the month of November as handing over airport management to GMR amounted to “economic enslavement”.

Yameen contended that foreign parties were not needed to develop the airport as it made annual profits exceeding Rf200 million (US$15.5 million) and that it did not make “economic sense” to lease a state asset during difficult economic times.

“We built the airport at a time when we spent less than Rf50 million a year from our budget,” he said. “We should be ashamed today.”

He added that local businesses “could easily develop” new duty free shops, and that “it won’t take more than Rf2 or Rf3 million” to build a new terminal.

While building a new runway and alternative landing strip would have been “challenging”, he conceded, “replacing concrete walls of the terminal with glass” does not amount to modernising the airport.

Yameen pledged to take back the airport by moving legislation through parliament to declare “legal status” for the airport.

Other opposition figures who spoke at the rally launched vitriolic attacks on the government, lamenting the loss of “an airport built with the blood and sweat of the Maldivian people”.

Most speakers at the rally alleged corruption in the airport and accused the government of “selling off state assets one by one”.

While DRP MP Ali Arif said that President Mohamed Nasheed “deserves every obscene word in the Dhivehi language,” MP Ahmed Mahlouf alleged that “GMR gave large amounts of money in bribes to the MDP campaign” to secure the deal.

The government has meanwhile flatly denied accusations of any wrongdoing, pointing out that the transaction was overseen by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the financial arm of the World Bank.

Moreover, the government has alleged that opposition to the airport deal stems from the “vested interests” of certain MPs, several of whom it arrested following the resignation of cabinet on June 29 in protest against the “scorched earth politics” of the opposition-majority parliament.

The fuel trade is the most immediately lucrative part of the airport deal, Minivan News understands, and is a key reason behind both GMR’s interest and the government’s decision to award the contract to the Indian infrastructure giant. GMR has told Minivan News it will amalgamate the trade under one umbrella, a decision that will likely affect current third party suppliers.

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Supreme Court has “no authority to dismiss ministers”, claims Reeko Moosa

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group leader and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has claimed that the Supreme Court has no authority to dismiss ministers from their positions.

“MPs have the power to dismiss Supreme Court judges, and the Supreme Court will understand that the panel consists of judges we appointed,” Moosa said. ”Parliament does not know how to remove ministers from their position,” he claimed.

The matter saw parliament proceedings derailed for three weeks on points of order. Eventually the MDP boycotted the endorsement process during the vote last Monday, and seven ministers were ‘disapproved’.

The government meanwhile contends that the only way to remove a minister from their position is through a no-confidence motion.

However, the opposition believes that the procedure of cabinet appointments remains incomplete without the consent of parliament, and that ministers should not remain in office after the parliament disapproves them.

After disputes last week, the opposition filed the case in the Supreme Court.

Referring to the opposition’s refusal on Finance minister presenting the budget, Moosa said that if the opposition MPs obstructed Finance Minister Ali Hashim from entering the parliament ”he will enter the parliament with the citizens of the nation.”

Moosa also alleged that DRP MPs planned “to attack” Hashim if he entered the parliament to present the budget.

”If DRP committed any such actions, no ministers will remain silent. I – Moosa Manik – and MDP activists will go to their houses.”

However, DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom said that Hashim was a ‘former’ minister and former ministers cannot present the state’s budget in parliament.

”A person becomes a minister only after the person successfully passes the three procedures: presidential appointment, parliamentary consent and taking the oath,” Mausoom said. ”[Moosa] Hecannot say that the courts have no authority – courts have full authority to make the best decision to resolve every issue.”

Mausoom said Moosa’s remarks reveals how much the government disregards the constitution and laws.

”This issue should have long been resolved if some people did not have these issues of stubbornness,” he said.

He also said that parliament speaks the citizen’s words and ”participation of citizens is required in sincere good governance.”

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Police search Hulhumale hospital during investigation of abandoned baby

The police yesterday searched Hulhumale’ hospital to investigate the circumstances around the discovery of an abandoned infant found last week.

An abandoned newborn female baby was discovered in some bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’ last week. The baby was first taken to Hulhumale’ hospital for treatment and now has been transferred to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

Initial reports in the media said the baby appeared to have been born prematurely and discarded by the mother. The umbilical cord was still attached to the infant.

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said police had collected “necessary information” for the investigation from Hulhumale’ hospital.

”The baby is now in a good condition at IGMH,” Shiyam said, adding that ”no further information can be disclosed yet.”

Head of Hulhumale’ hospital Dr Ahmed Ashraf told Minivan News that the infant’s condition was “very weak” when she was first brought to the hospital.

“Her condition was very weak when she was brought here that day in the afternoon,” Dr Ashraf said. “We treated the infant and her condition was stable when she was referred to IGMH that evening.”

He said police officers searched the hospital after obtaining a warrant from the Criminal Court, and “collected information they needed for the investigation.”

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MDP puts forward 1024 candidates for local council elections

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will present 1024 candidates for the local council elections in February, the party has announced following a National Assembly meeting at its headquarters yesterday.

The ruling party will field 769 candidates for island councils, 138 for atoll councils, 11 for Male city council and six for Addu city council.

“We are facing difficulties in finalising the ticket in a very few islands,” a party official reportedly told newspaper Haveeru. “That is because of the high number of candidates and some people withdrawing their names.”

The election is scheduled for February 5, 2011.

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Nasheed listed in magazine’s annual top 100 “thinkers”

President Mohamed Nasheed has come in 39th place in Foreign Policy magazine’s list of its Top 100 Global Thinkers on the back of a number of high-profile environmentally-themed speeches and commitments such as a national pledge to be carbon neutral by 2020.

The magazine, which chronicles international political development, chose the president in a list of figures it believes have had great significance on global affairs over the last eleven months, which has been topped this year jointly by business giants Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Pointing to a much publicised underwater conference held by the president in the Maldives last year – a promotional event designed to raise attention to cutting global output of greenhouse gas emissions amidst fears the country may be sunk by changing climate conditions – the magazine believed Nasheed has continued to be an important pioneer for greener political talk.

“Since taking office two years ago, Nasheed, a 43-year-old former human rights activist, has become the world’s most environmentally outspoken president,” the magazine claimed. “He has made his tiny country — a string of atolls in the Indian Ocean that sits an average of just 7 feet above sea level — a poster child for the need to stop global warming.”

Other names included in the list include US president Barrack Obama in third place, Oxford University economist Paul Collier at 29th place and Salam Fayyad, the Palestine prime minister, at 23.

As reported by Minivan News last week, Nasheed has continued to talk strongly about sustainability commitments. He claimed last week that failure to meet his government’s plan of becoming a carbon neutral country by 2020 would be a “disaster” for the nation and the wider development and promotion of alternative energy-driven economies as a whole.

The article praised the president particularly for comments made this year in the media calling for dynamic street action by citisens of the US to change political attitudes in the country that he has accused of being a significant “obstacle” to trying to battle climate change.

As a destination for green developments, environmental organisations such as Greenpeace have said they view the Maldives more as a symbol than a practical demonstration of how national development and fighting climate change can be mutually exclusive.

Wendel Trio, Climate Policy and Global Deal Coordinator for Greenpeace International, believed that the Maldives can nonetheless play an iconic role in promoting the potential benefits of adopting alternate energy programmes.

“By coupling both strong words and the need for the big emitting countries in the developed and the developing world to reduce their emissions sharply, with a strong commitment at home, the Maldives has gained respect,” Trio explained.

“However, obviously none of the big emitting countries are looking at the Maldives as an example, as they all claim that their social and economic development cannot be compared to that of a small island state.”

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“1 in 3” campaign launched to break domestic violence taboo

A nationwide campaign against domestic violence dubbed “1 in 3” was launched Thursday by the Maldivian Network on Violence Against Women, a loose coalition of NGOs and individuals who came together to advocate for pioneering legislation on domestic violence (DV) currently before parliament.

The campaign title reflects the findings of a milestone 2007 study on Women’s Health and Life Experiences, which found that 1 in 3 women aged 15 to 49 experience either physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, including childhood sexual abuse.

While a draft for domestic violence legislation had existed for several years, the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP’s) women’s wing announced the development of a bill to be submitted to parliament earlier this year.

The announcement was welcomed by President Mohamed Nasheed, who argued that a bipartisan effort to pass the legislation was more likely to succeed.

The DV bill, supported and facilitated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), aims to “make DV illegal, to prevent DV from occurring in our society, to provide justice to survivors of domestic violence and abuse as well as to ensure state responsibility in providing services to address DV-related crimes in society,” reads a press statement by the NGO Network.

The network was formed in October when a group of 30 advocates came together in Bandos to plan support for the bill.

On November 22, the bill was accepted by MPs and sent to committee for further review.

Taboo

In her keynote speech at the campaign launch, former DRP MP Aneesa Ahmed surveyed the history of government efforts against domestic violence.

As recently as the turn of the century, said Aneesa, domestic violence was a taboo subject in Maldivian society.

“It was not spoken about,” she said. “[People] didn’t want to speak about it. Perhaps because of the immensity of the problem, nobody wanted to talk about it; or because nobody wanted to believe how much it had spread in our society.”

She added that the hesitancy to openly acknowledge the problem was probably borne “out of fear.”

The former Women’s Minister revealed that a pilot survey planned by an NGO with support from the government was scuttled when it encountered resistance from societal attitudes, which held that the government should not “enter into family matters.”

“So we couldn’t carry out that survey,” she said. “The NGO I mentioned was very disappointed and we were very disappointed, but we did not give up.”

While the former government then attempted to foster public dialogue through workshops aimed at different groups of society, Aneesa said that she was “very encouraged” to see a campaign launched by a network of NGOs with high youth participation.

A video testimonial of a DV victim was also presented at the function, featuring a harrowing story of a woman who came to Male’ seeking a divorce but was refused by the judge who counseled reconciliation with her abusive spouse.

“I thought how am I going to make peace?” she asked. “I am finding it hard to endure. They didn’t consider in the least the abuse I was getting.”

The testimonial ended with a plea to MPs “to save women from abusive husbands.”

“A beginning”

Aneesa said that while the passage of the DV bill, with recommendations from the NGO network, would be “a beginning” to tackling gender based violence, she cautioned that the campaign “will not be easy” as the small size of close-knit communities “could be an impediment.”

However, she urged the NGO network and its affiliated advocates not to become discouraged and to continue their efforts.

Aneesa is a founding member of the ‘Hope for Women’ NGO which aims to “eradicate sexual violence against women and girls.”

President Nasheed meanwhile dedicated his weekly radio address yesterday to the subject of domestic violence, noting that “some women don’t even speak about it with their closest friends and family members” and consequently do not report abuse to the authorities.

Men taking advantage of physical superiority to abuse or subjugate women “amounts to the rule of the jungle,” he said.

As women make up half the country’s population, said Nasheed, greater participation of women in the workforce and in national affairs was crucial to ensure economic development and progress.

He added that sexual harassment in the workplace, “even subtle forms of harassment that we may otherwise think are trivial, should be deplored,” adding that “such things should never happen in the workplace.”

President Nasheed expressed gratitude for members of the DRP involved in the drafting of the legislation and pledged the government’s full support for the bill.

Upward trend

Statistics from the Family Protection Unit (FPU) reveal that since 2006 the unit has attended to an average of 145 patients per year – 87 per cent of whom were women – with a noticeable upward trend in the number of cases reported each month.

While sexual abuse was the most common form of abuse suffered by FPU patients, in 83 per cent of cases the perpetrator was a friend or family member, and was known to the victim.

Half of abuse victims reported that the perpetrator was a boyfriend or husband.

The “1 in 3” campaign – launched to coincide with the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, the beginning of the annual global event supported by the UN: ’16 Days of Activism Against Violence’ – aims to raise awareness of the issue through a sustained media campaign over the next two weeks.

At the ceremony on Thursday, which was attended by Health Minister Aminath Jameel and UN Resident Coordinator Andrew Cox, the campaign was officially launched by Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Lieutenant Colonel Hamid Shafeeq with the unveiling of the campaign song “Geveshi Hiyaa”.

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Letter on lack of veterinary surgeons

Dear editor,

As a member of the facebook group ‘Maldivian Cataholics’, which aims to improve the living conditions of cats in Malé, both homeless and privately owned, I am trying to help as much as possible by being the group’s remote veterinary surgeon.

Via e-mail, facebook, telephone and Skype(video) am I trying to diagnose and prescribe and suggest treatments of individual cats presented to me. All this from my home in Denmark, as I am told,that there is no resident veterinary surgeon available in the Republic of Maldives, and therefore no alternative to my services.

This situation is not optimal and sometimes very frustrating for the cat owner as well as the person, who is trying to help a homeless cat and also for me.

I am therefore planning to establish an emergency veterinary clinic in Malé or perhaps on Hulhule near the quarantine department.

For that reason I will apply to be registered as a veterinary surgeon in the Republic of Maldives and obtain a licence to be allowed to import the necessary veterinary medicine.

A number of Danish veterinary surgeons have shown interest in supporting the project by spending working holidays in The Maldives and assist in such a clinic.

The aim of the emergency clinic is planned to treat sick and injured cats and to neuter as many as possible to reduce the now uncontrolled reproduction, which eventually will reduce the problem with unwanted cats.
The clinic will be a non profit enterprise based on sponsors and private means.

This leads to the cause of this letter:

I am sure that information of this project to the Maldivian public is very important. If I succeed to establish the planned clinic, Maldivians should be made aware that veterinary services now are available and that donations and sponsorships will be welcomed.

One owner of a cat I have treated remotely, stated – and I quote:

“The idea of having a pet in Maldives itself should not be encouraged, what good is it to have a pet, when we don’t have the necessary facilities to treat the pet if the necessity arises.”

My access to the Maldives is due to our two sons having lived there for a number of years, one was a diving instructor on various resorts for 12 years, and the other is a pilot and Flight Operation Manager at Maldivian Air Taxi. My wife and I have visited them several times and have very positive feelings about your country

I hope this letter will be met with some interest by you editors, and that Minivan will treat it accordingly and promote the plans of a veterinary clinic.

Sincerely yours

Søren Nielsen
Veterinary surgeon
[email protected]

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]

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Abandoned infant girl found in Hulhumale

A newborn baby was found abandoned near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’ on Thursday afternoon.

According to police, the baby girl was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) and her condition has since improved.

The umbilical cord had reportedly not been severed when she was discovered by members of the public.

Police urge anyone with information about the girl to contact either 119 or the duty officer at 9888999.

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Letter in response to advertorial story

Dear Editor,

This is in response to your article of November 25, 2010, entitled “Advertorial ‘media pirates’ set sail for Maldives.” I’m sure you are aware that calling us pirates is in essence calling us thieves, which as you well know is slander. I would like to set the record straight about Star Communications’ presence and activity in Maldives and provide accurate facts about our company and ask that you provide an honest solution to the problem you have created for our company.

As a credible news source or journalist it is your responsibility first and foremost to gather all information and hear all sides to any story. I am surprised that Star Communications was never contacted before you published this article. With all the information that you “provide” on our behalf, not once did you have the consideration to speak to us directly, why is that?

We would have been more than receptive to discuss any questions/concerns you might have had regarding our promotional report we are preparing on the Maldives. It is misleading readers to quote only one unnamed source and refer only to an undated article that has nothing to do with our agency. Furthermore our employee who is currently in the Maldives would have also been open to speak with you. We have never been contacted nor solicited for information. As you can imagine the article you published is not only damaging to our companies’ reputation but to our clients who understand that international exposure is highly beneficial for their respective companies.

We are unaware of the problems that you or the Government may have had with other companies or publications and find it unfair and misleading to compare or align us with any other company. We are a specialized media agency that was started in 2002 and we work with leading publications worldwide, including international reputable media such as NEWSWEEK, FOREIGN POLICY and CNBC MAGAZINE to name a few.

We take pride in our work and our ability to help companies and institutions communicate globally and understand the lack of information that exists about many developing countries, which are benefited through positive promotional international coverage. Our experience is that this industry creates opportunities rather than pirating as you misleadingly suggest.

Our project in the Maldives arose as the result of a meeting with the Head of Political and Commonwealth Affairs and Political Affairs officer from the High Commission in London on 15th September 2010, where we discussed our intention to produce a promotional feature on the country for CNBC Business which will be published in the January/February special double issue of CNBC.

This special edition has extra distribution at the World Economic Forum in Davos plus the ITB Fair in Berlin. You are correct in stating that the normal readership of CNBC is 670,000 readers but this is for a single monthly edition and does not apply to this specific issue. The Golden envelope distribution which starts with the current December Edition of CNBC can also be confirmed at the CNBC website.

We went through the official and correct channels. We received the full support of High Commission and have subsequently held various meetings in Maldives with government officials. Hence, while there may have been a blacklist in operation last year, as you allege, which affected other companies, we have been granted official approval to market our product in Maldives in 2010.

At no time, however, have we attempted to sell advertising to government officials in Maldives and have only offered the opportunity to purchase space to public and private-owned companies. Their choice on whether or not to do so is entirely at their discretion, and we have no leverage whatsoever on their decisions.

Whilst in the Maldives we have carried out our work with the utmost rigorous professionalism, we feel confident that our past reports in countries across the globe such as Canada, Mexico, Malta, Turkey, Turks & Caicos, Egypt, Spain and Ghana have been highly regarded. Please find attached some recommendation letters from Highly Ranked Officials and CEO’s who have highly praised our work over the years.

We have always clearly stated that we are Star Communications creating a special promotional feature to be published in CNBC. We even provide a letter from the media that proves our association. (This is the letter you refer to in your article, and it is clear our relationship to the media). To complete the information let me state that Star Communications is, as you acknowledge, an authorised representative of CNBC Business magazine, as the referral letter from its Commercial Director, Kevin Rolfe, clearly reads.

As such, we do sell advertising space with the express permission of the publication, and do produce a promotional product – which we variously refer to as special reports, special sections, or special features – which comprises advertising and editorial elements. We do not, however, purport to be journalists; we are journalists with a track record of interviewing Presidents, Ministers and CEO’s over the 5 continents.

Your reference to a team in the Maldives and some very derogative and sexist selling techniques is out of line and clearly doesn’t apply to our sole representative who works under the title of “Project Director” and carries an impeccable record of over 5 years in this industry. As you imply by association we want to clarify that we don’t have any relationship whatsoever with NOA (AFA), nor any of the media titles mentioned in your article.

Regarding our pricing we would be more than happy to meet with you and show you our rate card and discuss the different pricing alternatives and justify our prices. I can confirm that no single entity has been offered a single page for 70k USD.

Clearly, the extension of our coverage depends on the amount of advertising space sold, just as it does with any other kind of promotional publication. The more space purchased, the longer our special feature will be. The tone, however, is not dependent on the amount of space sold, but, rather, on our editorial criteria. And at a later stage the media’s criteria, as the final product has to be approved by the editorial team of CNBC.

In your article you also question the possibility of finding us in google, which is strange as it clearly appears within the first 8 hits if you type Star Communications. As well you infer a sense of illegality to the fact that the company is based out of Ireland, which is a reputable European Union member that you try to portray as an offshore tax evasion destination.

Your article has already raised concerns for some of our clients who have copied and pasted the article to us. We ask you to have the decency to contact us directly and get the facts and report on these. This would be the honest and fair path forward. We URGE you to publish a retraction. We thank you in advance for your consideration and appeal to your sense of journalistic integrity to present the facts to your readers instead of a “fast sell” by slandering our agency as pirates. It is unfair and unjust, and completely without disregard to not have picked up the phone and spoken to us prior to publishing this. We await your comments.

Yours sincerely,

Christina Hays
Managing Director
Star Communications

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]

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