Month: November 2010

RAF man says Gan reunion the inspiration for Addu Atoll hospital fund

A recent return to Gan for one former member of Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has reportedly been the inspiration for a fund aiming to strengthen medical facilities on the island.

Richard Houlston, from Devon in the UK, spent a year of his RAF service in Addu Atoll between 1969 and 1970, where he worked to maintain transmission equipment to support a nearby British airbase operated from Gan, reports the Express & Echo newspaper, published in Exeter in the UK.

Speaking to the newspaper, Houlston said that the Gan Scholarship Fund, which hopes to raise about £10,000 (Rf202,664) to provide training and equipment in order to try and boost medical facilities in the area, was formed after a visit to the island by 28 airmen the island earlier this year.

After being greeted and looked after by the people of Addu Atoll during a visit, which also included time for a spot of diving, Houlston said the airmen were concerned by the standards of healthcare available to local people.

“There is a hospital on the island of Hithadhoo, where I was working, but it struggles to give anything more than a basic service,” he told the paper. “The closest proper hospital is in India, over 1,000 miles away.”
At present, Houlston said £1,600 (Rf32,000) has been raised for the fund.

The RAF were based at Gan from the early 1950s to the mid 1970s.

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Group attacks ‘Scoop’ with smoke bomb

A group of people attacked well known restaurant ‘Scoop’ in Chandhanee Magu with a smoke bomb on Monday evening.

The police forensic team attended the restaurant and took the remains of the smoke bomb for investigation.

A person from the restaurant told Minivan News that the group came and threw the smoke bomb and ran away.

”There were lots of customers inside the place when they attacked,” he said. ”They were all forced to move out from the place as the whole place was covered with smoke.”

He said he did not see the attackers as they “were quick” and the attack was “a shock”.

”It was a handmade bomb of foil and some other materials,” he said.

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the police attended the scene and took the remains of the material.

”It is too early to say it was a deliberate attack,” he added.

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Criminal Court summons DRP MPs Ali Waheed and Mahlouf

The Criminal Court has ordered main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs Ali Waheed and Ahmed Mahlouf to appear before the court to face charges of obstruction of police duty.

Mahlouf told Minivan News today that the case was most likely regarding a DRP protest held outside the presidential residence Muleeage earlier this year that led to violent confrontations with riot police.

”Yesterday Ali Waheed and I received a chit from the Criminal Court saying that a hearing would be conducted on the 29th [Monday],” he received. ”It stated that the charges were ‘obstructing police duty’.”

The DRP MP for Galolhu North added that ”unlike president Mohamed Nasheed, we do not go breaking laws one after the other.”

”That night we were not obstructing police duties and we were not engaging in any unlawful activities,” he insisted. “We were exercising our right to free expression and freedom of assembly.”

Mahlouf said that he was “very pleased” that President Nasheed decided to prosecute him because ”the international community would understand how democratic Nasheed is.”

”He says he would never arrest [opposition] politicians, but he is arresting and charging young politicians and MPs in the country,” he said.

The DRP protest in January that marched to Muleeage turned violent, resulting in injuries to both police officers and demonstrators.

Following the unrest, Ali Waheed and Mahloof were summoned to police headquarters and questioned about their role in the protest.

At the time, Mahloof and Ali Waheed, also DRP Deputy Leader, exercised their right to remain silent.

Regulations currently in place on public gatherings, enforced by presidential decree under the former government, prohibits demonstrations outside certain designated areas, including Muleeage and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters.

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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.”

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