Month: November 2010

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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Criminal Court issues death sentence in gang murder case

The Criminal Court of the Maldives yesterday sentenced Mohamed Nabeel to death for the murder of Abdulla Faruhad, after reviewing the statements of witnesses and finding him guilty of the crime.

The Judge said that article 88[d] of the penal code of the Maldives stated that murders should be dealt accordingly to the Islamic Shariah and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, according to Islamic Shari’ah.

The Criminal Court identified the murderer as Mohamed Nabeel, G. Reef and the victim as Abdulla Faruhad of Hulhudhoo in Seenu Atoll. As no inheritor of the victim opposed his execution, Nabeel was sentenced to death.

This is the first such sentence to be issued in a case related to gang murder. Previous death sentences issued in the Maldives have included (in 2005) those found to be involved in the death in custody of Evan Naseem, and the perpetrators of 1988 coup. None of these sentences were implemented.

The Prosecutor General’s office filed the case against Nabeel after the police arrested him on charges of deliberately killing Faruhad in revenge for harassing his sister Aiminath Niuma. The case report did not mention what kind of harassment occurred.

The judge said that during the police investigation Niuma admitted that her brother Nabeel attempted to attack Faruhad with a six inch box cutter on March 8, 2009.

In her statement to police, Niuma said she attempted to stop her brother from attacking Faruhad as he tried to flee, the judge stated.

However Niuma was unable to control her brother from throwing the box cutter at Faruhad which lodged in his back. Faruhad died the next day from his injuries.

The PG’s office presented CCTV footage of the incident and three witnesses.

The judge said that although Niuma had later in court dismissed her statements to police, which were fingerprinted by her father as she was underage at the time, ”it is unbelievable that her father read the statement and would fingerprint a false statement given regarding his own son.”

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said he did not know how the sentence would be carried out,  but police would implement the verdict if requested by the court.

Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad said he had not yet seen the ruling and would be unable to comment before going through the case.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the the government would comment on the matter only after the judicial procedure was over, ”otherwise it could be considered as an influence on the verdict.”

He said that the accused had a 90 day term to appeal at higher courts if he felt the judgment was unfair.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the last death sentence issued in the Maldives was following the 1988 coup attempt. This has been corrected to reflect the verdict in the trial over the death in custody of Evan Naseem.

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Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be unable to enter parliament if Hashim cannot, claims Reeko

Parliamentary Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, has threatened to bar the speaker of the Majlis and his deputy from entering parliament if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is prevented from performing his duties.

Manik has warned that if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is disallowed to enter the parliament chamber to present the annual budget for next year, Speaker Abdulla Shahid and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim would be prevented entry by the MDP.

Ali Hashim was one of the five ministers parliament yesterday voted to dismiss from the cabinet.

After three weeks of stalemate, parliament voted to approve five out of a dozen cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July, while MPs of the ruling MDP boycotted the sitting before voting began.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from the 42 MPs in attendance.

Moosa said that it was not for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party [DRP] to decide whether Hashim can or cannot enter the parliament in cases related to finance ministry.

”There is not even a slight difficulty for Hashim to enter the parliament as long as he remains as an appointed minister by the executive power,” said Moosa. ”The vote parliament took yesterday was also illegitimate.”

Moosa said yesterday that MDP MPs left the parliament chamber to loosen the deadlock in parliament over cabinet endorsement, so that the parliament could proceed with other necessary works such as a Witnesses Bill and approving next year’s budget.

Moosa’s remarks suggested it was a response to what DRP leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and People’s Alliance party [PA] deputy leader and deputy speaker of the parliament MP Ahmed Nazim said following the parliament’s decision.

Thasmeen told the media that if the dismissed ministers remain in office to proceed with their work, ”it would be a really serious issue and the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court.”

Meanwhile, Nazim have told the media that ”there is no way Hashim could present the budget as he did not get the consent of the parliament to be in the position.”

Nazim also argued that any minister that did not get the consent of the parliament should not remain in the position.

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Parliament only approves 5 out of 12 ministerial appointees

After three weeks of stalemate, parliament today voted to approve five out of a dozen cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July, while MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) boycotted the sitting before voting began.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, Defence Minister Ameen Faisal and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from the 42 MPs in attendance.

The five ministers who won approval were Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam, Health Minister Aminath Jameel, Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari, Human Resources Minister Dr Hassan Latheef and Economic Development Minister Mahmoud Razee.

Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News today that the cabinet will remain in place as “the only way to remove a minister is with 39 votes” through a no-confidence motion, pointing out that none of the seven nominees who failed to win consent received 39 votes against.

“No consent does not amount to no-confidence,” he explained, adding that today’s votes showed that “overall the Majlis has confidence in the cabinet.”

Zuhair said that the opposition parties failure to secure 39 votes “demonstrates splits” in their ranks.

The cabinet resigned en masse in June protesting the “scorched-earth policies” of parliament, accusing the opposition majority of corrupt practices, deliberate obstruction and attempts to wrest executive control from the government.

Aftermath

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, “Reeko” Moosa Manik, MDP parliamentary group leader revealed that he “asked the parliamentary group to remain silent even if the Speaker acts in violation of the rules and to leave the Majlis and step aside.”

Feydhoo MP Alhan Fahmy argued that after the Supreme Court ruled that article 171(e), which allows nominees to be interviewed by committee, could not be applied “the whole process has to be undone” since the invalidated provision was in place when the nominees were reviewed by the government oversight committee.

Appointing cabinet members was a “fundamental power” of the president under the constitution, said Alhan, adding that parliament had to pass no-confidence motions to dismiss the ministers who did not receive parliamentary consent.

“What we saw today in the Maldives parliament was a decision made in absence of the ruling party by the opposition party on their own,” he said. “I note that by this decision, instead of helping the administration govern, they have deliberately obstructed the government.”

Alhan condemned the opposition for “acting dictatorially” by “using parliamentary power irresponsibly” to dismiss ministers the DRP were unhappy with.

“I wonder if the DRP can give any justification as to why they did not give consent to [Attorney General] Dr Sawad,” he said. “For example, they can say something about not approving the Home Minister by talking about the police and what’s happening on the street. But why would they not give consent to Dr Sawad?”

Meanwhile, DRP MP for Galolhu South Ahmed Mahlouf dismissed the government’s as “the talk of madmen.”

Mahlouf argued that 39 votes were not needed to remove a minister as the constitution specifies that consent must be given by “MPs present and voting.”

“We voted for the people we believe are competent,” he said. “I do not believe the rest of them are ministers anymore. They should immediately give up their official cars and other state assets and they should not go to work tomorrow.”

While the MDP MPs maintain that Finance Minister Ali Hashim would still present the 2011 budget, Mahlouf claimed that he “certainly would not allow Ali Hashim to enter the Majlis.”

He further insisted that DRP’s voting reflected the will of the public and not personal prejudice: “[Defence Minister] Ameen Faisal was involved in the November 3rd coup and we tabled a no-confidence motion against [Education Minister] Luthfy when the cabinet resigned and Ali Hashim has sold our airport.”

He added that the opposition voted to approve ministers they believed were “competent and performing”, such as Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam and Islamic Minister Dr Bari.

“For example, we voted for Dr Bari because we believe that if we didn’t the President might appoint somebody like [Aishath] Velezinee (President’s member on the Judicial Services Commission) as Islamic Minister. We didn’t want to take that risk.”

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Communication among Muslims a key challenge: Farah Pandith

Extremism is the ‘front and centre’ of concerns shared by Muslims all over the world, at least according to Farah Pandith, the US State Department’s Special Representative to Muslim Communities, who is paying a four day visit to the Maldives.

Pandith, who reports directly to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is using the visit to meet with government and political figures, as well as NGOs and local people, to look at the possible social challenges facing the Maldives as an emerging Islamic democracy, as well as how best to respond to such difficulties.

Speaking on Sunday at the American Centre in the National Library in Male’ to an audience of local people and foreigners from across the private and public sector, Pandith said that even in the current Facebook age, communication among Muslims was seen as a major challenge facing Islamic communities.

According to Pandith, a large proportion of the world’s Muslims are believed to be under 30 years of age, yet the US Representative claimed that amidst a divide between followers of the faith and non-Islamic people, many young Muslims were not part of the “conversation” relating to differing faiths and viewpoints.

The representative said that this lack of communication about Islam in some cultures has further added to a global culture of ‘us and them’ between Muslims and other faith and belief groups.

In such a climate, the US State Department claims to now be looking to work with NGOs and local enterprise to better directly address discontent in Islamic societies all over the world.

In considering this more hands on approach by the US government, Pandith acknowledged that some US foreign policy during the last deacde, particularly in the Arab world, had been “unpopular” – not just amongst Muslims but large swathes of the world’s population. However, she claimed the country was moving beyond a so-called “freedom agenda” of pushing democracy, by trying instead to promote initiatives and activities designed to directly address prominent social concerns.

In addressing local audience members at the talk, Pandith asked the 20 or so people in attendance what it meant to them to be Maldivian and Islamic.

The response, according to some in the audience, was confusion and possible consideration of leaving the country amidst concerns over what they perceive as issues of free speech in relation to the role of faith.

Having met Pandith during her visit, State Minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, told Minivan News that principles such as free speech and human rights were an important part of the Maldives constitution and the influence of Islam in the country.

“The Maldives is very unique as we are both 100 percent Muslim and democratic,” he said.

Pointing specifically to Article 27 of the constitution, Shaheem stressed that there was freedom of speech within the Maldives, though this right to speak was bound by the principles of the Islamic faith.

Ultimately, the State Minister for Islamic Affairs claimed that Islam has formed the backbone of Maldives society for hundreds of years and was central to national ideas of human rights and free speech.

“In war for example, Islam forbids the killing of woman and children,” said Shaheem as an example of the religion’s impact on the notion of human rights.

In relation to the potential challenges of establishing more debate over Islam in the country, Shaheem said he believed the major concerns the ministry faced in the country were more related to drugs and the emergence of extremist ideas, both religious and non-religious in nature.

Although stressing his belief that the country has no Al Qaeda-style organisations, the State Minister said it was important to counter and not give any opportunity for more radical, extreme forms of Islam to take root in the country.

To try and meet this aim, Shaheem claimed that education and academic pursuits formed a major part of efforts to retain the country’s status as a moderate nation.

The Islamic Ministry says that greater links it has with many western nations like the UK reflects a more collaborative relationship with Muslim communities across the world.

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Defence Ministry staff member banished for theft

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has sentenced a Defence Ministry staff member Ibrahim Ahmed to three years and six months banishment, after he admitted to stealing money from a safe at the ministry.

Criminal Court said that Ibrahim was in a position in the Ministry where his duty was to look after the Ministry’s safe.

He was sentenced for stealing Rf 5821.09 ($US450) from the Defence Ministry’s safe, the Criminal Court said.

”Because he admitted that he committed the crime the Criminal Court found him guilty of the crime, and the court sentenced him to three years and six month banishment,” the court said.

Ibrahim was sentenced under article 131 [a], 143 and 146 of the penal code.

The Prosecutor General filed the lawsuit against him.

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Sheikh Fareed denies second marriage was conducted in secrecy

Prominent religious scholar Sheik Ibrahim Fareed has denied rumors that his second marriage, which was conducted in Sri Lanka, was conducted in secrecy.

Sheikh Freed’s lawyer Shaheem Ahmed told Minivan News that police officers yesterday went to Fareed’s house and questioned him about the marriage.

‘’Police officers told Sheikh Fareed that the case was reported to police by the Islamic ministry,’’ claimed the lawyer, ‘’and said that the Islamic Ministry had reported that the marriage was held in secrecy.’’

A marriage cannot be held in secrecy, continued Shaheem, adding that it was furthermore not the position of the police to investigate such matters.

‘’This is just a personal attack on Sheikh Fareed, it is very clear,’’ he said.

He also said the Islamic Ministry had denied it reported the case to police.

Police Sub-inspector Ahmed Shiyam denied that police told Sheikh Fareed that his marriage was held in secrecy.

‘’Police officers questioned Sheikh Fareed because he had not submitted to register his second marriage in the court and the given duration had passed,’’ he said. ”But he has now submitted to register the marriage.’’

Police declined to reveal who reported the case and more information on the matter, ”as the case was personally related to Sheikh Fareed.’’

Fareed alerted Minivan News to the allegations, sending attached copies of documents from the Family Court in Sri Lanka to prove he had attempted to register the marriage.

”The documents will reveal my second marriage was registered, and the Maldives Police Service was misinformed about the case,’’ he claimed in the mail.

Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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