Month: December 2010

Space concerns still exist at Male’ International Airport: Miadhu

Overcoming a lack of space for planes landing at Male’ International Airport continues to remain a long-term problem for the site’s new operators, according to Miadhu.

Citing a “reliable source” at the airport, Miadhu reported that craft flying to Male’ International have been consistently delayed in the air for periods of about an hour over a number of years due to limitations at the site in regards to space and the time required to service flights.

Up to seven aircraft have been reportedly left queuing in the airspace around Male’ at a single time waiting for clearance to land, the paper reported.

President’s Office Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, told Miadhu that he believed the recent privatization agreement signed between the Government and multinational infrastructure group GMR would help to try to speed up the processing time for visitors with additional security outlets and luggage reclaim facilities being made available at the airport.

“Flights that land can be serviced quicker, allowing them to leave on schedule,” the paper quoted Zuhair as saying.

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Climate change key element of Maldives foreign policy

Climate change has emerged as the most important aspect of Maldivian foreign policy, writes Anand Kumar for the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

“Therefore, it is hardly surprising that President Nasheed has been trying to highlight the issue at all global fora. Most recently, while speaking to students in Oxford University, he urged them not to work for oil and coal companies which were responsible for major carbon emissions into the environment. He also pointed out that these companies were also funding campaigns to deny the existence of climate change. He pleaded with the students to instead join those companies engaged in the area of alternative energy sources and green technologies.

“However, his campaign on climate change has come to be mired in some controversy after a UK media report, citing documents leaked by Wikileaks, suggested that Maldives had pushed for US $50 million assistance from the US government in exchange for unequivocally backing the Copenhagen Accord.”

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Political figures join protests in surge of anti-Zionist sentiment

Anti-Zionist protests continued over the weekend reflecting the anger of some Maldivians about Israeli medical assistance being supplied to the country, leading to a rally held by the Tsunami Memorial on Friday with a host of high profile political figures speaking at the event.

Hundreds of people gathered at the protest with some carrying banners in both Dhivehi and English with messages ranging from “Say no to Israeli terrorism” and “Jews said Allah is poor” to “We are with anyone who fights Israel & USA” and “Bloody Zionists”.

The protests are said to be directly focused on deporting an Israeli NGO called Eye from Zion that is conducting eye surgery at a number of hospitals around the country. The religious NGO Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) said the protests were also targeted at rising concern over “President Mohamed Nasheed’s decision to have closer ties with Israel.”

A host of speakers including State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and former Deputy Leader for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP, Umar Naseer, addressed attendees, voicing their opposition to accepting any aid from Israel amidst anger at its foreign policy towards Palestine.

Miadhu reported that Sheikh Shaheem spoke during a sermon on the day of the protest claiming that “the history of Jews was deception, trickery, rebellion, oppression, evil and corruption.”

“So it is not it is not acceptable that one who would stab the ummah in the heart could heal the eyes?” he reportedly said. “This philosophy is not acceptable.”

Alongside these comments, Naseer claimed that no aid should be taken by an Islamic state such as the Maldives until Israel settles the issues of occupation in Palestine in solidarity with other Muslims. The IFM claimed that other similar protests were held in Addu Atoll and Fuamulaku over the weekend.

Some 739 people in Male’ and 879 in Addu and Fuvahmulah had registered for treatment at eye camps run by the NGO as of December 9.

Last week, the co-founders of the IFM said that although they were not directly involved in the protests, it would not discourage its members from joining so called anti-Zionist demonstrations such as flag burnings and peaceful protests that have taken place over the last month over concern about the visit of ‘Eye from Zion’.

IFM co-founders Ibrahim Nazim and Ibrahim Fauzee said that they did not wish to “prohibit its members” from taking part in the ongoing protests that it saw as a “spontaneous reaction” to concerns over Israel’s attitude towards Palestine.

Nazim said that the IFM did not favour violence as an organisation and claims by “other organisations in the country” that Jewish people were planning to take over the country were setting back legitimate concerns over the visit of Eye from Zion and Israeli foreign policy.

“What I feel is that some groups are trying to win publicity by making radical statements,” he said. “We do not believe this is good and in the long-term it is not be favourable [towards effectively opposing Israeli activities in the Maldives].”

Fauzee added that he believed the protests reflected the fact that “many people in the Maldives do not accept Israel as a state.”

In response to the anti-Zionist protests and criticism that the government was engaged in a pro-Israel agenda, Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that the government “holds friendly relations with Israel, as it does almost every other nation in the world.”

“We are not at loggerheads with any states, though we have some differences with Burma over the treatment of [formerly arrested dissident] Aung Sun Suu Kyi,” he said. “There is nothing special in terms of agreements with Israel.”

Though Zuhair claimed that the Maldives government has been “consistent on criticising Israel over Palestine and other foreign policy issues it did not agree on”, this was not a barrier to humanitarian cooperation, he said.

Zuhair added that by having bilateral relations with a large number of nations, the Maldives was able to benefit from cooperation based on technical assistance, education and humanitarian aid.

He claimed that the medical expertise offered by Eye from Zion was a strong example of this.

“We ourselves don’t have the means for this type of surgery, which has so far treated 140 patients in Male’ and 40 people across islands in the outer atolls,” Zuhair added. “In this case, the patients that thankful for the treatment they have received, which outweighs the protests against [the doctors].”

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UN “ignored Maldives’ vulnerability” in decision to graduate country, Ambassador tells WTO

The Maldives has appealed to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to soften the impact of the country’s graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) to middle income status.

The Maldives will graduate on January 1, 2011, and lose access to both concessional credit, certain trade concessions, and some of the foreign aid upon which aspects of the country – such as civil society – have historically depended on for both skills and financial support.

The country’s Permanent Representative to the WTO, Iruthisham Adam, told the organisation’s general council that while the Maldives welcome the graduation as a “positive
step in the country’s development”, the country would nonetheless “continue to require special treatment and support from international partners.”

The Maldives ,said Ambassador Adam, remained ”acutely vulnerable at economic, commercial and environmental levels” and would therefore require “certain flexibilities”, particularly in regards to trade.

The UN had “ignored the issue of vulnerability” in its decision to graduate the Maldives from the list of LDC countries “on the basis of its strong socio-economic development over recent decades.”

She noted that the Maldives will be the first member of the WTO to graduate and suffer the deprivations attached to loss of LDC trade concessions.

A World Bank Economic Update Report released last month showed a per capita Gross Net Income (GNI) for the country of US$4090 for 2010, up from US$3690 last year.

However it noted that fiscal consolidation – reigning in the ballooning budget deficit with austerity measures and the introduction of taxation on business profits – “remains the foremost challenge in the coming years”.

“A less destructive political climate” will be needed to maintain recent positive developments, the World Bank cautions.

“Despite having posted better-than-expected fiscal results in the first half of the year, the country will be hard-pressed to sustain this in the medium term.”

Minivan News understands that the government will be announcing its plans later this week for mitigating the impact of the graduation.

State Minister for Finance Ahmed Assad has previously told Minivan News that while the government has included the graduation in its financial predictions, the Finance Ministry had banked on the Majlis passing the tax bill by June 2010.

“Some people say [the graduation] will increase borrowing capacity and give us more independence,” Assad said. “But like becoming an adult, it means taking on both freedom and responsibilities.”

An internal report by the World Bank, obtained by Minivan News in May, revealed that the doubling of spending on state salaries in 2007-09 crippled the country’s economy, and left the Maldives “facing the most challenging macroeconomic situation of any democratic transitions that has occurred since 1956.”

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Gayoom mulling presidential prospects amidst Maldives return: Umar Naseer

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former Maldivian President and previous leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) is reportedly considering a return to active politics ahead of travelling to the Maldives campaign during the local council elections, the party’s former Deputy Leader Umar Naseer has claimed.

A number of DRP MPs, including Naseer who was dismissed from the party earlier this month, said that although Gayoom has not yet committed to standing once again as party leader and a presidential candidate in 2013, discussion on the matter remained “open”.

Naseer, who served as a deputy leader of the DRP until being dismissed on December 2 by a party disciplinary committee, claimed that he travelled to Malaysia this week with a number of party representatives to discuss both Gayoom’s and his own political future within the DRP.

DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef said the party has not sought to talk with Gayoom or contact him regarding the rival faction in the party, and added that he was not concerned over the potential involvement of the “honorary leader.”

However, Naseer told Minivan News that Gayoom had committed to begin travelling around the Maldives during the local council elections to try and win voter confidence, as well as personally backing him in the dismissal dispute.

“Mr Gayoom believes that the dismissal was illegal and he wants the party to abide by its own constitution and still believes that I hold the office,” he claimed.

Naseer added that he was confident that the Maldives’ general election commissioner would in time rule that his dismissal by the party was improper and will not stand.

“There will be nothing to renegotiate, the position is illegal and I believe this will be supported by the election commission,” he added.

Alongside trying to secure his own future in the party, Naseer said that the former president was needed to prevent defeat in local council elections taking place in February next year.

“As it stands, we have requested he should come back and take charge [of the DRP],” he said. “Without him, we might not win.”

Naseer’s sentiments appear to have changed since an interview with Al Jazeera in November 2007 alongside (now) President Mohamed Nasheed and then-Information Minister Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, where he stated that Gayoom had “failed” and urged him to step down.

“The best thing for the Maldives at the moment is for Mr Gayoom to step down,” Naseer said. “He has failed in all areas. As far as Education is concerned, he has failed. Security he has failed. Corruption, he has failed. All these areas, he has failed. He must step down,” Naseer said, as President of his own Islamic Democratic Party (IDP).

Responding to calls today by Naseer and MPs such as Ahmed Mahloof in calling for the return of the former president to lead the party, Shareef said there was no concern about the impact the meetings could have on their position.

Shareef said that DRP MPs could meet with anyone they wished, but they must abide by the rules and constitution of the party in relation to appointments and dismissals.

“Every member of the party has a right to go wherever and meet whoever they want,” he added.

Naseer’s trip to Malaysia on Friday with a number of MPs still active in the party to meet with Gayoom come amidst a war of words has escalated between the ousted Deputy and current Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

Just last week, a meeting at the DRP headquarters resulted in violent clashes between members alleged to be loyal to Naseer and Thasmeen represented growing animosity within the party about the decision to remove the former deputy leader from his position earlier this month.

Ibrahim Shareef said that the current party leadership had not been in contact with Gayoom about the meetings with Naseer as they believe there is” nothing to be discussed” with the man he said remained the party’s “honorary leader” and did not believe a split within the party was imminent. Shareef insisted that it was ultimately not in either “the party or nation’s interest” to try and cause a split within the DRP.

Considering any potential meetings between Naseer, DRP and Gayoom over appointments and the outcome of this month’s disciplinary committee on Naseer’s political future, Shareef claimed that Naseer had been removed in accordance with the party’s rules and constitution.

“Umar Naseer was dismissed in accordance through all the relevant processes required by the party,” He said. “[Naseer] also declined from making an appeal to the committee about the appeal.”

With the dismissal of Naseer now having taken place, Shareef claimed it could not be rescinded.

Dismissal

Naseer was dismissed as a DRP Deputy Leader on December 2, after a disciplinary committee voted four to one in favour of removing the senior politician on a day that also saw the party headquarter’s stormed by a dozen or so of his supporters.

The exit of Naseer, who has been at the centre of an acrimonious war of words with DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, has led one party MP to claim a split may be imminent within the country’s main political opposition.

“There will be a split in the party for sure,” DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf told Minivan News following the disciplinary committee decision. “He is someone with a lot of support in the party, and to date he has done a lot of work for us. He is very loyal to the former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.”

Mahlouf also claimed that the decision to remove Naseer due to disagreements with party leadership was against DRP policy and conventions that he said required a two-thirds majority at the party’s congress to remove a serving Deputy Leader.

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DRP deputy cannot “accept” Gayoom return: report

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Ali Waheed has said that despite the respect he holds for former Maldivian president and party head Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, he “cannot accept” his possible return to power, Miadhu reported.

In an interview with DhiFM, Waheed reportedly said that having already ruled the country for 30 years, Gayyom’s potential return could set back the DRP, adding it was “not fitting” for him to rule again.

The report added that although there had been no official confirmation that Gayoom had any plans to return to active politics following his retirement earlier this year, Waheed claimed that some members within the DRP have made “outrageous statements” about the former leader and his intentions.

“I respect Maumoon. I support him a lot. I hold him with great reverence. But still I cannot accept his return to power,” Miadhu quoted Waheed as saying during the DhiFM interview.

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Flooding hits government offices

Male’s Velaanage building, which houses the offices of a number of government ministries, was hit yesterday morning by flooding on a number of floors due to a loose water pipe, Haveeru has reported.

Equipment on both the building’s eighth and ninth floors has reportedly been damaged in the incident, which also led to parts of the ceiling on both of the levels collapsing and power cuts in five of the site’s elevators.

Mohamed Saleem, Senior Supervisor of Housing Ministry and the head of maintenance at the building told Haveeru that security officials at the site raised the alarm over the flooding at about 5.40am yesterday morning.

“When I checked, water was leaking from the office area of the ninth floor. A valve joint had come loose above the tea room,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

The administrative section of the Education Ministry was reportedly worst hit during the flood, though water reportedly managed to make its way down to the ground floor of the 14-storey building

High pressure has been blamed for the flooding, according to Haveeru.

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Comment: Who will hold the Judicial Service Commission Accountable?

The Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions has once again cancelled a meeting scheduled with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), calling an hour before the meeting set for 11.15am this morning [Wednesday, December 15].

The JSC has remained dysfunctional for weeks, since in-fighting on Article 285 disrupted the Commission earlier this year. A serious concern, as the JSC is the only constitutional body to check judges’ misconduct and impunity. Over a 100 complaints remain unchecked.
The Parliament has failed to hold the JSC accountable despite repeated complaints and appeals by member Aishath Velezinee since February 25, 2010, when concerns were raised that JSC had unconstitutionally abolished Article 285 as symbolic.
The last appeal on the matter to Parliament was on August 4, 2010 requesting an injunction order to prevent the JSC from going ahead with the symbolic oath-taking before the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions had looked into pending complaints.

Since then, member Velezinee has publicly accused the Speaker Abdulla Shahid and MP Dr. Afraasheem Ali, both ex-officio members of JSC, of unlawfully abolishing Article 285 of the Constitution and using the JSC as a tool in a covert coup attempt to derail constitutional democratic government through denying independence to judges, and preventing the establishment of an independent judiciary.

The Majlis, as well as media, has remained silent on JSC and Article 285, despite the very public declarations.

On December 1, 2010, the Secretary General of the Majlis sent a letter of invitation to JSC stating that the parliamentary oversight body, the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions, requested a meeting with members of JSC on 6 December 2010.

Another letter arrived on December 5, 2010 informing that the said meeting was postponed to 9 December 2010.
Another letter arrived on December 9, 2010 informing the JSC that the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions had decided to postpone the said meeting indefinitely, and that a date would be informed at a later date. No reason for the summons was specified in any of the letters sent by the Majlis, nor was a reason specified for the indefinite postponement.

Late afternoon on December 14, 2010 an urgent letter arrived from the Parliament Secretariat, informing that the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions requested to meet with JSC members.

That is now cancelled, the cancellation letter informing once again that “a date for the said meeting would be informed at a later date”.
Earlier, the parliamentary oversight body failed to respond to a number of requests for intervention, first made in writing by Member Aishath Velezinee on 25 February 2010.

On Sunday, Dec 12, 2010, JSC member Velezinee sent a 34-page letter to the Parliament refusing to appear before any Parliamentary committee and explaining the reasons for her decision.

When the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions met JSC on August 2, 2010, the first and only time it did to date, JSC members was informed halfway into the meeting that it was not in relation to complaints on Article 285. It was a “routine check”.

What the meeting was about, no one, neither members of the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions nor JSC understood.  It was mentioned that the matter of Article 285 was a serious issue and was being studied.

The matter of audio tapes on Article 285 having been edited at the request of certain members of JSC before they were submitted to Parliament was dismissed with the words, “We are not talking about audio tapes today”.

The matter of JSC members paying themselves despite a clear constitutional clause that specified no ex-officio member would be paid, was ignored.
The fact that JSC had not adopted Standard Operation Procedures and other regulations despite Article 40 of the JSC Act stating they be adopted within six months of appointment, a deadline which passed on January 26, 2010, went unnoticed.

The matter of JSC having censored its own Annual Report for 2009, removing information the JSC Act required to be included in the report, had not been noticed by any member of the Parliamentary oversight committee for Independent Commissions.

The question perhaps is, who can hold the Speaker accountable?

Aishath Velezinee is a member of the Judicial Service Commission of the Maldives (JSC). She holds a Diploma in Journalism (IIMC, India; 1988), BA in Government; and in Women’s Studies (University of Queensland, Australia; 2000) and a Masters’ in Development Studies (Institute for Social Studies, Netherlands; 2004).

http://www.velezinee.aishath.com/content/why

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected].

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President Nasheed praises Cancun climate talks, but warns more work ahead

President Mohamed Nasheed has praised the outcome of climate change talks that concluded last week in Cancun, Mexico as helping to restore confidence in international commitments like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Writing to Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Nasheed said that the country “strongly supports” the Cancun Agreements and the impact they could have on helping countries all over the world in pursuing sustainable economies.

A source in the President’s Office told Minivan News that is was encouraging that the Cancun Agreements effectively “anchored” many of the main aspects of the Copenhagen Accord that the Maldives had supported in its own commitments to tackle impacts of climate change.

However, the source conceded that commitments outlined during the Cancun talks alone would not be enough to combat concerns held by the Maldives and other nations over the impacts climate change could have on rising sea levels and the wider ecosystem.

“Cancun alone won’t be enough,” said the source.  “We need to do more in raising green awareness.”

The aspects that are thought to have been anchored in Cancun include securing emissions reductions from every developed and developing nation alongside the raising of US$100 billion in funding each year to aid sustainability initiatives based on low carbon developments for smaller economies from 2020.

For the Maldives, 2020 proves to be a very big year with President Nasheed committing to make the nation Carbon Neutral, an ambition the president last month claimed will be a disaster for the nation if not met.

However, the source said that Cancun did not require any significant changes in the Maldives green policy, claiming the country had made the most ambitious commitments of any nation in the world.

The exact nature of what this carbon neutral commitments will entail for the nation has not yet been outlined, with a “masterplan” currently being compiled with funding from the La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild.  It is hoped that this “carbon Neutral Masterplan” will outline definite measures that can be adopted by other nations to follow in attempts to pursue more sustainable economies.

“Adopting carbon neutrals goals is not just important because climate change is a major global problem, which it is, but because it also makes economic sense,” added the President’s office spokesperson.

Climate change consideration

However, not everyone has been convinced that the potential impacts of climate change on rising sea levels within low lying nations like the Maldives are a vital issue to address for business.

Andrew Harrison, who was recently appointed CEO of GMR Male’ International Airport, said that at least from the viewpoint of insurance companies, the risk of sea levels increasing to a point that disrupted operations at the site were not even considered in its premiums.

“When we became involved in the bid process, we engaged three leading companies who are at the forefront of analysing geophysical activity, climate change and the impact rising sea levels,” he said.  “Insurers are notorious for considering even unimaginable risks, so I can tell you that if no insurance company considers this in any of their policies for the Maldives, we think that the risk is pretty low.”

Speaking to Minivan News last month, environmental organisation Greenpeace said it believed the Maldives acted 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.

In looking specifically at the Maldives, the Greenpeace spokesperson accepted that the country is somewhat limited by its size in the role it can have as an advocate for more sustainable business and lifestyles.

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