Day: March 16, 2011

Madaveli O’Level results investigated after students provide same answers to maths paper

Cambridge University has queried GCE O’Level mathematics papers submitted by Madaveli School in Shaviyani Atoll, after finding that all students had provided similar answers.

Haveeru reported that the school, which placed second in last years GCE O’Level examinations in the Maldives.

Director General at the Ministry of Education’s Department of Public Examination, Ahmed Shakeeb, confirmed to Haveeru that Cambridge University has questioned the department, and that a team from the ministry had been sent to the island to investigate the suspected cheating.

Shakeeb did not provide details of the investigation, but said cases involving similar answers occasionally arose.

“Such issues arise in subjects such as Fisheries Science, which includes a lot of group work. The students provide similar answers or those having similar sentences when they go on field trips and do group work. However, in such cases questions arise about whether the students have cheated or not,” Shakeeb told Haveeru.

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Former Chief Justice and Supreme Court Judge face corruption allegations

Former Chief Justice of of the Supreme Court Abdulla Saeed has denied allegations of corruption after a case against him and another former Supreme Court, Ali Hameed, were filed with Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

Abdulla Saeed is currently a judge on the new Supreme Court bench, and was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the constitutional interim period.

Local radio station SunFM reported that the two judges were accused of corruption and a case was filed in the ACC, alleging that the two judges had paid their personal telephone bills from Supreme Court’s funds.

SunFM quoted a senior staff member at the judiciary as saying that the phone bills of each of the judge totaled over Rf 17,000 (US$1323) each month.

”Last month judge Abdulla Saeed’s spent Rf 25,000 (US$1945) of the Supreme Court’s money as phone allowance,” SunFM quoted the source as saying.

SunFM also reported that judge Ali Hameed’s car was damaged twice in accidents and was also repaired using Supreme Court money.

The source in the judiciary also alleged that Ali Hameed had threatened a staff member at the Finance Department of the Supreme Court saying that he would be sacked if the did not hand over the money to fix the car after the second accident.

Judge Abdulla Saeed dismissed the allegations as ”lies”.

”W have never involved ourselves in any financial or administrative work of the Court,” Saeed told Minivan News. ”Any allowances we receive will be only those mentioned in the laws, and we do not have any other allowances.”

Saeed said the Supreme Court judges were ”very sincere in upholding the constitution and maintaining rule of law. I am very confident that no judge at the Supreme Court bench will violate any laws.”

He also said the financial report of the judges was submitted to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) annually.

”The Commission has the power to oversee all our credit card transactions as well,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court was to issue a press statement over the allegations.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called into doubt the JSC’s independence, noting in its recently-published report that “to date, JSC decision-making has been perceived as being inappropriately influenced by a polarised political environment. Also troubling is that members of the judiciary have been subject to threats and intimidation as well as improper inducements by both governing and opposition party members.”

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Meemu Atoll Council refuses to hand over former Atoll House and assets to state

Head of Meemu Atoll Council Ahmed Sulaiman has told Minivan News that police have tried to take over the former Atoll House, a car and a speedboat in Mulee.

”Police called us and said the Finance Ministry had sent a letter requesting police to take over government assets in Mulee including a car, speedboat, the council’s administrative office and former Atoll House,” Sulaiman said. ”Police said they wanted a response from the council and we said we would not let go of those assets unless the court orders us to do so.”

Sulaiman said the council explained to police that ”we bear the rights of many citizens and we have to protect it.”

”I agree that the government granted the speedboat to this island, but the two engines in it belongs to the islanders, it was bought on the islander’s account,” Sulaiman said. ”It is not clear to us why the Finance Ministry asked police to take over those assets.”

Sulaiman said the council would have to “conduct their work on the streets”.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said police did not want to confiscate the council’s administrative office, only the other assets.

”Police went to the island because the Finance Ministry has requested us by letter to take over the assets, the former Atoll House and other assets,” said Shiyam. ”But they refused to hand it over. We have not yet taken any action against them.”

State Finance Minister Ahmed Assad did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Recently, the government asked police to take over former Atoll Office of Kaafu Atoll Council in Thulusdhoo after the council decided they would move their administrative office in former Atoll Office.

Confrontati0ns occurred between the islanders and police when  police tried to block entrance to the former Atoll Office.

The case is now pending in court and both the government and council have been waiting for the ruling, however  the first hearing of the case is yet to be scheduled.

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Bahrain declares martial law as Saudi troops clash with Shia protesters

The King of Bahrain has declared martial law in the Gulf state after allowing 1000 troops from Saudi Arabia into the country to quell an uprising of Shia demonstrators.

Violent demonstrations in tiny Shia-majority country, ruled by a US-backed Sunni-elite, yesterday saw four shot dead, including two protesters, one Bahrani policemen, and a Saudi soldier.

A further six protesters were declared dead after troops overran the demonstrators camp this morning. Observers also observed an armoured personal carrier on the scene with the flag of the UAE.

A doctor spoken to by the UK’s Guardian newspaper said that Saudi troops were preventing staff from leaving the hospital where he worked.

“They are shooting at us, they are shooting,” he said. “Get help, get the international community to help.”

Media reported protesters outside the hospital as chanting “with our blood and our souls we will fight the mercenaries.”

Bahrain’s opposition Shia Wefaq party yesterday issued a statement condemning the arrival of Saudi troops as an assault on the country’s sovereignty.

“We consider the entry of Saudi Arabia or other Gulf forces into the Kingdom of Bahrain’s air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation,” the party said.

Iran, a majority Shia country, waded into the burgeoning conflict when foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi asked Bahrain not to harm the Shia demonstrators. In response, Bahrain withdrew its ambassador from Tehran in protest.

An Iranian MP, Kazem Jalali, described the Saudi interference as a “criminal” attempt by the US and Saudi Arabia to repress peaceful anti-government protests, pointing to the recent visit of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to he gulf nation.

There were further signs that the escalating crisis in the 200 year-old monarchy could reignite an ongoing Sunni-Shia feud in the region, after the militant Shia Hezbollah group in Lebanon said that military action against demonstrations would disrupt Bahrain’s already fragile society – 70 percent of the population are Shia, but are largely underrepresented in senior government and political positions.

“Military intervention and the use of violence against a peaceful and popular movement will only complicate matters and eliminate chances of finding a solution,” Hezbollah said.

The UK embassy in the Bahraini capital of Manama closed its doors, while the US – which has substantial military assets in the kingdom, including the US Fifth fleet – ruled out military action.

The UK has closed its embassy in Manama, while the EU and the US have said there is “no military solution” to the crisis. The US maintains its Fifth Fleet in Manama’s port and has significant intelligence interests in the kingdom.

The Formula One grand prix, due to be held in Bahrain this year, has been postponed.


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Fuel prices increase after tsunami and Middle Eastern instability

Petrol prices have risen Rf 0.87 and diesel by Rf 0.96 a litre on the back of growing instability in the Middle East and panicked Asian markets after Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown threat.

The State Trading Organisation (STO) raised petrol to Rf 12.67 a litre and diesel to Rf 12.61, the second increase of the year. Local retailers followed suit.

The Maldives spends 25 percent of its GDP on fuel and is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to oil price rises. A government official recently speculated that were the price of fuel to double, the Maldivian economy would “collapse within hours”.

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Addu students learning hydroponics

The UK-based Little Growers foundation has launched a project with Maradhoofeydhoo school in Addu City in an effort to teach school children how to grow food using modern hydroponics.

The foundation is the initiative of a company called AutoPot, which provides self-watering hydroponics technology to schools across the UK. The system, invented by British inventor Jason Ralph-Smith, is gravity-fed and works without electricity, and can be left unattended for weeks at a time.

Little Growers UK and the local distributor of AutoPot hydroponic systems, Mahaadheebu, have already launched the project at Maradhoofeydhoo school and Hithadhoo school, and will soon be expanding the project to Feydhoo school and schools in Male’.

Mahaadheebu’s Managing Director Mohamed Zahid explained to Minivan News that the set up consisted of a 10 AutoPot hydroponics setups and a 10 foot by 6 foot polytunnel greenhouse, “ready made in the UK and assembled at the schools. It has a zip cover that can be unziped on sunny days and zipped up on rainy days,” he said.

The foundation had enlisted students at the environment clubs of the various schools, and actively engaged them in growing fruit and vegetables with a view to making an income – potentially by supplying local resorts. Students are growing tomatoes and long beans.

Transport remains a problem for large-scale commercial growers, with the high cost of cargo transport in the Maldives eating into margins. However hydroponically-grown produce, Zahid expained, fetched up to three times the price of that cultivated on land.

Addu students are learning hydroponic agriculture

“When the fruit is healthy and nourishing it has better flavour and smell,” he said. “In Addu there are two tourist resorts that do not get enough local supply and import produce like tomatoes that can be grown locally. The school children will be able to grow a good-quality harvest and sell it to the resorts.”

Agriculture in the Maldives faces a large number of practical challenges, not the least of which is lack of both expertise and arable land – factors which compel most of the country’s resorts to import large quantities of easily-grown staple vegetables such as tomato and lettuce from overseas at great financial and environmental cost.

“In the Maldives there is little land available, and the land that is available is not fertile,” Zahid explained. “One solution is something like AutoPot, which allows schools and communities togrow fruit and vegetables in a very small area at little expense, and profit from the harvest.”

Since launching at the beginning of 2010, six customers had inquired about established large-scale greenhouses for growing high-quality fruit and vegetables, he said. Several resorts had also contacted the company looking to expand small garden setups into hydroponic stations that could grow herbs and other fresh produce.

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Dhiraagu targets broadband expansion with nationwide submarine cable system

Telecommunication group Dhiraagu has claimed that the construction of a new fibre-optic submarine cable network stretching from the north to the south of the country will help aid national development as well its profits by providing improved broadband coverage to the company’s customers.

The project was unveiled yesterday at a signing ceremony held in Male’ for a US$21.7 million contract with Japanese communications groups NEC, who will be using their existing experience of working on the country’s cable system to lay 1,017 kilometers of fibre-optics beneath the sea.

The company predicts that the so-called backbone network created through completion of the cable project is expected to be in place by April 2012, accompanied by a number of parallel service extensions such as 3G usage and backup services.

Dhiraagu’s Chief Executive Ismail Rasheed told Minivan News that he believed the significant investment outlaid by the company in order to lay the new submarine cable system would be vital in extending services beyond their current limitations.

“Although we have mobile coverage in all inhabited and resort islands, we are not able to offer the same coverage for broadband internet,” he said. “The cable will enable broadband access to the entire country.”

Rasheed claimed that with the company’s current microwave system being pushed almost to its limits by demand, Dhiraagu had been encouraged to move forward with the cable network construction to aid online developments across the Maldives for services such as education, “e-medicine” and entertainment. “The network will also us to increase service capacity and eventually, we hope, make services more affordable,” he claimed.

The cable network will encompass a number of locations in the country including Haa Dhaal atoll Kulhudhuffushi, Baa atoll Eydhafushi, Hulhumale’, Alif Dhaal atoll Dhangethi, Laamu atoll Gan, Gaaf Dhaal atoll Gahdhoo, Seenu atoll Hithadhoo and Fuvahmulah.

For its own role in the project, NEC, who previously worked with Dhiraagu to set up a fibre optic cable between the Maldives and Sri Lanka in 2006, saw off competition from a tender of seven other companies to be awarded the contract.

Dhiraagu is among a number of suppliers in the country that provide broadband and 3G service along with groups like Wataniya and Raajje Online.

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Maldivian flag at half mast in mourning for Japanese tsunami victims

President Mohamed Nasheed has ordered the Maldives national flag to be flown at half mast for three days, out of respect for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Cabinet members yesterday observed a minute’s silence for the stricken country, which is one of the Maldives’ most active development partners.

The death toll is predicted to reach 10,000. Japan continues to tackle the risk of nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, after three hydrogen explosions in the last four days and another fire that broke out in reactor four yesterday.

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Comment: Is peace merely the absence of violent conflict?

Hundreds of peals of islands, azure lagoons, and white sandy beaches scattered over 90,000 square kilometres in the middle of Indian Ocean, making up the Muslim nation the Maldives. This tropical archipelago is isolated from the rest of the world, attracting thousands of high-class honeymooners, holiday makers and celebrities.

The Maldives has been branded internationally as a luxury tourist destination by selling the three products gifted by nature: sun, sand and sea. The Maldives is reputed internationally for its peace, tranquillity and harmony, unlike the killings, attacks and explosions seen in some of the conflicted areas like Jammu, Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Maldives is formed of 1,190 islands, with a 100 percent Muslim population of 300,000. Around 200 islands are inhabited, and nearly 100 islands are developed as luxury tourist resorts.

Political instability

The concealed dark side of the Maldives was exposed to the world in 2003, when a prisoner in Maafushi Jail – the largest prison in the Maldives – was beaten to death.

For the first time in the recent history, public unrest rocked the country, and the headlines of the Maldive politics printed in the international media. The incident triggered a prison riot, killing three more inmates and injuring many more. Further, multiple protests erupted in the capital city Male’, and blazing fires in several state-owned buildings and properties.

The protests and demonstrations gave an impression to the world that although the tourists were invited to rest on the beaches in the Maldives, there was no real peace for the citizens during Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s regime, had ruled since November 11, 1978. During his dictatorial regime, political opponents’ movements were suppressed and there was no free media. The citizens were controlled by the state, the same way we see in communist regimes like Libya and North Korea. The executive, legislative and judiciary were under direct control of the president.

Journey for a democracy

On 12 August 2004, thousands of frustrated Maldivians gathered in the Republic Square of the capital Male’ demanding freedom, the same manner in which we have recently witnessed gatherings in Egypt’s Tahrir Square to oust the dictator Hosni Mubarak.

To disperse the crowd, a state of emergency was declared by the Gayoom’s government and mass arrests were made. This led to heavy criticism internationally, forcing Gayoom to launch a reform agenda.

During the reform process, the new changes introduced by Gayoom included appointing young intellectuals to the cabinet, establishing independent institutions (like the Human Rights Commission, Elections Commission, Judicial Services Commission, Civil Service Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission and Police Integrity Commission), drafting a new penal code and giving the authority to form political parties through the parliament (Peoples Majlis). The first registered political party is the current ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The new reforms improved human rights, governance and press freedom. The ratification of the new constitution on August 7, 2008, which was drafted by the constitutional assembly, guaranteed greater rights for citizens like freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and right to information.

Mainly, the new constitution had separated the state into three powers, executive, legislative and judiciary.

The voting results of the first multi-party elections in October 2008 proved that the people had really wanted a change. The ruler of 30 years was ousted by his political opponent, MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed, the current president.

Peace

Today, some people make the justification that the countries which are not experiencing violent conflict, like Saudi Arabia, are peaceful nations. But this is a false assumption. This is the peace which is portrayed by the media; giving the readers, listeners and viewers a feeling that violent conflict only obstructs peace.

But realistically, the situation cannot be understood by just a shallow exploration. But it should be analysed much deeper and more broadly to know the real situation. This is what Maldives history has taught us.

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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