Month: June 2011

President’s dancing shames nation: Adhaalath Party

The Maldivian people should “bow in shame” following President Mohamed Nasheed’s dancing at a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally on Thursday, the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party has claimed.

In a video of the incident, President Nasheed is seen dancing with a group of senior party officials while MDP Parliamentary Group Leader ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik sings on stage at Thoddu in North Ari Atoll.

‘’This is not the behaviour we expect to see from the people who are supposed to set an example for Maldivians,’’ said the Adhaalath Party, in a statement. ‘’Their behaviour was uncivilised and irresponsible.’’

The party said it was a national shame that the President had participated in a rally where ‘’males and females danced together like in a disco with a DJ.’’

‘’Heads of nations are supposed set an example for their people. They are obliged to live a very honorable life,’’ said the party. ‘’We don’t see presidents of non-Muslim states dancing and performing circus acts in public.’’

“By all accounts [Reeko Moosa’s] singing was pretty awful,” acknowledged a senior government source.

“The Adhaalath Party has new leadership and this may be them trying to flex some muscle and show they are independent,” the source suggested, adding that Nasheed had emphasised the 800 year durability of Islam in the Maldives while handing out certificates to the winners of a Quran recitation competition this morning.

In its statement, the Adhaalath Party further alleged that the MDP had used government vessels to ferry “hundreds of MDP supporters” to Thoddu, which, it claimed, “shows how much this government is addicted to corruption.”

The political system of the Maldives was moving towards a dictatorship and what the people saw on Thursday night was “the real image of MDP,” the Adhaalath Party stated.

The MDP has had an increasingly conflicted relationship with the Adhaalath Party: its remaining coalition partner and the third largest party in the country. The party’s ranks make up much of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

In February 2010, the government capitulated to the Adhaalath Party’s demands that new regulations licensing the sale of alcohol to non-Maldivians in hotel of over 100 beds on inhabited islands be scrapped, after thousands of people protested in the capital.

Individual liquor licensing, which had been repealed in the lead up to the new regulation, was not reinstated, leading to a flourishing blackmarket around the illegal commodity.

Further clashes between the coalition partners took place in December 2010 over the visit of a group of Israeli eye surgeons from the NGO ‘Eyes from Zion’, resulting in protests in Republic Square, the burning of the Israeli flag, and statements that those Maldivians who accepted the free surgery were at risk of having their organs harvested.

More recently, the Adhaalath Party has threatened to split from the MDP if the government allows Israeli airline El Al to operate in the Maldives. The government has responded that flights will begin on December 13.

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Maldives re-insurance potential spied by Sri Lankan business

The Sri Lanka-based National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) has announced plans to move into the insurance markets of the Maldives and Bangladesh after posting Rs. 2.7billion (US$24million) in profit over the last six months, local news reports have said.

The NITF has said that it has held talks in the two countries over re-insuring national providers and was expecting to enter both markets soon, according to a report published today in the Sri Lanka-based Sunday Observer newspaper.

Senaka Abeygunasekera, Chairman of the NITF, told the paper that a “large” number of Sri Lankan companies were now funding re-insurance plans abroad, including markets like India and parts of Europe.

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MDP wins Haa Dhaal Atoll council by-election

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Nasrulla Ismail has won the seat for Kulhudhuffushi-North on the Haa Dhaal Atoll Council with 509 votes.

Ismail defeated Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) candidate Adam Masood Moosa who received 279 votes. 806 people voted out of 2000 eligible voters.

Haveeru reported that the by-election was held after sitting MDP candidate resigned for “medical and personal” reasons.

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Maldives desperate to maintain paradise image amid rising extremism: The Diplomat

Desperate to maintain its image as a tourist paradise, the Maldives is boosting co-operation with regional partners to combat the threat of militants, writes Berkshire Miller for current affairs magazine The Diplomat.

“Senior officials in Washington and New Delhi continue to express concern that madrassas funded by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have the potential to radicalise Maldivian young people through jihadist doctrine. Such fears were given some credence in 2006, when three Maldivians were detained in Sri Lanka on suspicion that they were using the country to transit to Pakistan to join a jihadi training camp. It’s with cases like this in mind that the Maldives’ National Central Bureau – which heads up intelligence and national security operations – remains invested in its partnership with Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department to enhance intelligence sharing on terrorism and national security issues.

“More generally, India is alarmed by the growing presence of radicalism in the Maldives, and has offered its experience in detecting and responding to terrorist attacks. But setting aside the more immediate benefits for it of doing so, the Indian government also likely sees its co-operation with the Maldives through the prism of its grander strategic policy of targeting Pakistani-based terrorism in the region. Over the past few years, the Indian Coast Guard has been continuing its efforts to train Maldivian authorities on ways to avoid maritime terrorist attacks through enhanced surveillance of sea lanes and increased monitoring at key ports.

“The Maldives has little history linking it to terrorism, whether international or domestic. Still, local and regional authorities aren’t taking any chances. After all, Maldivian citizens still recall the Sultan Park bombing in the capital of Male in the autumn of 2007. While no one was killed in the attack, a dozen foreigners were wounded, prompting Maldivian business owners and politicians alike to roundly condemn the infringement to the islands’ harmony and the threat it posed to tourism there.

“State law enforcement authorities quickly rounded up nearly a dozen suspects (10 of whom were Maldivian citizens) within the first few days following the Sultan Park attack. Investigators eventually traced the bombing back to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and jihadi groups were widely reported to have based their operations. Nine of the 12 suspects – all Maldivian – were arrested in the FATA region, but were later released due to a lack of evidence that they were tied to the attack. While no legal case was made against the ‘Maldivian nine,’ intelligence officials in New Delhi and Washington understandably felt something was amiss with Maldivians ‘vacationing’ in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.”

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Comment: The Israel hypocrisy

On Monday June 6 the Adhaalath Party released an ominous statement claiming that allowing the Israeli national carrier El Al to fly to the Maldives is “a threat” to the country’s economy and statehood.

Maldivian authorities have announced that the airline could begin operations in December this year.

In a valiant effort to shoulder the unwieldy burden of speaking for the 1400-year old Islamic faith, the Adhaalath Party has responded to the news by threatening “nationwide protests”, exhorting citizens “who love their religion” to join them.

It has become absurd theatre to watch the Mullah reach for the raw teats of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and milk the tragedy for all it is worth.

Hawks and doves

First, the facts – the world has overwhelmingly recognised the need for Palestinian statehood.

In his 2009 address to the Muslim world at Cairo, President Barack Obama reaffirmed US support for a two-state solution, recognising both parties as having “legitimate aspirations.”

In perhaps the most pro-Palestinian speech by a US President in history, Obama also asserted in a major speech last month that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines”, while also calling for full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Palestine.

Various polls show that a majority of Palestinians and Israelis support the idea of two states co-existing peacefully side-by-side.

Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome, and leader of the billion-strong Roman Catholic Church, has also thrown his weight behind the idea of Palestinian statehood. Celebrities, left-leaning Israeli parties, public intellectuals and several high-profile Jews and Jewish organisations around the world have also lent their support to the Palestinian cause.

Why, then, has this convoluted tangle remained unsolved for decades?

Perhaps the answer partly lies in the reactions to the US President’s conciliatory speech.

While Obama’s statements were well-received among Palestinian lobbyists, the right-wing militant Hamas wasted no time in heaping scorn on it. On the other side of the fence, within hours of the US government’s announcement that it “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements”, hawkish elements in the right-wing Israeli government announced the construction of 1500 more housing units in occupied Jerusalem.

Peace, unsurprisingly, is not welcome by those whose politics depend on division and hatred.

Selective outrage

The Adhaalath party has stated that “the government should not establish ties with oppressive states that violate international human rights conventions.”

Fair enough. But one must wonder why this magnanimous vision is not being applied uniformly to our ties with the rest of the world.

Why does this party not take the moral high-ground on our ties with China? After all, that country has, by numerous accounts, oppressed the people of Xinjiang and Tibet regions for over half a century.

During Chairman Mao’s infamous Great Leap Forward, between 200,000 and one million Tibetans – of whom Muslims form the largest minority – lost their lives. To this day, the Tibetan government operates in exile and their displaced populations have little hope of returning to their homeland.

Why does the Mullah not demand “nationwide” protests against the twice daily flights operating from India – a country that, according to Amnesty International and various other Human Rights NGOs – has continued to exercise brutal military control over Kashmir since 1947?

Apologists for the “boycott Israel” camp insist there is an as-yet-unexplained “difference” between the Palestinian situation and the rest of the world’s humanitarian crises.

Don’t the Kashmiris, who have been fighting for a homeland and self-representation in the most militarised region of the world for a full year longer than Palestinians, find equal sympathy in the heart of the otherwise easily outraged Mullah?

There are, after all, 1.5 million refugees from the vivisected remains of Muslim-populated Kashmir, according to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Why should the mass-graves unearthed in Kashmir be less of a humanitarian catastrophe than Palestinians going without gasoline?

And why doesn’t the big-hearted Mullah condemn the Kashmiri Islamists as well? Surely, the murder and displacement of over 400,000 Kashmiri Hindus, which the US Congress declared an act of ethnic cleansing in 2006, qualifies as a crime against humanity?

Pray why haven’t the Mullah’s minions gathered outside the Turkish Embassy in Male’ with their pitchforks?

Surely, the Turkish government’s continued denial of justice for the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Armenians – by burning, poisoning, drowning and marching till exhaustion – counts as “violating Human Rights conventions”?

If the Mullah contends those wounds have been healed and forgiven by the passage of time, then perhaps he could also explain his meek silence over the ongoing genocide in Darfur – an area approximately the size of Spain.

Even the Sudanese authorities have officially admitted to a death toll of nearly 20,000 since 2003 – which outnumbers the total Palestinian deaths over the last three decades. Aid agencies on the ground in Darfur have estimated about 400,000 dead as a result of systematic ethnic cleansing, aided and funded by the Sudanese government.

A party that can issue swift press releases condemning the President’s dance moves can certainly spare a word of condemnation for the war crimes in neighboring Sri Lanka, and perhaps organise “nationwide” protests against their airlines as well.

The Maldives continues to maintain ties with undemocratic, repressive regimes throughout the Middle East.

Syria has killed over a thousand Muslims and erased the whereabouts of another ten thousand over the past two months.

Bahrain has ruthlessly cracked down on doctors and nurses attending to injured Muslim protesters.

Should we also reconsider our ties with Pakistan in the light of increasing evidence that points towards decades of sponsored terrorism that has cost numerous lives in bombings of Mosques and market places?

If the argument is that Palestine deserves a special consideration because of the holy sites present there, then the shouldn’t the esteemed Mullah be the first to demand that the Maldives cut off all ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – a nation that violates numerous International Human Rights conventions, and is widely alleged to have tortured thousands of its own citizens?

The answer in all these cases, one might reasonably expect, is an unreserved “No”.

Why then does the Mullah vent his spleen so selectively over just one nation – Israel – with a passion and vehemence that he denies for all the other inhuman atrocities taking place in the world?
What explains the Mullahs’ double standards in singling out just one nation – Israel – while maintaining healthy relations with the United States, Italy, England and Australia – all of whom have allegedly ‘wronged our Muslim brothers’ by participating in a global war on abstract concepts?

This two-faced approach towards foreign policy is patently dishonest, disingenuous, and riddled with bias. Genuine empathy and humanitarian compassion is unconditional and transcends all petty distinctions of race, ethnicity and artificial geographical boundaries.

In that context, what is being passed off as ‘humanitarian concern’ by the Adhaalath party, unfortunately, smacks of mere political opportunism.

Sovereign Republic or Arab Satellite state?

A nation is truly sovereign when its leaders have both the will and capacity to take independent decisions that places at its heart the best interests of its citizens.

A note-worthy example is India – the first non-Arab nation to establish diplomatic relations with the PLO, and well-known champion of the Palestinian cause, that nevertheless maintains strong defense and diplomatic ties with Israel.

An indicator of their successful foreign policy would be that despite being a severe critic of Israeli military misadventures in Lebanon and Gaza, India emerged on a 2009 poll conducted on behalf of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, as the most “pro-Israeli” nation in the world ahead of the US!

The sovereignty of Dhivehi Raajje is put under a cloud by those who place Arab priorities above the interests of Dhivehin.

The Maldives was the second nation – and the first Muslim nation – in the world to recognise the state of Israel. Israel became the first modern country to send an ambassador to the Maldives in 1965, during the reign of the Sultan Mohamed Farid.

When the Indian Ocean tsunami struck in 2004, Israel was among the first nations in the world to respond with emergency relief measures. Israeli Magen David Adom has provided training and support to Maldivian armed forces, police and fire departments.

Israeli medical volunteers from ‘Eye from Zion’ have conducted free treatment camps in the Maldives late last year, in a bid to strengthen friendly relations between the two nations.

However, just as with the Hamas and the Far-Right parties in Israel, Maldivian Islamist groups responded to the extended olive branch with claws and daggers.

If hostility seems insurmountable, it is because there are those who cannot stand the idea of peace.

Era of Peace and Dialogue

According to Maulana Jamil Ilyasi, who led an official delegation of the All India Organization of Imams and Mosques, a body representing over 500,000 Imams across India, to Israel in August 2007, “The time for violence has come to an end, and the era of peace and dialogue between Muslims and Jews has begun”

The Senior Indian cleric also called upon Pakistan to recognize the Jewish state, saying “The Jews I have met here say that we are all children of Abraham, part of the same family… The Muslims in India should come and see things for themselves.”

According to Transport and Communications Minister Adil Saleem, 500 Maldivians have traveled to Israel this year – and history bears witness that people-to-people exchanges are the surest way of ensuring lasting peace and mutual understanding.

Those who willfully spurn all attempts at peace have no moral authority to complain about violence.

So when vested interests claim that an Israeli airline would threaten the country – it is a blatant attempt at fanning the fires of hostility.

This so-called “threat” to our statehood and economy comes only from those who seek to stoke baseless controversy for mere political drama.

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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The Maldives’ first ‘fair trade’ shop opens in Male’

The exotic necklaces made out of coconut shells are showcased alongside coconut shell bangles. The top shelf is filled with pieces made of wood, vases, containers and objets d’art.

In Male’ where shops with brimming shelves is the norm, ‘Athamana’ sets itself apart. This is the first fair trade shop in Maldives, filled only with products made by Maldivians.

“We wanted to create an outlet for people who do handicraft in Maldives, to enable them to get a good price for their products, and introduce the concept of fair trade here,” says Fathimath Shafeega, country manager of the NGO Live & Learn.

The NGO works on protecting and providing education on environment and promotes sustainable development with a fair trade culture. Their shop Athamana showcases traditional and new products created in Maldives.

Across the archipelago

Mixed within the range of traditional products like fine mats ‘Salavaai Kuna’ and lacquer ware, are innovative new products like virgin coconut oil and shoulder bags, and jewellary made from discarded denim items.

The virgin coconut oil produced on Filladhoo in Haa Alif Atoll is packaged in hand-woven baskets made out of screw pine leaves and comes in 50 and 120 ml bottles.

“Coconut oil is a new product that we are conducting in Filladhoo,” says Mohamed Moosa, vice-president of the island NGO ‘Ekuveringe Dhirun’ (ED).

The production of virgin coconut oil is a project in the northern islands organised by Live and Learn with funding from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the cooperation of the local Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.

“We put out a notice, and from those interested we gave priority to people with low income to join this project,” says Moosa.

The team consists of 18 workers. Moosa explains that from the profit they make, 60 percent goes to the workers, while 30 percent is invested in developing the project and 10 percent is retained by ED.

“It provides a good income, and we already have two resort buyers, one of which is Bandos Island Resort.”

In the shop alongside each product the producer’s name is displayed, giving the item a personalised touch.

Virgin coconut oil produced in Haa Alif Atoll
More to come

In the near future the shop will have lotions and soaps, made from the byproducts of coconut oil. Other items to come include chilli sauce being produced on Veymandoo in Thaa Atoll from the fiery Maldivian chillli ‘githeyo mirus.’

There are challenges in making these ventures a success.

“We have issues of transport and the fact that most communities have not been very active in production before,” explains Shafeega. As most Maldivians tend to work individually, the issue of getting them grants has also arisen, as cooperatives are being registered for grants at the Ministry of Economics. “We are working on getting grants for individuals also.”

The Athamana shop also acts as a focal point for buyers, to enable the producers to have access to the retail market. Different buyers have shown interest.

“We have some buyers including high end resorts like Soneva Fushi,” says Shafeega. The shop receives orders and helps in delivering them. A lot of effort has gone in producing the Maldivian products on display, showcased in Live and Learn’s new Athamana shop.

The participation of society and businesses will be vital to make the first fair trade shop a success, and in enable the revival of traditional Maldivian products and the promotion of new ones.

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MATI not taking sides on proposed resort lease amendments

Proposed amendments to the Tourism Act relating to lease extensions for Maldivian resorts are said to have divided opinion among industry insiders, according to the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).

MATI Secretary General ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim told Minivan News that proposals presented to the Majlis yesterday by MP Abdu Raheem Abdulla, if passed, would allow 50 year lease extension payments to be made gradually on an annual basis.  Sim claimed that the decision to support or oppose the amendment had proven difficult for the association, with different resort owners welcoming and opposing the bill.

“MATI cannot take sides on this issue. While we have some people who can pay the money straight away, we know of others [resort owners], who would prefer the amendments,” he said.

According to newspaper Haveeru, Abdulla’s proposed amendment would allow contractors requesting an extension of their existing lease to pay a US$100,000 fee to pay instalments every year over the life of the contract.

Abdulla was reported to have forwarded the amendment over fears that news jobs would not be created in the country if the government received upfront payments from extension agreements.

Sim said that he believed that at present, the government preferred the system currently in use where lease extensions were paid within an 18-month period of a contract being signed by a resort.

A Tourism Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the Government’s official view was that it supported existing tourism laws that supported an upfront fee payment made over a shorter time-frame.

The spokesperson conceded that he had not fully read the proposals forwarded by Abdulla at present and was unable to elaborate on further on the exact changes they may entail for the industry.

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No MP wants Rf20,000 committee allowance, claims MDP MP Musthafa

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Musthafa has claimed that no MP really wanted to take the Rf20,000 committee allowance, or had so far received it, despite DRP MP’s Ahmed Mahlouf’s resolution to cut the allowance being dismissed yesterday.

Out of the 58 MPs present during the vote yesterday, 17 MPs voted to accept Mahlouf’s resolution and cut the committee allowance (+) while 20 voted in favor of keeping it (-).

16 MPs abstained from voting. 19 were absent, a quarter of the chamber.

Breakdown of the vote, by MP

Musthafa said that his intention was to throw the matter out of parliament, despite voting against the resolution to dismiss it.

‘’This resolution was not really presented to the parliament because they care about the citizens,’’ said Musthafa. ‘’There is no MP that wants the committee allowance, and so far nobody has even received the committee allowance.’’

Musthafa said he voted in favour of the committee allowance ‘’just to close the whole chapter for good.’’

‘’I don’t even touch my monthly salary, I give it all to my constituency,’’ he told Minivan News. ‘’I don’t think there is any MP that depends on their salary.’’

Musthafa also claimed that MPs did not work for their salary, but by working for the rights and needs of the people.

MP Musthafa was the only MP out of 10 contacted by Minivan News who commented on the matter, which has raised public ire and concern over the prevalence of MPs giving their salaries to constituents who approach them with medical and educational expenses.

MPs on both sides of the political fence have previously acknowledged to Minivan News that the expectation from the public is that MPs will hand out this money, particularly in response to demands for foreign medical treatment, “and it is hard to say no.”

Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said earlier this year that the government “does not believe that MPs should spend their salary on welfare for their constituents – they are paid principally so they have a dependable source of income and are therefore less susceptible to corruption – but many instances of assistance being provided in this manner are in fact acts of corruption. Some MPs have not grasped that – they are not supposed to be giving charity.”

The committee allowances are derived from a new pay structure formulated by parliament under Article 102, which does not require Presidential ratification.

President Mohamed Nasheed in January refused to ratify the controversial MP Privileges Bill, which included additional financial benefits for MPs including health insurance for life, pensions after a single term of five years’ service, and concessions such as freedom from paying duty on imported cars.

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”Dangerous criminal” sentenced to 15 days for contempt of court

A person declared a “dangerous criminal” by police has been sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, after he demanded the judge provide him the opportunity to present witnesses from his side, reported Sun Online.

Sun identified the person as Ahmed Shareef of Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Rathafandhoo.

Shareef told the judge that the judge was ignoring his requests and giving priority to the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

He told the judge that he would not appear in court if the court did not appoint another judge to handle his case, and the judge replied that he would be summoned to the court even with force if necessary, reported Sun Online.

The judge said that if the accused had witnesses, he should have said so during the police investigation rather than exercising his right to remain silent. Ahmed Shareef and Madhih Mohamed, both accused in the same case, also used the right to remain silent during the police investigation.

The judge declared that both Madhih and Shareef would not get the chance to present any witnesses.

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