Month: June 2011

“No nepotism in a DRP rule”, says Gayoom at seventh anniversary of reform movement

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom last night held a special rally to celebrate the seventh year of the former government’s reform.

Speaking at the rally, Gayyoom said the reform agenda he initiated seven years ago “can be perfectly successful and fruitful only after the DRP wins the Presidential Elections and reclaims authority.”

Gayoom said that then the people would come to realise the true values of democracy, as there would be no nepotism in DRP rule.

The former President claimed that under a DRP government people would be equal and there would “be no favouritsm,’’ according to reports in newspaper Miadhu.

Miadhu also reported that Gayoom criticised leader of main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and called for primary elections to determine a presidential candidate.

In his speech, the former President also denied he was attempting to disunite the party or further his personal interests.

Leader of Peoples Alliance Party (PA) and half-brother of Gayoom, Abdulla Yameen, also spoke at the rally.

Yameen claimed the government was trying to influence the judiciary and called on people to “be cautious”.

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DRP Secretary General resigns

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Secretary General Abdul Rasheed Nafiz has today resigned from his post, reports Haveeru.

Haveeru reported DRP’s media coordinator as saying that Nafiz had resigned because there were “some obstacles” in conducting his work.

Nafiz would remain in the party and continue to contribute to the party, the DRP said.

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UK officials conclude Chevening scholarship interviews

British officials from the UK High Commission in Colombo have concluded a visit to Malé to interview applicants for the Chevening scholarship programme.

Second Secretary Political and Public Diplomacy Dominic Williams, British Council Director Tony Reilly and Maldives Political Officer Shahla Ali visited to interview applicants.

“It is always a pleasure to meet the bright and enthusiastic students who apply to the Chevening scheme,” Williams said.

“This year the quality of the applicants was once again very high. Their energy and drive in many ways captures and reflects the optimism and ambition inspired by the Maldivian transition to democracy. I am sure that all the applicants will go on to make a significant contribution to their country.”

He said that the British government had substantially increased its funding to support the Maldives’ transition to democracy.

“During the visit, we were able to discuss ideas with a range of partners on how best to use this money to help consolidate the Maldivian success story,” Williams said.

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Four arrested for suspected involvement in illegal prostitution

Police have arrested two females and a male for alleged involvement in illegal prostitution inside a beauty salon in Addu City.

A police spokesperson confirmed that the three were arrested last night and that two females were from Thailand and the man was a Maldivian.

‘’They were arrested last night around 9:30pm during a special operation conducted following a report,’’ a police spokesperson said, confirming the arrests were made on Gan.

He declined to provide further information.

Local media reported that the owner of the beauty salon has also been arrested.

Addu Councilors Hussain Hilmee and Hussain Fahmy both said they did not have any additional information regarding the incident.

However, local media SunFM – which recently investigated illegal prostitution in the Maldives – reported that the three were arrested inside a salon in Addu while they were engaged in sexual activity.

The news outlet also reported that a 17 year-old girl was working as a receptionist at the salon.

Recently, the Maldives Media Council (MMC) called on the editors of Sun Online and Sun magazine to issue a public apology following the publication of a series of stories in which journalists wrote detailed and lurid accounts of their visit to an illegal brothel.

The Sun’s investigation of illegal prostitution in the Maldives revealed that ‘massage’ and medical treatment centers were being used a front for Male’s sex industry.

The Sun journalists who patronised the salons had ‘massages’ and reported that illegal prostitution was conducted widely and freely inside such places.

Some salons offered them group sex, while most provided a list of available girls with ‘special features’ for different prices.

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Tea shop closed by MFDA after live goat found in toilet

The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) has shut down a number of well-known Male’ restaurants and tea shops for hygiene breaches.

One famous tea shop on Majeedhee Magu, ‘Faseyha Point’, was closed after inspectors found a live goat tied up inside the teashop’s toilet.

MFDA said the tea shop’s hygiene condition was very poor.

Well known restaurants West Park and Raaveriya in Maafannu have also been closed in the MFDA’s hygiene crackdown, after both failed to meet the authority’s standards.

Media Coordinator of MFDA Jameela Mohamed told Minivan News that the authority shut down West Park because cats were roaming around in the service area.

‘’The restaurant’s kitchen door is always open and cats will enter the kitchen,’’ she said.

Jameela said the Raaveriya restaurant had house flies in the kitchen and lizards in their storeroom.

‘’So far we have checked 82 places and eight have been shutdown,’’ Jameela said.

Both Raaveriya Restaurant and West Park are often used as caters for celebrating wedding parties, birthdays and other such events.

Manager of West Park, Abdulla Gadhir, told newspaper Haveeru that cats do not enter the kitchen area of the restaurant.

He told the paper that there were two cats that lived in the fishing area right next to the restaurant.

Manager of Raaveriya, Ahmed Shareef told the paper that the restaurant sprayed insecticide weekly to terminate houseflies and other insects.

Director General of MFDA Shareefa Adam recently told Minivan News that any premises that were shut down could reapply to open again once they had corrected issues raised with their business.

Shareefa said the MFDA were using “basic” minimum hygiene standards such as cleanliness and preventing foreign materials from getting into food when inspecting the food outlets.

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Maldives to face India ahead of football Challenge Cup

The Maldives national football team is expected to face India for a friendly match in July ahead of next year’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup finals.

The match, expected to be played during the next few weeks at an unspecified location, will form part of India’s own preparation for upcoming qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup tournament, according to sports news website, Goal.com.

Back in March, the Maldives’ national stadium in Male’ hosted every single Group C qualifying match for the 2012 Challenge Cup, with the home team coming out on top to qualify for the finals alongside second place Tajikistan.

Following its qualification for the 2012 Challenge Cup, the Maldives is also expected to find out next week if it has been chosen as the tournament’s host nation. The tournament is contested two years every two years among a number of second tier national football teams represented by the AFC and has been held in 2010, 2008 and 2006 in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh respectively.

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Airport to conduct emergency training exercises on June 15

GMR Male International Airport will be running a full-scale airport emergency exercise on Wednesday June 15, from 4:00pm to 8:00pm.

The exercise will include activities in Male’, Hulhumale’ and Male’ International Airport.

In a statement the airport noted that “abnormal” events could occur during the training exercises.

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MBC requests recordings of Thunbafushi reports from Raajje TV after unspecified complaint

The Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) has asked Raajje TV for recordings of bulletins it aired relating to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)’s fining of Mohamed Champa Moosa for damage to Thun’bafushi, reports Haveeru.

The MBC said the request was made regarding an undisclosed complaint, however Haveeru reported that the complaint concerned the tarnishing of Champa’s reputation.

“The license states that the content of the recording be kept for a set amount of days. The commission requested for the recordings regarding a complaint it received, so as to the complaint is valid or not,” the MBC told Haveeru.

Raajje TV issued a statement asking the MBC to deal with other broadcasting media in similar fashion.

“we call on the Maldives Broadcasting Corporation to investigate the complaints received about all other broadcasting medias in the same manner, and take action against those media sources spreading news obviously influenced by politics,” the station said.

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Bus service won’t affect taxis, says Mayor

Male City Mayor Adam Manik has reassured taxi drivers that they need not be concerned about trials of a bus service, reports Haveeru.

“Everyone’s not a millionaire. An affordable mode of transport should be available for the some 150,000 people living in Male’,” Haveeru reported Manik as saying.

“On the other hand, people who use cars are those who want to go directly to their homes. So taxi drivers shouldn’t be worried about that,” he said.

Manik said environmentally friendly buses would be introduced pending a six month trial of a bus service in the capital.

“In our efforts to become carbon neutral we need to reduce the number of fuel-powered vehicles,” Manik said.

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