March 29, 2012 – Minivan News

Disagreement on house rules post-coup leaves parliament in limbo, claims MDP

The ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will reject amendments to house rules to allow the government to submit bills through any party, the party has said in a statement on Wednesday.

Article 71 of the parliamentary rules of procedure states the government can only submit bills, including tax bills, to the parliament through the party it represents.

However, President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s Gaumee Ithihad (GI) does not have representation in the Majlis. Waheed, the former vice-president, took power after MDP’s President Mohamed Nasheed resigned on February 7. The MDP claims Nasheed was ousted in a coup d’état.

Nasheed’s deposition has raised questions over MDP’s status in parliament. According to MDP’s statement, parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Mohamed ‘Ibu’ Solih has written to Speaker Abdulla Shahid stressing that the MDP was elected for a five-year term and the administration continued to belong to the MDP, despite the transfer of power.

“The Majlis is in limbo,” MDP spokesperson and Malé MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor told Minivan News. “MDP has been elected for a five-year term. In the middle of the term Shahid is trying to make us out to be the opposition. He is attempting to bring about a coup within parliament.”

Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim had told local media Haveeru that house rules needed to be amended to allow Waheed’s administration to submit bills before Majlis reconvenes. He also said any bills submitted by Nasheed’s administration are now void and have to be submitted again.

“From the moment when President Waheed addressed the assembly, the new government has now been accepted by the Parliament. In my view, the bills submitted by the former government have now been rendered void. Hence the bills must be resubmitted,” Nazim said.

The MDP attempted to prevent Dr Waheed from delivering a constitutionally-mandated presidential address and obstruct the Majlis from reconvening on March 1 and March 19.

Waheed narrowly managed to deliver a shortened presidential address on March 19, over loud heckling from MDP MPs.

With MDP’s refusal to allow amendments to the house rules, the MDP and the coalition of parties backing Dr Waheed will now go “head to head” on the matter when Majlis reconvenes on Monday, Gafoor said.

Nazim also said the Majlis has to decide on opposition response to the president’s address. According to article 25 of the Majlis rules of procedure, the largest political party opposing the president’s party in Majlis must respond to the presidential address.

Ibu has said the MDP will not issue a rebuttal to Dr Waheed’s address as the party continues to question Waheed’s legitimacy and the constitutionality of the March 19 Majlis opening session.

“As long as the MDP continues to be the elected administration, the MDP parliamentary group does not have to respond to the presidential address,” the party’s statement read.

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Chinese tourist arrivals drop 34.8%

Chinese tourist arrivals dropped by 34.8 percent to 12,237 in February compared to the same point last year, according to Asian travel trade newspaper TTG. Around 6,500 fewer tourists arrived from China last month, largely due to the cancellation of charter flights, which are expected to resume in April.

Visitor numbers to the Maldives dropped by 4.7 percent year on year in February following the political crisis, the industry paper revealed. Arrivals fell from 87,392 to 83,252, after having grown by 13.4 percent when compared with the same period in 2010.

Arrivals from the UK also fell, while visitors from France and Germany rose by 4.9 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Efforts including familiarisation trips arranged for the media and tour operators have been employed to reassure Chinese tour operators who appear to have been unnerved more than others by the upheavals following February 7.

The Chinese market makes up around a fifth of all tourist arrivals to the Maldives in a sector that indirectly contributes over 70 percent of the country’s GDP.

George Weinmann, Chief Executive of Mega Maldives Airlines, which charters flights between Male’ and multiple Chinese destinations, told the New York Times this week the full schedule of flights was to resume on April 4. He was confident that his business would continue to grow – its employee numbers have doubled in just over a year.

The Maldives sent a group of 200 to the recent ITB trade fair in Berlin, representing 65 companies, to reassure the international markets that the Maldives remained a safe travel destination.

The need for this public relations exercise was reflected by the words of Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Lord Howell, who felt the need to defend the country‘s image during discussion of the Maldives’ situation in the House of Lords on March 22.

“The Maldives, as my noble friend has said, remains the paradise and attractive tourist area that it has always been and continues to be, because at the moment we do not judge that there is any danger in the tourist areas,” said Howell.

The FCO lifted all travel restrictions to the UK on March, as did Germany, though it has been reported that tourists in resorts have been prevented from taking trips to the capital.

Politics in paradise

The alleged involvement of tourist resort magnates in February’s changeover of power has seen attempts to politicise the tourism industry, in particular to put pressure on tourists to avoid certain resorts.

In the UK, a Maldives Travel Advisory website has been established, grading a number of resorts on a traffic light system, ranging from ‘green’ sites which the advisory urges tourists to visit, ‘amber’ which are under consideration regarding their alleged involvement in the changeover, and ‘red’ which the advisory urges against travel to.

The selective nature of the boycott is indicative of the desire of all sides to shield the image of the tourist industry from long term damage. Of the 107 resorts currently listed on the website, only 12 are listed in the ‘red’ category, with another 12 in the ‘amber’ category.

The Friends of Maldives (FOM) group has attempted to publicise this travel advisory, for example by handing out leaflets outside of a meeting held by the Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Gafoor in London earlier this month.

This attempt did receive some coverage in the British Media, with prominent columnist for the The Daily Telegraph, Oliver Smith, writing, “The moral implications of visiting the Maldives have been called into question following the downfall of Mr Nasheed.”

Adheeb had earlier expressed concerns that the message of the political and geographical separation of the resorts from wider Maldivian society was not being made clear enough: “That message is not going out. People don’t know that the resorts are separate [from the rest of the Maldives], and international headlines have made people panic.”

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has employed the services of a professional PR company, Rooster Creative Public Relations Ltd to represent its interests in the UK, explaining, “The purpose of having a full time PR and Marketing agency is to overcome the image that is continuously spoiling in the UK market due to the current political turbulence.”

Despite the presence of some Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters outside of the venue who distributed literature relating to police brutality, the party insists that politics should not impinge on tourism.

In a recent interview, the former Minister for Tourism Dr Mariyam Zulfa told Minivan News, “It has never been the MDPs intention or any other political party’s intention to harm the economy in any way.”

Concerns that politics will damage the image of the destination could be premature. In the days after the coup, a report on Reuters that tourists “barely put down their cocktails during the political crisis” appears emblematic of the attitude of those seeking relaxation in paradise.

In a February poll taken on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, only a third of over 8000 respondents said that the coup had affected them. Tourists at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) who were recently asked their opinion about the politics in Male’ did not show concern.

A couple from London said they were unaware of any issues, whilst a Swiss tourist stated his belief that the problem was one for the state to deal with and should not concern tourists.

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Fijian man sentenced for two years imprisonment for sexual assault

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has sentenced a Fiji man to two years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a Canadian woman.

The man identified as Thomas Cunningham Newton was arrested in June 2011 for sexually assaulting a female pilot at the sea plane operator TransMaldivian Airways (TMA) while he was employed as the Chief Engineer at the same company.

TMA’s Managing Director Alsford Edward James declined to comment on the case citing that it is “not a company matter”.

However, he confirmed that Newton’s employment was terminated following the arrest, but the female pilot still works for the company.

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More MPs could desert MDP for Gasim’s JP, claims MDP MP

A member of MDP parliamentary group has told Minivan News on condition of anonymity that it is “very likely” that at least two more MPs could desert the party and join Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (JP).

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Abdulla Abdulraheem rejoined the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) earlier this week, a year after leaving his original party while it was in opposition.

A JP council member told private broadcaster DhiTV that two Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs were to join the party next month.

Minivan News’s source alleged the MPs could include MP for Nolhivaram constituency, Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed, and MDP MP for Mid-Fuvamulah Shifaq ‘Histo’ Mufeed.

‘’These are the two names that have been rumored, it is possible that they may leave MDP and join JP,’’ he said. ‘’They are close to JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim and they are personal friends.’’

The source suggested that although current rumours suggested that MDP Deputy Leader and MP Alhan Fahmy was also going to leave MDP, it was unlikely “as long as he is in the position of Deputy Leader.’’

Alhan came to MDP after the then-opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) decided to take action against him after he voted in favor of the then-Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, in a no-confidence motion in parliament to oust him.

The source also said it was unlikely that MDP MP for Thoddoo constituency Ali Waheed who was a former Deputy Leader of DRP, would leave MDP.

‘’The story inside MDP is that Colonel Nasheed and Shifaq are planning to join Gasim, who has been acting very proud lately telling everyone that he was the one who ousted both former Presdient Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and former President Mohamed Nasheed,’’ he said, adding that Gasim had also been boasting that he would ousted the present government and become president.

The source said the traumatic ousting of the MDP had brought the whole party behind former President Nasheed, and that the MDP remained proud of him.

Asked to respond to reports that they were considering joining the JP, MP ‘Colonel’ Nasheed told Minivan News that there was “nothing to talk about”, while Shifaq had not responded to calls at time of press.

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Criminal Court Judge acquits MP Adil citing lack of evidence

Criminal Court Judge has acquitted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP for Maradhoo constituency in Addu City, Hassan Adil, from the charges of child abuse submitted by the state.

The judge said that the state had failed to present sufficient evidence as per the requirement of Article 47 of the Use of Special Procedures in Dealing with Child Abusers Act, and that therefore Adil was not guilty.

If he had been found guilty, Adil would have face imprisonment for a period between 10 to 14 years and would also have lost his seat in parliament.

According to the Maldives constitution, a parliamentarian loses his seat if he receives a criminal sentence of more than a year.

Article 3, clause (a) of the Use of Special Procedures in Dealing with Child Abusers Act states: “If a person touches a child with sexual intention, it is deemed as an offence.”

Clause (c) of the same article states: “If a person is guilty of the offence stipulated in clause (a), the punishment for the offence is imprisonment for a period of between 10 to 14 years.”

In order to find a person guilty of the charge, the state has to provide sufficient evidence according to article 47 of the act.

Police arrested Adil on 4th April 2011 with a court warrant, and on the next day extended his detention period for 15 days. He was later transferred to house arrest.

On June 12 last year the court granted the Prosecutor General (PG) permission to hold Adil in house arrest until the trial reached a conclusion.

However, Adil was later given conditional release from house arrest by the Criminal Court..

Police at the time alleged that Adil sexually abused a 13 year-old girl belonging to a family with whom he was close friends. The family of the victim had raised concerns over the delays in filing the case in court by the Prosecutor general.

MP Hassan Adil was originally elected to the parliament under the ticket of Dr Hassan Saeed’s Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), however he switched allegiance by defecting to then ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

“I believe that the government is conducting many development projects at a high speed, and I signed with MDP for the development of my area at the request of [my constituents],” he said, speaking to Minivan News after switching sides.

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Nasheed appears on WNYC, Letterman show, in US tour for Island President film

Former President Mohamed Nasheed is touring US media for the launch of the Island President, appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman and WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show, among others.

While the environmental message of the film was the subject of most interviews, many interviewers also focused on Nasheed’s claims to have been ousted in a coup on February 7, and his expressed disappointment in the US response.

“The UK government has been the only government that has been straightforward. I was shocked by the Indian and US governments in the rapidness with which they recognised the new regime,” Nasheed said, on the Lopate program.

Challenged over whether his resignation had been at “gunpoint”, Nasheed said this was a phrase used by a journalist to describe what had happened during the day.

“The military had arms. The rebellious police were outside the base and the mutinous military were inside. They said if I did not resign within the hour there would be bloodshed. ‘Gunpoint’ was a journalist’s description – but yes, for all practical purposes I was forced to resign,” Nasheed said on the Lopate program.

“They tried to arrest me in the presidential residence, but a few hours after the event some military officers who were still loyal helped me slip out of the presidential residence and go to my family home. A whole lot of people came out in support of me, and [the new government] have not been able to get me because of that.”

The new regime “is the old dictatorship we voted out of office,” Nasheed said. “Gayoom is back in the country, His children are in cabinet, he is in power. Dr Waheed is just a facade.”

Nasheed said it was “ludicrous” to claim that his government was brought down by “undemocratic practices”.

“The election was not enough to consolidate democracy. We have to build capacity within these institutions. The new constitution envisaged a fair and free judiciary, but the first elections brought a new executive, followed by the first free and fair parliamentary elections, but there was no election for the judiciary – and all the all the judges were handpicked by Gayoom.

“They were shielding the dictatorship from human rights abuses and corruption cases. We had to break the circle, and the body trusted to do that was the JSC. To argue that it was our undemocratic practice that brought us down is ludicrous. To argue that this was a reason for an uprising… there was no uprising.”
As well as speaking to several newspapers and film magazines, along with Island President Director Jon Shenk, Nasheed also appeared on the popular Late Show with David Letterman, which averages four million viewers a week.

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Police investigate “suspicious” death of a newborn

Police are investigating the suspicious death of a two-day old healthy newborn at the ADK hospital on Tuesday, Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef has confirmed.

According to the Haneef, the investigation commenced after police discovered the baby boy’s mother had been married three months before the delivery, suggesting that the baby was conceived before the marriage.

“There are some suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the baby. We have found out the mother was married just three months before the baby was born,” Haneef noted.

Speaking to Minivan News, Managing Director of ADK hospital, Ahmed Afaal, said doctors who examined the boy has declared it was “sudden death” as the boy was born perfectly healthy and had no complications.

Afaal said the real cause of death cannot be identified without an autopsy in sudden death cases.

He noted that the boy had died while under the care of mother, who is reportedly from Nilandhoo in Gaaf Alif Atoll.

Newborns are not admitted to the nursery and transferred under family care if no complications are found, he added.

“The hospital staff were alerted by the family on Tuesday morning after the boy was found not breathing. The staff examined the body and declared the boy was dead,” according Afaal.

Meanwhile, local media Haveeru has quoted an unidentified official from ADK saying that the “doctors assume the baby had died of choking but that they couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of death without carrying out an autopsy”.

Haveeru quoted another police media official saying “the boy had an identical bruise to the sides of his nose” and had claimed their journalists had observed the bruise.

However, both Afaal and Sub-Inspector Haneef did not confirm any physical injuries and added they cannot comment further as the investigation is pending.

However Haneef added that the police so far believe that the death was “normal”.

Stigma

Under the form of sharia law practiced in the Maldives, both sex before marriage and adultery are offences punishable by flogging. But attitudes towards sex reveal a discrepancy. While it is acknowledged in private that both take place, social norms and cultural attitudes restrict public discussions on the subject. As a result, students are not taught about contraception at school as for many this would be tantamount to condoning sex outside of marriage.

While premarital and extramarital sex is widespread, high rates of divorce and remarriage (including sex between marriages), and poor access and practice of contraception lead to a high number of unwanted pregnancies. The stigma of having a child out of wedlock compels women and girls to opt for abortions – which is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia.

Subsequently, anecdotal evidence suggests some women have resorted to abortion-inducing pills and injections administered by amateur abortionists, while others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma.

The severity of the situation was signalled last year following the discovery of several dead premature babies and abandoned alive on Male’ and across islands.

The Criminal Court last year sentenced the mother of a prematurely born baby found inside a milk can in ViliMale’ on 19 May 2011 to one year imprisonment.

Aminath Shaira, 30 of Manadhoo in Noonu Atoll, was charged with disobedience to an order under article 88(a) of the 1968 penal code as well as violations under the Child Protection Act.

Her accomplice in the crime, Mariyam Rizna, 18, of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll, was sentenced to six months for assisting Shaira in delivering the baby. Rizna’s fingerprints were found on the Coast Milk can.

In the same month, a dead infant was found in a plastic bag in the swimming track area of Male’. A medical examination later concluded that the baby’s had sustained cuts, bruises and other wounds. No one was arrested or charged.

Meanwhile, in June 2011 an abandoned newborn was discovered alive inside a garage on Gaafu Dhaalu Thinadhoo island while in a similar case, a newborn was found abanded alive in bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’ during Novermber 2010.

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Comment: How do you solve a problem like the Maldives Police Service?

Today marks 79 years of Policing in the Maldives. Pity, that it has become so controversial an issue to appreciate.

A mistrust of the Maldivian police and security services has been ingrained in me for most of my life. I grew up with stories of arbitrary arrests, brutality in jails, and the concept that the police were not there to protect and serve my interests, but those of their immediate superiors. In fact, one of the fundamental things that I had to accept in 2008, after the country’s first multi-party Presidential election, was the idea that the Police were no longer ‘enemies’, or even the ‘golha-force’, but very much part of the apparatus of state that any government had to take into consideration. It wasn’t an easy task.

Controlling my body not to shudder at the sight of a blue camouflaged uniform and black ankle boots, and understanding that not every arrest the police made was arbitrary. Most of all learning to trust the police took time, commitment and a lot of stubbornness. Maybe that sense of apprehension and mistrust went both ways.

No doubt, the prospect of a MDP government would have filled most senior police officers with a high sense of foreboding. After all, these were the very people that they had seen on the other side of an investigation table, inside a jail cell and on the street loudly confronting them at every given opportunity. Let’s not take lightly the extent to which the police were a political tool of Maumoon’s authoritarian regime, and as a result, that they were very much a product of the democratic reform process in the Maldives at that time.

The Maldives Police Service was created in September 2004. Mostly out of the need to placate the international community, and to perform a PR exercise after the human rights debacle that was 12/13 August 2004.

Instead of policing duties being conducted by the National Security Service or the Army, we got the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defence Force. Basically – blue and green uniforms. Two hastily divided institutions plunged into a fast-changing political environment to which they were inextricably tied. Millions were poured into the MPS – equipment, training, strategic action plans, philosophies of policing and of course, new blue uniforms. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the training went into how to use new equipment rather than how to Police within new democratic laws. Of course, Adam Zahir being at the helm was never going to help. Neither did the Hussain Solah incident, especially after Evan Naseem.

Nonetheless, the MPS emerged as an institution with heavy amounts of funding, a select group of highly educated officers, very young, not always disciplined recruits and a top brass that was intent on maintaining the status quo. Many in the top brass had spent years in the NSS, looked up to individuals like Adam Zahir as father figures and in some cases, had managed to log quite a few ‘favours’ through the Maumoon regime and therefore were heavily indebted. Add to this the ‘Star Force’, the frontline of an authoritarian defence whose very existence and modus operandi depended on the long leash of their superiors and government.

During the establishment of the MPS, human rights discourse, although in the Maldivian mainstream and a significant facet of the MPS PR machine, had not and it now seems has not filtered through to the officer on the street. The MDP government due to their personal histories of being victims of human rights violations and their voicing out against police brutality faced greater pressure to ensure that these incidents did not take place under their watch.

Political prisoners were no longer an issue, but it would be unfair to say that maltreatment of detainees in jails completely disappeared. We could say it lessened significantly and that it was no longer systematic. There was definitely more oversight, with the Human Rights Commission and the Police Integrity Commission, but it was still a work in progress. A work in progress, which was focusing on issues such as the reduction of drugs, terrorism, gang violence and theft rather than simply on political protests.

Yes, the whole institution still unnecessarily stuttered at the sight of a protest, but there was more to the ‘Protect and Serve’ during the last three years than ever before. I suppose however, that ‘works in progress’ – especially in an infant democracy – are vulnerable, and leadership was not always forthcoming.

The extent of its vulnerability and the ability to which outside forces with vested interests managed to manipulate the disenchanted and politicised officers on the inside was evident on 7 February 2012. As a result, I find myself asking, ‘now what?’

Now that the police have played such an inexplicably outrageous role in engineering a coup and bringing down the country’s first democratically elected government – who are they protecting and serving now?

It cannot be the Maldivian people. No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall, however much you hate Anni and the MDP, I cannot imagine that many people genuinely condone the actions of the police on 6-8 Feb. Unless you’re vicious Visam (MP) of course!

I for one condemn it with every fibre of my being. I don’t believe that all police officers participated or even supported the actions of the mutinying officers on the 6th night. Many went along out of an ill-begotten sense of camaraderie to their fellow officers who they believed would have been arrested by the MNDF. As they should have been – nothing justifies a coup. Especially the very politicised actions that preceded it.

I understand that many officers who don’t accept this new situation can’t just up and leave, be it because of a need to provide for their families or a sense of duty to an institution that they have helped develop, but it is difficult to remember this when faced with footage of the carnage that was February 8 and the stories that have followed since.

The re-emergence of individuals like [Police Commissioner] Abdulla Riyaz is frightening. He may have undergone a course in customer needs and conducting business through social media, but the nature of the man remains the same: brutal. Unapologetically so.

As such, the use of force although granted to policemen by law, seems again far too easy a whim for officers to use rather than a measure to be taken in the gravest of circumstances. The fact that they have to be accountable to their actions, that they must provide a greater example, is non-existent. That Abdulla Riyaz is surrounded by deputies who seem to either share his beliefs or are willing to silently submit to it is scary, that his superiors are opportunistic nitwits like Jameel and FA is even more chill inducing, and most of all that the Police Integrity Commission is powerless, is incredibly frightening.

So, how do I feel about the police now? Scared. Infuriated. Frustrated. And heartbreakingly disappointed. On the 79th anniversary of Policing in the Maldives, I do not wish Police Officers hearty congratulations. Instead, I wish for them a sense of responsibility and understanding of their role in the disruption of a democratic state. I continue to wish that action will be taken against officers who so blatantly violated the police act and abused unarmed citizens. I call for somebody to be held accountable for the actions of Police officers on February 8, I call for a re-evaluation of the need of the ‘Special Operations’ Unit, and I call for the resignations of Abdulla Riyaz, Hussain Waheed, Abdulla Phairoosh, FA and Jameel. And I call for an early election.

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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Island President resonates deeply following coup: Grist magazine

The Island President film resonates all the more deeply following last month’s coup in the Maldives, writes Eban Goodstein for Grist magazine.

The story’s ending — perhaps tragic, perhaps a powerful continuation — is today unfolding in real time. The Maldives is a string of 2,000 islands off the coast of India, home to about 300,000 people. The highest point in the country is only a few feet above sea level. Until 2008, the islands had been under dictatorial rule for decades.

This is the best film dealing with global warming in years. It is a story of classical proportion: of true heroism, courage and nobility, of eloquent soliloquy, of intimate moments, and of political intrigue, compromise, and betrayal.

The film is also visually stunning. The vast blue ocean is both a serene paradise, and a powerful, threatening force, driving Nasheed’s political urgency. The Maldives capital, Malé, looks like an oasis of buildings rising out of the ocean. When asked by a reporter what was his plan B, should there be no action to slow global warming, Nasheed responds, “We will die.”

Shenk follows Nasheed in strategy sessions with his cabinet as the team seeks to leverage their moral argument as the first victims of climate change, canaries in the coal mine. Nasheed gives speeches, and makes his case with heads of states and ministers at the U.K. Parliament, at the U.N. General Assembly, in India, and finally — during the dark, crushing days of Copenhagen.

Last month, just after I screened the movie, President Nasheed was forced at gunpoint to resign from his office. Political opponents seized on the economic crisis and fundamentalists objections to Nasheed’s modernising Islam. At clear and ongoing risk to his life, Nasheed decided to remain in the country, writing, speaking, leading marches, and fighting for democracy.

And this is the enduring lesson from the movie. President Nasheed and thousands of others in the Maldives understand that their land and lives are threatened both by the rising seas, and by the corrupt politics of business as usual. They continue to fight for both democracy and climate justice, in the face of imprisonment, beating, torture, and murder.

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