Day: March 29, 2012

Island President inadvertently records a bygone era in the Maldives: Village Voice

Blessed – or maybe cursed – with fortuitous timing, Jon Shenk’s lionising documentary of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the Republic of Maldives, closely follows the charming president from 2008 to 2009, his first year in office, writes Melissa Anderson, in a review for The Village Voice.

The film, a hopeful portrait of a crusader that premiered at Telluride last September, is now inadvertently a record of a bygone era: Nasheed was forced to leave office February 7, the result of a coup by loyalists to his predecessor, the dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Although obviously unable to include the tumultuous events of the past seven weeks beyond a closing intertitle, The Island President briskly presents the broader history of this country of 400,000. As in his previous doc, Lost Boys of Sudan (2003), Shenk forgoes voiceover, the salient facts of this country, best-known as a luxury-resort destination, relayed via the sit-downs with Nasheed and members of his team that dominate the first third of the film.

As Nasheed wryly points out, the beaches where celebrities and aristos have romped were also—quite literally—the same spots where the torture sanctioned by Gayoom, who ruled from 1978 to 2008, occurred.

The thoughts Nasheed shared with Shenk post-Copenhagen now ring as foreboding: “Coming back to Maldives, you realize how impossible the whole situation is.” After the chaos that erupted in this island paradise two months ago, Nasheed’s vice president, Mohamed Waheed Hassan – a seemingly benign talking head seen briefly in the doc – is now the country’s leader.

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Social media driving social change in Maldives: Mashable

Mohamed Nasheed, the recently ousted president of the Maldives, has witnessed first-hand how technology and social media can organise civil society to create change and generate awareness, reports Mashable in an interview with the deposed President.

“Videos activisim is social media. Everything is about awareness, and when people know what is happening it is difficult not to do something about it,” Nasheed told Mashable.

“Social media very helpful in giving out messages, you couldn’t get out through the print and broadcast media, which are censored and regulated.”

The large youth demographic (“60 percent of our population are below 30 years-old) made the country very receptive to social media, Nasheed said.

Twitter has been very popular recently, along with of course Facebook. People are able to give out mesages on what is happening.”

Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the country in 2008. During his two-decade-long fight for democracy, there were strict government restrictions against Internet communications. As a result, he and his followers leveraged SMS text messages to organize their underground activities.

Since his election, Nasheed has fought tirelessly against climate change. The Maldives, a country of 1,200 islands, will be completely submerged if the ocean level rises a few feet — becoming the first nation of environmental exiles. His story is told in a new film The Island President, which will be released in New York on Wednesday (trailer below).

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Two minors arrested in connection with the murder of ‘sorcerer’ confess to accessory in court

Two minors arrested and charged with the murder of Ali Hassan ‘Ayyube’, 76 of Kudahuvadhoo in Haa Dhaalu pleaded guilty to accessory in court today.

Newspaper Haveeru reported that the two 16 year-olds were charged with spying on Hassan before the murder, and assisting the assailants to hide the weapons they used to murder Hassan.

Another 17 year old boy was also summoned to court today in connection with the case, and charged for involvement in murdering Hassan.

He told the court that he wishes to continue the trial with a lawyer and the judge granted his request.

Last Sunday the step-grandson of Hassan was summoned to the Criminal Court for his involvement in the case.

He told the court that Hassan was murdered because he was informed that Hassan killed the mother of Fauzan Mohamed, a main suspect in the murder, using sorcery.

Hassan’s step-grandson told the court that his part in the murder involved spying on his step-grandfather, and also admitted that he got a long sharp knife because Fauzan told him that he want to cut Hassan’s throat.

On January 8 this year, the body of 76 year-old Ali Hassan was discovered with multiple stab wounds in an abandoned home on Kudahuvadhoo.

On January 31, Police arrested six persons for their alleged involvement in the murder of Hassan.

After Hassan’s body was found on Kudahuvadhoo at about 8:00pm on January 8, a special team from the police’s Serious and Organised Crime Department were dispatched to the island the very same day.

The victim himself had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and whose body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

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Coup was live on TV, Nasheed tells One Earth

For a man who was tossed out of office by a police and military revolt less than two months ago, former President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives seems positively ebullient, determined to dramatise the dangers of climate change just as passionately as a citizen activist as he did as a head of state, writes George Black for One Earth magazine, in a Q&A with Nasheed.

GB: People say that a big part of your appeal is that you don’t play by the normal diplomatic rules.

MN: Well, what have the rules of diplomacy done for the specific situation we face? Last month there was a coup in the Maldives. But the United States and India were unable to understand what was happening. What’s to understand? The coup was live on TV! The problem with normal diplomacy is that it just wants to maintain the status quo.

GB: I’m guessing you see a parallel there to the rules of diplomacy as they were practiced in Copenhagen.

MN: People don’t want to move away from what’s comfortable. They like things the way they are. They come to the talks, they go home to their beautiful wife and their kids. They have no passion. You can’t express your concerns openly in the normal language of diplomacy. You lose sight of the bigger picture, so you develop short-sighted solutions. Your diplomacy is played out according to the text messages you’re getting from certain industries.

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Democracy not a one-off event: Dr Hassan Saeed

A few months ago when my friend decided to buy an air-conditioning unit for his house, he was overwhelmed by the number of people who were ready to offer him advice on the best unit to buy but eventually he made his choice, writes the President’s Special Advisor, Dr Hassan Saeed, for Haveeru.

The great day came when the engineer installed it. My friend was a bit puzzled that he left without even turning it on but he was so looking forward to enjoying the cool air that he put it to the back of his mind. And then the problems started….

It stopped working properly and became less and less effective as days passed. When my friend rang the company he bought the AC from, he could never get hold of anyone or if he did manage to speak to someone they didn’t seem interested in his problems-let alone in helping him fix them.

Eventually his AC almost ground to a halt, making alarming noises and was clearly becoming dangerous and at that point the company did start to take some notice and rushed round to his house. And you know what really annoyed him? The company acted as though this was the first that they had heard of the problem…

You’ll recognise this story because in reality, of course, it is describing the Maldives, the international community and our democratic journey of the last three years.

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India’s image tarnished in Maldives: Zee News

There is no doubt that Nasheed, the self-proclaimed great lover of India, not only helped New Delhi track down extremists but also keep an edge over China in the India Ocean, writes Kamna Arora for Zee News.

Nasheed, 44, even questioned after receiving cold shoulder from New Delhi: “My question to Indian establishment is that if they think we did not perform, do they think this is a better option?” referring to the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) of former dictator Abdul Gayoom. “Unlike PPM, we are a group of people who strongly believe in India, their role and functions in Indian Ocean and the relationship that we want with India,” he said.

The former Maldivian president went on to predict that India will lose to China under the new regime. India’s image also got tarnished in Maldives, which relies heavily on New Delhi for everything ranging from employment and education to health services and entertainment. A Maldivian friend, who declined to be named, told me that the swift recognition of the new regime has dented New Delhi’s image so much that ordinary Maldivians do not trust India anymore. What is India’s plan to regain that trust is yet to be found out.

Reports indicate that the new Maldivian regime is closer to inking a defence agreement with China. If that happens, what is India’s plan to gain an edge apropos China in the Indian Ocean region?

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