The Maldives’ most senior diplomat prior to his resignation after February 7, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, has spoken to the media for the first time since tendering his resignation from the post of Maldives’ Ambassador to the Unite Nations live on Al-Jazeera.
In an interview with Haveeru, Abdul Ghafoor said that the country’s image has been tarnished by recent events and that the moral authority built up over the years has been wasted.
“A sound foreign policy perfected through the years enabled us to establish a voice internationally, much louder than our diminutive size,” Ghafoor told Haveeru.
“We showed the maturity to change a thirty year old governance system without a civil war or much unrest. That truly gained the respect of much larger developed nations. We secured a moral authority and political influence over our international partners when we, a small island nation changed a government through legitimate means” .
“With Maldives’ domestic feats suddenly we were seen in whole different light. We had the potential to play a bridging role between Islamic States and Western countries. We had the ability to talk to both sides, and usually they listened.”
Abdul Ghafoor went on to detail his view of the current investment climate in the Maldives, arguing that the unpredictable situation in the country meant the situation is an unnattractive one for foreign investors: “The policies adopted now could be much different in one and a half years time.”
The former diplomat also questioned the government’s claims to have been accepted by the international community.
“It is a diplomatic norm to congratulate any head of State when the office is assumed. How many States congratulated President Waheed on his assumption of office? Most countries stated that they would work with Waheed’s government while stressing early polls and probe into the regime change,” Ghafoor told Haveeru.
On the afternoon of February 7, 2012, the Maldives was set to sign into existence a plan that would have revolutionised the country’s energy sector, immediately attracting US$200 million of risk-mitigated renewable energy investment. It was proposed that investment would eventually reach US$2-3 billion – a gigantic step towards the country’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.
The Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) proposal was produced by the Renewable Energy Investment Office (REIO) under President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, and driven by Nasheed’s Energy Advisor Mike Mason – an unpaid position.
Mason, a UK national, former mining engineer and expert on renewable energy, carbon finance and offsetting, collected and analysed data on energy use and the existing diesel infrastructure across the Maldives.
He discovered that the Maldives was facing an energy crisis that was as much economic as it was existential.
The greater Male’ region generates 30 MW, with a further 8-10 MW for industrial purposes, while government utilities across the island chain generate a further 18 MW. The tourist resorts privately produce and consume 70 MW.
The SREP plan reveals the scale of the problem: “If the oil price rises to $150/bbl by 2020, and consumption grows by four percent per annum, oil imports are expected to reach around US$700 million – or almost US$2,000 per head of population.
“This is clearly unsustainable. Decarbonisation is at least as much a matter of national economic security and social welfare as it is a matter of environmental concern,” the report notes.
Energy revolution
Former Energy Advisor Mike Mason
Mason calculated that solar photovoltaic (PV) could be supplied directly to consumers at US$0.23 per kWh during the day, but only at US$0.44 per kWh from batteries at night. However an optimum mix of solar, battery and wind could supply 80 percent of power requirements at US$0.36 per kWh. Biomass could be supplied to Male at US$0.16 per kWh, or US$0.20 a kWh including capital.
Mason compared this to the volatile cost of import-dependent diesel generation, which ranged from US$0.28 per kWh hour in Male’, and up to US$0.70 per kWh on some of the most inefficient islands.
Existing solar initiatives in the Maldives, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s 675 kWh of solar panelling on schools and other public facilities across Male’, were “stupidly priced, uneconomic, symbolic, and don’t address the problem of energy storage,” Mason noted. He also proposed that large scale wind generation suffered from extreme seasonal variability and risked impacting the stability of the grid.
Mason concluded that the most realistic and commercially-viable renewable option was to run 90 percent of the country on solar supplemented by small-scale wind power, while a 24 megawatt biomass plant could provide the baseload of the greater Male’ region at more than 40 percent less than existing rates.
The pricing was attractive, but the challenge was attracting the significant upfront capital investment required: “with renewables, on day one you buy 20 years of electricity,” Mason explained.
Attracting this capital investment was therefore crucial, however “because of its political history and economic inheritance, the Government of Maldives is poorly placed to raise capital at normal ‘sovereign’ rates of interest,” the SREP report noted.
This was to be a key innovation in Mason’s proposal: rather than pour donor funding into myriad haphazard capital-intensive renewable energy projects, Mason’s plan was to instead use the available World Bank and Asia Development Bank funding to dramatically reduce the commercial and sovereign risks for foreign investors, lowering the cost of capital to attractive levels comparable to other countries.
“In practice, the guarantees may not be needed for all projects or by all developers, and once the Maldives becomes an established destination for renewable development finance the need for guarantees is expected to diminish,” the SREP proposal notes.
“Right now the cost of capital, if you are in Germany, is very low. In a country like the Maldives, it is stupidly high,” Mason explained to Minivan News.
“If [the Maldives] wants to get somewhere it has to take out the risk – at least risks not in control of the investor. If you can do that, then the cost of capital drops to 6-7 percent – about the same as a powerplant [in the West]. The whole thing becomes economic – the sensible thing to do – rather than a matter of subsidies,” he explained.
The World Bank team working on the project had given verbal approval for the plan, describing it as one of the most “exciting and transformative” projects of its kind in any country, according to Mason.
“It was a shoo-in. But the coup happened the day we were due to submit it – later that very day, in fact,” he said.
Amid the disintegrating political situation, the decision was made to suspend the submission.
“The whole point of the plan was to take out the instability. The thing about a coup is that it takes that model and turns it upside down,” Mason told Minivan News.
As the political instability increased, so did the cost of capital. Investors who had been “queuing up” made their excuses.
In an email exchange, incoming President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan requested that Mason continue with the submission and remain in his current position as Energy Advisor.
Mason chose to resign.
“I don’t think Dr Waheed is a bad man – actually I like him a lot personally,” he wrote, in an email to an official in the Trade Ministry obtained by Minivan News. “However, he has done nothing to assure me that this is really a democratic process. Rather, my intelligence tells me this is a Gayoom inspired coup with Dr. Waheed as an unfortunate puppet.”
Mason added that if the new government sought political accommodation with the MDP, made “a concerted attempt to remove the corrupt judiciary”, and ceased police brutality “so that people can walk the streets freely as in any other civilised country”, “then I will be back on side in the blink of an eye.”
“I have given the best part of my life to this over the last 18 months, but I fear I have a set of democratic and moral principles that override other considerations,” Mason stated.
President Waheed responded on March 23:
“It would be nice if you listened to something other than Nasheed’s propaganda. He is free to go anywhere he wants and say what ever he wants,” Waheed wrote.
“Have you ever thought that Nasheed could have made a stupid mistake under the influence of what ever he was on and blown everything away? I thought you had more intelligence than to think that I am someone’s puppet and Maldives is another dictatorship,” the President said.
Further emails obtained by Minivan News show that Waheed’s new government was interested in continuing with the submission of the SREP plan.
“I am certain that this is the wrong time to press ahead with the SREP IP. It relies at its heart on getting the cost of capital down by reducing risk,” wrote Mason, to a government official.
“That is not believable in an atmosphere in which [airport developer] GMR is being attacked as an investor in infrastructure; the legal system is, frankly, corrupt so contracts cannot be relied upon; the politics are (in the most charitable possible interpretation) a major risk factor; and the President has no parliamentary party of consequence. I also doubt that the SREP sub-committee will approve funding the plan as they too will see through the plan to the problems (or at least they should if they are any good),” he wrote.
“If things clear up, and faith in democracy and the rule of law is restored than a second go at this would be worth while – but meantime I am sceptical. A much more limited and less ambitious plan – say for the smaller islands only, might fly.”
The very premise of the plan – mitigating investor risk – had been scuttled by the political upheaval and both domestic and international challenges to the legitimacy of Waheed’s government, said Mason.
“Even if I did work with Waheed, I couldn’t deliver the plan now [because of falling] investor confidence,” he told Minivan News. “[The perpetrators] have destroyed US$2-3 billion worth of investment and condemned the country to an unstable economic future based upon diesel.”
Climate of crisis
Earlier this month President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said the new government would “not completely” reverse the previous government’s zero carbon strategy: “What we are aiming to do is to elaborate more on individual sustainable issues and subject them to national debate. Previously, these discussions on sustainability were not subjected to a national debate, such as through parliament,” Riza said.
President Waheed last week attended the Rio +20 summit and announced the Maldives’ intentions to become the world’s largest marine reserve in five years.
During his speech in Rio, Waheed also pledged that the Maldives would “cover 60 percent of our electricity needs with solar power, and the rest with a combination of biofuels, other clean technologies and some conventional energy.”
“Progress towards achieving these goals is slow because of the huge financial and technological investments involved. If we are, as a global community, committed to the concept of transitioning to a green economy, then developing countries will need significant financial and technical support,” the President stated, going on to appeal for financial assistance.
“A small island state like the Maldives cannot, on its own, secure the future we want. We rely on our international partners to ensure that their development paths are sustainable and don’t negatively impact on vulnerable countries like the Maldives,” Waheed said.
Former President Nasheed’s Climate Change Advisor – UK-based author, journalist and environmental activist Mark Lynas, who drew a monthly stipend of Rf10,000 (US$648) for expenses – told Minivan News that the loss of democratic legitimacy in the Maldives had destroyed its ability to make a moral stand on climate change-related issues, and be taken seriously.
“I think that the Maldives is basically a has-been in international climate circles now,” Lynas said.
“The country is no longer a key player, and is no longer on the invite list to the meetings that matter. Partly this is a reflection of the political instability – other countries no longer have a negotiating partner that they know and understand,” he said.
“Partly, I think it is because of the lack of democratic legitimacy of the current regime – in the climate negotiations the entire ask of the small island and vulnerable countries is based on their moral authority to speak on behalf of those who are most suffering from the impacts of climate change.
“Yet Waheed and his representatives have no moral authority because they were not elected, have strong connections with corrupt and violent elements of the former dictatorship, and took power in the dubious circumstances of a police coup,” Lynas argued.
The government’s high expenditure on international public firms such as Ruder Finn – also responsible for the Philip Morris campaign disputing the health hazards of smoking – had further undermined its credibility with journalists across the world, Lynas said.
“Journalists and others are aware that the Waheed regime has hired PR agencies to act on its behalf – which makes them doubly suspicious. It is widely understood that the Maldives post-coup government has no real interest in the climate issue, but is instead trying to use it as a greenwashing tool in order to buff its credentials abroad and in order to obscure its undemocratic nature at home. I don’t think this will work, as it is hardly very subtle and journalists are not stupid,” said Lynas.
“The Maldives has lost many years of work already – it has little credibility left with donors or international investors. Investors and donors alike are looking for stability and strong governance – and they will not get either of those whilst the political system is essentially deadlocked between competing parties, with regular protests and ensuing police violence.
“In climate terms the Maldives is well on its way to becoming a failed state – I see no prospect of it achieving Nasheed’s 2020 carbon neutral goal, even if that goal is still official policy,” Lynas said. “I think time has basically run out now – unless there are early elections quickly and a legitimate government re-established there is no real prospect of resurrecting the Maldives’ leadership on climate change. By 2013, it will certainly be too late – other countries will have overtaken it and the Maldives will essentially be left behind.”
The Maldives’ Islamic Affairs Minister has said religious scholars have not been politicised by the rhetoric of various parties since February’s controversial transfer of power, as his ministry had sought to counter the “ideological problems” of extremism in the country.
Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed told Minivan News that since President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan came to power on February 7, scholars representing the government-aligned, religiously conservative Adalaath Party had been “calling for peace” in the country between rival political factions. He said that he did not believe scholars were taking sides in the current political deadlock.
However, Shaheem did contend that his party was “much more comfortable” working with the present government addressing potential concerns about the nature of the country’s faith. He indicated that the threat of home-grown terrorism was a key issue needing to be addressed in the Maldives – something he alleged the previous government had neglected to assist through funding.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which contends that it was ousted from governance back in February through a “coup d’etat” sponsored by opposition politicians, businessmen and mutinous section of the police and military acting on a platform of extremist Islamic rhetoric, has since seen some of its local councils refuse to authorise sermons in mosques by prominent scholars of the Adhaalath Party. The party claimed its elected councils had refused certain scholars over fears allowing them to speak could “disrupt the peace and create unrest”. The action led Shaheem’s Adhaalath Party to criticise such protests as “lowly and secular acts”.
While both Shaheem and Sheikh Ilyas Hussein, head of the Adhaalath Party’s scholar’s council, both participated in protests against the government of former President Mohamed Nasheed on December23 in order to “defend Islam”, the Islamic Affairs Minister stressed he was not in the country during the events of February 7.
Shaheem claimed that having not taken part in the transfer of power, he did “not think there was a concern” about some scholars being politicised among party lines for taking positions under the new government.
Pointing to other nations like the UK, where serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II was both the head of state and the church, Shaheem said that political leaders in the Maldives focusing on religion was no different.
Shaheem added that in working in line with a coalition government of former opposition parties and President Waheed, he was “much more comfortable” and confident that religious issues raised on December 23 would be addressed – particularly funding of religious programmes.
“At present, we follow a moderate view of Islam here in the Maldives. We are requesting a comfortable amount to oversee our work from next year’s budget,” he said, adding that he was confident that the present government would be able to address the issues raised on December 23.
Extremism and terrorism
Shaheem claimed that amongst the present challenges facing the Islamic Ministry, a need to focus on addressing social issues and improving the manners of young people were needed, as well as “ideological problems” linked to religious extremism.
“The previous government did not give us the budget we needed to run programmes to address these issues,” he said. “There are problems here with extremism and terrorism, these are idealogical problems that need to be targeted through religious awareness campaigns.”
“Islamic upbringing”
Shaheem’s comments were made as Vice President Waheed Deen yesterday stressed the need to provide children with a “proper Islamic upbringing” based around laws and customs of the faith.
Speaking during the 27th National Quran competition held at the Islamic Centre in Male’, the vice president said that upholding Islam was vital to ensure nationhood, while also addressing “weak social standards” .
According to the President’s Office website, Deen claimed that the progress and prosperity of a nation was the satisfaction of its people; and the people will be content only when they are truly faithful and devoted to their religion.”
President’s Office spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said that the vice president’s comments yesterday were based on wider government policy relating to economic reform, particularly within its aims to reduce the gap between the country’s richest and poorest people.
He added that Deen had raised the issues of a need for “good discipline” through Islamic principles. However, Abbas said that the speech was not outlining a specific government focus on Islamic developments across the nation.
“The Maldives remains a moderate country and will remain so. We do not encourage acts of extremism here,” he said.
“Political control”
Without directly responding to Sheikh Shaheem’s comments regarding the former government’s commitments to try to eradicate religious extremism, the MDP said it wished to let the Islamic Affairs Minister’s own “ethics and comments” made during the December 23 protests speak for itself.
Increased diplomatic relations with Israel, including possible service of El Al airlines, and recent debates over Shariah law, were among examples given by speakers at the December 23 demonstrations as examples of the Nasheed government’s alleged attempts to undermine Islam in the Maldives.
Party Spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor claimed that with the MDP failing to recognise the legitimacy of the current government, the same was true for ministerial appointments like Sheikh Shaheem.
Ghafoor also alleged that issues such as Islamic fundamentalism were a well established tool used during the 30 year rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to pit different factions in the country against each other, something he believed was once again happening with the present government.
“I see Shaheem as a just a little cog inserted into the larger machine of Gayoom’s political control,” he said.
December 23
Last year’s December 23 protest was established by NGOs and six political parties as part of a demonstration to “to defend Islam” in the nation amidst allegations the Nasheed government had sought to introduce freedom of religion and un-Islamic “idols” to the country – a charge it vehemently denied.
Speakers from various religious and political opposition parties addressed an estimated 5,000 men, women and children of varying ages and attire. Protesters were handed t-shirts and banners reading “Maldivians in defense of Islam” along with Maldivian flags.
Banners bearing slogans including “We stand united for Islam and the nation”, “No idols in this holy land”, “No to the Zionist Murderers”, “No to [Israeli transport group] El Al Airlines” and “We stand for peace” led participants to gender segregated areas across from the Tsunami Memorial area, where approximately 20 protest leaders spoke from a mounted podium.
“We don’t know there is a moderate, higher or lower Islam. We only know Islam, which is above all the religion. The only road we must follow is based of Allah’s callings,” said Jumhoree Party (JP) Leader and tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim during the protest.
Sheikh Shaheem also spoke on the day reiterating that his party does not support terrorism, adding that the security forces would know the actual people provoking such acts.
Meanwhile, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali said that he was there on behalf of his party to assure Maldivian citizens that the party will stand with the religion of Islam.
”We are gathered here to uphold Islam for the future of the next generations,” Thasmeen said, accusing the current government of trying to establish anti-Islamic policies such as non-islamic idols and strengthening relations with Israel.
“We are here to show that will not support those policies yet we are not extremist,” he said. ”We will stay forever as an Islamic nation.”
However, in a counter-protest held the same day, former President Nasheed called on then opposition leaders of political parties to explain their exact stance on religious issues to the public ahead of a 2013 presidential election.
“Should we ban music? Should we circumcise girls? Should we allow nine year-olds to be married; is art and drawing forbidden? Should we be allowed to have concubines? We have to ask is this nation building? Because [the government] won’t allow these things, we are being accused of moving away from religion,” he said.
Nasheed also urged MPs to discuss the inclusion of Sharia punishments in a revised penal code “without calling each other unbelievers.”
“At this moment we may not realise how important this gathering is, but years down the line we will look back and realise this was a crucial moment,” he said at the time.
“I asked you to come here in support of the middle, tolerant path. And I believe that most citizens want to continue our traditional form of Islam,” Nasheed said at the time.
Candidates of the former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) won by-elections yesterday for vacant seats in the island councils of Alif Dhaal Hagnameedhoo and Alif Alif Mathiveri.
JP and MDP candidates went head to head in both by-elections, which were not contested by other parties or independent candidates. While MDP candidate Ahmed Firaq won in Hagnameedhoo, JP candidate Ali Riza Mohamed emerged victorious in Mathiveri.
In Hagnameedhoo, Firaq won with 190 votes (52 percent) against JP contender Ibrahim Naseer Adam, who received 178 votes (48 percent).
JP’s Riza meanwhile won the Mathiveri council seat with 250 votes (54 percent) while MDP candidate Ali Risham came second with 212 votes (46 percent).
Following the victories, leaders of both parties congratulated the winning candidates. JP President Dr Ibrahim Didi expressed confidence in winning future elections and praised the party’s “strong” leadership as the main reason for the success.
MDP Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik congratulated MDP’s winning candidate Firaq and expressed gratitude to Hagnaameedhoo islanders as well as the party members who worked in the campaign.
Yesterday’s result showed that “the people of Hagnameedhoo are opposed to the coup, have political foresight and make decisions wisely,” the Hulhu-Henveiru MP said.
Noting that MDP only received nine votes from Hagnameedhoo in the first round of the presidential election in 2008, Moosa said yesterday’s results represented the party’s growing strength and support.
The Mathiveri island council seat was vacated in November 2011 after a councillor elected on a Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) ticket quit the party. Under the Decentralisation Act, councillors who leave their party are stripped of their seats. The Hagnameedhoo seat was vacated after a councillor resigned due to poor health.
Police have arrested a man posing as a police officer and wearing a police uniform, after he attempted to rob a group of expatriate workers in a Male’ residence.
According to police, the man attempted to rob the house where expats working at ‘Muneer hotel’ live and he was caught Saturday afternoon.
In a statement police said the man was a former Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) officer who was dismissed for his involvement in a theft case.
Police did not provide the name or age of the man but said he was 26 years-old.
The man entered the house where the expats lived and tried to pretend he was a police officer by using his old DPRS identification card, according to police.
Earlier this month, police arrested three police officers and a Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) officer after they allegedly robbed a large amount of cash from expatriate workers in a house near the State Bank of India (SBI), in Male’s Heniveru ward.
Newspaper Haveeru reported at the time that one police officer was a member of the police investigations team, while another was a Special Operations (SO) officer.
Haveeru reported that the men entered the house and attacked and threatened the expatriate workers on Friday night around 9:00pm.
Two of the police officers were in uniform during the incident, according to Haveeru.
On August 29 last year, police arrested the three MNDF officers accused of entering an expatriate residence in Male’ in army uniform and robbing the Bangladeshi workers with threats of violence.
The MNDF officers have returned to work after the MNDF concluded its investigation.
Newspaper Haveeru reported at the time that the uniformed officers entered the house on three consecutive nights and took Rf30,000 (US$1,945), Rf24,000 (US$1,556) and Rf12,000 (US$778) respectively.
In a parliament’s committee meeting MPs supporting the ruling party alleged that after police stations were set alight in nationwide protests on February 8, people had stolen police uniforms and were using them to conduct criminal activities.
The temperature in the United Kingdom hovered around 17°C as Howard Darbon travelled to London’s Gatwick airport to pick up two passengers, before driving them 50 miles back to his home town of Bedford.
The pair shivered in the back seat whilst their compatriots – 5000 miles away and four hours ahead – basked in temperatures of 30°C.
This ‘summer’ will be unlike any previously experienced by these visitors, for reasons far greater than the few degrees missing from the thermometer.
In just over a month’s time the pair of swimmers, from one of the smallest nations on Earth, will represent their country in the world’s largest sporting event, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Howard, the President of Bedford and County Athletic Club and Bedford’s co-ordinator of pre-London 2012 training camps, was taking Husham and Aishath Sajan to meet the families who will open their homes to them whilst they continue their preparations.
They will join fiveMaldivian athletes who have been living and training within the Bedford community since June 9.
Here, the athletes from the Indian Ocean archipelago will enjoy the use of excellent sports facilities and the warm hospitality available in the Bedfordshire market town.
They can also draw inspiration from its inhabitants – past and present.
Bedford is a town with a strong Olympic pedigree, boasting a long line of British Olympians over the past century.
The 1981 film Chariots of Fire was based on the exploits of Harold Abrahams, born and raised in Bedford, who won Olympic gold at the 1924 games in Paris.
More recently, successful Olympians with strong connections to the town have included two gold medallists at the 2000 Sydney games – Tim Foster (rowing) and Stephanie Cook (pentathlon) – and a silver medallist at the 2004 Athens games – Gail Emms (badminton).
Perhaps the most famous of the town’s athletes is Paula Radcliffe, who currently holds the world record for the women’s marathon. This summer she will be pushing for the Olympic gold that has so far proved elusive in her otherwise incredible career.
Paula is lifetime Vice President of the Bedford and County Athletics Club. The club resides at the Bedford International Athletics Stadium where the Maldivian team will train for the next few weeks.
“Their training facilities are of the highest standard – the athletics stadium, for example, has both indoor and outdoor facilities and possesses the same track surface that has been laid in the Olympic Stadium,” explained Howard.
The stadium also has indoor badminton courts and a 60 metre sprint track. Husham and Aishath Sajan will be able to continue training for their swimming events at Bedford University.
World’s apart, brought together
The training opportunities the athletes will enjoy in Bedford are very different to those in the Maldives’ capital, Male’.
The island, one of the most densely populated on the planet, can offer only limited space for the fostering of athletic talent.
“The biggest challenge we face is with facilities. Athletes don’t have a synthetic track and there is no pool for the swimmers,” explained the Secretary General of the Maldives Olympic Committee (MOC) Ahmed Marzook.
Marzook said that the majority of the committee’s Rf39.2million (US$603,680) budget is provided by the international community.
“A small administrative budget comes from the government – about Rf500,000 (US$32,400). The rest is from the International Olympic Committee, the Commonwealth, or the Olympic Council of Asia,” he explained.
The Maldives’ Olympic contingent this year will include the two swimmers, two athletics competitors – Afaa and Azuneem, and one badminton player – Ajufan.
Whilst swimming facilities may seem ubiquitous in a country which is constituted of 99 percent water, the opportunities for top-level training are scarce.
The swimming and athletics tracks in Male’ are extremely popular and greatly appreciated by the locals who can be found using throughout the day and night. Unfortunately, these facilities don’t come close to matching the facilities that other Olympians headed to London this summer will be used to.
The swimming track in particular, huddled behind the sea wall on the southern side of Male’, perhaps epitomises the uniqueness of the Maldives and the issues it faces in terms of sports and leisure.
It contrasts with the newly built Aquatics Centre in London evinces what is truly special about the Olympic Games.
The extent of the facilities in Male’ is amply displayed by the fact that the last point of departure for Bedford’s two newest residents was not the Maldives, but Sri Lanka, where they have been preparing for their events.
Similarly, the Maldives’ Badminton entrant, Ajufan, lives and trains in Malaysia after winning a scholarship from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Ajufan is the first Maldivian to qualify for an Olympic event – with all previous representatives being entered as wildcards. He will travel to the United Kingdom one week before the games so as not to interrupt his training schedule.
The Maldivian team will move onto the campus of Bedford University at the start of July and will have the opportunity to stay at the Olympic Village from July 18.
There they will join 17,000 other athletes, just a stone’s throw away from the main Olympic venues in east London.
In addition to the five athletes who will compete at the games, three more training places were made available to the Maldives’ National Olympic Committee (NOC).
These places have been taken up by two table tennis players, Mueena and Shiura, and a second badminton player Shabeen.
Olympic Spirit
This summer will be the Maldives 7th appearance at the games, having first appeared in the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
The Maldives has never appeared on any medals tables, however, and only the most optimistic of Maldivians would anticipate seeing their compatriots atop any podiums this summer.
But to look only at this aspect of the event is to miss the bigger picture of the games – to see only the tip of the iceberg.
Whilst it is unlikely that these athletes will return home with medals round their necks, they will undoubtedly be carrying experiences in their hearts which will last long after the gleam of the medals has faded.
It is likely that these athletes from smaller nations such as the Maldives will gain far more than those medallists from more developed nations – both personally and professionally.
“It is a huge exposure – it is so important to experience new cultures,” said Marzook.
All of the Maldives’ competitors are under 24 years of age, with two of the team only 18.
The athletes have been warmly welcomed into the Bedford community which will be firmly behind the Maldivians during the games – 100,000 Bedfordians will make a useful addition to the 300,000 Maldivians back home.
Pilgrim’s School in Bedford has celebrated the coming games with its own Olympic Games programme. The Maldivian team were invited to both the opening and closing ceremonies.
During the opening ceremony, the team had the chance to meet one of Britain’s medal hopefuls, Jessica Ennis, who currently ranks number one in the world in the heptathlon (see title picture).
The Olympic team’s coaching has been organised by Howard, who has also arranged training partners to ensure that the team makes the most of its time in Bedford.
“To complement their hard training regime, the athletes undertake visits to schools to inspire their pupils, who, when they know that Azuneem may run against Usain Bolt in the 100m, immediately recognise a star in their presence,” said Howard.
The games will also have a profound impact on the team’s athletic development, as Howard explained.
“All the athletes are working hard, learning new techniques and benefitting from the coaching that we are providing,” he said.
Table-tennis player Mueena agreed: “Our training is going extremely well – this is the best coaching we have ever had and we are working really hard to improve our game.”
“I have learned some new strokes and, as a result, my overall game is improving all the time,” added Shiura.
Marzook of the NOC noted that the experience of these games will be vital for upcoming regional competitions, in particular the South Asian Games in February 2013.
“The ultimate aim is to win something in the regional games. These athletes will be key for the future,” he said.
The benefits of exposure to new techniques and fellow athletes can be seen in the progress of Ajufan since his move to Malaysia.
“Ajufan has gone from around 590th to 212th in the world rankings,” Marzook explained.
Similarly, the experiences of the Maldivian rowers at their own olympic qualification event in April showed the many ways in which such occasions can assist in the development of young athletes.
Despite the failure of the team to qualify, the team’s coach – and former British Olympic rower – Natasha Howard explained the benefits of having access to top class equipment and top class athletes.
“Both athletes are really enjoying themselves and getting the most out of being surrounded by professional sportsmen and women, asking lots of questions and building their knowledge of the sport.”
With the help of the Bedford community, the Maldives’ athletes will benefit immeasurably from their summer in Britain.
When the London games have drawn to a close, the Maldives team will undoubtedly be bringing the Olympic Spirit home with them, though they will probably want to leave the weather behind.
Top lawyers in the Maldives held a crisis meeting last night at the SHE Building to discuss the Supreme Court’s new “Regulation on Lawyers practicing law in the courts of Maldives” which demand that lawyers must to be registered to a court in order to be able to represent their clients in it.
Article 2.2 of the said regulation states: “Anyone who can represent in any court of law in the Maldives, shall be a person who has the license to practice law in the country, and shall also be registered accordingly as a lawyer in the given court to practice law.”
The regulation also restricts lawyers from openly criticising the discrepancies that take place within the courts.
The lawyers expressed concerns over the regulation citing that it would impose “difficulties for lawyers to represent their clients”.
The meeting was attended by senior lawyers of the country including the former Attorney General Abdulla Muiz, Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem and MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, formed a sub-committee to work on behalf of the lawyers to amend the regulation.
Local news website Sun Online quoted an attendee as stating that the lawyers had identified a lot of difficulties with the new regulation.
“We decided to meet and discuss with the authorities regarding the regulations. This is something that all lawyers agreed was necessary,” he said.
One of the main concerns raised by the lawyers regarding the new regulations were that if they were to represent their clients in island magistrate courts, they would need to register in the given island magistrate court prior to appearing in the court.
Given the difficulty of transportation to islands, their concerns were that it could put in a further burden on lawyers to go to the island and register there.
With the new regulation, the Civil Court, the Criminal Court and the Juvenile Court have opened the opportunity for lawyers to register in the courts.
An MDP lawyer who took part in the discussion said the meeting was closed and would not reveal details of the discussion.
However, Minivan News understands that the lawyers are proposing to amend certain sections of the regulations, particularly the requirements that the lawyers register in island magistrate courts.
Speaking to Minivan News, Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitutional Assembly that drafted the current constitution of the Maldives, Ibrahim ‘Ibra’ Ismail, said he believed that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to make such a regulation.
He also said that Supreme Court cannot have a say on the procedures of other courts, which he believed was interfering with the jurisdiction of those courts, and that it was not a duty of the Supreme Court to decide the rules that lawyers have to follow.
“If you look into other democratic countries, the matters relating to the lawyers are administered by a bar association. At the moment we do not have a bar association, but I remember that it was the Attorney General (AG)’s office that has been issuing the license to practice law and maintaining a lawyer’s database. It should be the AG who makes such a regulation,” he said.
The Attorney General’s office is currently headed by Azima Shukoor, formerly lawyer to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Regarding the article 2.2 of the regulation, Ismail stated that he believed that once a lawyer gets his license to practice law in the country, he should be able to practice it without further obstruction.
Ismail also criticised the stipulation which demands lawyers not openly criticise the courts, describing it as limiting the fundamental right of freedom of expression in the constitution. Only legislation from the parliament could do so, he said.
“What they are trying to do is to cover up the mouths that speak of the [court’s] discrepancies. They know that when a lawyer speaks about the problems in the court, people will believe them more than when a politician does,” he said.
“I have always warned that the Supreme Court is slowly trying to exceed its mandate by interfering with the powers of other institutions. This regulation is just another step of that process,” he said.
The regulation would at the end of the day cause difficulties for ordinary people in obtaining legal representation, he said, and particularly impact the ability of islanders to receive justice.
“We have a very limited number of lawyers, and most of them live the capital Male’. If a person living on an island wants the services of a lawyer for a case going on in his island magistrate court, what will he do if there are no lawyers registered in that magistrate court?” he questioned.
“At the end of the day it is going to be the ordinary people who will suffer from such a regulation,” he said.
Ismail has been a vocal critic on the discrepancies of the courts and was previously reprimanded by the Supreme Court for calling on the public to “rise up and sort out the judges”, at a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally in Kaafu Thulusdhoo on September last year.
He was later summoned to police for questioning after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) requested the former Male’ MP be investigated.
When Minivan News contacted the Supreme Court, the officials refused to answer any questions, and demanded that any inquiries be send in an official letter. Once they received it, they would look into it, the court said.
A 17 year-old boy and an expatriate worker were stabbed in two different areas of Male’ on Saturday evening, according to police.
According to police, the 17 year-old boy was stabbed by two men that arrived on a motorbike last night at about 4:30am while he was walking near Olhuveli Road in Maafannu ward.
The boy was stabbed in the back and is currently undergoing treatment at Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
Police said the expat attacked last night was a 29 year-old man who was attacked while he was on Sosun Magu in Henveiru.
The man was also stabbed in the back by two men that came on a motorbike, police said.
According to the police, the victim is currently undergoing treatment at ADK Hospital. Neither victim was critically injured, police said.
No arrests have been made following the incidents but police are searching for the assailants. Police have not revealed names of any suspects.
So far in June 86 cases of assault have been reported to police, according to police statistics.
For an observer from outside it looks that a “battle royal” is going on between the Government, its security forces and the civil service including the judiciary on one side and the opposition led by the ousted former President Mohamed Nasheed on the other, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan.
Added to this is the excessive enthusiasm of the security forces shown on behalf of the government and this has only made the law and order situation worse. One girl from opposition who was affected in an offensive of the Police termed the behaviour of the security forces as “animalistic.”
The opposition is still able to muster a crowd of 5000 anytime to oppose the government policies. The forces faced stiff opposition when the structures made by the MDP in the meeting ground at Usfasgandu were being dismantled and the High court order stopping the demolition came too late!
On the economic front, Maldives is the only country in this region that has not seen an increase in tourist arrivals this year. Inflation on an average is about 15.99 percent and the budget deficit is projected to go up by 27 percent of the GDP. In order to please certain sections the government is forced to subsidise and there is also an increase in capital expenditure on government institutions. There is also a drop in government income by 23 percent. The most recent case is the attempt to placate the media by giving government notifications and announcements which the President says is necessary for the media to survive!
President Waheed is digging his heels. He made the most shocking statement that he does not have to resign even if it is proved that there was a “coup” unless his involvement in the coup was established. If Nasheed’s ouster was found to be illegal even then he can continue as the “Maldivian laws ” do not permit any change! So he says. What a stand for Stanfordian who has seen many UN jobs? Apparently he is enjoying the power which he would not be doing but for a quirk of circumstances!
Clearly, President Waheed has consolidated his position. But this has been possible only because as one observer said, by sacrificing his powers to appease the coalition partners, who have but for a few hiccups appear to stay in contact so far. But this may not last long. Gayoom is still seen to be guiding the country from behind. The current approach of the government to use religious paranoia and the security forces to break the rallies has the foot prints of Gayoom!
Setting a date for early elections is the last priority though India wanted this to be given top priority. President Waheed and more than he, Gayoom’s daughter Dunya has repeatedly said that elections cannot be held without constitutional amendments. The earliest date will be July 2013 and whatever India may want or say privately, President Waheed as advised by Gayoom is not going to hold the elections anytime sooner.
Gayoom claimed a month ago that “international calls for early elections have grown faint” and was not an issue anymore!
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