Day: January 4, 2015

Reeko Moosa appeals to MDP disciplinary committee after dismissal

Deputy Speaker of Parliament MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has appealed against the decision to expel him from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Moosa described the decision as “discriminatory” as the five other MDP MPs who were absent from the vote to dismiss the Supreme Court judges were given lesser penalties, reports Haveeru.

The remaining five MPs had been ordered to issue a public apology after having breached the party’s three-line whip only once, with the party publishing the resulting letters on its website today.

Moosa’s letter is also said to have claimed that the three-line whip issued regarding the judges was in conflict with the interests of MDP’s ordinary members, also describing it as a step taken to defend the interests of a “few influential” people within the party.

The MDP’s disciplinary committee expelled Moosa on December 22 after he repeatedly breached the party’s three-line whips including the vote on the 2015 state budget, amendments to the Judicature Act – which reduced the seven-member Supreme Court bench to five, and the subsequent removal of Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz and Justice Muthasim Adnan.

If Moosa wishes to rejoin the party, he is required to issue a public apology and obtain 50 new members for the party, but he will be barred from standing for any leadership position or contesting in party primaries for five years.

Moosa has previously stated that he does not trust the party’s appeal process, and has said he will request that the Elections Commission review the decision.

Moosa’s mobile phone was switched off at the time of publication, while Ali Waheed said he did not wish to comment on the matter.

The former MDP chairperson Moosa told Minivan News last month that he felt his dismissal had been a deliberate ploy to remove him from the 2018 presidential primaries, labelling party President Mohamed Nasheed a “green dictator”.

Apology letters

Meanwhile Vaikaradhoo MP Mohamed Nazim, Velidhoo MP Abdulla Yamin Rasheed, Mulaku MP Ibrahim Naseer, Felidhoo MP Ahmed Marzooq, and Kurendhoo MP Abdul Bari Abdulla have apologised to the MDP and its members for violating the three-line whip on the removal of Supreme Court judges.

In the letter written by Yamin, he apologised to the party and its members “for not being able to attend, vote & not to followi [sic] whipline of the party”, assuring the “public and party leadership that, I will not repeat the mistake in the future”. The letter provided no reasons for his absence.

MP Bari stated that he was unable to attend the Majlis on the day of the Supreme Court judges removal as he had been in Colombo when the whip was issued, arguing “I have also not received the whip line with sufficient time for me to get back to Male’ to attend the parliament for voting”.

Furthermore Bari’s letter, “congratulated” the disciplinary committee for the “good work done” and stressed the need to take action against MDP MPs who have “consistently and purposely voted against the party whipline”.

Similarly, while apologising to the party and its members, Nazim stated in his letter that he was unable to attend the Majlis on December 14 as he was left with no choice but to travel abroad with his wife who required medical treatment.

While Marzooq’s letter did not provide any reasons for violating the three-line whip, he stated that he respects the decision of the disciplinary committee and that he sincerely apologises for being absent for the vote.

Marzooq also assured the MDP and its members that his decisions in parliament will not in any way damage or distress the party in the future.

In MP Naseer’s brief letter he apologised for the “damage caused to the party due to my absence”.

International reaction

The MDP has said the sudden removal of the two Supreme Court Judges is an attempt to stack the judiciary in President Abdulla Yameen’s favour.

Moosa has argued that the dismissed chief justice had done great harm to the party, not least when swearing in Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed without question following Nasheed’s controversial resignation of the presidency in February 2012.

During Faiz’s tenure, the Supreme Court bench had stripped three MDP MPs of their membership and annulled the first round of presidential elections held in September 2013, he told Minivan News following his dismissal.

Commonwealth groups have described the judges’ removal as unconstitutional, saying it constituted a clear breach of the Commonwealth Principles to which the government of Maldives has subscribed.

The International Commission of Jurists said the Maldivian parliament and executive “have effectively decapitated the country’s judiciary and trampled on the fundamental principles of the rule of law and separation of powers in a democratic State.”


Related to this story

MDP expels MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik

Reeko Moosa condemns MDP expulsion as a move to bar his 2018 presidential candidacy

MDP votes to discipline MPs absent from Supreme Court vote

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Tourism promotion concerts will show the world the true Malé: Adeeb

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adeeb has told local media that performers are being invited to the Maldives in order to promote tourism, and that they have nothing to do with religion.

“While the entire world has started to see Malé City as a lair that harbours members of the Islamic State or extremist militants, foreign artists performing here will show the world what the situation here is truly like,” he was quoted as telling Haveeru.

“Maldives does not belong to the Islamic State,” he continued.

Adeeb’s comments follow continued criticism of music concerts held in the Maldives’ capital, with US R&B singer Akon set to perform in the national stadium on Thursday (January 8).

A scheduled performance from Jamaican dancehall singer Sean Paul, as part of the ‘Tourism Arrival Countdown Show’, was cancelled following an online death threat. Indian artists Salim and Sulaiman Merchant stepped in at the last moment to headline the New Year’s Eve show.

After a statement from the Adhaalath Party yesterday expressed concern that such concerts are defying Islamic teachings, the party’s only MP Anara Naeem today tweeted that the government should rethink its policy.

“The current government should deeply consider stepping out of the musical universe,” wrote the Makunudhoo constituency MP.

Islamic minister Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed today refused to comment on the upcoming appearance of Akon, though his ministry previously expressed concern at the singers’ planned appearance in Malé in 2010,which was eventually cancelled due to technical and security concerns.

Following the online threat against Sean Paul – dismissed as a hoax by the government – religious groups spoke out against the holding of such concerts, while Shaheem himself called them “unacceptable”.

The President’s Office moved quickly to assure the safety of the Maldives for visitors, despite signs in 2014 that the capital has become less safe for locals.

President Abdulla Yameen warned of adverse impacts on tourism from threats against tourists and urged Maldivians to leave aside political differences to assure a safe and secure environment for investors and tourists alike.

Adeeb – who has today been appointed acting defence minister – told Haveeru that the concerts were intended to promote the Maldives as a brand. Last week’s show concluded with the announcement that the country had received 1.45 million tourists in 2014.

He explained that the government had not paid any money for the artists to appear, as well as suggesting that the Maldives should focus on national happiness instead of just economic development.

“Where else are such famous artists seen performing for free? We should not just focus on GDP but on ‘growth development happiness’ as well,” Adeeb told Haveeru.

The concept of gross national happiness has been made famous by Bhutan, which is the only country to use the measure as its official yardstick for development. The UN also began compiling a World Happiness Index in 2012 though the Maldives has yet to take part in the survey.


Related to this story

Adhaalath Party concerned that concerts are defying Islamic teachings

Sean Paul cancels New Year’s appearance, citing security concerns

President Yameen warns of adverse impacts on tourism from threats against guests

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BML increases its banking fees

The Bank of Maldives (BML) has increased its fees for rufiyaa and US dollar accounts starting from last Thursday (January 1), reports Haveeru.

The national bank is reported to have increased the minimum amount of money to be held in the accounts from MVR100 to MVR200 in rufiyaa accounts, and from US$10 to US$50 in dollar accounts.

According to Haveeru, a new schedule of charges released by BML states that current and savings accounts are now opened with a fee of MVR200, while dollar accounts are opened with a fee of US$50.

In addition, BML is to charge inactive rufiyaa accounts with MVR30 per month while charging US$3 from dollar accounts.

Haveeru also reported that the bank has decided to charge MVR5 for transactions under MVR10,000 at bank counters while charging US$1 for transactions under US$640.

Source: Haveeru

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Tourism Minister Adeeb temporarily in charge of Defense Ministry

President Abdulla Yameen has temporarily handed over the Ministry of Defense and National Security to Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb.

Adeeb is to be in charge of the ministry while Defense Minister Colonel (retired) Mohamed Nazim is out of the country on a personal trip, the President’s Office has said.

Speaking to Minivan News, Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali said the handover was routine procedure but declined to reveal details on the length of Nazim’s trip.

Nazim has handled the health ministry since the People’s Majlis failed to reappoint former Minister Mariyam Shakeela to the post. Shortly after Shakeela’s departure, President Yameen announced that he would personally be overseeing the health sector.

During Nazim’s absence, Islamic Minister Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed is to be in charge of the health portfolio, the President’s Office said.

Nazim also heads the Local Government Authority (LGA) and was in charge of the Malé Water Crisis Management task force after a fire at Malé’s water plant cut off services for nearly two weeks.

In December, members of the LGA tabled a no confidence motion against Nazim, but the motion was withdrawn on the same day. Some LGA members have promised to further pursue the matter.

Neither Adeeb nor Nazim was responding to calls at the time of press.

Ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives’ (PPM) parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan congratulated Adeeb in a tweet.

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Maldivian to start flights to three new Chinese destinations

Maldives’ national carrier Maldivian has announced that it will be starting flights to three new Chinese destinations in February.

A tweet from the airline revealed that the it will be operating flights to Nanjing City, Xi’an, and Changsha.

Maldivian already operates two flights to the cities of Chengdu and Woohan, while also operating flights to Trivandrum and Chennai in India, and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

The Chinese tourism market is the fastest growing in the world, with Chinese tourists now representing over 30 percent of all visitors to the Maldives.

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Controversial Dutch convert to give religious lecture in the Maldives

Controversial Dutch convert Arnoud van Doorn, one of the people associated with distributing the anti-Islamic short film ‘Fitna’ is due to give a religious lecture in the Maldives, Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr Mohamed Shaheem has revealed

Van Doorn was formerly a politician with the far-right Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) and had assisted PVV leader Geert Wilders in distributing the short film ‘Fitna’, which argues that Islam promotes terrorism, anti-Semitism, and violence against women.

The film received international condemnation, being branded anti-Islamic by a number of organisations including the Muslim World League and the United Nations.

Speaking to Minivan News, Shaheem said today that van Doorn is due to give a lecture on his conversion to Islam sometime during this year, adding that “a man’s past cannot be questioned after he converts to Islam”.

Meanwhile, van Doorn tweeted his gratitude towards Dr Shaheem for the invitation.

Van Doorn – who now serves as the President of European Dawah Foundation – converted to Islam in 2013, performing the Hajj pilgrimage shortly afterwards. He has also apologised for his attempts at spreading hatred against Islam.

Meanwhile, Shaheem tweeted last week (January 2) that the majority of religious speakers invited to give out public sermons during 2015 would be brought in from Western countries.

Shaheem told Minivan News that such a decision was made because a lot of the Islam related issues are also prevalent in Western countries and because the “western scholars encourage practicing moderate Islam”.

Yesterday (January 3), US Islamic scholar Yasir Qadhi announced he will be visiting the Maldives, with the Islamic ministry confirming that he will be both lecturing and delivering the Friday sermon during March.

“I will be coming down to your beautiful islands in a few months insha Allah! I will be delivering some lectures in Male and giving the khutbah,” explained the Saudi-trained scholar via his Facebook page.

Qadhi – currently teaching in Memphis, Tennessee – has been described by the New York Times as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam”.

Recent months have also seen Canadian scholar Dr Bilal Phillips and Turkish author Harun Yahya travel to the Indian Ocean archipelago to deliver religious lectures.


Related to this story

US Islamic scholar Yasir Qadhi to visit Maldives

Muslim World League to establish Islamic Centre in Hulhumalé

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GDP to increase from 8.5 to 10.5 percent in 2015, says MMA

Growth in the tourism and construction industry is expected to push GDP to 10.5 percent in 2015, up from 8.5 percent in 2014, reports the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

The authority’s Monthly Economic Review for December showed that tourist arrivals for the month of November stood at 89,778 – a decline of 5 percent compared to same point in 2014, and 19 percent compared to the previous month.

“The monthly and annual decrease in arrivals was largely contributed by the decline in arrivals from Asia and Europe”, reported the MMA.

Furthermore, the review also stated that although fish purchases increased 14 percent from September, they fell to 4003.4 metric tonnes in November – registering a decline of 50 percent. The review also reported an 11 percent decline in fish export revenue in November, compared to the same month in 2013.

“The growth in fish volume exports can be attributed to the increase in volume of frozen yellowfin tuna exports,” explained the MMA. “As for the decline in fish export earnings, this was mainly due to the fall in export earnings from frozen skipjack tuna”.

Meanwhile, the figures revealed that the inflation rate dropped from 2.1 percent in October to 1.1 percent in November due to the slow pace at which transport and food prices rose.

The total monthly state revenue grew by 9 percent in September, amounting to MVR1 billion (US$64.9 million), with a decrease in expenditure of 2 percent. The surge in revenue for this period resulted from a “13% growth in tax revenue and a 25% increase in non-tax revenue” while the decrease in expenditure resulted from the 2 percent fall in recurrent expenditure, according to the review.

However, the MMA note that the balance of payments had worsened by 13 percent in October compared to the corresponding month in the previous year due to a 3 percent increase in imports accompanied by a 37 percent decline in exports.

Gross international reserves were reported to have fallen by 1 percent to US$547 million by the end of November – equal to 3.3 months’ worth of imports.

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