The Maldives Science Society (MSS) held a stargazing event at Lale International School on Thursday night, in conjunction with Astronomers Without Borders.
The event was presented by British mathematician Thomas Goodey, a Cambridge university graduate, who visited the Maldives recently to study the solar eclipse on Jan 15.
Goodey gave a history of astronomy and explained that the Maldives was an excellent place for stargazing. The Maldives Open Source Society (MOSS) also introduced astronomy software called ‘Stellarium’ which allows users to learn the sky and locate different celestial objects.
While the outdoor stargazing session was cancelled due to bad weather, the MSS said it would hold the session again so students could see celestial bodies for themselves.
President Mohamed Nasheed has claimed that dealing with past human rights violations is one of the most difficult issues currently confronted by the government.
In a letter to the new Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, the president said the Maldives has recently emerged from a long period in which human rights “were routinely violated and in which many people, including members of the new Government, were tortured.”
“Thankfully, the country has been able to turn its back on such times and is now busy establishing itself as a modern liberal democracy with a full separation of powers and strong human rights safeguards,” the president wrote.
“One of the challenges facing the new Government as we look to consolidate democracy, rule of law and human rights is how to come to terms with the difficult episodes in our past without jeopardising our future.
“Dealing with the issue of torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is without doubt one of the more difficult issues we are confronted with, especially in our small closely-knit community. Our favoured approach is to avoid retribution and instead to recognise, come to terms with, and learn from such tragic episodes as a means of ensuring that the memory of the victims is honoured and that we avoid repeating the same mistakes.”
Bokova she is the first woman to hold the post since the foundation of UNESCO in 1945.
President Nasheed has urged all political parties of the Maldives to opt for dialogue on national issues, during his weekly radio address, and spoke of the country’s economy.
The president said the government will be able to begin a number of new development projects within the next few months, provided with proper frameworks and funds.
He stressed the importance of passing the proposed taxation bill, and urged newly elected leader of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, to work on passing the bill.
The President spoke of the budget deficit and the need to to ensure a fast recovery from the economic downturn.
The taxation bill, along with the loans agreed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), should give the country a budget surpluss by 2012, he said.
Before concluding his address, the president noted the significant increase in the number of tourists arriving in the Maldives this January. With 67,478 tourists arriving in the month, it became the highest number of tourists arriving in the month of January in the last five years.
An average of 10 tons of potential revenue sinks into the ocean near Malé’s fish market every day, according to NGO Bluepeace.
Fish waste from the nearby market is dumped into the ocean at the end of each day. Bluepeace reports that it can reach up to 8-12 tons in Malé alone.
Fish waste is not really waste at all; it has a number of uses that are not only environmentally friendly, but profitable, the NGO claims.
There aren’t major concerns about environmental impacts or hygiene problems stemming from the disposal of the fish waste, says Bluepeace director Ali Rilwan.
“The waste is dumped into the deep sea, where there is no coral. It gets caught in currents and becomes food for fish. It’s not an environmental hazard.”
He is more concerned with the bacteria and diseases that importing cow dung and chemical-based fertilisers bring in to the country.
Alternative uses for fish by-products
Through a process called anaerobic digestion, organic materials such as fish waste are broken down naturally by bacteria in the absence of oxygen, producing bio-gas as waste products.
This bio-gas is rich in methane and carbon dioxide, and can used for energy production and help in replacing fossil fuels.
The nutrient-rich solids which are left after anaerobic digestion can also be used as fertiliser, although State Minister of Trade, Adhil Saleem, explains that “fish waste alone is not good fertiliser. It must be mixed with other ingredients first.”
Probably the most profitable product, and the easiest to produce from fish waste, is fish feed. This can be used as animal feed and is also in certain foods like masala. The Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) uses fish by-products for these, especially from yellow-fin tuna.
One of three of MIFCO’s fish processing units, on the island of Lhaviyani Felivaru, processes fish products for export. Dried fish and fish feed are mainly exported to companies in Sri Lanka, but are also sold to the local market.
Fish by-product industry: Problems and solutions
Abdulla Maumoon from MIFCO says although their fish processing unit “was costly [to acquire], it is profitable.”
However the last three years have brought a steady decline in the fishing industry. The company is now downsizing their production of fish from an average of 45 metric tonnes a day to about 15.
“We have brought down production according to the raw material we are getting,” he says.
Fishermen at Male's fish market
“We have collectors in the north, south and central regions of the country,” says Maumoon, “and fishermen can go to these collectors in their dhonis and sell it.”
In the Malé fish market not many people seem to know about the possibilities of selling their fish by-products. When asked, most fishermen responded with: “If we could sell it, we would sell it.”
The fact that fish by-products need to first be mixed with other ingredients before being turned into fertiliser introduces another factor of difficulty: transport costs. Saleem explained that the costs of obtaining these other ingredients would be too high since they would need to be imported.
But Ali Rilwan from Bluepeace says the other products needed to make fertiliser can all be found in the Maldives.
“Organic compost can be made with fish waste, seaweed, coconut fibre and even the leaves of some local trees.”
Rilwan estimates the Maldives imports hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fertilisers every year. The chemical-based fertilisers are harmful to the soil and affect the agricultural products they are used on. The amount of money spent on importing things such as cow dung and other fertilisers from countries like India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, is also very high.
The issue of whether fertilisers should be made from fish by-products, and not imported, comes down to a comparison between the cost of importing fertilisers with the costs of producing it locally and mixing it with local ingredients.
It must also be studied which of the two products is more harmful for the environment, and which is more viable in the long term.
Fish being gutted at the market
Government Response
The government so far has marginalised the fish by-product industry. So far, there have been “a couple of attempts” by the government to process fish waste, according to Minister of Agriculture Mohamed Ali.
State Minister of Fisheries Hussein Rasheed said the government “undertook this project, but it proved not to be profitable.” The machinery is at Kilafushi, and it is not being used.
Dr Rasheed says there is currently “no project at hand” to use fish waste, but “we would be quite happy if somebody undertakes the project. We will provide them with the help we can.”
Saleem says there is a new fish market to be built in Malé and the Ministry hopes to incorporate a fish processing unit, mainly to produce fish feed, in the new facility.
The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has elected four vice presidents during the its third annual congress, which concluded today.
The new vice presidents are the party’s spokesman Ibrahim Shareef (642 votes), MP Ali Waheed (645 votes), MP Ahmed Ilham (593 votes) and Umar Naseer, former president of the Islamic Democratic Party (502 votes).
Eight people stood for election to the post. The other candidates were Abdullah Mausoom (383 votes), Afrashim Ali (288 votes), Mohamed Saleem (239 votes) and Fathin Hameed (210 votes).
The party’s new leader is Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, who was was elected leader by default as no candidate stood against him, and will become the party’s presidential candidate. During the congress the party’s former leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was also given the title of ‘Honorary leader’.
Ibrahim Shareef said the party was now looking forward to strengthening the relationship between the new leadership and its members.
”This is a very dynamic leadership,” he said. ”During this leadership many changes will be brought to our party.”
He said the party’s new leader Thasmeen was a “very intelligent and capable person.”
”The other three vice presidents are also very capable and won the election because of the popularity they have among the people,” he said.
DRP MP and new vice president Ali Waheed said he was pleased to work with the new leadership, describing the others as “very capable and experienced people.”
Waheed said with its new leadership the party would get stronger “day by day”. His next target, he said, was to “strengthen the relationship between the DRP supporters around the atolls.”
DRP MP and new vice president Ahmed Ilham said the public would see a difference in the party within six months.
Umar Naseer said the party would be “very active” during his leadership, and said his aim was to “bring the government’s administration to an end.”
Spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Ahmed Haleem said he “regretted that the party’s educated people were not elected as vice presidents.”
”With this leadership I do not think they will achieve anything,” Haleem said.
”These new vice presidents will drop the party back 20 years. They are still at early 90s, we are at 2010.”
The Himandhoo School board of North Ari Atoll Himandhoo has decided the school song will no longer be sung during the school assembly as ”it would be more useful to give a speech by school heads and recite the meaning of Quran rather than singing the school song,” according to chairperson Abdulla Jameel.
Jameel said the decision was made after a meeting with Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the school’s teachers.
He said the decision was not made on religious grounds, and claimed a news report by television station DhiTV was misleading the public by claiming otherwise.
”In our school we sing a song written especially for Himandhoo Madharusa, but there is doubt over whether our school’s name is Himandhoo Madharusa or Himandhoo school,” he explained.
”We asked the education ministry to clarify it, and then we came to know that it was called Himandhoo School.”
Councilor of Himandhoo Ali Naseer said the school song was no longer sung during the assembly because it contained verses saying the school name was Himandhoo Madharusa and the school colors was red, green and white.
”We discovered to know the school’s name was Himandhoo School and the logo was red,” Naseer said, “but we only have the audio recording of the school song we use to sing. We cannot cut out the verses which say Himandhoo Madharusa and says the colours are green, red and white.”
Jameel said the school might sing the song ‘Lhafathuga Ungenema’ (a song sung in every school of Maldives during assembly) instead, but for the time being had decided to give speeches on the meaning of Quran during the assembly.
Deputy Minister for Education Abdulla Nazeer said the ministry’s policy insisted schools must sing the school song during the assembly.
”As per our policy all schools must sing the school song,” Naseer said, warning that ”if any school goes against our policy we will take action against them.”
Jameel said that the school board had sent a letter to the education ministry and ”would decide what to do when they respond.”
In a city mostly bereft of specialised restaurants, Poppadum’s entry into the scene generates excitement.
The place is small with a seating capacity of 38, laid out in an ‘L’ shape. Despite the size of the place it doesn’t feel cramped at all, a credit to the restaurant.
It’s lunch time and there are only a handful of people, eating away with gusto, most with their hands. A washbasin discreetly located at the end of the restaurant behind a partition gives the option to patrons.
The menu is a typically Indian, with a collection of Tandoori items, curries, varieties of Indian naans and rice.
To start the meal we settle for the a merger of the classic and the new: a mango flavoured lassi.
A cold mango lassi on a hot day is a delight on the senses. Unfortunately the lassi we are served had been made with sour mangoes and was a bit disappointing on the palate, but forgivable at the onset of mango season when finding sweet ripe mangos are hard to find.
The meal arrives next; plain naan, chicken biriyani, dhal fry, chicken masala and plain raita.
Biriyani, daal and naan at Poppadums
The naan is neatly cut into pieces and served on a silver plate, while the rest of the dishes come in an assortment of silver dishes, all looking very appetizing.
We start off with the naan, but one bite and we have the sneaky suspicion that it had been made the previous day or week, and re-cooked a second time. It’s overly crisp on the inside and out, and resembles a poppadum. The one thing you expect from an Indian restaurant is a naan cooked to perfection, a chewy crisp texture on the outside and soft on the inside. The sudden emission of intense heat from the Tandoor oven fluffs the naan into beautiful bread; alas here the beauty was incomplete.
The biriyani is the next dish to go under our fork. The first mouthful is fiery to say the least; an extremely liberal use of chilli smothered the rest of the flavours of this famous dish. It’s a poor presentation of blended flavours, almost as if everything had been cooked separately, vegetable rice and chicken curry mulched together onto a plate.
Even the praiseworthy raita – diced tomato mixed with fresh herbs bound in natural yogurt – is not enough to cut the spice.
A mango lassi
The biriyani is way below average; a slow simmering is supposed to infuse the flavours together in this dish; however we can taste nothing of the sort. Halfway through we are obliged to stop eating, gasping for air, with our taste buds on fire from an overdose of chilli.
The highlight is the dhal and chicken masala, which do justice to the flavours you expect from an Indian dish.
The correct consistency, delectable flavours and well blended herbs and spices cooked just enough to release those unique Indian flavours. Had the naan been cooked to precision, these two dishes would’ve saved the day and done justice to one of the most versatile cuisines in the world.
Indian food is a short flight away, but when one gets the craving in Male’, Poppadums is among the few places one can go to indulge that craving which gives the restaurant a responsibility to do justice to the dishes.
More people come in as we are leaving. We will go back another day, and hopefully be able to indulge in a better Indian food experience.
Poppadums Restaurant
Food 4/10
Atmosphere 6/10
Value 5/10
Service 6/10
Total 5 /10
Former DRP MP for Seenu Feydhoo Alhan Fahmy has officially joined MDP after signing the paperwork during a ceremony last night at the artificial beach.
Independent MP for North Kulhudhuffushi, Abdul Ghafoor Moosa, also joined the party along with former environment minister Ahmed Abdulla who resigned from the cabinet during Gayoom’s presidency, and State Minister for Fisheries, Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan.
MDP MP for South Henveiru, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, said Alhan’s move in particlar was significant “as this is the first time an MP has shifted from one party to another in such a highly-charged political environment.”
“At the meeting last night [Alhan] said he had lost confidence in his party following the vote of no-confidence against [Foreign Minister] Dr Ahmed Shaheed,” Hamid said. “He said the vote was based on a flimsy cause particularly during a time of a depressed economy when the country is trying to rebuild itself after years of autocracy. He is rationalising his decision and is worth listening to.”
Hamid noted that the MDP now had majority control of the parliament with 30 members to the DRP’s 28.
“With the People’s Alliance the DRP-PA coalition has 34 members, but we are skeptical about the coalition [continuing]. It is looking rather strained,” he said.
It remains to be seen how Alhan’s constituency will react to his decision, as the MP campaigned on a DRP ticket.
Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed suggested the defection could potentially place the MP in breach of contract, depending on what agreements had been signed, but explained that the country had no anti-defection legislation.
“It’s a debatable issue around the globe. Legally there is no rule in the Maldives that says someone has to stay in the one party,” Nasheed said. “It sometimes clashes with freedom of expression.”
The ethics of Alhan’s move were matter between the MP and his constituency, Nasheed said, “and should be a political and a personal choice” as locking people into parties was not a good idea for formative political systems in their development stage.
The moves were isolated incidents and unlikely to trigger a run on any party, he suggested, or significantly affect the parliament.
“Abdul Ghafoor [Moosa] was practically MDP already and pretty much a defacto member, so last night was more of a ceremony,” Nasheed said.
Several DRP MPs reacted stridently when rumours of Alhans’ defection first surfaced. MP Ahmed Mahlouf previously labelled the Seenu Feydhoo MP a “political prostitute”.
With the move now formalised, DRP MP Abdullah Mausoom would not be drawn into debate over Alhan’s departure. Instead he would only say “the question is whether we are concerned at all.”
The Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has opened the bidding process for Herathera Island Resort, a 456 bed property in Addu atoll.
The MTDC recently paid US$3.5 million to end a long-running court dispute with former management Yacht Tours, after the company stopped paying rent claiming the MTDC had failed to fulfil a contractual obligation to build a channel between the resort and the adjoining island of Hulhudhoo.
The MTDC said it was searching for an “experienced and capable party”, with a minimum of five years experience running a luxury hotel of over 300 beds.
It also said the successful bidder would be required to pay a US$7-10 million non-refundable deposit “to ensure the company is capable of managing the resort.”
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