Police to form a ‘K-9 dog squad’ to combat drug trafficking

As part of the government’s anti-drug trafficking efforts, the Ministry of Home Affairs has requested the Maldives Police Service (MPS) form a ‘K9 dog squad’.

Upon the ministry’s request, police will soon begin working on establishing the squad, a police official told today. According to the official, local police officers are to be trained for the squad.

Quoting the ministry, local news outlet CNM has reported that a total of fifteen officers would be trained for the purpose.

Police have earlier worked on bringing sniffer dogs into the country as counter-trafficking measure on several occasions. It was included in the organisation’s strategic action plan 2011 -2013, while in late 2012 Indian assistance was sought in bringing police sniffer dogs.

Dogs were also brought in from Sri Lanka for security operations during the 2011 SAARC Summit held in the Maldives . On that occasion the dogs were handled by Sri Lanka’s police elite special forces unit Special TaskForce (STF).

In October 2002 two sniffer dogs were brought to the Maldives from Sri Lanka, and were used at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport under the supervision of National Security Service – and later the Maldives National Defence Force.

In 2008, the chair of the parliamentary committee on narcotics, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that, to that day, no drugs were ever confiscated with the help of the two dogs. He said the committee’s investigations found that the dogs were in fact unable to recognize drugs.

Speaking to Minivan News today, an MNDF spokesperson confirmed that the two dogs did not remain in the country, though he was unaware of what had happened to them.

Under the unlawful imports act of 1975, dogs can only be brought into Maldives with a special permission from the Ministry of Defense and National Security.

Local interpretation of Islam is that dogs are impure animals and should not be touched or taken into one’s home. Scholars have declared that touching a dog even accidentally would require any Muslim to wash that part of the body seven times.

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British tourist drowned while snorkelling

The body of a British tourist – missing since Saturday – has been found off the coast of Biyaadhoo resort in South Malé atoll.

The 65 year old man who had not been seen since going to snorkel alone is presumed to have drowned. His body has been taken to Maafushi Health Centre.

A recent spate of drowning incidents in the Maldives – more often including Chinese tourists – last month prompted the Ministry of Tourism to consult industry stakeholders and relevant government authorities regarding ways to improve safety.

A questionnaire was subsequently sent to all tourist establishments to gather more information on these incidents before a forum is held later this month.

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US embassy donates books worth US$13,000 in Gnaviyani atoll

The US Embassy, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, has delivered US$13,000 (MVR201,000) worth of books to the Gnyaviyani Atoll Education Center in Fuvahmulah.

“These books, aimed at primary and secondary grades, will help teachers and students develop their English language skills so they can enhance their opportunities for further education and a dynamic future,” said Ambassador Michele Sison at a ceremony held yesterday (March 2).

“We are proud to support the success of Maldivian students through the friendship and goodwill of the American people,” she continued.

An embassy press release revealed that yesterday’s donation was the first of eleven planned for the outer atolls. The donation was made possible by the NGOs Spirit of America and the Asia Foundation.

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Elections will go ahead, even without voters list signatures: EC President

The People’s Majlis elections scheduled for 22 March will be held as planned, the Elections Commission (EC) President Fuwad Thowfeek has said.

Speaking about the election on Television Maldives’ ‘Raaje Miadhu’ programme, Thowfeek said that he hoped all candidates would sign the lists, but that even if they did not the elections would be held regardless.

“I don’t believe we should bring any change to the election. So it will be held as planned,” he said.

The voter list signatures mandated by the Supreme Court were not obtained during the recent local council elections held in January.

Approval of voter lists by all candidates was mandated by the Supreme Court guidelines in the verdict annulling the first round of the presidential election held in September 2013.

The EC has described these guidelines as “restrictive”while the court have been criticised by the United Nations for “subverting the democratic process” in the Maldives with “onerous” and “difficult to satisfy” guidelines.

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Comment: The politics of the death penalty in the Maldives

In a presidential campaign rally in 2008, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom dismissed the issue of death penalty:

“Maldivians won’t accept it. The international community no longer accepts it…this can’t be done in the Maldives.”

Five years’ on, and such a statement from a major politician seems unthinkable. In fact, in 2012, in the aftermath of the murder of Afrasheem Ali, Gayoom stated: “Death penalty is an option.”

Not mainly a religious or human rights issue

Coming from a secular liberal background, a person may conveniently blame the changing nature of this issue to a rise in ‘fundamentalist Islam’, Islamism, or Salafi puritanism.

Without denying the reality of re-Islamisation, this explanation comes partly from a fundamental fear of Islamism by secular liberals. The death penalty goes deeper than religion or liberal human rights.

While none in this debate claim that criminals should be set free, in 2008 Gayoom eloquently argued that forgiveness is more preferred in Islam. The Islamist side has been largely silent on the emphasis of mercy in Islam, thus making it difficult to limit the Islamist calls for death penalty to religion.

Even during President Amin’s time, the execution of the death penalty was not particularly meant to fulfill a religious obligation by a religious state. Amin’s constitution – based on Ceylon’s constitution granting dominion status – was one of the most secular and authoritarian of all Maldivian constitutions. Back then, Ibrahim Shihab claimed: “I could not find in the Republican Constitution any concern for Islamic principles and Divehi conventions’. Amin himself was accused of being ladini (irreligious).

Now take human rights. The right to life is the main basis for rejecting capital punishment under mainstream liberal conception of human rights. Yet, the death penalty has no equal juridical, advocacy, or enforcement status to other basic rights like freedom of religion, which has been completely denied in the Maldives.

In reality, for both sides, death penalty is about the very identity, the very nature of the state. It is indeed one test case for the ‘Islamist state’ – or the ‘secular state’, depending on which side one stands in the debate. The death penalty is about this mutual fear of the perceived influence and control by one side over the other with regards to the nature of the Maldivian state.

A matter of secular yet illiberal politics

While the death penalty may be a life-and-death issue about the nature of the state for liberals and the Islamists, the real actors and the real issues in this debate are neither religious nor liberal – though Islamism and human rights now feed into the background context of this issue.

The real actors who will determine the issue one way or the other are the secular (yet illiberal) politicians.

The real issue is instrumentalisation of religion and Islamo-nationalist sentiments of the people for political gain by ordinary politicians. This has created a vicious cycle in which every politician/party has a high premium to show their religious or Islamo-nationalist credentials, and discount the opponents’ credentials.

The result is what I call the ‘instrumentalist dilemma’ – the situation where a person (or a group) individually or privately holds a position/belief that they collectively or publically can’t hold. The instrumentalist dilemma is at play not only in the death penalty, but also in religion-based discrimination such as citizenship restriction.

Gayoom’s apparent turnaround or Foreign Minister Dunya Gayoom’s position seems to be none other than this dilemma. More clearly, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) chairperson’s recent support for it, or the MDP’s retraction of a statement rebuking the death penalty in 2012 – is this dilemma in action.

Stop the instrumentalist madness

The upshot of these instrumentalist dialectics is the irrational, out-of-hand outcome that the collective don’t necessarily want as individuals. If anything will see the death penalty implemented, it’s such secular, illiberal instrumentalist madness – not Islamism, Salafi puritanism, or religious fundamentalism.

But an outcome of madness neither serves religion nor human rights. And, much less does it address the issue of murder.

As for religion, irrespective of the question whether or not capital punishment is a religious obligation, without personal pious intention (niyah) the act doesn’t become a religious act. As for human rights, saying no to capital punishment is saying yes to the right to life.

As for murder reduction, a 2009 survey of criminologists – people who know the stuff about crimes and crime reduction – revealed that an overwhelming 88% believed death penalty was not a deterrent to murder. Similarly, murder rates have remained consistently lower in non-death penalty states over death penalty states.

Therefore, the religious and the liberals and those who are genuinely concerned about religion, human rights, or crimes should oppose this political madness, not each other.

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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Hajj Corporation reaches quota limit, begins registration for 2015

The Hajj Corporation has reached the limit of its quota of 370 slots for this year’s Hajj pilgrims as hundreds continued to queue outside its registration offices in Dharubaaruge.

The announcement that the limit has been reached in the early hours of Tuesday led to voices of discord among the hundreds in line. Police later assisted in dispersing the crowds of would-be pilgrims gathered at the location.

The state owned Hajj Corporation has reserved 30 of the 400 slots it received – half of the total quota allowed to the Maldives from the Saudi Arabian government – for the security forces and other officials who will be performing Hajj while assisting pilgrims.

The remaining 400 slots are reserved for those who wish to apply to join the pilgrimage through private hajj groups, though the Anti Corruption Commission has called for the groups’ bidding process to be revised.

Each pilgrim needs to pay MVR 69,965 (US$4,537) as total payment to the Hajj Corporation. Those who have previously performed the Hajj pilgrimage are not eligible to apply via the state corporation.

On Tuesday morning, the Hajj Corporation commenced accepting applications and payments from those who wishes to perform Hajj pilgrimage in the next year.

Under a programme termed ‘Long term initiative to fulfill Hajj pilgrimage saving package’, the corporation will be accepting applications for 2015 until 2pm on Wednesday afternoon (March 5).

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AG withdraws from non-cooperation case against Raajje TV

The appeal case concerning the President’s Office’s refusal to cooperate with private broadcaster Raajje TV has been withdrawn by the Attorney General’s (AG) Office.

The office is quoted as saying in local media that the case was withdrawn because it was not the policy of the government to work against any media outlet.

An official from the AG’s office was quoted in online newspaper CNM as saying that the government’s policy was to provide equal opportunity to all media outlets.

On April 14, 2013, the Civil Court ruled in favour of the Maldivian Democratic Party-aligned Raajje TV after the President’s Office had barred the station from the then-President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s press conferences and functions.

The office told parliament’s government oversight committee that Raajje TV was not invited to press conferences as the station did not fit the criteria or standards of reporting set out by the President’s Office.

The policy of the President’s Office was to invite “responsible and experienced” media outlets, which included private broadcasters DhiTV and VTV, state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM), newspapers Haveeru and Miadhu, as well as internet publications Sun Online and Minivan News.

The Civil Court ruling was subsequently appealed at the High Court by the attorney general.

At the time, the Maldives Media Council also asked the prosecutor general to press charges against the President’s Office over what it found to be discriminatory treatment.

Raajje TV’s dispute with the President’s Office followed a similar disagreement with the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in 2012, during which police announced that they had stopped cooperating with the local broadcaster, alleging the station was broadcasting false and slanderous content which had undermined the services credibility of the MPS.

On February 5, 2013, the Civil Court ruled that a decision by the police to cease cooperating with opposition-aligned TV station Raajje TV was unconstitutional.

Raajje TV’s main studios were destroyed last October in a premeditated arson attack carried out by a group of masked men. After the police’s role in the incident was criticised by Reporters Without Borders, the Police Integrity Commission recommended charges be filed against two unnamed officers.

The station has also been the subject of a Supreme Court-ordered investigation into its alleged criticism of the court’s rulings. In December, police requested the Prosecutor General press charges against both the News Head of Raajje Television Ibrahim ‘Aswad’ Waheed and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Station Abdulla Yameen Rasheed.

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Pensions office performs U-turn on benefit increase

After initially reporting that the promised pension increase from MVR2300 to MVR5000 could not be done this month, the Maldives Pension Administration Office (MPAO) today confirmed that it is working to transfer the MVR5000 by tomorrow.

The CEO of the office had yesterday told Haveeru that it had not received the additional funds for the increase and that it would therefore transfer the current MVR2300, giving the rest when the government released additional funds.

“They are doing this to fulfill a government pledge. This has nothing to do with the pension fund. We will not increase it to MVR5000 by taking money from that fund. What we will do is transfer it when the government provide us with it,” Manik was quoted as saying.

The state funded pension for all citizen’s above the age of 65 was introduced in 2009 at MVR2,000, and was later increased to MVR2,300 through an amendment to pension legislation.

A further increase to MVR5000 – starting from March 2014 – was an election pledge of President Abdulla Yameen, though changes to the amount disbursed from the existing pension funds will require another amendment to the act.

Cabinet minister Ahmed Adeeb has recently assured that the increase would take place in March as promised, saying that it can be funded through a sustainable model based on long term bonds and T-bills.

Adeeb also talked about the prospect of combining various funds such as housing, health insurance, and pension funds into a single fund.

The government had already allocated MVR470 million (US$ 30.5 million) in the state budget for the MVR2,300 allowance (US$149). These funds will now be invested in the retirement pension fund or in financial instruments such as T-bills in order to generate the monthly MVR5000 stipend, Adeeb has said.

Following Manik’s comments yesterday, Adeeb told Haveeru that the delay was due to the first of the month falling on the weekend and “because it is a new allowance”.

Yesterday, MPAO CEO Manik stated that eighty percent of the pension funds are already being invested in T-bills sold by the government to finance the budget deficit, and that discussions with the government are underway to invest the rest of the funds in bonds.

While the government maintains this to be a sustainable model of financing the increase in pensions, critics have argued that, with a MVR1.3 billion (US$84.3 million) deficit budget, the move will plunge the country further into debt.

“These are loans, and taking loans is acceptable to invest in to increasing productivity. But this is not such an investment, this is something the government is spending. Eventually people will have to bear the burden of this,” former Economic Development Minister Mahmud Razee has remarked.

Last December, the central bank and regulator – the Maldives Monetary Authority – advised the state to pay all due treasury bills and treasury bonds and to turn existing short-term debts into long-term ones.

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President Yameen delivers first presidential address

President Abdulla Yameen today delivered his first presidential address in the parliament’s first official session after recess.

President Yameen detailed his administration’s achievements – claiming success in all the 100-day initiatives.

He explained that the executive had now drafted a legislative agenda for the next five years which would be gradually submitted to parliament in the form of draft bills.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has described the address as “taciturn and rather nonsensical”, arguing that major issues such as the Supreme Court and the recent HIV scandal at IGMH were ignored.

Opening the ceremony, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid noted that this was first instance where an MP has been unable to attend the presidential address due to incarceration, referring to MP Abdulla Jabir.

Shahid also condemned the attack on MDP MP Alhan Fahmy, calling for the cessation of all acts against the implementation of rule of law and legal obligations. Alhan attended today’s ceremony returning from Sri Lanka where he underwent spinal surgery following his February stabbing.

The president began his address by noting that, although national debt would increase this year to MVR31 billion, the debt percentage can be maintained at 78 percent of GDP in 2014.

Government developments

Yameen said that the government had decided to construct a youth city in Hulhumalé and that physical work on construction of a bridge connecting capital city Malé to the airport island Hulhulé will begin before the end of the year.

He added that once the development of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Hulhumalé is completed, it can be maintained for use for a duration of at least 50 years, and that the construction of two new airports – in Kulhudhuhfushi and Felivaru – have now been opened for bidding.

Yameen also spoke of the need to strengthen investor confidence, and pledged to eradicate all obstacles and difficulties currently faced by foreign investors.

Yameen noted that the number of tourist arrivals had already increased to 348,000 in the past three months, stating that this added US$70 million to government earnings. He added that the government intended to introduce tourism to atolls currently not involved in the sector.

Regarding the fisheries sector, Yameen stated that a system has been put in place where fishermen who earn less than MVR10,000 a month will be given financial aid from the state. He added that this will commence in a period of two months.

He also pledged that scholarship schemes will be offered in the near future to students who pass a minimum of three GCE Advanced Level subjects.

On the topic of health services, Yameen stated that arrangements are being made to introduce new health facilities – including ambulance speedboats – to the country. He added that an initiative has now begun where existing health institutions are being categorised and supplied with the necessary medical equipment.

The president said that the government would shortly submit a bill to parliament seeking to provide financial aid to persons with special needs,as well as a bill seeking the establishment of special economic zones within the country.

MDP Response

MDP Spokesperson Imthiyaz Fahmy described President Yameen’s address as ignoring many pressing issues, suggesting that he appeared “disconnected with what is happening here and now”.

“To begin with, the whole country is appalled and in shock about the HIV infected blood transfusion at IGMH which recently came to be known of. And yet, there was no apology or even a mention of the matter,” said Fahmy

Fahmy suggested that the president spend excessive time discussing administrative issues such as queues outside government offices and phones not being answered efficiently at the expense of issues of wider importance, such as the judiciary.

“This is something the whole world is talking about, that our judiciary needs to be reformed. And yet, Yameen did not even mention them,” Fahmy continued.

“He also failed to condemn the way the Elections Commission is being unconstitutionally dragged to the Supreme Court at a time when there is an election looming overhead.”

The party’s official response will be delivered via the Majlis.

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