Male City Council Mayor Ali Manik has said the council will respect its sister-city agreement with Kaosiung City in Taiwan, despite the government’s denouncement of the move.
Following the signing of the agreement in Male’ on June 9 with a delegation from Kaosiung, the Maldives’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reaffirming its “commitment and support to China’s national unity and to the one-China Policy.”
“The Maldives’ firm conviction of one-China policy is guided by the principles of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of states and considers Taiwan as an integral part of the People’s Republic of China,” the government stated.
“This is an agreement between cities, not countries,” said Mayor Manik. “Our constitution does not say anything about not being able to make such agreements.”
“The attorney general has said we need to get permission from the president. This is not true. We don’t have to get permission. That is not in the constitution,” he added.
Following the signing of the sister-city agreement and the delegations inspection of Male, Manik said Kaosiung would report on the kind of assistance the city would be able to provide, such as technical assistance with waste management, roads, infrastructure, education and training.
“We ask the government not to obstruct us from doing something that is for the benefit of Male. [The agreement] is not illegal,” Manik said.
The agreement came about after the council met Kaosiung officials, including the Deputy Mayor, during a local councils conference held in Hyderabad in India last year.
That led to an invitation for a delegation from Male’ City Council to visit Kaosiung in November 2012, for which the host city provided tickets and accommodation, Manik said.
Male City Council is dominated by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the leader of which contends he was ousted in a coup on February 7 2012 by current President Mohamed Waheed. The bitter political polarisation has put the council at loggerheads with the Maldivian government for more than a year.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has meanwhile disputed allegations that the Maldivian government’s decision to reject the agreement was made under Chinese pressure.
During a MOFA press conference reported by the China Post, spokesperson Anna Kao noted that Taiwanese cities had established sister-city ties with cities around the world without incident, and suggested that politics should not interfere with such exchanges.
“We urge the Maldivian government to respect its cities’ efforts to advance ties and business and people-to-people exchanges with Taiwanese cities,” said Kao.
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A Buddhist country which accepts homosexuality would be an enemy of Allah. These idol worshippers were the first Asian country to try to legalise gay marriage. How can a 100 percent Islamic country maintain relations with such irreligious homosexual trailblazers? President Waheed, do something!
Taiwan does not allow same sex marriage and it is an offense there
@ Homosexual
u really need help
Kuribee, read again. They were the first Asia country to try to legalise gay marriage. I urge all mullahs of Dhivehistan to protest against this filthy move. Mark my words, MDP's Laadheenee Protocols are coming to light. We cannot allow this pure nation to turn into a Sadhoom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Taiwan
Respect? Please!
Since when has any Maldivian shown respect to others? Have a good look into our selves, our culture, our heritage.
I have been among the thousands who have attended schools in Male'... From preschool to Gr 12. Most of my teachers were Sri Lankans. Practically NO lessons or guidance was shwon/given at anytime, how to show respect, earn respect, gratefulness..etc. Have you ever heard someone thank you, apologise for a mistake, help others just for the sake of it? If you have come across a few, then you are among the lucky for having spotted a white elephant.
Instead all we are told and bombarded are hating infidels and disbelievers.
So, once again, when Mordisians say we will respect an international agreement, embrace their commitments, help out them in need,...I only see the mounting hypocrisy, on top of each other...
@Andrew: I found your insight disturbing. But maybe that is only because I come from a "painfully Protestant" English back ground where we say Please, thankyou, and sorry excessively. But, sometimes, we say these words SO MUCH that they just end up sounding fake and meaningless. We often don't say these things because we respect the other, but, because it is proper - conventional to say them. No doubt a Maldivian would find our Anal retentive, wanky fakeness in the use of these terms as disturbing as we find your lack of the use of these terms.
But IF Maldivians are as you say, rarely willing to help each other for no reason etc... etc... as you dscribed Andrew, PLEASE tell me WHY this is the case. Or if someone else could tell me why, I would be most greatful (and I actually MEAN that I would be most greatful.
@Ben
Let me give you some real life examples. I dont know the reasons, but if you are a local, you would feel it. Mind you, if you are Caucasian, it will be different.
1) At the ATM, a girl was right behind me, when a bearded (literally grade 5 drop out) queued behind her. When I was done at the ATM, he quickly stepped in front of her and took to the machine. I pointed out to him, that she was in the queue first, when he spat out, that she, being a girl, must respect men to be the first....
2) If you stop at the zebra crossing, to allow someone to cross, the guys behind you would start honking immediately, and if space allows it, most would pass cursing at you, zipping past the pedestrians, stranded mid-day on the crossing.
3) If someone, happens to apologize for a grave mistake he made, the recipient would immediately snap at him, ' adhi sorry ey eba buney nu', literally cursing you for even thinking of apologizing.
4)I have heard many jokes cracked about this, but theme behind it is actually true. Here it is...Apparently God leaves the gates of Hell unlocked in the cell for Mordisians. When asked why, He calmly replies, He does not need to worry about Mordisians, because if any one tries to escape, the rest would just break his legs.
5) A businessman friend of mine compares Mordisians to Philipinos. He says, when in a foreign country, whereas a Filipino would always can be relied upon by his fellow countrymen for help, the Mordisians, would rarely acknowledge another, lest they may be asked for assistance sometime in future.
I attribute the vile attitude comes from the Arabians masters, who ensures their mentality gets propagated. In the Arabian eyes, Indians, Sri Lankans, Mordisians, Bangldeshis' are equivalent to stray dogs. What I cant understand is we Mordisians, falling for crap like being awarded Palaces in the next life, when we derogate disbelievers. That is the source, i believe, for the self aggrandizing, and ego-mad Mordisians in search for the wine, women, sex in heaven.
Right...alienate China, who is the largest contributor to our tourism. We do not have any diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Even UN do not recognize Taiwan as member state. The constitution does not say Male' City Council cannot build a nuclear bomb, so why not make a joint venture with North Korea and build a bomb. Most of us feel that this is just a geo-political game choreographed by Ibrahim Hussein Zaki in favour of India..... while you are at it bring back the "Borah" merchants and give them the monopoly they enjoyed until mid 1950's.
@Andrew: If anybody behaves as selfishly as what you have described, be they a Maldivian or a Caucasian, they are violating the inherent dignity of humanity, within themselves as well as in others.
Life can be cruel. We all experience Pain. To experience pain without the strength and support of love to give us the strength to get through it creates hatred, bitterness, depression, despair, a fatalistic violent mentality.
If Maldivians are like this, they must have been wounded by rejection, injustice, betrayal. Love begets love. If we are not loved, genuinely cared for, we become empty, and seek our own pleasure, whatever may give us that pleasure, no matter who it hurts.
At some stage, we are ALL wounded, hurt, betrayed, be we caucasians or Maldivians. We ALSO ALL perpetrate HURT, rejection, wounds and betrayal!
But, Love is what determines what we make of the pain we ALL go through. Love can give meaning to our pain, and help us to endure it. Love can help our suffering to become the seed of the cultivation of the beautiful rose of empathy in our lives, rather than the seed of vicious cruelty and depression it normally is. But, EVERY ROSE has its thorn brother, and no matter how cultivated we become within ourselves, our pain will still manifest as HURT or anger from time to time.
Love teaches us to rise above ourselves, and to see the world through Divine eyes. Love teaches us to see the Divine Image in every human being, even in those in whom that image has been hidden and eroded through so many layers of selfishness, the decay pain causes, that it is allmost non-existant. Love teaches us to see the Divine in others, the innate Glory of others, even when they may never see it within themselves. We can only struggle to make our sure our soul, our desire, rises to the light within ourselves, so that whilst others may behave badly, we do not. We may help others by doing doing so, we may not, but it is better for us to do so even if we get persecuted for being kind ourselves.
@Ben
I understand what you are saying. What I stated above are my experiences and my views based on that.
What is, whats perceived, whats reality are all analog,stretchable, retractable and bendable, depending of points of view. And frankly, its the POV that matters; most decisions one makes made are based on them. My POV : Beardee-cult pretty much demands us to be in the dark ages, while moderates get trapped somewhere current and 6th century. It may be love that started it, cleanliness and obedience that propagated it, violence that spread it; the beauty has been lost long before it reached us and Mordisians are ... helplessly trapped!
@Andrew: Thanks for sharing.
When I was in Maldives, we used to go to the beach and swim at Vilingili. I lived there in Vilingili. Oneday, whilst returning to our place some extremist Muslim came violently at me - in a wild rage. He was swearing at me and would have physically assaulted me. It was obvious that he assumed I was a Kafir because I was white and he thought he was waging a Jihad against me. He spoke in Dhivehi, but there was enough Arabic slung in there for me to get the gist of what he was saying. Many Maldivians walked through Vilingili without a T-Shirt one, why were they never attacked? I felt like a victim of racism, and, it hurt me immensely. I had just been swimming for crying out loud. Anyway, this army guy in civilian clothes jumped in to protect me. he also could not talk English. He was once of Madame nasreena's body guards, this army guy, as, my Wife knew him and pointed this out to me.
I wish I knew his name, I want to thank him.
So, that was one of six really terrifying experiences I had with bad violent aggressive maldivians in the Maldives.
As you said, most Maldivians are, were, extremely kind to me. If I found out that that is only because I am a Caucasian then that makes me extremely sad, makes me feel, used or deceived or something.
Anyway, the point is, I know what you are saying is very true, and very painful, and, even though I am a caucasian, I have felt it.
But, what I am saying is, my focus is on finding a cause and ultimately, a solution to this issue.