Category: News in Brief

Maldives ministers welcome first visitor at start of 40th anniversary tourism celebrations

The Maldives’ defence and economic chiefs joined Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Ahmed Adheeb in welcoming the first visitors to the country since the commencement of 40th anniversary of tourism.

Local media has reported that Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim and Economic Minister Mohamed Ahmed were on hand at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) in Male’ this morning to welcome the day’s first tourist arrivals.

Hong Kong resident Sing Kok and his family were met off the plane by officials and presented with a free holiday in the country for being the Maldives’ first visitors as 40th anniversary celebrations began.

Adheeb told the Sun Online news service that a number of commemorative events would he held in the country up to September 27 next year; ranging from presenting awards, hosting major local and international events and providing sessions at the country’s National Museum, detailing Maldivian culture and artefacts.

Following February’s controversial transfer of power, an unidentified group attacked and destroyed artefacts representing the country’s pre-Islamic heritage kapt at the museum.

The US later provided financial assistance totalling US$ 20,000 (MVR 308,400) to help try and restore artefacts placed in the museum.

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MNDF chief visits Malaysian fire services

Head of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Major General Ahmed Shiyam has visited Malaysia in order to visit the country’s fire investigation laboratory, reports the New Straits Times.

Indonesian paper The Borneo Post reported that Shiyam was keen to send its own firemen – the Fire and Rescue service, which is a unit of the MNDF – to train in Malaysia.

“Shiyam was impressed with our forensic laboratory where we carried our investigation scientifically and professionally on fire occurrences,” said a Maldives Defence Team delegation made known such intention during its visit to the department in Bukit Jelutong here yesterday.

“During the visit, the five-member delegation headed by Defence Team chief Major-General Ahmad Shiyam was impressed with our forensic laboratory where we carried our investigation scientifically and professionally on fire occurrences,” Deputy Director Mohamed Tabot told the paper.

It was reported that the visitors also observed a rescue mission and inspect equipment.

The MNDF also announced the participation of its special forces troops in the multinational ‘Cormorant Strike III’ training exercises in eastern Sri Lanka.

It was revealed that these exercises included mock raids on boat yards,  the taking of high value targets, reconnaissance, seaborne operations, amphibious landing, ambushes as well as counter terrorist actions and hostage rescue missions.

The MNDF forces took part alongside soldiers from China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.

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Tholath and Ziyad’s hearing cancelled as judge takes sick leave

Today’s scheduled hearing of former Minister of Defence Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaan and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Colonel Mohamed Ziyad has been postponed after one of the three judges on the panel took sick leave, local media has reported.

Thalhath and Ziyad join other MNDF officers Moosa Ali Jaleel and Ibrahim Mohamed Didi (retired) as well as former President Mohamed Nasheed in being charged with Article 81 of the penal code.

Haveeru reported that no new date has been set.

If found guilty, Nasheed and Tholhath will face a jail sentence or banishment for three years or a Rf 3000 fine (US$193.5).

Nasheed’s hearing was scheduled for Monday was cancelled after he failed to present himself in court and instead left Male’ to campaign in the southern atolls, in defiance of a travel ban.

The department of judicial administration yesterday confirmed that police were to produce Nasheed at a rescheduled hearing at 4:00pm on Sunday, October 7.

Nasheed’s legal team last week voiced concerns that the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court had been assembled illegally, with judges “handpicked” in contravention of the Judicature Act.

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‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam claims investors have “lost confidence” in the Maldives

MP for Meedhoo constituency Ahmed ‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam told the People’s Majlis that both local and foreign investors had lost confidence in the Maldives, local media reported.

“This is the result of the persons assigned with the people’s posts and money betraying them and acting without any policies or system,” Haveeru quoted Shiyam.

Shiyam argued that increasing embezzlement and corruption  was a major contributor to what he sees as the country’s impending bankruptcy.

“In order to ensure the progress of the country, everyone needs to be sincere and honorable. The members of the Parliament and the government must adore the people,” he said.

Investor confidence has been much discussed as the government continues to oppose the GMR deal to develop the country’s international airport – the country’s largest.

However, the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MNCCI) last week claimed that the legal wrangling between the government and India-based developer would not harm confidence in the country’s “challenging” investment climate.

Haveeru also reported comments made today by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom  regarding the GMR deal.

Detailing his recent meeting in India with GMR head G M Rao, Gayoom said that he had told Rao that the deal had been signed under dubious circumstances.

“I told him that we have no issues with India or any Indian company. We have issues with the actions of the previous government,” Gayoom is reported to have said.

“The agreement was signed with GMR in violation of the constitution and the laws. The Parliament was not even informed. The Maldivian people are also not aware of the details of the agreement. So these are the issues we have,” he said.

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Vice president praises Chinese significance to Maldives development

Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen spoke yesterday at a ceremony marking 63 years since the People’s Republic of China was founded, expressing gratitude for the technical and economic assistance the Maldives had been provided and pledging further cooperation between the two nations in the future.

At the special reception held at Trader’s Hotel in Male’ yesterday, the vice president also praised the speed and nature of democratic development within China – something he hoped to see emulated in the Maldives.

“I have no doubt your country is going in the right direction and leading the world,” he told attendees, which included business figures, senior government representatives and diplomats.

“Even if you look at the political changes in china they have proved that they are taking patient, calculative, constructive and very objective directions and I believe that is how the democracy must be developed, not very hastily.”

The vice president, a local philanthropist and owner of the Bandos Island Resort and Spa, also praised the growing economic significance of China to the Maldives in terms of trade and tourism income.

“I am pleased to note that China is currently the number one tourist market for the Maldives and I hope that the number of Chinese tourists travelling to the Maldives will continue to increase,” he said. “In addition, trade between the Maldives and China has increased significantly in the past few years and China remains one of the largest trading partners of the Maldives.”

The reception was the first of its kind to be held by China in the Maldives since the country opened its first full diplomatic mission in Male’ last year.

According to the vice president, 2012 also marks 40 years since China and the Maldives first established diplomatic ties.

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Nasheed to appear in dock: Telegraph

Nearly eight months after he was toppled as leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago, Mr Nasheed is due to appear in the dock over accusations that he abused his power by ordering the arrest of a senior judge during his tenure, reports the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

The arrest fuelled already simmering anti-government protests which culminated in a police mutiny in February and led to Mr Nasheed’s deputy being installed as president.

The climate change campaigner, who was tortured during previous stints in jail for his political activism, insists that he was threatened by armed rebel officers and forced to announce his resignation on television.

“The judiciary in the Maldives is so deeply politicised, there is no chance of a fair trial, particularly in a case as political as this,” he said.

The 45-year-old became leader after the Maldives held their first democratic elections in 2008 following three decades of autocratic rule by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

A conviction could see Mr Nasheed handed a jail term of up to three years in prison or banishment to an small islet, a move that would disqualify him from running for office.

The case centres around Mr Nasheed’s decision in January to send the military to arrest the head of the country’s criminal court Abdullah Mohamed on charges of corruption, misconduct and favouring then-opposition figures.

Mr Nasheed justified the arrest saying that the judicial service commission had failed to take action against the judge, who had a string of allegations against him.

Apart from the criminal case, Mr Nasheed now faces two defamation suits filed against him by Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz and by Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim.

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11,528 ‘concerned Maldivians’ asked CMAG for justice prior to Friday’s meeting

At Friday’s meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) a petition was presented to the group’s ministers said to be representing “a group of concerned Maldivians” unaffiliated to any one political party.

The petition was signed by 11,528 Maldivians between September 18-24, who called upon CMAG to provide them with justice.

“The events of 6-7 February have however dashed all the hopes of the people that henceforth governments will change by free and fair elections,” read the letter.

“We are very disappointed…that the Commission of Inquiry found the transfer of power legal, and warranted to reinstate the power of the former dictatorship, which was ousted in the first democratic elections of 2008,” it continued.

“We plead that if Ministers are not in a position now to give us justice, at least to refrain from delivering us injustice. We hope that Ministers will give careful consideration to the reservations that have been expressed about the methods of work by the Commission.”

“We hope Ministers will not abandon the people of Maldives, and be with us until the genuine voice of the people are heard in a free and fair election,” it said.

The eventual outcome of the CMAG meeting saw the Maldives’ suspension from the group lifted, whilst it still remains on the group’s ‘matters of interest’.

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Island President “a depressing reminder of world’s vested interests”: Jon Shenk

Filming primarily during the former president’s first year in office, Director of the Island President Jon Shenk and his team trailed him around the globe, filming everything from the underwater cabinet meetings – where Nasheed conducted with ministers all wearing scuba gear to highlight the problems of rising water levels – to his trip to the UN, Westminster and Copenhagen’s Environment Summit to beseech Western diplomats to act quickly in the name of global environmental protection, writes Caroline Frost for the Huffington Post.

Shenk had different problems from those of Nasheed, but equal challenges:

“I think he had an amazing amount of trust, but we quickly learned that there’s a reason why a film about this state’s leader had never been made before. It’s just so difficult to get access to everything, whether it’s cabinet meetings, or family life, and then it becomes 1000 times more difficult once you leave that country, and you’re dealing bilaterally with other leaders, other heads of state, it was pretty much a constant battle.”

Unfortunately, Shenk stopped filming shortly before Nasheed was ousted from office in a coup orchestrated by the tyrannous regime his government had replaced. As events raced ahead of him, Shenk added an end card to his film so viewers were kept updated:

“The film ended on a high with him still president, then by the film was released in cinemas in the US and UK, the coup had happened, and it changes the way that the film affects people.

“In a way, the film is completely unchanged by events because so much about his first year in office and the drama of him fighting that struggle at Copenhagen, but in other ways, it’s a depressing reminder of the vested interests that exist in the world, in keeping things the way they are, money interests controlling the day, even in countries where there is a strong independent national propensity to move towards democracy.”

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Sun, sand, closing arguments: Travel and Leisure

Talk about spoiling the mood: If you’re going to the Maldives for a romantic getaway, the islands’ deposed president has a great suggestion for you: Settle into your hotel room, then watch his trial on TV, reports Katrina Brown Hunt for Travel and Leisure.

Depending on whom you ask, Mohamed Nasheed either stepped down, or was ousted, from office earlier this year. Either way, he is now facing charges of abusing his power and will be tried by what he calls a “kangaroo court.”

The former prez says that tourists should know that some luxury resorts may have backed his coup after he had hoped to market the islands – which has long attracted both honeymooners and A-list guests such as Tom Cruise, Jennifer Aniston and Mick Jagger—to more middle-income travelers.

While normally we wouldn’t advise holing up with the telly during an island getaway, this trial could have compelling entertainment value, kangaroos notwithstanding, thanks to the colorful Nasheed.

While still in power, for instance, Nasheed once held a cabinet meeting underwater, to call attention to climate change. Today, he’s also concerned that the current administration wants to do away with kissing on beaches. “We grew up kissing each other on the beach,” he told reporters, “so it seems strange that our children won’t be allowed to do it.” Strange indeed.

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