The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has expressed concern that the media has been publishing “personal telephone calls” and “other types of private conversation” between people.
HRCM issued a press release noting that article 24 of the constitution says that ‘everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his private communications, and that every person must respect these rights with respect to others.’
‘’We have noted that this causes people to hesitate before conducting private conversation,’’ said the statement.
“[Furthermore] article 52 of the constitution says that no evidence shall be obtained by unlawful means.’’
The statement said that under article 18 of the constitution it was the responsibility of the state to protect the rights and freedom of the people.
“All the medias should provide information in a manner that will not disrupt the humanitarian sanctity and honor of any person,’’ the commission said. “We call on the media to use the freedom of press according to the laws with responsibility.’’
Recently telephone conversations believed to be voice of MPs discussing the sale of votes for political influence were promulgated through the local media.
In recent months the Maldives’ fledgling democracy has proved to be self-incapacitating more than progressive, reads an article in the the ‘Newsbook’ of last week’s Economist magazine.
Fed up with an opposition-led parliament, which tends to block its every move, this week the archipelago’s entire cabinet resigned in protest. Political deadlock has ensued.
The president, Mohamed Nasheed, has stayed put, alongside his vice-president. He claims that an informal alliance of lawmakers is sabotaging his every proposal; an aide described it as “scorched-earth politics”.
The opposition has already passed an amendment which allows it to veto every lending or leasing agreement made between the government and an overseas party. Thus in one fell swoop it was able to scupper Mr Nasheed’s planned privatisation of the capital’s airport and much else besides.
Hopes for foreign investment—at the core of the new government’s ambitions and an essential part of its effort to plug the fiscal deficit—have been dashed.
President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has reinstated his cabinet ministers in a signing ceremony before Chief Judge of the Civil Court, Ali Sameer, following their mass resignation on June 29, in protest against what they claimed were the “scorched-earth politics” of the opposition-majority parliament.
The only cabinet reshuffle concerned Mahmoud Razee, former Minister for Transport, Civil Aviation and Communications, who was moved to the post of Minister of Economic Development. His former portfolio remains open.
“Cabinet decided to stick together on the issue and resign, to show they are not hell bent on the salaries and niceties of their positions and to prove they want to do good work for the country,” Nasheed claimed.
Following the reinstatement of his ministers, President Nasheed denied the week-long resignation was a publicity stunt for political gain.
“We had to make everyone aware of the gravity of the situation,” he said. “Cabinet members have been complaining about corruption in parliament for some while, [particularly] vote buying.”
“We were last week able to investigate the matter, and I expect police to pass the findings of the investigation to the Prosecutor General’s Office within the next 10 days,” he added.
The ‘new’ cabinet now requires parliamentary consent before resuming office. The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair confirmed the government had been delaying the reinstatement until it received signs of cooperation from the main opposition party.
Zuhair acknowledged the strategy was “risky”, an observation confirmed by DRP Deputy Leader Umar Naseer, who claimed “there are definitely ministers that the DRP will not approve, and will have to leave the cabinet.”
Zuhair however noted that the wording of the procceedure according to the Constitution was different to the appointment of the heads of independent commissions.
“Parliament is only required to ‘consent or not to consent’ to the [whole] cabinet,” he explained. “Even if the opposition is factionalised, if we get 7-8 MPs on our side the motion will be carried.”
President Nasheed has met opposition party leaders alone in a meeting on Monday evening mediated by US Ambassador Patricia Butenis, including leader of the majority opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.
President Nasheed today said that while Thasmeen had not explicitly agreed to cooperate in the meeting, “individual DRP MPs have called me, and said they do not wish the government and parliament to remain deadlocked.”
He said the MPs had claimed they did not wish the entire institution of parliament “to be affected by the actions of individual MPs.”
Foreign embassies and international agencies have been nervously eyeing the seemingly erratic behaviour of the country’s administration, fearing a step backward following its democratic transition.
Yesterday Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa also arrived in the country, in a surprise visit on the invitation of President Nasheed to help resolve the political deadlock. He has already met with Thasmeen and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, at his residence Maafannu Aliwaage.
Thasmeen did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
Kulhudhufushi islanders have launched a charity fund box to help their elected MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, an independent member of parliament, after he admitted it was his voice saying ”I need some cash” to Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim in a leaked audio clip.
Gasim is currently under house arrest while he is investigated by police for vote-buying and treason.
”We felt pity for our MP Mohamed Nasheed after hearing the leaked audio clip,” said Mohamed Naeem, a Kulhudhufushi islander who heads the group that opened the charity box.
”When he first asked Gasim about his financial condition, we thought that Nasheed was about to help Gasim. But then we heard he was running low financially himself and was in need of some cash.”
Naeem said the group of islanders did not wish their MP to be begging people for money, and had set up a charity box on the beach of the island for everyone to put money in to help Nasheed.
”We do not like the way he begged,” he added. “We heard him saying that he would send someone somewhere to pick up the money in case people might see.”
”We will keep the box open until 6:00pm on Saturday, and then we will open it and count the money,” Naeem said. ”Then we will hand all the money to Nasheed’s office, and if they refuse to deliver the money to him, we will send it to him directly.”
Many people on the island had already walked down the beach to the box and were putting money in it, Naeem said.
”We are not a NGO, not even anybody from the island office – we’re just normal islanders,” he added.
As an elected member of parliament, Nasheed receives Rf62,500 (US$4864) per month from the State.
Nasheed was not responding to calls at time of press.
Parliament’s Speaker Abdulla Shahid canceled Wednesday’s Majlis session after six minutes, according to a report in Haveeru.
Shahid cancelled the sitting because he said it would be unable to produce any positive results, given the current political deadlock between the parties.
Instead, Shahid said he wished to speak privately with party leaders. He said discussions were also held with Independent MPs.
The President’s Office has announced a swearing-in ceremony for the new cabinet at 2:45pm this afternoon.
Yesterday, Political Advisor Hassan Afeef said the new cabinet would only be proposed when the government had “reached an understanding with the opposition parties in the Majlis.”
The new cabinet must be endorsed by the opposition-majority parliament, according to the Constitution. The executive has been deadlocked with the legislature following the arrest of two MPs and allegations of corruption.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in the Maldives this morning on a state visit.
President Rajapaksa will meet with President Nasheed, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid, and Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed.
President Mohamed Nasheed met last night with four of the country’s opposition parties, in a meeting arranged by US Ambassador Patricia Butenis to try and resolve the current deadlock between the executive and the legislature.
The US Ambassador recently attended the July 4 Independence Day celebrations at the Holiday Inn in Male’, organised by the Embassy. During the event, President Nasheed addressed Speaker of the Majlis Abdulla Shahid, saying he “is an honest man. We may have issues but I would like to work with him.”
Last night, representatives from the People’s Alliance (PA),Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP), Jumhooree Party (JP), along with Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim and leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, met the president in a private meeting.
The President attended the meeting alone “and kept his own minutes”, a senior government official said.
Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Colombo, Jeffery Anderson, later confirmed that Ambassador Butenis arranged the meeting “between the President and the main opposition party”, but provided no further information.
Foreign embassies and international bodies have been eyeing the Maldives nervously ever since Nasheed accepted resignation letters from his cabinet in front of the media last week, fearing his actions could signal a reversion of the country’s nascent democracy.
Political Advisor for the President Hassan Afeef has confirmed the meeting took place, but would not discuss further details.
The President reportedly met DRP MP and Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid on an earlier occasion. Shahid said he did not attend last night’s meeting, and Thasmeen was not responding to calls at time of press.
Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, meanwhile claimed that “a new cabinet” will be established once the government has overcome the problems it faced.
“The cabinet resigned after accusing parliament of having a spirit of altering votes in exchange for money, and felt they were obstructed in their duties by the Majlis,” he said.
Under Secretary for the President’s Office, Ibrahim Rasheed, said that “corruption cannot be solved by discussing it with people who have already committed it.”
He also said that the government was “ready to discus and solve the issues” and called on the political parties to cooperate with the government in its effort to eliminate corruption.
The music piece from the famous French composer Erik Satie wafted through the air, setting the mood for a night of music.
All those gathered in the hall at Iskandhar School leaned a bit closer as Yukari Matsuda played three music pieces on the piano, two pieces by Satie and a third by Claude Debussy.
It was July 1, and Alliance Française (AF) along with Music House was holding an event to mark Fête de la Musique, or World music day.
Fête de la Musique
“Alliance Française will mark this event all over the world,” says Muriel Schmit, the director of AF.
After all World Music Day originated from France, where it first took place in 1982. Traditionally marked at the start of summer, the concept is to have professional and amateur musicians perform free concerts for one evening.
It also aims to encourage people to make music, and the growing popularity of the event has meant that it has spread all over the world and is held in numerous countries annually.
Anya plays for the crowd
“We want to promote young Maldivian artists and music of all genres,” says Muriel.
AF is mandated with promoting the local culture, and creating a cultural scene.
“Music in an integral part of a country’s culture and it should be valued,” Muriel says.
AF has sought the help of an NGO, Music House, in hosting the event.
“We managed world music day with AF in 2007, 2009 and this year,” says Ahmed ‘An’du’ Tholaal Hassan, managing director of Music House.
An’du believes marking the event is beneficial to the music scene: “It’s a good platform for new bands to perform.”
However he rues the fact it cannot be marked in its original concept, with free concerts and people playing music on every street corner.
“In other countries it’s a bigger event, but here even the weather plays a part as the day falls during the monsoon.”
Noting that this year’s theme is ‘women in music’, Muriel says “we are happy to have female
musicians perform at this event, as it’s mostly a male dominated industry.”
Having the Maldives first all-female heavy metal band perform was a highlight of the evening, she says.
Promoting Different Genres
Anya, 18, with an acoustic guitar, performs classical songs next. Despite her young age Anya is a
known face having performed in popular music programmes like TVM’s ‘E Hadhaan.’
Industry stalwarts like singer Shifa performs with Music House’s own band ‘Eykolli Baaga’.
Playing original movie soundtracks with a rock feel, Shifa sings songs like Raol and Hithuge Therein. The crowd – mostly youngsters – shows their appreciation.
‘The Sanctuary’, a band of four guys, set the place on fire. Lead singer Visham, complete with kohl rimmed eyes, throws himself into the performance with gusto. A sudden swarm of mostly young men and a couple of girls appear from nowhere and plant themselves at the base of the stage.
What follows next is the most amazing ‘head banging’ at the foot of the stage in rhythm to the black metal music that is played on the stage.
“Black metal has a very dedicated fan following,” says An’du. Dedicated they are, as The Sanctuary are a hitherto unknown name in the music scene and this being their first performance.
‘Chord Sequence’ played grunge music. ‘Nebt-Het’, the all-female band was next, a performance
of four members as their fifth member was abroad. Nebt-Het has ambitions to become the first female
band in the Maldives to play heavy metal.
“They had practiced for just four months,” says An’du. Their performance of Eh heelun and Wicked Games rocked.
The popular Boduberu group ‘Harubee’ did a mean boduberu piece for their intro.
Innovative and modern, it sounded like an invitation to dance. A dozen young men took up the invitation and after doing freestyle dance, switched to traditional boduberu dance moves.
The night truly captured the essence of world music day, the performances mixing different genres
of music.
The prices of staple foodstuffs will “go up dramatically” if amendments to the Public Finance Act are ratified, warns the State Trading Organisation (STO).
At the now daily President’s Office press conference yesterday, Undersecretary Ibrahim Rasheed revealed that the STO has informed President Mohamed Nasheed that prices would spike if the government ceased its subsidies.
“Until subsidies can be given again through new legislation, subsidies given by the government for foodstuffs will become illegal (if the amendments are ratified),” he said. “Therefore, if this amendment becomes law, a kilo of rice will be at Rf9.75, a kilo of flour Rf6.12, a kilo of sugar Rf8.01.”
In 2009, the government provided over Rf139 million in food subsidies to STO to control prices of staple foods.
According to STO, the price of a kilo of rice or flour will increase threefold while the price of a kilo of sugar will double.
Rasheed accused opposition MPs of attempting to block government services and aid in order to foster negative public perception and shift blame to the administration.
“Even for greed of power, this is too much,” he said.
The parliament’s amendment bill to the Public Finance Act, which was voted through in June, was cited by the cabinet as one of the main reasons for their resignation.
“Act of deception”
In a press release today, the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) denies that government subsidies will have to be discontinued.
Condemning the claim as “an act of deception”, the statement accuses the government of trying to “mislead the public,” undermine public confidence in MPs and “light fires of hatred.”
“The reality is that while President Nasheed’s government does not have the capability to provide the services required by citizens, this is a cheap propaganda activity to incite fear among the public by using the State Trading Organisation and other such institutions,” it reads.
The amendments
According to the amendment proposed to article seven of the Public Finance Act, “any relief, benefit or subsidy by the state” must be given in accordance with laws passed by the People’s Majlis.
Legislation governing the issuance of subsidies and other state benefits has not yet been proposed to parliament.
The amendment to article 10(a) reads that financial benefits provided by the government in order to pursue its policies must also be issued in line with laws passed by parliament.
However, article 10(c) of the amendment bill states that the government could grant “some financial assistance” from the emergency funds allocated in the state budget under certain circumstances, such as to provide relief after natural disasters.
Meanwhile, 10(d) states that assistance could still be given “if the government believes providing financial assistance to a businessman or a business facing financial difficulties was in the public interest” or if the financial difficulty is believed to impact “the lives of a sufficiently large number of people in society”.
Moreover, article 34(c) stipulates that the government must implement recommendations of the parliamentary committee that reviews the state budget.
Addressing press after the resignation of the cabinet, President Nasheed announced that he would veto the amendments as it would make it “impossible for the government to function” and because “MPs themselves could see that it was proposed without the slightest consideration.”
Article 91(b) of the constitution states that any bill returned to parliament “shall be assented to by the President and published in the Government Gazette if the Bill, after reconsideration, is passed without any amendments, by a majority of the total membership of the People’s Majlis.”
“In my view, these things are happening because a few members of the People’s Majlis are working to preserve their self-interest,” Nasheed said. “If you look at the latest amendment to the public finance law you will see very clearly what’s written in those amendments. It is very clear that those amendments have provisions that directly involve Majlis members’ interest. So what I see here is that we can’t allow [people to] destroy the constitution of the Maldives and render it powerless while hiding behind the protection of the Majlis.”
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