Tag: maldives news

Entrenching the culture of violence among children in paradise: CRIN

February 7 and 8, 2012, was the beginning of a very violent period in the recent history of the Maldives inflicted by its own people, the police and the army, on unarmed civilians, writes former Deputy Health Minister Mariya Ali for Child Rights International Network.

The first democratically elected president was deposed in a coup d’état on February 7. Since then non-violent protests have continued mainly in the streets of the capital city, Male. So far, 412 people have been detained as political prisoners.

Testimonies of male and female detainees confirm that varying degrees of physical, mental and sexual abuse were perpetrated by the police. Violence from the police has been witnessed by children either through their families being directly affected by it or via images on television. Children who witness violence are traumatised with varying degrees of psychological damage that they carry throughout their lives.

This year, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) celebrated Maldivian Children’s Day in their full army clothing, with a designated area created to look like a war zone, and with officers helping children to hold real firearms correctly in their hands and showing them how to use them. Although the MNDF declared that the firearms were not loaded, it failed to recognise the timing and the symbolic message behind the event.

Against the backdrop of continuing violence, growing religious extremism in the island paradise, combined with the message from the current President Mohamed Waheed – “Be courageous. Today you are all mujaheddin [those who fight jihad] who love the nation” – children are internalising the use of violence as a norm.

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Comment: Maldives heading towards two-party MDP/PPM system

In many cases social scientists have observed that multiparty systems, especially in a presidential political system, have inevitably transformed into two-party contests. While many parties are usually present at birth of a nascent democracy, as it matures the contest for power between these parties slowly become a fight for survival ensuring that only the strongest parties survive.

The video below demonstrates how multiparty systems filter out smaller parties as the democracy matures:

We are not of the view that a two-party system is better than a multiparty system. In fact a multiparty political system allows for more voter choice. We however do think that a multiparty system is much less likely to occur in a presidential system compared to a parliamentary political system (which is perhaps why MDP was right in endorsing a parliamentary political system when it was put to referenda). Maldivian politics too, seems like it is moving towards a two party political system. While it might be too soon to jump to conclusions, here is how we think it might happen;

The reason why we think MDP and PPM are the most likely two parties to survive is because we believe that they are the two parties with strong and exclusive principles. MDP was the founding party of Maldivian Democracy. It has stood boldly for individual freedoms, social welfare and has continuously opposed the use of force in maintaining social order (at least in principle). PPM on the other hand has endorsed a system Maldivians saw for 30 years where the emphasis is on social order, even at the expense of individual freedoms.

DRP though part of Ithihad (coalition), we predict that them moving away from it. First of all they took the bold move of forcing Gayoom to leave the party, and since then tension between DRP and PPM have been unresolvable.

Most PPM supporters feel bitter about DRP and are less likely to work with them. We think that feeling is mutual from DRP supporters towards PPM as well. The only thing now keeping MDP and DRP separated seems to be their disagreement with Mohamed Nasheed. Even then, we think if the earliest elections move to a second round DRP is much more likely to endorse the MDP candidate over Gayoom.

Given that we feel that both MDP and DRP will maintain similar ideologies the question must be answered as to why we believe MDP will survive over DRP. This is because MDP by far has a larger support base than DRP; whose members seem to be still stuck on crossroads after Gayoom left the party to form PPM.

Secondly, MDP is the party that founded democracy, and has continued to mature with these same principles while DRP was a party used to support an autocrat who they seem to disagree with now. In terms of number and consistency, it’s easy to see why MDP will win over DRP. We also predict PPM to win over DRP in the first round of the next election.

Apart from the fact that PPM continues to win former DRP members, PPM also enjoys the potential support from AP and JP as part of the Ithihad. Furthermore, we think that the lack of an exclusive principle in DRP means that swing voters who decide to vote for democracy will vote for MDP, leaving DRP expecting to win votes only from their own members.

The Adhaalath Party (AP) seems to be losing a lot of support it used to enjoy from the highly religious community in Maldives. The recent scandals, as well as the contradictory statements regarding political activism by their leaders have casted doubt on their sincerity, credibility, and commitment to Islamic principles.

Though AP leadership is expected to campaign with PPM in the second round of the upcoming elections, overtime the votes of AP members are most likely to transfer to a party which they feel, can accommodate a favorable Islamic environment.

If the Jumhooree Party (JP) was to support a principle; it would be in favor of liberalised markets and maximum commercial freedom. They seem to support least possible taxation and most possible freedoms in terms on investment and commerce. We argue that the party is likely to make coalition with a party that agrees to maintain the trade liberalisation ideology. We also would like to point out that such a coalition makes perfect sense for PPM since there seems to be no conflict of interest in adhering to the principles of JP.

Overall, our conclusion is that Maldives is likely to move towards a two-party political system as the political history matures. Perhaps parties like AP or JP might not completely die out, but it can be said with relative certainty that the main battles for presidency is to most likely happen between MDP and PPM.

This article first appeared on the Freethinker Maldives blog. Republished with permission.

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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What difference a 100 days makes: Dr Hassan Saeed

“In the Maldives, after the excesses of the Nasheed years, many people will instead have been looking for stable and dignified government,” writes Dr Hassan Saeed for local newspaper Haveeru.

That is why last week President Waheed marked his 100 days in office with a simple press conference, which through its demeanour demonstrated a strong contrast with the previous four years.

This contrast with the past was further reflected this week when Nasheed and his MDP celebrated and experienced justice at first hand. Judge Abdulla of Criminal Court to whom Nasheed, as the former President denied justice, this week, delivered justice to Nasheed!

The Government backed by the Attorney General’s legal opinion asked the police to evict President Nasheed and his MDP activists from the central government’s Usfasgandu land they have been occupying in the capital Male. The Government has a responsibility for the upkeep of that land so were well within their rights to seek control of property that they administer on behalf of the people.

The Police, seeking to clarify the legal basis of the Government decision, sought a court order from the Criminal Court. The Court decided that it cannot be clearly determined that the issue or case was within its mandate and therefore ruled that it cannot issue an order to dismantle the Usfasgandu area. This again shows that MDP allegations of one-sidedness of the Police and Judiciary are false.

Ironically the Chief Judge of the Court is Judge Abdullah whom Nasheed kidnapped and held in forceful custody for 21 days against court orders of all levels. Barely three months ago Nasheed planned to “abolish” lower courts and declared those judges “illegal”.

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CNI halts investigation to accommodate composition changes

The Commission of National Inquiry (CNI), established to ascertain the circumstances behind the controversial transfer of power on February 7, has temporarily ceased its work to accommodate changes to its composition.

According to local newspaper Haveeru, the CNI has said its investigation had been discontinued as of May 16 to allow for changes approved by President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan to come into effect.

On April 16, The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (GMAG) warned of taking “stronger measures” against the Maldives government should it not revise the composition and mandate of the CNI within 30 days over concerns about its impartiality.

A day before CMAG’s deadline, the government agreed to allow a retired Singaporean judge to co-chair the CNI, and also permit former President Mohamed Nasheed to appoint a representative to the commission.

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Housing Ministry takes dispute with MCC to Human Rights Commission

The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure has decided to involve the Human rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) in its ongoing feud with Male’ City Council (MCC).

The ministry has forwarded a case to police as well as the HRCM in relation to its civil servants who have been assigned to work at the Dharubaaruge conference center.

President of the HRCM Mariyam Azra confirmed that a complaint had been received today regarding the right to work of these civil servants. She said that the HRCM will work with the CSC to resolve the issue.

In one of a series of jurisdictional disputes in the capital, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) informed the MCC in April that its Dharubaaruge staff had been transferred to the Housing Ministry following a cabinet decision to transfer the conference centre to the central government.

Upon receiving the letter, the MCC sent all members of staff home and locked the doors to the conference centre.

This prompted a swift response from Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muiz who declared that the centre had been closed unlawfully. Police were sent in and the centre forcefully reopened.

Dr Muiz told Sun Online that Housing Ministry staff had been arriving for work at the conference centre since mid-April and being forced to stand outside as the MCC refuses to accept the legality of the transfer of ownership.

The minister argued that this situation contravened the workers human rights.

“Eighteen civil service employees of Dharubaaruge have to stay out in the sun every day after reporting to work. They can’t enter Dharubaaruge to work. So whether it’s City Council or another institution, they are denying these employees their rights,” Muiz told Sun.

MCC Councillor Mohamed Abdul Kareem denied that this was the case and said that the MCC had made interim arrangements with the CSC.

“No, they are not waiting outside, they are working at the Housing Ministry. We have arranged a temporary permit with the CSC to use our civil servants in the Dharubaaruge until the legal dispute is resolved,” said Kareem.

Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, Chairman of the CSC said that there was no prospect of Housing Ministry staff gaining access to the building until the MCC had agreed to the transfer and a full inventory of the facilities and equipment had been conducted.

“We have instructed the Ministry of Housing to make arrangements for staff to sign up and go home until the situation with the MCC is dealt with,” said Fahmy, though he was unsure whether these instruction had been carried out.

The legal battle between the MCC and the government continued to smoulder this week as the police, responding to a request from the Home Ministry, requested an order from the Criminal Court to dismantle the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Usfasgandu protest area.

This area was one of 32 plots of land given over to the MCC as part of the 2010 decentralisation act and was reclaimed by the Housing Ministry on May 9 after its warnings for political activities in the area to cease went unheeded.

After some deliberation, as well as pleas from the MCC, the Criminal Court decided that this Usfasgandu did not fall under its remit, leaving the police to consider its next move.

The Ministry has Housing and Environment was this week renamed the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure following the creation of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

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President Waheed accepts invitation to attend ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee luncheon’: President’s Office

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has accepted an invitation from the Commonwealth to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.

As the head of a Commonwealth member nation, President Waheed was invited to attend the celebration by Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, the President’s Office stated.

“Prresident Dr Mohamed Waheed is pleased to accept the invitation for the President and First Lady Madam Ilham Hussain, to attend the Diamond Jubilee luncheon of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth,” the President’s Office stated.

“The Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma invited the President and the First Lady, in an official letter, to attend the luncheon, where Commonwealth governments would officially celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.”

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was today distributing a letter from Secretary General Sharma to former President Mohamed Nasheed, dated December 6, 2011, inviting him to a lunch at Marlborough House on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, to be attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

“This will follow the weekend of official celebrations of the Jubilee in the UK,” the letter stated.

The Maldives is currently on the formal agenda of the Commonwealth’s Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), following the controversial transfer of power on February 7. CMAG has called for an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this transfer of power, as well elections in 2012.

The government – and President Waheed – last week complied with a demand to reconstitute the commission of national inquiry after CMAG criticised its independence, however Waheed also challenged CMAG’s mandate to place the Maldives on its agenda.

Speaking to diplomats at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi during his recent official visit to India, Dr Waheed also accused CMAG of being unduly influenced by the opposition MDP, and attempting to “intimidate” and “punish” the government.

Parties in the new ruling coalition also proposed a motion to pre-emptively withdraw from the Commonwealth. MP of the coalition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Riyaz Rasheed, attacked the Commonwealth’s commitment to democracy by slandering the Queen and claiming the UK was not a democracy.

“Look, the Queen has been in power for 50 years. Is that good? No, that’s inappropriate. If we wanted to point fingers, we can,” he said.

“After 50 years, the English Queen, she is physically challenged. But she is still Queen, and if she wants she can remove the Prime Minister. Where is democracy? Where is democracy? That is not a democracy,” he added.

In response, Chairman of the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group on the Maldives, MP David Amess, was reported to have said in a March meeting that the Maldives government apologise for the outburst, and suggested that President Waheed’s attendance at the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations would be inappropriate.

Minivan News understands that the Secretary General has issued fresh invitations to heads of government in Commonwealth countries that have experienced a change in leadership since the originals were sent, such as Jamaica, Bahamas and Malawi.

Former High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Farahanaz Faizal, said she was not sure if the invitation was re-issued, or if Waheed had replied to Nasheed’s invite.

“In any case, unless the invitation was recalled, Waheed as head of government can attend, as the invitation was to the Head of Government,” she said. “So there is nothing untoward about Waheed attending the lunch hosted by the Commonwealth Secretary-General. It is an invitation for a luncheon at Marlborough House, not part of the UK government’s official [Jubilee] celebrations.”

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International Herald Tribune talks election dates with President Waheed

The International Herald Tribune has published an exclusive interview on its India Ink blog with President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan discussing his government’s aims for transparent democracy and sustainable initiatives.

“Mohammed Waheed Hassan, president of the Maldives, concluded a five-day state visit to India last week, his first since taking over in February after Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader, stepped down.

Mr Nasheed said he was forced to leave in a coup that was orchestrated by loyalists to Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former dictator.

During his visit to India, Mr Hassan rejected calls from Mr Nasheed and others for early elections, saying that under the constitution, the next elections in Maldives could not be held earlier than July 2013. He also said Indian leaders impressed upon him the importance of all political stakeholders in the Maldives working together to take the democratic process forward.

In an interview, conducted through e-mail, Mr Hassan rejected allegations that he is being influenced by Mr Gayoom and pledged that he would do all he could to preserve the country’s relationship with India,” the paper wrote.

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Maldives only South Asian country to record tourism decline in Jan-Feb: MATI

The Maldives was the sole South Asian country not have seen an increase in tourist arrivals in the first two months of the year, according to the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).

In a statement, MATI said that all other South Asian countries that published tourism statistics had recorded significant increases, with India at the top of the list with an increase of 40,000 tourists in Jan-Feb.

Sri Lanka experienced 27 percent growth in tourist arrivals. Tourist arrivals to the Maldives dropped by five percent during the same period.

According to Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) statistics, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing tourist region in the world, with South East Asia showing the highest increases, closely followed by South Asia.

The Maldives’ number one tourism market – China – declined substantially in February and March after charter flights were cancelled due to political turmoil.

The market recovered in April with the restoration of these flights, with Chinese arrivals showing a 3.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year, after a massive 34.8 percent decline  in February. The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has predicted substantial growth in June-July.

However the Italian and UK markets reported substantial declines in April, with arrivals plunging 27 percent and 20 percent respectively compared to April 2011.  These losses were partially offset by an increase in German, Swiss and Russian arrivals.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the PATA statistics applied to arrivals so far this year. The PATA figures were for the first two months of the year. Minivan News apologises for any confusion caused.

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Immigration Offices raided by ACC; investigators allege intimidation

The offices of the Department of Immigration and Emigration were raided by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) officials with assistance from police after the granting of a court order.

The seeking of a court order followed thwarted efforts by the ACC earlier in the day to gain access to the immigration department’s offices across the greater Male’ area.

The ACC confiscated around 75 laptops, reports Haveeru, which had allegedly been given to staff as part of a Rf500 million (US$32 million) deal with the Malaysian company Nexbis to develop a new border control system in the Maldives.

According to Sun Online, the ACC has this morning filed a case against the Immigration Department alleging that its staff were intimidated whilst attempting to conduct their investigations.

ACC Vice President Muavviz Rasheed stated that investigators were locked in the building and that the lights and the air conditioning were turned off.

“It is a crime to obstruct ACC in its efforts to carry out its responsibilities. There are punishments for this. So we will take action according to the law. We will not be silent when people attempt to dishonour our authority in this manner,” ACC Vice President Muavviz Rasheed told Sun.

Assistant Controller of the Immigration Department Ibrahim Ashraf told Minivan News today that this intimidation did not happen, rather that the incident alluded to by Muavviz occurred when ACC investigators attempted to remain in the building past the office’s working hours.

“They wanted to stay in the building past the end of working hours – we have been instructed not to do any overtime because of financial constraints. This resulted in havoc,” said Ashraf.

Ashraf said that he had spoken to the person responsible for locking the building at the end of each day and had been assured that the doors had not been locked with ACC employees inside.

Ashraf stated that the ACC had attempted to search the offices without first obtaining a court order and without informing immigration staff. In addition he said that the ACC wished to search employees’ personal lockers.

He said that the ACC had eventually been granted a the court order at midnight, after which its investigators returned to the Velanaage headquarters.

It was at this point that the ACC confiscated the majority of the laptops which Ahsraf stated were part of the Nexbis project. He added, however, that the new Nexbis software was not yet installed on the confiscated computers.

Ashraf also stated that the ACC visited the residence of a senior department figure at around 5:00am to confiscate a laptop after the court order had expired.

The ACC began to investigate the bidding process by which the deal had been awarded soon after it was announce that Nexbis had won the tender in November 2010.

In late 2011, the commission forwarded cases against the Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of the Finance Ministry Saamee Ageel, to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging that the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in granting the contract to Nexbis.

After the ACC ordered work on the project halted, the Civil Court ruled that the commission did not have the authority to make such an order. The ACC subsequently challenged this ruling in the High Court.

The ACC President Hassan Luthfee told Minivan News last week that a decision was anticipated by the end of May. He hoped the High Court would “delineate” the role of the ACC.

Both the President and Vice President of the ACC were unavailable for comment at the time of press.

Clarification on the powers of the ACC would alleviate confusion which has also arisen in the Thilafushi-Heavy Load reclamation project.

Heavy Load, a company run by the family of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Interim Chairman Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik, came under the ACC’s radar after similar complaints regarding this project’s tender process.

Moosa claimed at the time that the ACC was not politically impartial. At a press conference today, MDP Deputy Chairperson Mohamed ‘Inthi’ Imthiyaz was asked about yesterday’s raid, responding: “A series of mini-coups follow coup d’etat. I believe this is one of those mini-coups”.

Last week, details emerged that the first phase of the Nexbis project had been completed even as legal issues remained unresolved.

This first phase had reportedly involved a significant financial outlay by the company, which has previously threatened legal action should it incur losses as a result of delays to the project.

In the preceding week, the High Court had ordered an injunction halting any further work on the project pending the outcome of the ACC’s appeal on the Civil Court ruling.

Assistant Controller Ashraf expressed his concern that hindrances to the new border control system will have ramifications that go far beyond political turf-wars.

“Whoever is doing this to jeopardise the image of the Immigration Department needs to understand that the consequences may be disastrous. I don’t want the Maldives to become another Bali or Mumbai,” he said.

“They can take action against corruption and let the border control project continue. We are becoming a weak spot in the region. I have serious concerns.”

“We have a population of 300,000 which includes 100,000 foreigners. We have to be sure that they do not have criminal records, that they are not fugitives hiding in paradise,” added Ashraf.

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