Tag: maldives

MMPRC releases billboard ‘mock-ups’ of new Maldives branding

The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) has released a series of mock-up billboards displaying the country’s ‘Always Natural’ branding in the context of how it would appear to potential visitors.

The new logo and slogan, designed by Thailand-based global tourism consultancy QUO Keen to replace the 11 year-old slogan ‘The sunny side of life’, was unveiled last week by the MMPRC.

In an accompanying statement, the MMPRC said it had worked “in close collaboration with Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Dr Mariyam Zulfa, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) and Maldives Association of Travel Agents (MATATO). “

“Each stakeholder provided invaluable advice, input and contribution to the new slogan and logo,” the statement read. After a “year-long consultation, research and design process, involving industry and government”, and consultation with “dozens of tourism and other industry stakeholders, as well as the general public”, the new branding was approved by Cabinet on Tuesday.

In March, the MMPRC announced a public competition, calling for submissions focusing on the “unique selling points” and the “emotional selling points” of the Maldives, “based on a fundamental truth”. Despite the many submissions and an extension of the deadline, the stakeholder committee eventually opted to tender for a professional consultancy.

The new branding, including the slogan and a fingerprint logo consisting of islands, corals, turtles, sharks and herons that transitions from blue to green, was met with mixed reviews this week with some people drawing comparisons to the logo of Washington-based environmental advocacy group, Ocean Conservancy.

Similarities with the new Maldives branding raised legal concerns

In response to the concerns, the MMPRC received legal advice from trademark lawyers Ananda Intellectual Property Limited (AIP), which noted that while there was a “very weak degree of graphic similarity between the two devices”, such graphic similarity “is in our opinion not such to create a risk confusion and there is no risk of legal objection due to such graphic similarity.”

“The size and composition of the device are very different from a trademark law point of view. The size and shape of the two devices are different. The [Maldives branding] is more detailed and in its composition. In particular the oval shape, the number of lines of fishes and the variety of fish species are very distinctive and different features and overall produces a strong graphic difference and impression between the marks. Last but not least, one device is hollow, one is not,” the legal advice read.

“We do not consider that the degree of similarity of the marks is such that the usage and protection strategy of a country brand such as [the Maldives branding] would conflict with the mark [of Ocean Conservancy].”

At the launch this week, State Minister for Tourism, Thoyyib Mohamed Waheed, explained that the new branding would broaden the Maldives’ brand away from just tourism, making it more relevant for attracting investment in industries such as energy and fisheries, as well as allowing cross-marketing opportunities on Maldivian exports such as tuna.

Download the full size billboards

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Foreigners now able to buy homes in Maldives: New York Times

The Maldives has opened a path for foreigners interested in buying homes in the tourist destination, the New York Times reports.

“Until last year only big-brand hotels were able to secure leaseholds on some of the country’s 1,200 islands. But then the government of President Mohamed Nasheed started allowing designated resorts to sell leases to individuals.

“The primary market is the more than 600,000 tourists who each year visit these islands, home to 315,000 permanent residents.

“The leases, which are for as long as 50 years, are first sold to the resort operator, who then sells them as part of a vacation villa package. The leases can be renewed before expiration, but if the government chooses not to renew it has the legal requirement to buy the property at market value. The resale arrangements vary by resort.

“The first company to introduce a residence option was 12 Blues in October 2010 on the island of Lundhufushi, 130 kilometers, or 80 miles, from the capital of Malé. Of the 40 villas planned, 10 already have been sold, and 10 more will be put on the market next year. The resort was designed by the Singapore company Eco.id, and is intended to include a Franklyn hotel, spa and a variety of restaurants and bars.

“Properties are priced from $2.3 million, or €1.7 million, and owners who want to put their homes into the resort’s rental pool will receive six weeks’ use per year and 50 percent of the net revenue.

“While the ability for owners to arrange rentals has been a key factor in some sales, many buyers have simply always wanted to own in the Maldives, according to Wally Fernandes, a manager at the newly opened Six Senses Laamu resort on the island of Olhuveli, where villas are also for sale.”

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Maldives-China relationship will not threaten India’s security: ET

President Mohamed Nasheed has pledged that the Maldives will never do anything that threatens India’s security, reports India’s Economic Times, following concern from the Indian security establishment about the Maldives’ relationship with China.

“I trust democracy far more than any other system,” the ET reported Nasheed as saying, at the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) currently being held in Australia.

The Maldives “will always be India’s friend”, Nasheed reportedly said, adding: “I trust democracy far more than any other system.”

The ET reported that “There has been some concern in the Indian security establishment over what is seen as a Chinese attempt in the recent past to extend its influence in the 1,190-island nation that is strategically located along major sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.

“India’s security establishment has been viewing with concern China’s bid to expand its role in the Indian Ocean by building maritime links with countries such as Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives and Sri Lanka so as to protect its energy imports.

“India has also been augmenting its defence ties with countries like the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. Its navy has, in fact, been helping the Maldives with maritime patrol. It is also helping the country set up a network of radars.”

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Foreign Affairs issues travel advice for Maldivians in Thailand

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Maldivians that are currently in Bangkok to urgently register their details with either the Ministry or the Consulate of Maldives in Thailand, in the wake of flooding.

“Please note that Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport is operating normally at present but the Don Muang domes c airport has been closed since 25 October 2011. There is disruption to road and rail transport, particularly on routes north of Bangkok and in flooded areas,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“If you are in an affected area, exercise caution and follow the advice of the local authorities.”

The current flooding disaster in Thailand is the worst in half a century and is believed to have killed 366 people, and has damaged farmland, industry and shipping.

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JCI accepting applications for 10 Outstanding Youth

Applications for Junior Chamber International (JCI) Maldives’ Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) award are being accepted until Monday.

The program recognises people aged 18 to 40 whose achievements and positions as community role models are significant to the Maldives’ future.

Nominations may be made for ten categories: Business and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment, political, legal and/or governmental affairs, academic leadership, cultural achievement, moral and/or environmental leadership, contribution to children, world peace and/or human rights, humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership, scientific and/or technological development, personal improvement, and medical innovation.

National honourees are entered in the International TOYP Programme, which awards a free round-trip airline ticket to the JCI World Congress in Taipei, Taiwan, scheduled for November 2012. Honourees will be featured at an award ceremony, Haveeru reports.

The nomination form can be found online at www.jci.mv and must be completed no later than October 31.

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Mother of deceased premature baby receives 100 lashes for fornication

Aminath Shaira, age 30 of Finolhu/Noonu atoll Manadhoo, was publicly lashed 100 times outside the Justice Building for committing fornication. Lashing is the standard punishment for intercourse outside of marriage under Maldivian law.

Shaira was sentenced to one years’ imprisonment after she was identified as the mother of a premature baby that was found on 19 May in a Coast Milk tin in the bushes near the Vilimale’ powerhouse.

Forensic experts at the time claimed the baby was dead upon birth, and had been aborted after a five-month pregnancy.

Shaira was also sentenced to 100 lashes and one year’s house arrest for fornication, the Criminal Court confirmed today. Officials said she would be transferred to a prison in the next few days.

Shaira had been charged with disobedience to an order under article 88(a) of the 1968 penal code as well as violations under the Child Protection Act.

Fingerprints belonging to Mariyam Rizna, 18, of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll, had been found on the Coast Milk tin at the time. Rizna was sentenced to six months in prison for helping Shaira deliver the baby.

A third suspect, Aishath Aniya, 24, of Huraa in Kaafu Atoll, was released after the court determined that there was not enough evidence to prove that she had provided abortion pills to the defendant.

Police were unable to identify the baby’s father at the time, and Shaira did not reveal his name.

Abortion is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia. Anecdotal evidence, however, points overwhelmingly to a high rate of abortion and unwanted pregnancy.

Around the same time as Sharia’s arrest, a dead infant was found in a plastic bag in Male’s swimming track area. A medical examination later concluded that the baby had sustained cuts, bruises and other wounds, an indication of possible abortion practices.

In November 2010, an abandoned newborn was discovered alive in bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’.

In January 2010, Minivan News reported that many women unable to travel to Sri Lanka resort to illegal abortions performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings.

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Fathimath Afiya told Minivan News that a meeting was held today to discuss reproductive services in the Maldives. While Maldivian and Shariah law criminalise abortion and intercourse outside of wedlock, Afiya said communication between relevant services and the judiciary made it difficult to fully address each case.

“There needs to be an appropriate legal framework for reporting these cases to the services that could help unmarried and teenage women in compromised positions,” said Afiya. “We are very concerned about the rising number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions by married and unmarried women. Today, we began formulating an action plan for short- and long-term improvements.”

The action plan, which will be finalised during a half-day workshop in November, aims to create awareness of the challenges that pregnant married or unmarried women face, and the comparative lack of appropriate services, among citizens and legislators.

“The situation is very serious, I was surprised at the work that needed to be done to improve the situation,” Afiya said.

Sexual education is not administered per se in the Maldives, and the only official study of reproductive health was done in 2004. Other unofficial studies have noted that very little information is available on the subject.

According to Afiya, up to three cases of abortion are reported by Indira Ghandi Memorial Hospital’s (IGMH) family protection unit–a scant slice of the real picture. Most abortions go unreported or are only brought to medical professionals when an unsafe abortion has damaged the mother.

The stigma of having a child out of wedlock appears to drive women to grave action. Some use abortion-inducing pills or receive injections from amateur abortionists; others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some women insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma.

Afiya said the situation is not limited to abortions – an increasing number of women abandon their babies at the hospital after birth.

“Some will just leave after giving birth. It does happen somewhat regularly,” she said.

In 2009, a young woman convicted of having extra-marital sex was also flogged. Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the “inhumane and degrading” punishment in the Maldives.

Although flogging is still a legal form of punishment in many Muslim countries worldwide, Amnesty officials claim that it specifically discriminates against women. Of the 184 people sentenced to lashing in 2006, 146 were female.

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MDP Parliamentary Group considers no-confidence motion against HRCM

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa today said that the MDP Parliamentary Group was considering forwarding a no-confidence motion against the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) members, for failing to protect the human rights of citizens.

‘’We have noticed that the HRCM members that we appointed have failed to protect the rights of the citizens, and are more concerned about protecting the rights of particular persons,’’ said MP Mustafa. ‘’I am ashamed of HRCM for they have showed no effort in fulfilling the duty assigned to them.”

Mustafa referred to the recent incident where a 17 year-old boy was injured in a protest led by the MDP calling for judicial reform, during which the activists gathered outside former President’s house.

‘’HRCM did not even a say a word of sympathy to the young boy who was injured, they did not even visit the hospital to see him, but when police arrested the former President’s son Gassan Maumoon, they prepared a press statement,’’ he claimed. ‘’This shows what kind of things concern HRCM members.’’

Mustafa said that HRCM had another statement, as yet unreleased, calling on the MDP not to gather near the former President’s residence, and not to threaten the judiciary.

‘’But we have a right to protest, we conducted the protest in accordance to the laws,’’ he claimed. ‘’So there is no use of the current HRCM members and paying money to them is a big waste.’’

He called on the resignation of the commission members and said the commission would be “better with empty desks”.

‘’That day knives were dropped and pots filled with stones were thrown from the former President’s house, and a 17 year-old boy left disabled. He is very young and he is half-paralysed.”

President of the Human Rights Commission Mariyam Azra did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

In August, a delegation from the Maldives headed by Attorney General Abdulla Muiz reported to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that the country’s Human Rights Commission “was one of the most active national institutions in Asia”.

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Addu Cultural Centre promotes arts in plan for progress

As Addu moves forward with SAARC preparations, local artists are also recommending a look at the past.

The Addu Cultural Center is the first historical replica village in the region, and the second in the Maldives. Founders Saifulla Hameed, Ibrahim Fariq and Min Haj said it serves three purposes: to respect the elderly, to remind the youth, and to introduce tourists to Maldivian heritage.

“Even now, people are visiting the center,” said Project Director Hameed. “They are shocked when they see this replica of how Maldivians lived years ago. For the older generation who remember this lifestyle, it’s like traveling back in time, and they are especially happy to see this. We also plan to invite schools to educate the young people.”

Construction of the center began six months ago, and is due for completion in time for the SAARC Summit, which starts on November 10.

The center includes seven buildings made from palm materials: a blacksmith, a living area, a bathroom, a 60-year-old koda dhoni, a kitchen, a school and a historical display room. A garden is also being cultivated. Buildings are furnished with original artifacts. Local crafts will be sold in one display building as souvenirs.

As SAARC approaches, the centre’s finishing touches are being made during any possible moment.

“It is hard to work because most people are preparing for the summit, but we work at night or during the day, when people are available,” said Hameed.

Project Partner Ibrahim Firaq began collecting artifacts at age 16; he is now 47. The Cultural Centre is the first opportunity he has had to make use of his collection.

“It was one of my dreams to put the collection on public display. I can’t even sleep, I am so eager to open this place,” he said.

Firaq’s collection includes coal-blowers, traditional cookware, rope bed frames, boat building tools and more. Many items, such as colonial clocks, European pottery and Arab tea and coffee pots, indicate the importance of international trade to the Maldives.

The collection will be used by a team of 20 staff who will “live” in the village.

“We have been training these workers to work, live and behave appropriately to illustrate a traditional lifestyle,” said Hameed. “The elderly picked it up easily, since many have actually lived like this when they were younger. But the younger workers need training.”

Hameed said he had developed the concept years ago, but applications for funding were previously rejected. Recent council elections and SAARC preparations paved the way for funding and expansion.

The centre is privately funded, and supplemented by a government contribution. Hameed said growing interest in developing Addu as a tourist destination has made the centre more significant.

“People staying at resorts have nice food and activities, but there isn’t much to see on those islands. Now, with more paved roads and things to see in Addu, there will be more reason to come here,” said Hameed, who looks forward to the attention that Addu is expected to receive during and after SAARC.

Addu atoll features a mere two resorts and two local hotels; council officials called accommodation a development priority. Mayor Abdullah Sodiq however said Addu offers unique opportunities for tourism within the Maldives.

“Addu is unlike other areas in that it offers places to visit. The remains of the British royal air force can be of interest to Europeans, and the Commonwealth War Grave is interesting to Commonwealth countries,” said Sodiq. “We also offer a protected marine area, as well as excellent diving.”

The Cultural Centre’s team also reported local interest in opening art galleries, crafts markets and Maldivian restaurants.

Haj said Addu should use the new convention center for more than just business events.

“Right now, Addu needs more accommodation to really host big conventions. I’m not sure that they’ll get more than two events a year. They should use the center for exhibitions, concerts or plays,” he suggested.

Few Maldivian schools boast artistic and cultural studies as a strong point. The government, however, has taken steps to foster cultural awareness.

Maldives Hulhevi Media Project recently began the first digital recording and documentary of the traditional Buruni Ballad, funded by the United States Embassy.

In September, the government announced plans to sign the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mamduh Waheed, said at the time that protecting cultural heritage would improve tourism in the Maldives. “We have a market for the natural aspect of the Maldives, and now we will be able to add cultural attractions and destinations. I think it will draw tourists interested in cultural conservation,” he observed.

Recently, a UN State of the World report found that over half of the global population was under the age of 25. One-quarter of the Maldives’ population is aged between 15 and 24, with a quarter of the young men and half of the young women reported as unemployed.

Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan recommended creating more job opportunities in the atolls.

Deputy Minister of Finance Haifa Naeem said it was important to “diversify jobs to attract the youth market, in fields such as arts and culture.”

The SAARC summit will be preceded by several days of festivities by local and international dance, music and sports groups.

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MNDF concludes investigation into the shooting death of Sergeant Shaukath

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has concluded its investigation into the death of MNDF Sergeant Ibrahim Shaukath, who was accidently shot in the head while he was on SAARC Bodyguard Training.

In a statement, the MNDF said that the investigation team had determined that Shukath’s death occurred due to the negligence of Lieutenant Muaz Mohamed.

The MNDF said that Shaukath was accidently shot while he and fellow MNDF Officers were doing a private training in the resting area to prepare for a ‘’wounded shoot’’ test due to be held the next day of the incident.

In a ‘Wounded Shoot’ exercise, soldiers are trained how to shoot and reload when one hand is wounded. While they were practicing, Muaz received a magazine with a bullet in it did not check whether the magazine was loaded before putting it into his pouch.

According to the MNDF he inserted the magazine into his pistol and fired at Shaukath. The soldiers were standing in a circle when the incident occurred and Shaukath was in front of Muaz.

The MNDF said the incident was unintentional but due to the negligence of Muaz, he had been ousted from the course and transferred to a section where he does not have to handle weapons.

The MNDF said that according to its regulation it is a required to check whether a magazine has bullets before firing, and that in the bodyguard Training, instructors had not told the students that officers should point weapons at each other in violation of MNDF regulations.

‘’While bodyguard Training is a high risk course, there wasn’t an adequate number of trained instructors sent to the program,’’ the MNDF statement acknowledged.

There were not enough magazines to use in the program and officers had to share magazines, a practice that was not safe, noted the MNDF in the statement, adding that officers had mismanaged the issuing of the magazines.

‘’That day there was only one first aid-trained person in the training centre, and he was also not a person trained for high risk programs,’’ the MNDF said in the statement. ‘’Some tools that are used in first-aid were unavailable at the training centre and the emergency vehicle used in the training was  not an adequate vehicle to use in emergencies.’’

The MNDF said that the issues noted in the investigation have been sent to the Defence Ministry as recommendations.

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