Tag: maldives

Puducherry Blue: around South Asia in 32 artworks

A collection of works by artists from across SAARC’s nine member countries has gone on display at Male’s National Art Gallery, ahead of the 17th SAARC summit to be held in Addu City later this year.

The Puducherry Blue exhibition, which will run at the gallery until June 12 2011, aims to bring together various works from South Asian artists that were produced at an arts camp held in Puducherry, India, in 2010.

The collection presents a combination of various techniques; from more impressionist captures of national life such as Shwa in Tein Pagoda by Myanmar’s Kyaw Shein, to more contemporary takes on regional art – such as in the output of India’s R Balu, whose Timeproof exhibit does away with the conventional paint on canvas approach entirely.

The sole Maldivian work in the exhibition is provided by artist Mariyam Omar, whose work ‘Epiphany’ teases at traditional images of Maldivian dancing seemingly obscured by somewhat more contemporary artistic techniques – or liberal splashings of paint depending on one’s own viewpoint.

Speaking during the event’s Male’ opening, the Maldives’ Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Mariyam Zulfa said that it was an honour for the country to host the exhibition, which has already toured a number of other SAARC nations.

“I am very delighted to have some of the artists here today who have travelled all this way to take part in this exhibition,” she said. “I’m sure if we can get ourselves organised we can take some of your works that we see here tonight for the SAARC summit that is being held in Addu City later this year. It will be our pride and joy to display these works at the [summit].”

Beyond the aesthetic value of the exhibition itself, Zulfa said she hoped the regional collaboration behind the exhibition would lead to wider number of events taking place at the gallery in a bid to inspire and develop local artists in the country.

“Hopefully, we can get the art community here a little more organised and learn a lot from your own experiences in the field of art,” she told those in attendance.

The exhibition has been arranged in collaboration with the High Commission of India in Male’, which has backed a number of arts projects in the country, including an arts camp earlier this year that saw a number of local and Indian artists gathering in Gan, Addu Atoll.

Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar Mulay said at the exhibition launch that he believed that bringing together artists from across the region served to highlight the importance of connectivity between the  SAARC nations as well as the role that art plays in it.

“[Art] makes you think about what is the true meaning of life. Why do we have this urge to connect with people? Why do we paint for example? That is its beauty,” he said.

The Puducherry Blue exhibition will remain on display at Male’ National Art Gallery until June 12. More information is available through the National Gallery on 331 0729.

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Tiny Hearts to hold fundraising campaign

Tiny Hearts, a local NGO helping children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), will launch the ‘11708’ campaign on Wednesday to raise money for surgery and other activities, reports Haveeru.

A charity football match organised by the charity last year raised Rf265,000 (US$20,500) for patients.

66 out of the the 200 patients registered with the NGO have to be sent abroad for surgery, organisers have said.

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Political scenario was unprecedented: former Bangladeshi High Commissioner

The political scenario was an unprecedented one, writes former Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the Maldives, Dr Selina Mohsin, for the country’s Daily Star newspaper, of her experience in the Maldives.

“The first multi-party presidential election was to be held within a few months. Events unfolded like acts in a dramatic play as we waited for the impending election. Thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers, including illegal, unemployed and without money roamed the streets, hungry, angry and desperate. Instigated by rumours that catapulted into fears they sought help from the Bangladesh Mission. A demanding period began.

“Living in an isolated state in the Indian Ocean, the people of Maldives were unaware of the rich cultural heritage of Bangladesh. This needed to be shared, so discussions were held with the president and the vice president. As a result, on March 26, 2009, the Independence and National Day of Bangladesh, Dr Waheed announced a Cultural Agreement between Bangladesh and Maldives.

‘”I finalised the Agreement and later prepared MOUs on manpower and education after negotiations. Bangladeshi physicians were recruited for hospitals/clinics and sports promoted to develop intercultural interactions. Initial discussions were undertaken on trade and investment with exports from Bangladesh of medicines, electrical goods, non-perishable food items and others.

“During my tenure, great changes took place, opposition parties with a majority in the Parliament turned confrontational, making it difficult for the ruling party to govern effectively. Now, with the ruling MDP having a majority in the Parliament, implementation of reforms to stabilise the economy, proactive policies and positive relations with Saarc, China, and western states, Maldives will go forward as a vibrant middle income country in the world stage.”

Full story

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Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa reportedly facing Rf100m EPA fine over reclamation

Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa has been fined Rf100m for alleged violations of the Environment Protection Act that damaged ecosystems around the island of Thun’bafushi in Kaafu Atoll.

Haveeru has reported that the Maldivian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the fine over claims that a reclamation project linked to Moosa’s business interests had caused “irreversible changes” to the marine environment of the island.

The newspaper report cited an EPA statement claiming that a fine of Rf100m had been set, despite an estimated Rf2.23bn worth of damage being found to have been caused to the local environment as part of an assessment by the government-supervised agency. A fine of Rf100m is the most severe fiscal punishment able to be set by the EPA under its own rules.

The EPA is reportedly investigating other alleged activities conducted on the island deemed to have breached the Environment Protection Act.

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Umar Naseer admits to using DRP logo and letterhead, vows to continue doing so

Police last night summoned former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Umar Naseer regarding a request by the Elections Commission [EC] that he be investigated for using the DRP logo and letterhead without authority from the party.

The request from the Elections Commission came after the DRP sent a letter to the commission urging it to take action against Umar Naseer for using the logo and letterhead without permission.

Speaking to press after police released him, Umar Naseer said he was summoned and asked whether he had been using DRP logo and letterhead.

He told the journalists that he had confessed to using DRP logo and letterhead and told them he would continue using the logo and letterhead until the suit against DRP in court reached a conclusion.

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Z-DRP plotting potential cross-party leadership coup, alleges opposition MP

A serving Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP has alleged that a spin-off faction formed by some of her colleagues is working to remove current leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali to forward their own presidential candidate – from another party.

Expressing these concerns, DRP MP Rozaina Adam today hit out at supporters of the Z-DRP faction, formed by a number of her fellow party members in the wake of infighting between serving leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and party founder Maumoon Abdul Gayoom over claims they were endangering the party’s election prospects.

She claims that the Z-DRP, who support Gayoom over his self-appointed successor Thasmeen, are endangering their own party’s election prospects in a coup to forward their own candidate and interests.

While Gayoom continues to hold the title of “honorary leader” of the DRP, Adam said she believed the former president’s involvement with the Z-DRP group was at the centre of the present disputes and infighting.

“There is no legal basis for what [Gayoom] is doing,” she said, referring to the former president’s attacks on the party leadership and its aims of removing Thasmeen from the leadership. Adam said that the divides within the DRP was weakening the party as the country’s main political opposition, as well as negatively impacting its support base.

Just yesterday, the DRP branch office of Adam’s Thulusdhoo constituency announced via a statement that its local supporters would consider “shifting sides” in regards to their political allegiance if the party failed to resolve the reported split.

“We call on former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and DRP Zaeem (honorary leader) to solve the internal dispute within the party,’’ read the statement, signed by the Deputy Head of the Thulusdhoo Branch.

Adam said that she was sceptical whether the party’s supporters would opt to join another party, especially in the case of the governing Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), though she accepted that the DRP’s reputation may have suffered among supporters.

“I do think [the party’s infighting] creates confusion for supporters, but I don’t think they will change party; that is not likely,” she said. “However, I don’t think that this movement [Z-DRP] is working for what’s best for the DRP. We see people in the party supporting People’s Alliance (PA) leader party leader Abdullah Yameen as a possible leader.”

Adam alleged that some MPs linked to the Z-DRP faction were actively trying to unseat Thasmeen solely to install another candidate such as Yameen, Gayoom’s half brother, or another politician wanting to claim the DRP’s presidential ticket for their own “agenda”.

“[Their motives] are based on pulling Thasmeen down and installing their own candidate,” she claimed. “[Ahmed] Mahlouf – a fellow DRP MP linked to the Z-DRP – has already stated that he would rather support President Mohamed Nasheed [of the MDP] than our own leader in Thasmeen. I suspect [the Z-DRP] have a candidate in mind for the presidency. I don’t know who this will be, but I believe it is not for the benefit of the party.”

Adam’s comments were made as fellow DRP MP Ahmed Nihan, himself aligned to the Z-DRP movement, said he believed there was widespread support within the wider party to appoint a new leader to replace Thasmeen by next year ahead of a general election scheduled for 2013.

Speaking to Minivan News, Nihan said that despite infighting within the party, there remained widespread support among his fellow DRP members for a new candidate to contest for the party as the 2013 presidential candidate. Amongst this apparent interest in changing leadership of the DRP, the MP claimed that he expected neither Thasmeen nor former President Gayoom to stand against President Mohamed Nasheed in the 2013 election.

The Z-DRP, which has been described by politicians and media outlets as both a political movement and an individual faction of the DRP standing to oppose Thasmeen, was formed amidst disputes in the party initially between supporters of Thasmeen and the party’s dismissed Deputy Leader Umar Naseer.

After these initial disputes led to Naseer’s dismissal  from the party in December, the infighting has evolved into outright criticisms between the only two men to have stood as leaders of the DRP.

After announcing this week that Gayoom had been requested to stand as a temporary leader of the Z-DRP and chair its member meetings until a new DRP leader was instated, Nihan said that this did not mean the former president would return from retirement to stand as a presidential candidate in 2013.

“Maumoon [Gayoom] is not coming out of his retirement to enter politics, but there is something much bigger for him to do. There is a moral obligation that if anything goes wrong [with the DRP], as party founder he must help find a solution,” he claimed. “Gayoom is not changing his mind to run in the next election, we will have a new leader by then.”

In addressing the capacity of the Z-DRP’s support to enact a potential change in leadership, Nihan rejected the descriptive term of a faction used by media to describe the group. The MP added that the Z-DRP was just the name of a movement that reflected wider concerns amongst party members that he claimed strongly believed Thasmeen had “failed” to oppose the government in policies such as allowing India-based infrastructure giant GMR to manage and overhaul Male’ international Airport.

“Gayoom does not want the DRP to be split up. Whatever our name is we are members, serving members of the DRP,” he claimed. “I don’t believe we are in a faction [Z-DRP], we are founding members of the party including myself, Ahmed Mahlouf and Duniya Maumoon. The majority of the DRP are behind us.”

Nihan said he was certain that a large number of the party’s general members “strongly believed” that Thasmeen was not doing enough to hold the government accountable. “Thasmeen has failed and our supporters have requested reforms,” he said. “We are calling for an agreement on holding a conference within a given time frame.”

According to Nihan, this conference could come in the form of an extraordinary party meeting or in the form of the congress scheduled for 2012. In the last party congress held back in 2010, Thasmeen was appointed by Gayoom himself as party leader.

Nihan said that any potential change in leadership ahead of the 2013 elections should be made would by a vote reflecting the choices of party members. “At present, we are hoping we may be able to schedule a congress or party meeting with members concerning leadership possibly by August,” he said.

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Tourism business worth US$2.5-3 billion, not US$700 million as thought, says President

The tourism industry in the Maldives is worth three to four times more than previous estimates, President Mohamed Nasheed acknowledged during a press conference this morning with journalists, ministers and industry leaders.

“Previously we had thought tourism receipts for the country were around US$700 million. But since collection of the 3.5 percent Tourism GST it has come to light that the figure is around US$2.5-3 billion,” President Nasheed said.

”I was told that the government’s expenditure was too high, but I told them it was not that the expenditure was high, but that the revenue was too low. There are not many ways we can decrease the expenditure of the government,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed was speaking ahead of parliament’s resuming sessions next week, where the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) hope their new voting majority will push through major economic reforms. Most ministers were in attendance, as well as senior industry figures including Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim.

Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Sim Mohamed Ibrahim, suggested the US$2.5 billion figure was optimistic, “as a lot of it is guesstimate.”

“The TGST income is variable depending on season, occupancy and volume of business,” he explained. “If they are projecting the figures from Jan-March for the rest of the year, that is the biggest time of the year and the figure will be very rosy. It may be a few years before we can calculate this accurately.”

Nonetheless, “the government will have a lot more money at its disposal for national development,” Sim predicted.

“I don’t think traders will have any problem paying taxes so long as other charges and levies are lowered. What business needs is predictability – this has been lacking in the past, particularly the calculation of rent and lease periods. They need confidence in the system, and things to be spelt out clearly. I think this is now happening.”

Historically the government had derived most its revenue from import duties, followed by bed taxes on the resorts, President Nasheed explained, both of which ultimately be abolished in favour of a modern tax economy.

One impending change – which was not given a date – was the sale of land for commercial purposes, Nasheed said, with all land, including resort islands, becoming a tradeable commodity.

“Ultimately that is where we have to go. I understand that this not the law right now,” he said.

The Maldives currently does not recognise freehold land, and furthermore lacks a central register of land ownership. Currently land is owned by the government and leased to commercial operators, although these agreements can extend up to 99 years. Resort leases are shorter, but under the current government are extendable to 35-50 years when a certain percentage is paid upfront.

Sim observed that only 20 percent of resorts had invested in the longer leases, “either due to their income [required for the upfront payment] or because the banks aren’t lending.”

“[Land purchase] might be an advantage to the industry, as resort land has always been treated differently,” he said.

“It was briefly introduced in the past but was later revoked. Given the shortage of land in the Maldives, land ownership can be a touchy subject. But now it is possible for the government to reclaim land.”

Nasheed has previously observed that the government’s new financial changes, which include an income tax and a general GST it hopes to approve in parliament, were “perhaps far more radical that introduction of political pluralism in the semi-liberal society that we had.”

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MDP to “surprise” public again on Saturday

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said that a “very special rally” will be held on Saturday night at the Artificial Beach, where the party will give everyone ‘’a big surprise again.’’

The party did not give much detail about the ‘’surprise’’, but suggested that it would be similar to events such as the recent signing of opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader and MP Ali Waheed and DRP MP Abdu-Raheem.

Former MDP Spokesperson Ahmed Haleem said Saturday night would be “historic”.

‘’The whole Maldives will change this night,’’ Haleem said. ‘’I can’t tell you the details of this event.’’

Queried whether a high profile politician might join the party that night he confirmed that some ‘’political figures’’ are to join.

Haleem said on Saturday people “will know which political party has the most support.”

Recently DRP MP Waheed, DRP MP Abdulla Abdu-Raheem and DRP Sports Wing head Haasan Shuaju, and well known football player Ahmed Assad ‘Adubarey’ joined MDP.

President’s Spokesperson Mohamed Zuhair and MDP Parliamentary Group’s Media Coordinator Mohamed Shifaz did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid today announced that parliament’s majority leader was now ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, leader of the MDP Parliamentary group.

Currently MDP has a total oof 35 MPs, however, DRP’s former Deputy Leader Umar Naseer has predicted that “very soon MDP will lose two MPs.”

Umar claimed that MDP MP Mohamed Muthafa and MDP MP Hassan Adil would lose their seats. Both MPs have cases pending in court, the former regarding corruption, the later charges of child molestation.

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