Tag: maldives

DRP’s Thulusdhoo branch threatens to “shift sides” if internal dispute continues

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s Thulusdhoo branch has released a statement to the media claiming that supporters of the DRP in Thulusdhoo will “shift sides” if the internal split in the party continues.

‘’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 Thulusdhoo Branch.

The statement acknowledged that DRP supporters were “in turmoil and deeply confused due to the split” and warned that those supporters in Thulusdhoo might have to change sides if the dispute remained unresolved.

‘’The citizens can no longer tolerate watching members leave the party,’’ the DRP branch stated, in reference to the recent defections of several DRP MPs to the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), including Ali Waheed Abdulla Abdu-Raheem. ‘’Consequently it will the ordinary citizens living in the islands that will suffer, due to the unrest and loss of members.’’

The branch added ‘’that as Maumoon was the person who introduced democracy to the Maldives, who led the Maldives for 30 prosperous years and is a person who lives in a democracy, we call on Maumoon to solve the dispute between the leadership democratically.’’

Thulusdhoo is an island with a majority of DRP supporters who voted for the party in the recent local council elections.

Since then, the party has been split after ‘honorary’ leader Gayoom clashed with the party’s leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali over the dismissal of former Deputy Leader Umar Naseer. Gayoom’s supporters have since created a splinter faction they call the Z-DRP, in a move that prompted the defection of several MPs previously loyal to Thasmeen.

DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom said the statement issued by Thulusdhoo’s DRP branch showed that the remaining supporters in the party wished it to be unified.

‘’To do that firstly, everyone in the party must fully respect the party’s charter,’’ Dr Mausoom said. ‘’There are different ways people express concern – some put more effort to solve the dispute, while others leave the party in frustration.’’

He said to uphold democracy in this country a strong, responsible opposition party was needed.

‘’The entire nation believes that the DRP is an opposition party which has to be there to uphold democracy,’’ he said. ‘’Although there are some internal disputes, we will solve them hopefully and by God’s will we will win the 2013 Presidential Elections under Thasmeen’s leadership.’’

Z-DRP spokesperson Ahmed Nihan was unavailable at time of press.

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Israeli fugitive arrested with fake Maldivian passport

An Israeli fugitive was arrested in Thailand yesterday in possession of a fake Maldivian passport.

Forty-one year-old Levy Ben-David escaped from an Israeli prison in 2000, after being convicted for robbing and murdering the owners of a jewelry shop in Belgium in 1993.

The fake Maldivian passport Ben-David was using to evade authorities was in the name of Dmitry Milevm, according to Thai police, who arrested him in a Bangkok apartment.

An Israeli newspaper reported that Ben-David had married a Thai woman and had two children. He is due to be extradited.

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Police investigating 51 complaints of torture and wrongful imprisonment

Police are investigating 51 new complaints of torture and wrongful imprisonment after soliciting cases from an office in the Velaanage building.

The torture investigation committee led by former Defence Minister Ameen Faisal was formed by Presidential decree to investigate torture allegations against former government, and obtain information concerning prison torture carried out during both the current and former administrations.

The office was opened last week following the release of disturbing photographs of tortured victims in custody, and the arrest of former prisons chief Isthafa Ibrahim Manik, who has since been released to house arrest on order of the High Court.

The photos released so far include images of men tied to coconut palms, caged, and bloodied. One of the photos, of a prisoner lying on a blood-soaked mattress, has a 2001 date stamp.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said some of the complaints concerned “inhumane activities” and violations of human rights within the prison system, while others related to people “who were imprisoned for a long time without trial, or were kept in custody despite a court order [to the contrary].”

“Most occurred a long time ago, 20-30 years,” Shiyam said. None of the 51 complaints selected for investigation referred to incidents in the last two years, he confirmed, although the office was continuing to seek information on recent cases.

The prisons system has been under particular scrutiny following the disappearance in April of crucial files relating to an investigation into human remains found on the site of the former Gaamaadhoo prison.

“People want to see justice for what happened,” a senior government source told Minivan News at the time. “Human remains were discovered and there is a strong reason to believe that something bad happened. However it looks like the investigation has been compromised.”

Police have since claimed that preliminary investigations revealed planned and systemic abuse of prisoners over a long period of time.

Several members of government, including President Mohamed Nasheed, maintain they were tortured in custody under the former administration.

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has denied allegations – among others – that incidences of torture occurred during his rule.

“All such allegations of corruption, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds and property are baseless and completely untrue, as are those of torture, repression, and unlawful detention during my presidency,” Gayoom said in a letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron last year, dated October 17.

“Nearly two years after the MDP government assumed presidency, Nasheed and his government have failed to uncover a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of these allegations,” Gayoom said.

Cases of previous custodial torture can be reported to the government’s investigation committee on the 12th floor of Velaanage, by phone on +960 333 0584 or +960 333 0585, or island police posts.

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Cabinet pledges cuts to duties on green tech

Cabinet has pledged to remove all import duties on vehicles powered with electrical or renewable energy sources to try and boost its own green commitments and reduce a national reliance on fossil fuels.

As part of this commitment, the government is also expected to cut import charges on solar panels and batteries that can be used as alternate energy sources for marine vehicles in the country.

According to the cabinet’s recommendations, vehicles and power sources exempt from import charges will require documents from the country’s Environmental Protection Agency to accredit any claimed eco-friendly benefits.

The move is tied to the country’s aims of trying to become carbon neutral by 2020, a goal President Moahamed Nasheed has previously claimed would be a disaster for the nation if not achieved – although the government is yet to outline the exact measures it will take to achieve these aims.

Cabinet’s decision to waive the import charges was made at a meeting held yesterday regarding funding developments to try and encourage greater use of renewable energy sources in everyday life and business. These measures include strategies such as subsidising 50 laari for every unit of electricity produced by renewable energy means.

Aside from this environmental focus, the cabinet was also reported to have taken the decision to cut duties on imports of raw materials and agricultural equipment that could be used to bolster fishing and poultry production to reduce the nation’s overall reliance on imports.

Recommendations were also put forward to develop 15,000 square feet of land in Hulhumale’ into a detoxification and drug rehabilitation centre supported from international donor aid.

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Climate finance a challenge for governance

Climate finance presents a governance challenge to ensure it reaches the right places, Maldives’ Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Iruthisham Adam, has told Transparency International (TI).

“The Copenhagen Accord figure of US $100 billion per year by 2020 is a conservative estimate of needs, yet even this amount presents profound governance challenges,” Adam told TI.

“How can we generate this amount of money? How can we manage this funding? How can we distribute it to those who need it most and assure ourselves that the money is well spent and not abused?
These challenges are at the heart of why it was difficult to come to an agreement on climate financing at COP15. We also need a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) oversight bodies to regulate the flows, distribution and efficacy of the fund. Climate financing has to be accountable and transparent in order to avoid abuse and inefficiency and build confidence and trust. Everything has come to a standstill because we are not able to build trust within the system, on which the whole UNFCCC negotiations are dependent. Procedures must be in place to allow local communities, NGOs and other stakeholders oversee the funds and build this trust.”

Full story

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Magistrate investigated after submitting documents claiming he was two years older than his son

The senior magistrate of the ‘Thundi’ ward of Gan in Laamu Atoll is currently under investigation after he filed documents at the Island Council Office indicating that his age was 50, despite his eldest son being  48 years old, reported Haveeru.

Haveeru reported allegations that the magistrate had intentionally defrauded the documents because he would have been required to resign from his position if he was over 60 years-old.

The paper also reported that the magistrate was now even younger than his younger brother, according to the documents submitted.

Sources told Haveeru that the magistrate’s real age was, 68 and his younger brother was aged 66.

Haveeru reported that another magistrate working in the same court was now investigating the case.

The court and staff declined to speak about the matter, reported Haveeru.

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Government outlines student loan funding amidst wider education criticisms

The government has moved ahead with a Rf50 million student loan programme in an attempt to support a larger number of local people in further education, replacing the “pocket money” grant scheme that previously supplied limited study funding free of charge.

The funding switch has raised concerns among some students and opposition figures, who claim that not enough is being done to support and prepare young people for the challenges of a more diverse Maldives job market.

Aminath Ali, Deputy Minister of Human Resources, Youth and Sports, told Minivan News that 340 students currently studying in higher or further education institutions in the Maldives were now able to claim an equal share of the government supplied funding, which was expected to be paid back once courses were over.

“Out of 367 existing students who applied for the loans, 27 were rejected as they were not currently studying in the Maldives,” she said.

The switch from the previous “pocket money” system has not been without controversy, with some local students demonstrating outside the President’s Office back in March in order to try and reinstate charge-free grants for those in higher education.

Student protesters claimed at the time that some of their peers appeared to still be getting the pocket money grant, while others were struggling to afford or obtain books required for their studies in light of the student loan switch.

A spokesperson for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) this week also criticised the government’s implementation of the student loan system, as well as its overall commitments to education in the country, claiming that both the funding and the range of courses currently on offer were “not sufficient” for their own needs – or those of the job market that will one day employ them.

Aminath Ali said she accepted that a number of students had become concerned about the change towards providing loans instead of the free grants previously offered.  However, the minister claimed the new system was in place to try to ensure that both the country and citizens could afford further education on a more sustainable basis in the long-term.

“Under the current budget we cannot provide free learning and funding for students at higher education institutions.  The [student loans] are similar to mechanisms in place in countries all over the world,” she said.  “Say a student has a total loan amount of Rf24,000 over their studies, they will have to pay back this amount and a five percent administration charge to cover the role of their bank over an agreed period of time.”

According to Ali, once a student had completed their studies, they are then given six months to find a job before having to begin paying back the funding.

The deputy human resources minister claimed that sufficient mechanisms were in place to allow student to pay back their loans to the government over a maximum of ten years depending on their revenue.  Ali added that in consultations with the Employment Ministry, she was confident that graduates would be able find jobs within this six month period that offer long-term career prospects for those willing to work.

The loan system is also said to be backed by 100 percent scholarship programmes for students studying abroad in areas such as medical sciences and technology, according to the ministry.  Ali claimed that 180 scholarships, based on educational performance, had been offered between January and May of this year.

Separate funding had also been put aside by the Ministry of Human Resources for students to apply for when entering into further education during the present academic year.

The Ministry of Education claimed that the move towards student loans reflected the need for funding at a wider number of institutions in the country that now offer higher education courses to students across different fields of expertise.

DRP Spokesperson Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef said that while the opposition party welcomed measures to financially support students in higher education, he believed the new loan system had failed to take into account hardships faced by the young, particularly those coming from islands to Male’ to live.

According to Shareef, while previous systems had provided a pocket money allowance and even some forms of salary to fund study from the government’s purse, he claimed the new loans were insufficient to cover the expenses of moving to Male’.

“From the complaints we have received from students, [the student loans] are not a popular initiative.  Government must reconsider this system, changes are expected to be for the better,” he said.  “If the government was replacing [student funding] with a better system, it would be welcomed.”

When addressing the government’s own need to reduce national spending and its own budget deficits amidst commitments to organisations such as the International Monetary fund (IMF), Shareef said that the government would have been better served by “gradually” phasing out the “pocket money” system as opposed to replacing it completely.

“In a country, no matter how rich it is, education is not an area where funding should be cut,” he said.

In addition to concerns over the student loan system, Shareef claimed that he also believed that the current higher education curriculum was out of synch with the demands of the modern Maldives job market.

“The whole education system does not match up with the job openings currently being offered,” he claimed. “Until the 1980’s, we had limited [job] openings available , so the purpose of education and training was to get people ready for working the civil service,” he said.

With the advent and growth of the country’s the tourist industry along with the emergence of regional and multinational businesses moving into the Maldivian economy, Shareef claimed that the education system had failed to move with the times in making people ready for this changing workplace.

“There are not enough professionals available that are trained to work in management positions within the tourism, fisheries and even construction industries.  Education is simply not meeting these requirements,” he said

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‘Puducherry Blue’ exhibition to be held in Maldives June 5-12

The Indian High Commission and the Maldives National Centre for the Arts are organising the ‘Puducherry Blue’ painting exhibition featuring 32 prominent artists from nine South Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Bhutan and Myanmar.

The exhibition will be opened tomorrow evening by Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan and Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar Mulay.

The works will be available for viewing by the general public from 10:00-16:00 and 19:00-21:00 on weekdays June 5-12, in Museum building A (Medhuziyaaraiy Magu).

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Israeli national carrier El Al requests permission to fly to Maldives

Israel’s national carrier El Al has formally applied to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to begin flying to the Maldives from December.

President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, said he believed the government was inclined to grant permission to the airline.

“Despite the reservations of the Adhaalath Party and other religious groups [in the Maldives], El Al flies to many Arab capitals and is even accessible to those people claiming to work against Israel, who seem to have no objections to it,” Zuhair observed.

He did acknowledge that permitting the airline to fly the Maldives represented “a political obstacle”, but suggested it was “one for the Adhaalath party to explain.”

“Maldivians have not been directly affected by any actions taken by Israel, and the Maldives is in fact involved in peace initiatives undertaken in the Middle East by the Maldivian government,” Zuhair said. “I don’t see the justification for not accepting an Israeli airline that is accepted by Arab states claiming to be victims of Israel.”

The religiously-conservative Adhaalath Party has declared it will terminate its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) if it allows an Israeli airline to fly to the Maldives.

In an earlier statement on the matter in April, the party claimed there “were reasons” why out of the 50 Islamic countries, 48 had declined permission for El Al to operate.

“It is because Israel is the biggest enemy of the whole Muslim community, a country that has stolen the holy lands of Muslims, a country that is committing violence against the people of Palestine and as Israeli flights are targets of terrorist organisations, it raises security concerns,” the party said.

An earlier request by the airline’s charter subsidiary Sun D’Or was denied after Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revoked its license ruling that it was functionally indistinguishable from El Al.

The rebranding effort was an attempt by El Al to circumvent religious backlash from ultra-orthodox Israeli groups over operating flights on the Sabbath and religious holidays, which it claimed were leaving it unable to compete with other major carriers.

Strong anti-Israel sentiment persists in the Maldives. Visiting Israeli eye surgeons from the ‘Eyes from Zion’ NGO were in November met with protests and the burning of the Israeli flag in Male’s Republic Square. The Islamic Foundation NGO contested at the time that Israeli surgeons “have become notorious for illegally harvesting organs from non-Jews around the world.”

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