Tag: maldives

Behind-the-scenes at COP15: Oscar-winning film company to release documentary on Maldives’ efforts

An Oscar and Emmy-winning film production company based in San Franscisco, Actual Films, has produced a 90 minute documentary charting the Maldives’ efforts to raise awareness of climate change in the lead up to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.

The Maldivian government was approached by Actual Films in early 2009 seeking behind-the-scenes access to President Mohamed Nasheed and cabinet ministers.

After two years, US$1.5 million, 140 hours of footage and a soundtrack by Radiohead, the company has produced a 90 minute documentary ‘The Island President’, to be released in cinemas later this year.

The film was entirely funded by the US Ford Foundation, American Corporation for Public Broadcasting, MacArthur Foundation, Atlantic Foundation and the Sundance Institute.

The Maldivian government insists it had no editorial input into the film, which was left completely to Actual Films and Emmy-winning Director Jon Shenk.

“It felt a bit weird for the first two hours but after that the ministers seemed to forget the cameras were there,” said a senior government source.

“It is unprecedented for a documentary maker to be given round-the-clock access to a head of state, probably for very good reason.”

The source, who was shown a pre-release version of the film, described it as “somewhat like a real-life episode of the West Wing”; giving a unique perspective on the high-level machinations of world powers that would make it of interest to politics buffs as well as environmental activists, “and it will probably do wonders for tourism.”

“Everyone who’s seen it so far says it’s made them proud to be Maldivian,” the source said, adding that it was the first time a film about the Maldives was to be shown at international film festivals.

The film will be released in US cinemas later this year and aired in the Maldives in early 2012.

A trailer for the film can be seem at http://theislandpresident.com/

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Convicted criminals brought before judges on fresh charges

A person previously sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking has appeared before the criminal court charged with vandalising a shop and assaulting the shopkeeper, the Criminal Court has said in a statement.

The Criminal Court in a statement said that Ismail Waheed of Galolhu Sundance had been handed to the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) to implement the verdict of life imprisonment, and was under the impression he was behind bars until he was brought before the court by police on fresh charges.

Waheed was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to life imprisonment after 25 packets of illegal drugs were discovered on him.

The Criminal Court said police had been ordered to keep Waheed in custody and hand him over to the DPRS within 15 days.

DPRS Director General Mohamed Rasheed told local media that Waheed escaped prison when he was brought Male’ for medical treatment, and had been at large as a fugitive.

According to Rasheed, Waheed’s family requested he be taken abroad for medical treatment and he was brought to Male’ prior to the journey.

On March 18 police brought a person to the Criminal Court who had previously been sentenced to 45 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of theft, objection to order and three drug related charges, said the Criminal Court.

A second person was also brought before the court who had been sentenced 10 times on different charges and was supposed to be serving 27 years imprisonment, after he was found guilty of five robbery cases, two cases of objection to order, two cases of driving without a license and one case of possession and use of drugs.

”The court’s documents show that those two persons were handed over to the concerned authorities to implement the verdict,” the court said at the time. ”But Ttey were brought before the judges on March 18 on charges of robbery after being arrested during a police special operation to curb violence in Male’.”

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Focus on “direct revenue” needed as state earnings increase, says Razee

The country’s Economic Development Minister has called for a greater focus on introducing new “direct revenue” streams like taxation to the country to try and balance national income even as the government reports an increase in income.

Mahmood Razee said he believed that increased government earnings between January and March 2011 should be seen as an encouraging development in the country for both public and private finance, with initiatives like the tourism Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in January expected to be rolled out across other national industries.

However, he stressed that more cash generating measures would be needed by the state to balance the country’s books.

The claims were made as the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) recorded a 59 percent increase in government first quarter income on the back of new initiatives like the tourism GST.

The Maldives has come under huge pressure in recent years from financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to try and reduce extensive state spending, resulting in a large deficit between income and expenditure that the government’s Finance Ministry have claimed to be trying to address.

While preliminary figures had pegged the 2010 fiscal deficit at 17.75 percent, “financing information points to a deficit of around 20-21 percent of GDP”, down from 29 percent in 2009, the IMF has reported.

Razee claimed that the increases in government income was a step towards more balanced expenditure as the MIRA revealed that Rf947m was generated during the first quarter of 2011. These earnings were up by 21 percent on predicted incomes for the year and 59 percent over revenues taken during the same period in 2010. However, earnings from the tourism GST introduced from January 2011 onwards were not in place back in 2010.

Tax revenue over the quarter rose by 81 percent, aided mainly by the tourism GST, which generated an estimated Rf351m in February and March alone, up one percent on expected earnings, according to the MIRA.

Of these tax earnings, the financial report stated that Rf82m had been collected in the local currency, while the remaining Rf864m was collected in US dollars (US$67m).

The MIRA report added that government earnings from initiatives such as the switch of a tourism lease rent to a tourism land rent had seen non-tax revenue increase by 46 percent over the period, despite a 28 percent decline in royalties after recent amendments to the Fisheries Sector.

“With the change from tourism lease rent to tourism land rent, the revenue from [this amendment] has increased by 7 percent,” the report stated. “Additional revenue of Rf 146m has been received during this quarter from Resort Lease Period Extension following to the second amendment made to the Tourism Act.”

More Work

According to Razee, despite the increased revenue, more sources of income, particularly in terms of foreign currency, were needed to offset budgetary concerns.  This apparent need comes in light of a lack of US dollars being made available through Maldivian banks that this month saw a long standing Rf12.85 peg on the exchange rate controversially being amended within 20 percent above or below the figure.

“The solution is to look to more direct forms of revenue like the general GST, though there is still some way to go with work in trying to balance revenue with the expenditure side,” he said. “Additionally, when we look to taking [state] loans they will need to be able to build greater productivity and more investment into the economy.”

With the Finance Ministry aiming to introduce a general GST system beyond services and goods provided to holidaymakers, Razee believed that government’s recent experience with taxing tourism income had helped bring a much great understanding of the true state of the country’s finances.

“Obviously with the GST in place, we understand much better the exact tourism receipts being generated,” he said. “Without them, it was much harder to fully understand the revenues being generated.

Razee claimed that the implementation of the general GST tax would also require the private sector to be more “professional” in their accounting, in theory ensuring wider industry benefits in the long-term.

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Protest march held in Male’ over sex crime fears

A protest march jointly organised by the Health Ministry and local NGOs took place down the main street of Male’ yesterday amidst heightened concerns regarding the prevalence of sexual violence against women, minors and persons with special needs.

Police revealed last week that 27 sexual violence cases were reported in the past three weeks, including 16 cases of child sexual abuse.

Sun Online reports that participants held up placards calling on the authorities to bring sex crimes perpetrators to justice as they marched down Majeedee Magu towards the capital’s artificial beach area. The placards carried slogans such as “stop hiding secrets of criminals” and “zero tolerance for child abuse”.

Addressing participants at the artificial beach, Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel urged the public not to refrain from reporting incidents of sexual violence against women and children.

Members of NGOs Care Society, Society of Hope for Women, Society of Women against Drugs (SWAD), JCI and the Red Crescent were joined at the march by MPs Imthiyaz Fahmy of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Ahmed Nihan and Dr Afrashim Ali of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) as well as film stars and senior officials of the former government.

Gender Department officials meanwhile explained that the turnout was lower than expected as the event was originally planned for Friday, but had to be cancelled at the last moment due to bad weather.

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Police confirm Hulhumale’ collision death

Police have confirmed the death a 29-year old man yesterday after a motor bike he was riding reportedly collided with a pick-up truck on the island of Hulhumale’.

Police told Minivan News that the man, identified as Abdulla Saeed, died late last night after a bike he was riding along with a fellow passenger reportedly collided with a truck on the island’s main street.

Police officials told Minivan News that they were currently not sure of the speed either of the vehicles were travelling at when they collided, but claimed that no one else involved in the incident was thought to have sustained serious injuries.

Following the collision, police said that Saeed was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’.

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MMA launches dollar reference at Rf 14.75

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has published a dollar reference exchange rate of Rf 14.75, in an effort to give an approximate determination of the value of the currency.

Currency exchangers are permitted to sell dollars within a 20 percent band of the pegged rate of Rf 12.85, after the government launched a managed float of the rufiya earlier this month. Rf 14.75 is roughly the value of exchange on the black market prior to the managed float.

Banks are required to submit their daily rates to the MMA.

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“Clear evidence of crimes against humanity”: Maldives suspends diplomatic ties with Libya

The Maldives has suspended diplomatic ties with the Libyan government as Western powers increase military pressure on President Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

“Following the recognition of the TNC, the suspension of diplomatic relations with the pro-Gaddafi regime is based on the continuing deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in Libya, and increasingly clear evidence that the Gaddafi regime is guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes,” the Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement came after the US accused Gaddafi of using human shields and cluster bombs against his own population in the city of Misata, in some of the fiercest fighting of the civil war so far.

At least 10 civilians were killed on Wednesday, along with British photojournalist Tim Hetherington and American photographer Chris Hondros.

A bombing attack on Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli yesterday meanwhile caused three causalities, after NATO jets targeted a bunker underneath a car park.

France, Italy and Britain this week authorised the deployment of military advisors to assist the ill-disciplined rebels in overthrowing Gaddafi’s government, despite earlier reluntance to put ‘boots on the ground’ in the stricken country.

US President Barack Obama has meanwhile authorised the use of drone aircraft in Libya. A NATO official this week told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the drones would allow the identification of individuals even in crowded urban environments, allowing for more precise airstrikes.

After France and Qatar, the Maldives was the third country to recognise the Transitional National Council, the Benghazi rebels’ representative body.

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Deputy speaker would “welcome” heightened transparency in the Majlis

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ahmed Nazim has claimed that he would welcome moves to promote transparency in the People’s Majlis, such as revealing the financial assets of MPs to the public, but added similar commitments would also be needed from the country’s judiciary and executive.

Speaking to Minivan News earlier this week, Nazim, who is also a serving member of the People’s Alliance (PA) party and the Majlis’ Public Accounts Committee, said he would “fully support” any initiative to improve the image of parliament such as providing details of the property and assets of MPs. However, the deputy speaker said he believed that the appointment of an auditor general, a position that has been vacant since March 2010 when Ibrahim Naeem lost a parliamentary no-confidence motion by 43 votes to 28, was needed to oversee such a process.

The claims were made as debate over whether MPs should publicly declare details of their assets and income was found to have reached an impasse, with opinion divided in the Majlis over whether doing so was a constitutional necessity.

The issue had also been raised by the political NGO, Transparency Maldives, which claimed that it was having difficulties in getting details on the assets and financial status of MPs despite parliament showing a generally more open attitude to supplying information.

The NGO, which operates a project called Parliament Watch alongside the Maldivian Democracy Network, believes that the right of the public to know the financial details of their elected representatives in the Majlis was “in the spirit” of the constitution. Transparency Maldives added that it believed that transparency within the actions and decision making of parliament had nonetheless improved in recent years despite possible concerns about MP finances.

Although the decision for public declarations of MPs’ financial statements was rejected this week, parliament also failed to agree to two additional recommendations that financial statements should be released only under a court order or to the public upon investigations by state institutions.

On Tuesday (April 19), Nazim in his capacity as deputy speaker of the Majlis, said the matter had been declared “void” on the basis that neither proposal was accepted by MPs, but he added that parliament’s Secretary General had sought counsel on the matter and would go ahead according to the “rules of procedure”.

Speaking before the vote, Nazim said that the issue had been sent to parliament by the Majlis’ secretary general over concerns about an isolated issue raised by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in requiring the financial statements of one unidentified MP.

Under present standing orders that outline parliament procedure, the deputy speaker claimed that sitting MPs were required to provide information to the Majlis by the end of October each year detailing their annual finances between the twelve months from May 29 to May 28.

Nazim said that amidst the ensuing debate over whether these statements should be made freely available to the public, the decision to do would definitely serve to “improve the image of parliament.”

While provisionally welcoming the initiative, Nazim claimed that he believed the Majlis would only public release details of their financial status alongside a similar commitment by judges and senior cabinet ministers.

“It would be for the auditor general to collect this [financial] information from cabinet ministers, judges and government members,” he said, accepting that the position had been vacant for more than 12 months.

“No [financial] information has been put into the public domain, once this happens the Majlis would consider following suit.”

Presidential Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News that ultimately, the decision on whether to make the financial statements of MPs available to the public was down to parliament itself and not related to the government.

“It all depends on how transparent they [parliament] wish to be,” he claimed. “There are opportunities to be accountable, yet holding back on these details might lead to allegations [of possible corruption].

When asked whether cabinet member were themselves considering or already required to reveal details of their earnings and assets, Zuhair added that the issue related to a very different kind of social contract that they were bound to.

“Government employees are banned from working in the public sector or within any positions that might create a conflict of interest,” he added.

Aiman Rasheed, Projects Coordinator for NGO Transparency Maldives, claimedthat MPs were generally operating in a much more transparent manner during the current parliament.  However, he added that while parliamentarians were not required to supply their financial statements to the public, choosing to do so would be more in the spirit of the constitution.

Through its work on the Parliament Watch project, Rasheed claimed that at present NGOs like Transparency Maldives were finding it very difficult to know which MPs submitted their financial statements to the Majlis by the required deadline of October, with requests for a detailed list of members still not being met.

“There is obviously a lot of discomfort about this in the Majlis,” he said. “But for the most part, documents [relating to MPs] are available. As far as we are concerned this parliament is really open.”

Despite welcoming possible improvements in the transparency of the Majlis, Rasheed said that the Parliament Watch project would be releasing a report in the next few months detailing its findings in trying to bring greater scrutiny to parliamentary records in relation to members’ attendances and work rates.

However, amidst the debates over public accountability in the Majlis, a number of MPs have raised criticisms of the role of media in shaping public perceptions of parliament and its work.

(Maldivian Democratic Party) MP “Reeko” Moosa Manik said this week that while he agreed with the constitutional principle of publicly declaring assets and wealth, it was not an advisable time to do so in “today’s political atmosphere.”

The MDP parliamentary group leader remains embroiled in an acrimonious feud with private broadcaster DhiTV, owned by business magnate “Champa” Mohamed Moosa.

Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed concurred with Moosa, claiming that parliament should be concerned about concerted efforts by some media outlets to “disgrace and humiliate MPs.”

“This is not being done by DhiTV’s owner or its management, we know that now,” he said. “But previously we believed that it was planned and carried out by the management there. But that is not the case.”

Echoing a claim made by several MPs in past weeks, Riyaz alleged that unsuccessful candidates for parliament and their family members or associates were behind hostile media coverage of parliament.

“In truth, when the financial status of MPs is made known, some MPs will be worried and others will embarrassed,” said minority opposition People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakur.

“That is, those who have a lot of money might be very worried and those who do not will be embarrassed. Therefore, at a time when our status is being revealed in the media, I don’t accept at all that these facts should be available to just anyone.”

Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed meanwhile argued that MPs should not shirk from their constitutional responsibilities by blaming the media. “We will answer in the media to the things said in the media,” he said.

Along with debates over accountability, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom claimed yesterday that despite the cancellation of a scheduled meeting in the Majlis’ main chamber , work was still ongoing in the parliament, which he believed was playing its part in pushing legislation to allow law enforcement officials to deal with violent crimes, despite certain “public perceptions” to the contrary.

The opposition party MP claimed that parliament was stepping up its workload to ensure the government, as the country’s executive branch, had the right powers and capabilities to uphold the law.

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Doctors ‘disappeared’ as Bahrain cracks down after protests

Authorities in Bahrain have arrested 32 doctors including surgeons, physicians, paediatricians and obstetricians following its crackdown on Shia-led protests last month.

The UK’s Independent newspaper reported that one doctor was arrested while operating on a patient while another, an intensive care specialist, was detained after a photograph was published of her weeping over a dead protester.

Many of the doctors were ‘disappeared’, with their locations and condition unknown to their families. Four detainees have died in police custody following the riots in February.

One Bahrani doctor indicated to a colleague in the UK that the detentions were in retaliation for treating protesters injured in clashes with security forces.

“Interrogation committees question me about our role in treating the injured protesters, who are considered now criminal for protesting against the government. We said we were there to treat patients and have nothing to do with politics,” the doctor said.

News of the detentions led to a statement issued by the UK’s Royal College of Surgeons, stating that “these reports of harassment of medical staff in the ongoing unrest in Bahrain, including surgeons trained in the UK, are deeply disturbing. The protection and care of people wounded in conflict is a basic right guaranteed by the Geneva Convention and one that every doctor or medical institution should be free to fulfil.”

Bahrani Ambassador to the United States, Houda Nonoo, claimed earlier this month that the Salmaniya Medical Complex had been hijacked by “violent opposition forces” and used as a command centre.

In response to the protests Bahrain declared martial law in the tiny Gulf state and allowed 1000 Saudi Arabian troops from Saudi Arabia into the country to quell the Shia-led uprising. Six protesters were declared dead after troops overran the demonstrators camp.

Bahrain’s opposition Shia Wefaq party subsequently issued a statement condemning the arrival of Saudi troops as an assault on the country’s sovereignty.

“We consider the entry of Saudi Arabia or other Gulf forces into the Kingdom of Bahrain’s air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation,” the party said.

The King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has meanwhile reportedly moved US$42 billion of the country’s wealth into Swiss bank accounts.

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