Tag: maldives

Games could mean serious business for the Maldives, says MESA

A team of young Maldivans from the Maldives E-Sport Association (MESA) returned home last week fresh from competing at the Sri Lankan Cyber Games (SLCG), facing off against the tournament winners in their first exhibition match outside the country.

‘E-Sports’ – competitive multi-player computer gaming – are extremely popular in the Maldives. MESA holds its own gaming festival every year (the next is at the end of November) and attracts sponsorship from companies such as Dhiraagu, Point IT, Coca-Cola and Raajje Online, rivaling a major sporting event.

The Maldivian side is getting noticed on the international pro-gaming circuit too, explains MESA’s President Ismail ‘Levitan’ Azmee, for despite their relative lack of experience, the team drew their exhibition match with the Sri Lankan champions at the SLCG.

The game was ‘Call of Duty 4’, a first person shooter (FPS) in which two teams of players must coordinate to achieve a set objective, such as capturing a flag, or more usually, exterminating the opposition with virtual gunfire. A player is reincarnated at the beginning of each round.

Matches at the SCLG were a race to 13 win, Azmee explains.

“The first match we lost 9-13. But in the next match we got to chose our [preferred] map, and we won 13-11,” he says. “If you know the map, you have an advantage over your opponent because you know how to flank them.”

The Sri Lankan teams were very experienced having played together for three years, while the Maldivian side: Ali Ayham, Mohamed Maaiyz Nasheed, Mohamed Samhan, Mohamed Bassam, Ikram Easa, Mohamed Jinad, Mohamed Iyash and Ali Farooq had only eight months.

Teams play opposite each other at a bank of computers, communicating using in-game commands to avoid tipping off the opposition.

Sportsmanship was tested during the match, when, outnumbered by jeering spectators, one of the Maldivian side was ‘knifed’ in-game by a Sri Lankan player.

With all the high-powered weaponry in the game, the close-combat killing of an unobservant player is considered the ultimate humiliation.

“But we kept our cool, and knifed him back twice,” says Ali Ayham, one of MESA’s exhibition players. “They became quite agitated after that.”

Other games played included racing simulation Need for Speed.

“The Maldives is strongest in Counterstrike and Call of Duty, but we also have possibly one of the best Guitar Hero players in the region,” says Azmee. “He doesn’t miss a button.”

Far from the inconsequential past-time of idle and dissolute youth, MESA is one of the Maldives’ largest, youngest and most active associations. Were its 10,000 to 12,000 members to form a political party, it would come close to being the third largest in the Maldives, after the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

Accordingly, MESA wants nothing more than to trigger a surge in high-tech investment to the Maldives.

“Maldivian industry is limited to tourism and fishing,” Azmee says, “and we want to introduce electronics in the near future. The country has a high youth population, and one of the biggest forms of entertainment in the country is electronic. Most gamers are not out to compete at a professional level, they just play for fun, but for those that want to take it to the next level, MESA is trying to make that happen.”

Gaming, he says, “is not just entertainment – it’s an industry. Game testers are paid more than doctors in the Maldives – you have to be an extreme gamer and really know your gaming history. It’s a demanding job.”

MESA has already built connections with companies in South Korea, where computer gaming is the de facto national sport. “They have committed to supporting us to develop the electronics industry in the country,” Azmee notes, adding that the association has letters from the government supporting the creation of an “electronics village”, in a location such as like Hulhumale.

“We particularly want to attract game developers,” Azmee explains. “There are already a few mobile game developers here who have submitted proposals to [famous developers] Electronic Arts and Square Enix, but there are currently few opportunities for professional developers in the country because of a lack of support for the industry.

“There are a lot of people here with the required degrees, but no opportunity to develop what they have been trained to do. They have to accept jobs with low wages doing things they are not trained for. We have asked companies to come and develop here – we’ve already talked with them, we have all the documents and support from the government, even from the President himself.”

Internet access speeds in the Maldives are not up to the level of competitive gaming however, Azmee says, which has forced MESA to decline some offers to compete online.

“We don’t have the net connection here to play online competitively, although we have really good PCs. We are working with both the telecoms companies to try and get better pings (speeds).”

However corporate support for sponsoring gaming within the Maldives is already strong, Azmee says.

“At the SLCG in Sri Lanka we observed that while they had 200 teams, they had far less support than we have in the Maldives – they’ve asked for our assistance to get it. We are shortly going to start the first ever South Asia E-Sport Association here in the Maldives, and in the near future we’ll be signing MoUs with Pakistan, Singapore, India and Vietnam.”

Locally, MESA runs a gaming centre in Male’ on the main road of Majeedhee Magu, decorated with painted characters from the popular FPS Counterstrike. Many more players from the islands play online, and the association’s local servers attract many German, Brazilian, Korean and Singaporean players as well.

Prior to MESA’s arrival the centre had a reputation for being somewhere where local drug addicts would come to buy drugs, shoot up and hang out, says Azmee, and some still drift to the centre.

Astoundingly, MESA has had significant success in rehabilitating addicts by getting them involved in gaming. Users become so absorbed in the expansive, online multi-player game worlds such as World of Warcraft (WoW) that they “forget” one addiction, trading it for another far less harmful.

“It works, and the government has acknowledged it,” Azmee says. “They tried with the youth centres to get them playing sports but it did not work. A lot of the addicts in Male’ are just people with nothing else to do, and for them gaming can truly be a life-changing thing.”

Far from a solitary pursuit, so-called ‘massively multi-player’ games such as WoW require groups of players from around the world to cooperate and work together to achieve common goals within the game, such as slaying difficult adversaries. The action-reward nature of such games and the social interaction has proven so addictive for many players that WoW is sometimes disparagingly referred to as ‘World of WarCrack’.

But its dealer, Blizzard Entertainment, has out-performed any drug mafia. WoW boasts more than 11 million paying players, and revenues in excess of US$1 billion per year.

For MESA’s competitive wing, games are serious business. Top players must practice up to eight hours a day “if we want to be the best at what we do, just to stay ahead of the competition,” Azmee explains.

It’s not all in-game practice either – the teams watch and analyse replays, and study the performance and tactics of world-ranked teams such Dignitas.

But despite the in-game challenges, the greatest obstacle comes in the form of convincing their skeptical parents that time spent gaming can lead to a viable career.

“A lot of parents are concerned, and say we are wasting our time and that playing games changes you sociologically. We’ve consulted several universities on this and found studies that show that gaming engages the mind, reflexes and problem solving abilities,” Azmee says.

“I try to explain to parents and educate them that games are not bad if played in the right way – and obviously you should not let a young child play a game like Grand Theft Auto. We are planning to introduce a ratings system to help parents learn more about the games their children are playing.”

While convincing the parents is a series of battles, MESA’s elite players appear to be winning the war.

“At first they gave us a lot of trouble by saying it was better for us to focus on studying and that there was no future in gaming,’ Azmee says. “But that changed when they saw all the medals at the last Maldives gaming festival. Now they are really helpful.”

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Commonwealth Secretary-General to visit Maldives

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will visit Maldives from October 16-18, and will meet with the President, opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ahmed Faiz Hussain.

The Secretary-General is also scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Health and Family Minister Dr Aminath Jameel, Minister of Human Resources, Youth and Sport Hassan Latheef, Speaker of the People’s Majlis Abdulla Shahid and the Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party Mariya Ahmed Didi.

Discussions are expected to focus on capacity-building for socio-economic growth, climate change and other issues faced by small island developing states like Maldives.

“I look forward to further discussions on [the President’s] vision for Maldives and how the Commonwealth can work hand-in-hand with his administration and other stakeholders in Maldives to support national development, including the consolidation of democratic processes, institutions and culture, and in particular, the promotion of the Commonwealth’s Latimer House Principles that define the balance between the three branches of government,” Sharma said.

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Umar Naseer cannot overthrow government, responds Reeko Moosa

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)  MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has hit back at Deputy Leader of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Umar Naseer, who earlier warned that the party would topple the government if former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was handled “outside the chart”.

“Outside the chart” was a phrase used by President Nasheed that has been widely interpreted by the opposition as “acting outside the Constitution”, ostensibly in his detention of the Gayoom’s brother and People’s Alliance MP Abdulla Yameen on charges of treason and bribery, after he was released by the court.

Naseer’s heated rhetoric came in response to Nasheed’s speech at the launch of historian Ahmed Shafeeg’s book, which alleging that 111 Maldivian citizens were held in custody and tortured by the former administration.

Naseer warned that if Gayoom was handled “outside the chart”, “the next day we will file a no-confidence motion against the President and we will make it the end of his regime.”

Reeko responded that the opposition coalition DRP and People’s Alliance (PA), led by the former president’s half brother Abdulla Yameen, would find it impossible to overthrow or topple Nasheed’s government, “inside or outside the parliament.”

“No matter how many times Umar warns that this government can be overthrown if the president acts outside of the chart with regard to the former president, MDP is the only party that has the capability to overthrow a government by going out on the streets, or achieve anything,’’ Moosa said.

He added that in the event of a trial concerning torture allegations against the former government then Naseer – a former police officer – might be also investigated himself, alleging that he “is a person famous for taking part in the tortures [conducted] by the former administration.”

“Umar is a person attempting to destroy one party after the other,’’ Moosa alleged. “Now he’s trying to create aggression inside DRP, and divide the party.”

Naseer did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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MPs exchange blame over cancellation of parliament session

MPs from both the opposition and ruling party have blamed each other for the cancellation of parliament’s session today.

Speaker of the parliament Abdulla Shahid cancelled the session after MPs began raising their voices against the speaker and deputy speaker of parliament, Peoples Alliance MP Ahmed Nazim.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan said the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs deliberately created an uproar inside the chamber to make the speaker cancel the session.

‘Tthey did that because today there were two very important issues in the agenda, the endorsement of the new cabinet and appointment of new Auditor General,’’ claimed Nihan. ‘’Some of the MDP MPs are not in town, and they knew they were out of number to vote.’’

‘’MDP MPs have even told me like that, and also said they will keep doing it like this until their MPs are back.’’

Nihan also claimed that MDP was obstructing the country from being a democratic nation.

‘’MDP MPs think that this is a parliamentary government, they are not following the pulse of the people – in fact, they are putting forward their self-animosity,’’ he said. ‘’They are killing democracy.’’

MDP MP Ahmed Easa claimed that the speaker of the parliament scheduled a false report that was produced by Nazim himself without the consent of the financial committee.

‘’They deliberately sought to cancel the session, they knew uproar would be triggered inside the chamber when that report is scheduled again for it happened yesterday too,’’ said Easa. ‘’’The Speaker and Deputy Speaker want to smear the respect for MPs in front of the citizens.’’

Easa said all the work at the committee stage were always conducted very unfairly and against the parliament regulation.

‘’If you looked into how members of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) were appointed you will understand how unfairly marks were allocated for the people who expressed interest,” he claimed. “There were six people with PhDs, yet the committee omitted their names.”

Collectively, the Maldives MPs are paid Rf4.7 million (US$366,000) per month.

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Media receives government subsidies

The Finance Ministry has begun distributing Rf4 ($311,000) million in subsidies to private media organisations allocated by Parliament’s finance committee following its review of the 2010 state budget.

VTV, owned by businessman Gasim Ibrahim, received the highest amount (Rf1,060,000), followed by DhiTV (Rf820,000) and DhiFM (Rf434,000).

Other recipients were Radio Atoll (Rf 294,000), Faraway FM (Rf 252,000), Haveeru Daily (Rf 246,000), Aafathis (Rf 162,000), FutureTV (Rf 120,000), Miadhu Daily (Rf 102,000), Haama Daily (Rf 90,000), and HFM (Rf56,000).

Minivan News has not applied for subsidies.

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Q&A: Jonathan Porrit on having faith in the environment

Jonathan Porrit is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development and was chairman of the UK sustainable development commission for nine years until he stepped down in July 2009. He is also the founder and director of Forum for the Future, the UK’s leading sustainable development charity. Porrit’s talk at the Eco Symposium, held last week at Soneva Fushi, was on ‘Leadership for a low carbon world’.

Aishath Shazra: What do you think about the leadership the Maldives has shown so far on climate change?

Jonathon Porrit: Given where Maldives located, its economy and its size, the work of President Nasheed is really special, imaginative and has made an impact.

He has woken people up to the reality faced by small islands. Given that the Maldives is not big and affluent, it has made such an impact which is really something.

But like President Nasheed himself noted, delivering on the promises is a different matter. The Maldives faces enormous challenges in becoming carbon neutral by 2020, and the President knows work needs to start soon to have any prospect of getting there.

AS: You have said that governments are going to take minimal action on this issue until the moment comes when total panic ensues, and that the travel and tourism industry is most at risk of fallout. What is the danger?

JP: If governments do what I fear they will do – that is, not much – the impact on long haul tourism will be huge. If the price of fossil fuel increases dramatically people won’t travel because of cost. This will impact countries like the Maldives that are dependent on long haul travel. This event [the Eco Symposium] and all other initiatives are being held so that doesn’t happen. Nobody wants it to happen so it’s better to plan, in a sensible way, rather than panic.

AS: Words are not powerful enough to bring change. You have said even an image as powerful as the underwater cabinet meeting proved ephemeral to some. What would have an impact enough to bring about the desired change?

JP: Matters connecting to people’s cultures, religions, things that matter to people’s lives. Sustainability will only work when it touches people directly.

AS: You have raised the question of why religious and faith leaders don’t get to the forefront of this issue and take leadership in finding solutions. Do you have more faith in religious leaders than politicians?

JP: For politicians only the next few years matters most, the business of getting re-elected. Religious and faith leaders have a much longer term perspective, and a deeper sense of history. It’s easier for them to overcome the ‘short-termism’. It matters to religious leaders that we are stewards of this world.

In the holy world, this was never as powerful or more evident than in the extraordinary period of Islamic history from the 8th century onwards. The connection with nature that manifested in Islamic culture, in arts and architecture was incredibly strong. Prince Charles, who is very well versed on this subject, has written about Islamic history and its approach to the environment.

AS: Ancient civilisations respected boundaries, so where did we start going wrong? And do you think we can we get back to those boundaries?

JP: At the start of the industrial revolution. We thought we could free ourselves of our limits. We started seeing nature as a source of raw materials, so humanity could grow and grow. Nature became an instrument in man’s progress. But I am convinced that if we can get it back, we will get back to the elements and benefit from it.

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NGO coalition sets up table in front of Arabiyya to hear parent’s complaints

The same NGO coalition that once worked against the banning of alcohol in inhabited islands has now launched a campaign against the education sector of the Maldives, today setting up a table in front of Arabiyya school to collect complaints from parents.

‘’We have received several complaints from parents from different eight schools in Male,’’ said Ibrahim Mohamed, an official of the coalition’s analysing committee. “Parents are co-operating with us and raising their voices, many of them have concerning issues.’’

Ibrahim said the parents were demanding the education sector uphold the religion and article number 36[c] of the constitution.

Article 36 [c] reads ‘’Education shall strive to inculcate obedience to Islam, instil love for Islam, foster respect for human rights, and promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all people.’’

“The education sector of the Maldives is now operated not only against the constitution of the Maldives also against the manifesto of ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP),’’ Ibrahim claimed.

“The fact that President is not taking any action against this proves that he also has an agenda in this.’’

Ibrahim referred to article 67[g] of the constitution and said that making Dhivehi and Islam optional [at A-level] violated the article.

Article 67 (g) demands the preservation and protection of the state religion of Islam, culture, language and heritage of the country.

“It is against democracy to dismiss the voice of the citizens,’’ he said. “We regret that our president is dismissing our voice and refusing to meet us.’’

Yesterday the NGO coalition and some parents gathered near the President’s official residence and demanded to meet the president, before a riot police squad arrived and dispersed the crowd.

The series of gatherings triggered when the education ministry expressed an idea of making all government schools co-educational. Currently all but four are co-educational.

The NGO coalition, religious NGO Salaf, Adhaalath Party and the minority opposition People’s Alliance (PA) strongly condemned the idea.

Deputy Minister of Education Dr Abdulla Nazeer recently told Minivan News the ministry had not decided to mix female and male students in the secondary grades.

“But we have decided to establish primary grades in all the schools,’’ Nazeer said. ‘’So Majeediyya School, Dharumavantha, Ameeniyya and Hiriya will no longer be solely for secondary education.’’

Secondary education will be provided in all the primary schools as well, he added.

The Education Minister Mustafa Luthfy has come under pressure from religious NGOs and other concerned people, following the ministry steering committee’s proposal to make Dhivehi and Islam as optional subjects for A level students.

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Transparency Maldives urges parliament to expedite the appointment of Auditor General

NGO Transparency Maldives has called on the parliament and the executive to expedite the appointment of the new Auditor General.

“Some police investigations and several cases in court based on audit reports have been affected because of the missing Auditor General,” said the NGO’s spokesperson, Aiman Rasheed.

Aiman declined to reveal what the cases were and who they concerned.

‘’The executive has recently alleged that some of the parliamentarians are corrupt, and that could potentially be true, but we are demanding they expedite the appointment of the Auditor General. It’s been nearly five months now,’’ Aiman said.

Aiman noted that the Auditor General’s office was not functioning fully because there was no Auditor General.

“Although we have not said what the cases are and who they involve, we have relevant information that this issue has become an obstacle to the continuing the investigations and court trials,’’ he said.

Parliament in March voted to dismiss Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem, with 43 voting in favour of the no-confidence motion and 28 against, shortly after Naeem demanded a financial audit of past and present government ministers.

The Auditor General was accused of corruption by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for using the government’s money to buy a tie and visit Thulhaidhu in Baa Atoll.

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New Strike Act “terrifying”, say visiting IUF representatives

The International Union of Food workers [IUF] has expressed concern over the government’s new strike regulation at a joint press conference held by the IUF and the Tourism Employment Association of the Maldives (TEAM) today.

Dr Jasper Gross, Information Research Officer of the IUF, said that the new regulations – which requires staff to provide advance notice to employers of any strike action and not to inconvenience guests – violates the constitution of the Maldives. The regulation, if enacted, would contravene decisions of the ILO in regard to the rights of workers to strike.”

The Maldives became a member and accepted the obligations of the ILO constitution last year, becoming the 183rd member of the organisation..

‘’The new legislation is just a birthday gift from the Ministry of Human Resources Youth and Sports to employers,’’ said Dr Jasper. “It is a terrifying Act.”

Dr Jasper stressed that it was “remarkable” how many loopholes were in the regulations, “that basically mean workers cannot strike.”

“We are very very concerned about the new regulations,’’ he repeated.

In August, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) submitted a bill to parliament regulating industrial action conducted by employees in the Maldives, shortly after a strike at Kurumba resort reduced occupancy to zero.

Regional Secretary for IUF Asia Pacific, Ma Wei Pin, also described the new regulations as effectively banning workers from striking, which he believed “violates a basic right of workers”.

“Employers need to respect the rights of the worker, the resort management should accept the local trade union TEAM, and resolve these issues fairly,’’ said Ma Wei. “The suppression of the right of to strike is not helpful.’’

Ma Wei said banning strikes would be an obstacle to establishing a sustainable tourism industry in the country.

“The government needs to encourage workers and resort managements to deal with the trade unions, and urgently needs to deliver laws against the discrimination of trade unions,’’ he said.

Vice Pressident of TEAM Mauroof Zakir said the organisation had never initiated a strike, but only assisted when resort workers took the decision to strike themselves.

“We will stand against these new regulations, and we will bring this issue to the attention of the international community and trade unions,’’ said Mauroof.

Asked whether TEAM’s impartiality was subject to compromise because its President, Ahmed Easa, was also a ruling party MP,  Mauroof insisted Easa was not influenced.

“We are controlled by the resort workers,’’ he explained, “and what Easa is doing in parliament is trying to protect the rights of labors.’’

Ma Wei said the IUF will draw the attention of the government to the fact that the new regulations on striking were inconsistent with the ILO convention.

‘’Everywhere else in the world, when a strike is conducted the customers are inconvenienced,” he said. “But we should also know that strikes have to be conducted due to the carelessness of the management.”

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Strike action

In February this year management at the Centara Grand Island Resort in North Ari Atoll increased the service charge allocated to staff after workers held a strike.

A staff member told Minivan News that the staff held the strike because they were not receiving the service charges agreed them by management, adding that the management had persisted in giving them the lower amount “claiming that the room revenue was very low.”

On April 14 staff at Shangri-La were dismissed after they conducted a strike demanding to reinstate the job of four villa hosts, who were dismissed for playing PlayStation inside a vacant guest room.

More recently in August, more than 150 Maldivian and expatriate staff working at the Kurumba Maldives resort conducted a strike, demanding improvement of staff facilities.

A striking staff member told Minivan News that the 157 staff were striking over “low wages, pathetic accommodation, awful food, communication barriers between staff and management, and discrimination between local and foreign staff.”

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