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“The Island President” to be shown in Maldives

Documentary film “The Island President” will make its debut in the Maldives during the week of November 21. Specifics have not yet been released.

“The Island President” was screened at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, where it received the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary by audience vote. The film was one of 25 submissions in the documentary category.

The documentary was also screened at the exclusive Telluride Film Festival in Colorado earlier this month, where Hollywood Reporter named “The Island President” one of the festival’s “Top 12 films to know”.

The grant-funded film project began in 2009, when Oscar- and Emmy- winning American documentary company Actual Films contacted the Maldives’ newly-elected government. In an interview on Mavericks, Director Jon Shenk said the film was an evolutionary process. “It’s difficult to explain a film that involves a lot of  access and high ratio shooting,” he said, describing his initial proposal to the President. In other interviews, Shenk noted that Nasheed’s candid politics and acceptance of the cameras were key to the film’s success.

“The manner in which he’s done this is quite amazing,” Nasheed said in the same interview. “I myself am realising the things I have done and said, I hope it’s not going to get me in a bad boat! But I think it’s nicely done and I’m sure there’s nothing that anyone should get unnecessarily worked up about.”

Starting with Nasheed’s initial vow to make the Maldives carbon-neutral, the film documents the president’s efforts to make climate change an important issue for politicians around the globe.

“The ability to sustain human life here is very fragile,” Nasheed says in the documentary. “The most important fight is the fight for our survival…. There is impending disaster.”

The film culminates in Copenhagen, where world leaders met in December 2009 for the United National Climate Change Conference. Although the summit was later reviewed as a failure, it did mark the first time that leading world powers agreed that the issue needed to be addressed.

“The Island President” was co-produced by AfterImage Public Media and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with Actual Films and Impact Partners, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, John D. and The Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

The Maldives is the film’s fifth stop on an international tour that has included TIFF, Telluride, Doc NYC and IDFA Amsterdam film festivals. After the Maldives screening it will be shown at the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

State Minister for Tourism Mohamed Thoyyib previously told Minivan News that in spite of its title the documentary was not about President Mohamed Nasheed. Rather, it is about the issues facing the Maldivian people. The film raised awareness of global warming, portrayed and promoted “the unique ” Maldivian culture and language, and illustrated government transparency, he said.

“No scene was created or scripted, some reviewers even noted that the film’s most unique aspect was that it shot real events on a level that had never before been achieved in the Maldives, or within other governments,” Thoyyib said.

Thoyyib also noted that the Maldivian government had benefited a great deal from the film, but had not spent money on its production.

“There is a lot to be achieved directly and indirectly when something positive happens,” he said, adding that tourism revenue was likely to increase. “But this doesn’t solve the issue. The President will keep on raising his voice on global warming.”

President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair today said he didn’t believe the government was officially involved in the upcoming screening, but was optimistic about the event.

“I believe it will be well-received in the Maldives,” he said. “The film delivers a serious but hopeful message, addressing both the issue of climate change while also showing democratic improvements in the government.”

Zuhair elaborated on the country’s progress by comparing use of foreign aid in previous administrations. He hoped the Maldives would be used as an example for other small countries.

“Any small or new country receiving aid from a foreign party should process it democratically. The money received after the tsunami was not disposed of well by the former government, whose methods are highlighted by the ongoing debate in our judicial system. Comparatively, the government procedures that the movie covers show what a young democracy can do to improve transparency. The Maldives now has different democratic assets, and can handle change.”

When asked if the screening bore relevance to the SAARC summit now taking place in Addu City, Zuhair said climate change would be a major talking point. He added that the summit is another indicator of the Maldives’ democratic growth. “SAARC shows our effort to be not just an active, but a proactive member of an international organisation,” he said.

Filmmakers Shenk and Richard Berg will accompany the film to Male’.

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“It’s not as friendly as it used to be”: the price of politics on Maalhos

Eid brings Muslims worldwide together in a shared sense of celebration. It is also a litmus test for change.

Earlier this year councils were elected for the first time on Maldivian islands. Although they allegedly give islands a larger voice in the national dialogue, in some places the shift has rearranged community life.

“The activities are less common – women don’t play and men do less for Eid,” said Haleema Adam, a Maalhos resident.

Her daughter Nazeera attributed the shift to the advent of multi-party democracy.

“The democracy and party systems created divisions, now people don’t always agree on things,” she said. “Now, people make distinctions by party lines. They still go to the celebrations and help cook for big events, but it’s not as friendly as it used to be. If [our family] plans a party, the others won’t come,” she said.

In keeping with most reports from Maldivian islands, Maalhos residents do not find solutions in aggression. “They don’t show anger in the face,” said Nazeera. “But in the heart it’s there, so they don’t want to play at Eid.”

Eid activities are a favored pastime – ask most islanders on Maalhos about the festivities and they will smile as they recollect a favorite food, game or performance. Yet as young people move to Male’ and technology becomes more accessible, the strongest memories seem to rest with the elderly.

At Ramazan, a conche shell is traditionally blown to signal to other islands that the holiday is being observed. Lately, television and radio have eliminated the need, and therefore the tradition.

Electricity has been a useful advent, however. According to Nazeera, boys and girls no longer have to wait for a full moon to play gon kulhun, a night time game of tag and capture.

Aneesa Adam has many grandchildren, and has lived on Maalhos for most of her life. She remembers a swing that was traditionally hung from a tall palm tree before Eid prayer and used by children throughout the holiday.

“Now, the really tall palm trees have gone,” she said. “They were cut down to build the jetty. A nearby resort bought the trees and in exchange built our jetty.”

The game of fankulhun, a palm leaf version of dodge ball played by women, has fallen in the wake of uncompromising fashions. “Now, we’re too fashionable, too western to play those running games,” said Aminath Nasiha. Another girl gestured to her hijaab.

The changes in Eid traditions are most noticeable by women, who note that activities faded with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

“Religious people don’t like activities that gather men and women together. Those who are in charge of the activities have also become more religious, so they can decide what happens,” said Haleema. “Islanders like the activities, women especially, but most have stopped with religion. We don’t like the change.”

“We used to have Women’s day and Fisherman’s day and all those days,” said Haleema. “The women would cook and we’d bring the food in a keyn (large dish) to the school, because it was the only communal space big enough for everyone to gather.” She said the practice stopped four years ago when sheikhs disapproved.

Maalhos residents used to cook on the 40th day after a death to remember the life of the deceased. “We thought it was a Muslim tradition, but now they are saying it is a waste and not good,” said one resident.

Mosques have been gradually segregated over the years, but now women report being told to pray at home. Maalhos has four mosques, two for men and two for women.

Entertainment has been restricted as well. Haleema said local authorities oppose concerts and dance shows as well as a variety of traditional activities. On a quiet island, few options remain.

Several sports-based games featuring women are less common, or are played on a quieter level within families or household units. Women interviewed said they used to play bodu beru, a traditional drumming music still featured at most events. None could explain why they had stopped.

At a bodu beru celebration this Eid girls encouraged onlooking foreigners to dance. When asked if they would join, most girls gestured to their hijaab or burqa and shrugged. “You should have come two years ago, I was dancing then, oh!” said one girl. “But then I took up this [burqa], and that changed.”

“It’s just not very comfortable to dance with this long dress,” said another.

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Five lessons for the Arab Spring learned in the Maldives: Time

“Observers of the Arab Spring are wondering what will become of these revolutions once the euphoria subsides and the struggle over democracy grows apace,” writes Jyoti Thottam for Time Magazine.

“There is one corner of South Asia where these questions hit particularly close to home.

In October 2008, voters in this 100 percent Sunni Muslim nation decisively threw out Maumoon Gayoom, the man who had ruled the Maldives for 30 years, making him Asia’s longest-serving ruler. The 41-year-old Nasheed, a human rights activist and longtime critic of the regime, became president, riding a euphoric wave of idealism. As one of his allies told my colleague Ishaan Tharoor, ‘We are not interested in revenge. Now is the time to look to our future.’

So what’s happened to the Maldives since then? On a visit there earlier this year, I found a country that was roiled with protests over rising prices and joblessness, where many people were deeply uneasy about the new prominence enjoyed by Islamists and where the former dictator’s presence still loomed large.

“Despite those challenges, its new democracy is firmly in place. Every country will take its own path, but there are some useful lessons.

1. Don’t be afraid of the Islamists.

In the Maldives, the conservative Islamist Adhaalath Party was until recently a key political ally of Nasheed’s government. The partnership, while it lasted, wasn’t easy. To keep the Islamists happy, for example, Nasheed did little to change the country’s extremely punitive apostasy laws. In an interview with me in Malé, Ahmed Shaheed, a top foreign policy official in Nasheed’s government, explained the rationale for working with the Islamists — their grassroots appeal: ‘That’s where the mullahs excel. On a daily basis they talk to them, five daily prayers, other events, in constant touch with them and as Muslim people who want to know about Islam, about rituals and so on so there is a lot of contact between the mullahs and these lot.’

It turned out that their popular support in local elections wasn’t as strong as anticipated. But the Islamists aren’t just a political force; they’ve also been pushing for the establishment of religious schools, and for expanding the extensive links between madrassas in Pakistan and students from the Maldives.

For all those reasons, Nasheed wanted to keep the Islamists involved in the political process, rather than allowing them to develop into a separate, unaccountable power center. At least for now, the strategy seems to be working. I spoke to Ibrahim Fauzee, head of the extremely conservative Islamic Foundation of the Maldives and a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay (he was picked up in Pakistan in 2002 and repatriated without charges after three years). He does not, however, challenge the legitimacy of Nasheed’s government. He told me: ‘Now we have much more freedom, because we are opening our eyes to the world, following democracy. The nation is going to accept democracy. It’s encouraging us to promote religious activities. We can hold programs. Before, it’s not easy to arrange events in open areas.’

Those events and programs sometimes make liberal Maldivians shudder. The radical preacher Zakir Naik (said to have inspired the accused would-be American militant Najibullah Zazi) spoke to a crowd of thousands in Malé last year, at the invitation of the Islamic Foundation. The real test will come now, with the Adhaalath Party in the opposition.

2. Do worry about the economy.

During the first week of May, the capital city of Malé went through a week of nightly protests, in which young people filled the narrow streets to express their anger over the government’s decision to partially float the rufiyaa (the local currency), a move that led to a sudden drop in its value and a spike in prices. Many in the government suspected that the protests were organized by opposition parties; whether that’s true of not, it was a wake-up call for the government.

‘It was ironic because in the Middle East we saw people wanting to bring down dictators, and here it is the other way round,’ press secretary Mohamed Zuhair told me. ‘We have already brought down the dictator. Probably what happens here might play out in the Middle East.’

3. Be ready for ghosts.

After he was ousted from power, former president Gayoom wasn’t killed or exiled; he still lives in the capital, Malé, and is still a leader of the Progressive Party of the Maldives. He may never be elected president again, but he still wields an enormous amount of influence – most Maldivians have never known any other leader. Even officials in the government sometimes find it hard to hide their animosity toward the man whom they blame for decades of human rights abuses. When a dictator rules for 30 years, his support networks don’t dry up overnight.

4. Expect pragmatic foreign policy.

During Gayoom’s rule, foreign policy was largely put to the service of keeping him in power. In 1988, when faced with a coup d’etat, Gayoom invited the Indian military in to help him. India obligingly sent in paratroopers and put down the rebellion within a matter of hours, further strengthening the Gayoom regime’s ties with India. Of course, that didn’t stop him from also courting Pakistan — where thousands of Maldivians students have studied in madrassas. Since the new government came to office, those two relationships are still by far the most important. India is the acknowledged regional superpower, although its economic support is now much more important than its military support. And until the Maldives expands and improves its schools, devout Maldivian families will continue to send their children to Pakistani madrassas in the absence of any better option.

5. Create strong institutions, not just governments.

Perhaps the most important lesson — one that I heard over and over in my conversations with Maldivians — is that after dramatic political change, a country has to turn its attention to civil society. The nature of any authoritarian regime is that it extends itself into every institution — from schools to the media to the police and judiciary. The hard work of the post-revolution revolutionaries is taking those institutions back and making them truly independent.

One of the most inspiring people I met was Aminath Arif, founder of the Salaam School and a longtime campaigner for education and women’s rights. She was full of creative ideas to improve the skills and employability of young people in the Maldives so the all-important tourism industry wouldn’t need to bring in so many guest workers. She even supported the radical idea of relocating most of the country’s populations to the two largest islands, to make it more feasible for the government to build bigger, better primary schools. Sadly, she died in July after suffering burns in an accident. Her work, and that of the Maldives’ new democracy, continues.”

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Palm pyre, koadi and coloured water: Maalhos celebrates Eid

While government officials flock to Addu for international convention SAARC and Male’ residents enjoy a calm holiday atmosphere, islands across the Maldives are welcoming family and friends home for Eid celebrations.

The island of Maalhos in Arif Atoll has been preparing since last week.

Male’-based residents who arrived last Thursday, November 3 spent the following day and evening preparing curries, rice, poppadums and juices for those cousins, children and guests hitching an overnight fishing dhoni from Male’ on Saturday, November 5.

November 6 began with an unofficial sunrise burning of a palm pyre on a beach facing several nearby islands, a traditional signal that Maalhos is celebrating Eid.

Residents later flocked to an extended morning prayer, filling Maalhos’ four gender-distinct mosques. Afterwards the traditional exchange of invitations to eat at neighbors’ houses began, and doors, kitchens and tables became communal property as grandmothers and aunts shuttled dishes and glasses of fruit juice from hand to hand.

A quiet island of population 800, Maalhos actually houses 200-300 people at any given time – most residents live in Male’ or work at sea. During Eid, however, a steady stream of school children, adolescents and mothers-to-be bring gossip and activity into the island streets and homes.

When asked how Eid days compare to typical Maalhos days, most interviewed replied, “It’s the same. We don’t do much, we are just here.” What is their favorite part of Eid? “Food!,” said many, listing favorites such as mahdu (a Maldivian cake), bondi bai (a round rice sweet) and kashi key, a fruit which falls from trees at bowling ball size and is commonly exported for sale in Male’.

One islander observed that Maalhos has shed some of its traditional Eid practices, but maintained that “it’s a very fun holiday, we have food and play. We like to see the traditional cultural games and hear Maldivian music, like bodu beru.”

Eid holidays last one week beginning November 5, however festivities are condensed into the first four days.

In addition to the first days’ morning torch, Maalhos’ youth flirtatiously ambushed each other with sacks and bottles of red water on their way to the sea. Those wearing white walked at their own risk.

In the late afternoon, married and unmarried men challenged each other to a friendly football match near the harbor; women will carry out their own game later today.

Late in the evening, a procession of men dressed as women and old sages paraded through the streets amidst clouds of flour tossed by onlookers (vedhumaa dhiun). Following young male dancers to the island’s president, the leader requested permission to “play” on the second day of Eid. A bodu beru group performed by the harbor in the evening’s finale.

Today, males of all ages assembled by the beach to build the traditional koadi, an array of coconuts, papayas, flowers and coconut palm leaves inscribed with raivaru (poems) recounting local romances and juicy gossip.

“It’s a tradition, but it’s just for fun,” said Koki, a Maalhos girl home for the school holidays. “They march the koadi through the streets with bodu beru and then put it on a girl’s head and chase her. Everyone tries to destroy the koadi by tearing off the palm leaves and passing around the poems.”

Women and children greeted the male procession by tossing sacks and vats of colored water over house walls. Afterwards, procession members paraded Maalhos’ streets with their own colored waters, chasing girls into their houses.

Although Maalhos will not host activities for the next two days of Eid, an islander said the island’s traditions are similar to those of other Maldivian islands.

“I don’t know why we don’t do these celebrations any more, I think nowadays many things are changing,” said islander. A few girls nearby suggested that religion was a factor. He said there was more than just religion, but concluded that “on Maalhos, it will be quiet except for maybe a concert or a football game.”

Traditionally, the third day of Eid is marked with a mahdi and bodumas, a large fish constructed from palm leaves and paraded around the island. Day four is designated for black mali, or people who paint themselves in black and throw black balls at residents, wearing only palm leaf skirts.

Many say Eid’s rhythm isn’t a far cry from the average Maalhos day. A quiet island whose population has mostly migrated to Male’, its holiday habits suggest a strong focus on communal stability rather than a need for razzle dazzle. Minivan’s repeated inquiries about the history of Eid festivities consistently yielded a satisfying, simple response: “It’s tradition, it’s just for fun.”

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‘Dolphin Lagoon’ to offer conservation, education, recreation

The government’s decision to lease a lagoon to a dolphin habitation and family recreation project proposed by top tennis player Amir Mansoor will not force the marine creatures into captivity, and will support conservation efforts for one of the ocean’s most personable yet at-risk inhabitants.

On October 4, the Cabinet deliberated on a paper submitted by the Finance Ministry to lease a lagoon, location unspecified, for a dolphin habitation and training center.

While program specifics have not been officially released, an individual who has participated in such programs elsewhere and is familiar with the Maldives’ project informed Minivan News that the lagoon project is as much a conservation effort with educational motives as it is a recreational enterprise.

Correcting local media’s use of the word “trainer”, the source said the project will create “an open water program during which the dolphins will accompany the care takers on daily unstructured excursions,” and defined the role of caretaker as “taking a dog for a walk. This isn’t a Seaworld enterprise, with hoops and balls for public entertainment.”

While the lagoon program does not aim to put dolphins on display for commercial purposes, the source acknowledged that “it is an industry, you can’t deny that. People want to swim with dolphins. But this program is saying, ‘make it sensible.'”

Demonstrations will be offered but sources say they will be educational, not commercial.

“The demonstrations will show what dolphins are capable of, their speed, their use of eco-location, and other details. It will be fun, but education is the goal. Many people don’t know the basic facts of a dolphin’s lifestyle,” said source.

She added that reachout programs will be established with local public schools, handicapped organisations and orphanages.

The site is also being planned as “a place to spend the day,” featuring billiards, table tennis, photography, a restaurant, and play areas. With daily ferries from Male’, the cost will be friendly to locals.

“Above all, we’re trying to offer both locals and expatriates something to do. The dolphin program is a part of this larger recreational plan,” she summarized.

Freedom: the benchmark for success

The dolphin program includes two lagoons: a 1 kilometre living area surrounded by nets and allowing for free flow of water and fish, and a second, much larger area for excursions. The design is intended to simulate a natural habitat.

“The proposed lagoon is the largest for the small number of dolphins that will inhabit it in the world,” said one source. “It’s so spacious that if the dolphins don’t want to participate in an activity or hang around divers, they can just swim off. The philosophy is, ‘we’ll reward what you like, but you ignore what you don’t like’.”

The program follows a blueprint first attempted by the United States Navy in the 1960s. Since then, several conservation-based facilities have opened in the Caribbean with consistent levels of success.

Freedom is a critical benchmark: “Since the dolphins accompany trainers on daily excursions to the open ocean, it is clear to most people that the dolphins are free to leave or choose to return ‘home’,” said Director of Dolphins and Programs for the Curacao Dolphin Academy and President of the Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network (SCCN) George Kieffer.

Dolphins have allegedly exhibited natural behavior in these facilities including hunting, breeding and social ranking.

Though given the option to swim off, sources observe that dolphins willingly return to their enclosed living space when excursions are over. “They like to be intrigued and challenged, so the programs are always offering new exercises. If you were to put dolphins in a lagoon and just feed them, they would be very unhappy. As long as the challenges keep coming, the dolphins appear to be happy.”

“Make it sensible”

While some activists criticise any form of animal captivity, others suggest that open water programs are protecting the dolphin species.

Kieffer said programs similar to that proposed in the Maldives receive significantly less criticism than marine parks or inland aquariums, and nearly all negative claims have been “demonstrably untrue.”

“The success would appear to be measured by all three [existing facilities] having not only self-sustaining breeding populations, but increasing populations,” he said. As these populations surpass facility capacities, others such as the Maldives’ lagoon program are being endorsed.

“Once these animals have been bred and raised in open water programs, they can’t be released into the wild,” said a source familiar with the programs. “It’s better to find a way to keep them healthy. The program in the Maldives is good because these dolphins need a place to go.”

Rather than capture and train indigenous bottlenose dolphins, the Maldives’ lagoon program will import dolphins already bred in similar facilities. The bottlenose does well in human care, said Kieffer, preferring “small numbers within a social group and shallow water. [Maldives’] local dolphins such as the pan-tropical spotted dolphin and the spinner dolphin prefer deep water and hundreds of individuals within a large moving social group.”

Minivan asked Kieffer if the world’s oceans are safe for dolphins.

“Sadly no; they are vulnerable to the swift and diverse pressures human activities are placing on the sea. Dolphins and whales have endured over 50 million years of the ocean’s natural stresses and strains. And now in just the past several decades, our impact on the seas has rendered them fragile.

“Dolphins are a charismatic species that attracts human attention. The popularity of aquariums, zoos, and interactive programs highlights this point. When people have the opportunity to intimately view and interact with dolphins, they have the potential to form a cognitive and emotional connection – one that has the potential to arouse individuals to care for their new-found friends and become involved in marine causes.”

Local objections

Reports of the ‘dolphin lagoon’ were earlier published by local daily Haveeru. Individuals affiliated with the program said responses have not been positive.

Local dive magazine Scuba Tribe subsequently launched a campaign against the dolphin lagoon on social media outlets Facebook and Twitter.

Scuba Tribe’s argument begins by stating that “little is known how this project would proceed.”

“A training center for dolphins or a lagoon where tourists would come up to see them by paying a fee to see them is out of the question as they all can see them in the wild every single day. Local resorts and dive centers have regular dolphin watching cruises that happen on a daily basis,” reports the Scuba Tribe website.

A source familiar with diving practices in the Maldives claimed that many tour boats are not trained to approach dolphins, and that excessive diving in popular sites such as Hanifaru Bay has pushed fish populations away from these locations.

“Tourists can be seen jumping by the dozens into the water, pushing to see the animals,” she said, noting that in August up to 17 boats could be seen at Hanifaru at one time. “This year was really disappointing for diving, because it was out of control. Why aren’t groups like Scuba Tribe worrying about this? Crowding on dive sites, disappearance of species like the whale shark from their favored areas, these are issues that are affecting the natural world and will soon affect the tourism industry as well. Everyone is involved.”

Hanifaru reef became a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 2009 and a Core Area of the Biosphere Reserve after “intense tourism activities…threatened [the site’s] sustainability.” Activities are now subject to a site management plan.

Dolphins are most challenged by the impact of human activity in their habitat. Pollution, entanglement in fishing gear, collision with boats and unsafe fishing practices are a few examples. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society cites coastal development, particularly for marine tourism, and chemical pollution as leading threats.

“Dolphins are also killed unintentionally in gill net, drift net, and purse-seine fishing practices around the world,” Kieffer said.

Purse seining, a fishing method whereby a vessel deploys an enormous net to encircle and capture entire schools of fish at once, “is very cost effective but indiscriminate, and generates a large amount of bycatch,” wrote Minivan News in a recent article. The practice is allegedly done in waters fringing on the Maldives’ national borders. “Nothing escapes,” Solah Mohamed, Head of Production for the Maldives’ Felivaru fish cannery, said of the practice.

Director of environmental NGO Bluepeace Ahmed Ikram said the NGO did not have a position on the lagoon program but was soliciting public opinion.

“We are aware of the project and are publicizing it through Facebook and Twitter to see what the public response is. Then we will analyze and discuss the results in the next week.”

Ikram said that the Maldives’ many environmentally-relevant projects has kept Blue Peace busy and made it difficult to focus on individual projects, such as the lagoon.

“This seems to be part of a progression of projects aimed at eco-tourism which do not quite live up to expectations,” he surmised. “It looks like everything is for sale, and most of it is for tourism.”

The downside of publicity

Publicity is a driving factor in Maldives tourism, however one source suggested that it can be too much.

“National Geographic did a report on Hanifaru Bay, and now tourists are all coming and saying, ‘We want to go to Hanifaru.’ As a result, it became a protected area. To protect the dive site, you have to control traffic.”

In 2009, documentary film “The Cove” turned the international eye on Japan’s dolphin hunting culture and industry. Its implications for dolphin centers have proved damaging.

According to the film, Japanese fishermen entrap dolphins and sell them to international buyers, some of whom work for marine entertainment organisations such as Seaworld. The remaining dolphins are slaughtered and sold as food, often labeled as fish or whale meat, “The Cove” website alleges.

Dolphin meat has been debated as unsafe for human consumption.

A source argues that the film’s implication that dolphin centers around the world cooperate with the Japanese industry is inaccurate and harmful to legitimate conservation programs.

“Dolphins which are exported or sold for business purposes go through very strict documentation procedures,” she said. “None of the parks in the US, Caribbean or Europe have dolphins that originated in Japan, and they have the proper paperwork to prove it.”

The source added that the film’s message has made dolphin program development more controversial. “If we did import dolphins from Japan, we would be accused of sustaining slaughter,” she said.

Minivan News subsequently learned that the Maldives’ lagoon dolphins will not come from Japan, and will be examined by American scientists to ensure that local wild dolphins are not negatively affected.

Avoiding the tourist trap

Keiffer shared his understanding of the Maldives’ facility with Minivan News: “From what I’ve learned, your local facility will not be a run-of-the-mill tourist trap looking to “cash-in” on dolphin popularity by any means necessary. On the contrary, I believe it is striving to be one of a very few organizations setting the standards by which dolphin display facilities are expected to meet if they truly intend to convey a sense of respect and appreciation for the animals under their care.”

He added that the facility’s success would demand caretakers be able to support the dolphins’ physical and emotional needs.

A local source compared the proposal to other operations. “Dolphins are in appalling conditions in some places. Aquariums, for instance – that’s a real cage. People should be opposing those. But this is a totally different ballgame.”

If approved by the government, the facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. An official title has not yet been selected.

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Comment: The inappropriate history of early Maldives

Maldives National Museum, a multi-million dollar gift from the Chinese government, had only just been opened in 2010 when a local visitor protested loudly to staff that its Buddhist era sculpture was a modern forgery. A few days before, this writer had difficulty finding a Maldivian official willing to be photographed in a museum storage room full of Buddhist/Hindu sculpture awaiting installation in the exhibition hall.

Maldivians are not alone in finding their history uncomfortable. Take for example the current efforts in some states of the USA to suppress and distort history textbooks concerning American slavery and the Civil War, or the refusal by many European Australians to accept the reality of the attempted genocide of the Aboriginal people. In the UK, the crucial story of Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War has been sidelined, and the importance of slavery for the British empire and its aristocratic investors has only recently been acknowledged.

Responsibility for local ignorance of Maldives’ history lies in part with the country’s writers.  Indigenous historians such as Hassan Maniku and Naseema Mohamed have written detailed English accounts of Buddhist era Maldives based on historical records and archaeological research, but little of their work has been translated into Dhivehi. Excellent books about the origins of Maldivian culture by Clarence Maloney and Xavier Romero-Frias cannot be purchased in Maldives, and have not been translated for Dhivehi readers.

Only the British colonial administrator and archaeologist H. C. P. Bell has been given official recognition. This was due to Bell’s collaboration and friendship with Atirige Ibrahim Didi. He and his descendants and relatives basically ruled Maldives until the middle of the 20th century.

Bell’s research in 1922 verified the Buddhist nature of many Maldivian ruins, but formal recognition of his findings did not occur until the 1980s as part of a government effort to cultivate support among Ibrahim Didi’s descendants, who remain an important and respected part of the modern Male’ elite.

Recognition of Bell’s work was not accompanied by digestion of his findings and, for many Maldivians, the pre-Islamic past remains as mysterious as it was in 1922. It is still possible to read contemporary articles that claim Maldivian history is ‘lost in the mists of time’ – a hollow phrase since those mists began to clear ninety years ago.

The six hundred year period before the official Islamic conversion of 1153 seems to have been a prosperous period, and it is likely the country experienced strong population growth. Despite the collapse of the Roman empire, the economic sun was still shining in the Indian Ocean. Sea trade between the Middle East and China boomed, and Persian and Arab navigators were not afraid to sail the mid-ocean routes to Indonesia and China through Maldives.

The recent discovery of what has become known as the Tang treasure ship in Indonesia finally silenced historians who claimed there was no real evidence of these trade routes. The shipwreck also adds weight to written records that traders utilised Maldivian island ports and channels between the atolls.

Arab navigator Ahamad Ibn Majid, writing in 1490, traced the sources of his Indian Ocean sailing knowledge to the South Indian Chettiar navigators who preceded the Persians and Arabs. Arab navigators gave sailing directions to many ports in Maldives, as far south as Huvadhu atoll, Fua Mulak and Addu. Since the Pole Star was once higher off the northern horizon than it is now, early Indian Ocean navigators could find latitudes for these atolls without difficulty.

Modern research supports those few historians who have suggested that Indian Ocean trading extended back at least to the era of the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilisations. Cloves have been found inside a kitchen pottery jar at the home of Puzurum, a land-agent living in Syria on the Euphrates river around 1721 BC. This spice must have come from Indonesia, or more exactly, from five tiny islands off the west coast of Halmahera.

Charles and Frances Pearce, in their book Oceanic Migration published in 2010, assert that spice traders based on islands between the ancient land masses of Sunda (Asia-western Indonesia) and Sahul (New Guinea-Australia) have been crossing the open sea for at least 40,000 years. For much of that time, scientific research indicates the oceans were lower, the currents stronger and the sea surface temperature up to 5 degrees celsius higher.

Over the last ten years, according to the Pearces, ‘genetic research has established… Halmahera as the ancient Polynesian homeland.’ They argue that Spice Island traders following ‘three of the four major fast warm currents flowing out of what oceanographers call the West Pacific Warm Pool were able to traverse vast ocean distances. In two periods, separated by a global cold period between 1000 BC and 400 BC, they followed these currents west to Madagascar and East Africa, north to Japan, Hawaii and America and south to New Zealand.’

The Pearces’ thesis has similarities to Thor Heyerdahl’s claims that ancient seafarers crossed the globe, with the important difference that they were based in Indonesia rather than the Americas. This has interesting implications for the Maldives, and suggests that people from Indonesia were visiting the atolls, and perhaps living here, well before its settlement from the subcontinent.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Cabinet passes, ACC challenges Nexbis border control system

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a court case against the Rf500 million Border Control System proposed by the Department of Immigration and Emigration and signed by the government in November 2010.

Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited has been contracted to develop the system.

ACC’s case follows yesterday’s Cabinet decision to resume the border control programme with Nexbis. ACC has not revealed details of the case, and had not responded to inquiries at time of press.

Officials close to the matter said corruption was a concern. Earlier this year, the ACC had asked the government to halt program proceedings on suspicion of corruption during the bidding process.

Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid told Minivan News that the government maintains its aim to launch the system after Eid festivities and SAARC events have been concluded this month.

“It is common in most developed and developing countries to have an electronic border control system, such as this one,” said Shahid, noting that Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand had already subscribed to similar programs.

Immigration Department had signed a 20-year build, operate, and transfer (BOT) concession contract with Nexbis on October 17, 2010 when the ACC requested the department adjourn the signing ceremony due to a “serious” public complaint.

Nexbis shares immediately plunged 6.3 percent on the back of the ACC’s announcement. The company subsequently issued a statement claiming that speculation over corruption was “politically motivated” and had “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”

President Mohamed Nasheed upheld the ACC’s request in January 2011, and in late May the Cabinet deliberated the matter and approved the programme, overruling the ACC’s reservations.

However, operations were stalled and in August, Nexbis threatened legal action against the Maldives’ Immigration Department if action on the border control agreement was not taken. The company had allegedly bought equipment and paid import duties to the government, and was incurring losses while waiting for a resolution from the Maldivian government.

The Rf500 million project would install an electronic border gate system in Male’s Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), bringing technological upgrades such as facial recognition, fingerprint identification and e-gates to the Maldives, which has struggled with loose immigration policies and reports of human trafficking.

The Maldives currently holds a 10-year contract for passport production and scanning services with an Austrian company, Shahid said.

Local media has reported that the Nexbis program does not include the expected technological upgrades including automated facial recognition, e-gates and passport production. Shahid confirmed today that those features are included in the program.

“The Nexbis system would make the immigration and security process simpler and more secure for everyone involved,” he said.

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Comment: India speaks for small countries and establishes its credential in the CHOGM

In the recently conducted Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in
Perth from October 28-30, it was established that in the 21st century, the head of
the Commonwealth is shifting from London to New Delhi with the rise of India as
a Great Power.

Looking at the events leading up to the CHOGM and the outcome proves that
India has elbowed other countries in the CHOGM, which includes its former colonial
master Britain and aspiring Great Power in the Asia Pacific, Australia.

The western countries in the CHOGM, namely Britain, Australia and New
Zealand, wanted to pin the countries which were ruled by colonial masters before
by bringing about an institution which monitor the human rights in those
countries. This move was scuttled by India saying quite bluntly that CHOGM
should focus more on developmental challenges rather than bringing up the
issue of human rights for which there’s a better multi-lateral institution called the
United Nations.

India also went on to highlight the hypocrisy of the western nations and the
double-standards that they follow in pursuing lofty utopian concepts called human
rights. While the western world is keen to have the status-quo monarchies in
power in the Middle-East to serve their oil-benefits, they’re ready to wield a big
stick against countries like Fiji, Maldives and Sri Lanka which are in the fringes of
their geo-strategic objectives.

If the CHOGM is anything to go by, it’s clear that India has graduated itself from a regional power in South Asia to a Great Power in Asia Pacific that
can speak for the smaller nations in Africa, Latin America and Africa. India’s
pursuance of tactful diplomacy is done with an objective; it understands that
it needs the support of these countries for its candidature in the United Nations
Security Council.

Second, India would also not be conducting its diplomacy based on utopian
concepts like Human Rights while its near competitor is having a free-run for the resources in the Global South’s developing countries. It’s just a matter of time
before India will join the race with China to carve out “Spheres of Influence” in these regions, defining its neo-colonial pursuits. The last image that India will try to project is a torch-bearer of old power players from the West.

On the other hand, it’s good that India has finally understood its diplomatic strength. As the country which houses the most English speakers in the world, it has lived up to the expectation of filling the void left by Great Britain in the realm of Great Powers through the Commonwealth Nations. This point has been stated in the book “Reconnecting Britain and India,” published in 2010.

It’s here that a bit of appreciation for India’s founding fathers is needed.

Despite coming out of the colonial rule from the British and having staunch
opposition from the Indian population against joining the Commonwealth nations,
it was felt that a day will come when India as a Great Power could use its past for
the future. CHOGM has been the starting point of that ambition.

On that note, it will interesting to see on how India conducts its affairs in the
much-expected South Asian Affairs of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) summit scheduled in Maldives from 10th to 11th of this month.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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50 percent of Second Chancers employed: Home Ministry

Nearly half of the 300 inmates released under the Second Change Programme are employed or earning incomes, the Home Ministry has reported.

Speaking to program participants at the Islamic Centre last evening, State Home Minister Mohamed ‘Monaza’ Naeem said any convicts who violate any of the 25 conditions for their release would be sent back to jail, Haveeru reports.

In September, six convicts released under the program were apprehended for allegedly dealing and using drugs. Three were sent to detoxification centers.

Most of the program’s convicts are living in Male’ (217), while 113 are living in the atolls. Only 100 participants attended last evening’s program, designed to give advice.

Naeem was disappointed in the turnout, and said he expected a better attendance next time, reports Haveeru.

The government intends to continue the program, partially designed to relieve the Maldives’ prison system from overcapacity. Program participants were encouraged to disregard criticism of the program, previously expressed by the Adhaalath Party.

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