Tag: Nasheed

Sri Lanka’s US$10 million line of credit to build roads, relationships

A US$10 million line of credit for imported Sri Lankan goods has been established via Bank of Ceylon, President Mohamed Nasheed announced during his radio address yesterday morning.

The President said the agreement, which was signed by governments of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, will help those merchants importing goods from Sri Lanka, and reduce burdens caused by a shortage of foreign currency in the Maldives.

The President said that as part of the agreement, Sri Lanka will construct six   kilometer road in Addu City. This contribution will help the Maldivian government prepare for the SAARC Summit, to be held in Addu this year. The credit is also expected to finance additional high quality main roads in Feydhoo, Maradhoo and Maradhoo-Feydhoo of Addu City, the President reported.

President Nasheed said he is hopeful for improved mutual relations between the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nasheed added that the Sri Lankan president has offered his full support in making the 2011 SAARC Summit successful.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Letter on freedom and the Maldives

Dear Maldives,

I would like to share my story with you guys, to reflect on the prospect of freedom in the Malsdives.

In July 2001, as a student of Humanities at Curtin University in Western Australia, I met, fell in love with and married a Maldivian woman, an ‘overseas student’ from my Political Sciences class.

Due to certain painful complications, although pregnant with my first ever child, the Australian government was threatening to send my wife back to the Maldives.

Preparing myself to live and work in the Maldives to be with my wife and baby, I looked up the Maldives on the net. I wanted to learn something about the ‘culture’ of the Maldives so that I had an idea of how to go about fitting in.

Guess what came up.

The Maldives Culture website and its terrifying tales of a nation run by a murderous dictator who brutally imposed a rigid, mental strait jacket on his people through the control of the religious thought of his people enraged me.

Images of murder and torture imposed on any who dared to think with their own minds, or exercise an ounce of independent thought, religious free thinking or existential creativity caused me to tremble with indignation that a people could be so repressed. I felt this with a particularly fierce intensity seems I have always deeply cherished creative religious thought. My own background involved personal rebellion against the church I had been brought up in, so I was an individualistic oddball even by post-modern western standards, you might say.

Yet, still believing that for love, the sacrifice of self was noble, I decided I would be conformed to whatever I had to be to make sure I could be with my wife and child-to-be. I would allow this Maumoon to control my mind if it meant I was given a visa to be with my family in the Maldives, as it seemed at that stage they had to go back to Maldives. I felt I had no choice.

The next set of complications started when it became difficult to get our marriage registered in the Maldives. Although one particularly kind Maldivian gentleman tried hard to submit our marriage registration papers to Maldivian authorities and get our marriage validated so that I could get a visa, we kept on getting feedback such as, how can I prove my conversion to Islam was not just for marriage purposes? I received letters from the Imam to verify my revert status, certificates, yet the Maldivian Government still was not satisfied that I was genuine.

I began to panic.

I had nightmares of my wife being whipped for adultery and my son being brought up as a half-caste, illegitimate, ostracised nobody in the Maldives, a “bastard’ to use the term in its technical sense. I was told that this was a particularly grave shame in the Maldives. My hatred of Maumoon, who I believed would do this to my family, my fear of him became so intense, that I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

For the sake of my wife’s health, I put on a brave face as though nothing was wrong. When my son was finally born, my wife fell unconscious. I held my newborn baby son in my arms, loving him, so protective. Not knowing if I would keep him or lose him, I clung to him like a desperate madman. In front of everyone, I broke down and wept all over him, I loved him so much; I could not hold my pain inside me any longer. He was so beautiful, and here was I, his Daddy, who loved him so much, yet felt so completely helpless and afraid, so utterly powerless, and the grief was tearing my soul apart.

It took another six difficult years to have this issue resolved. I was in hell, not knowing whether Australian immigration or Maldivian immigration were going to come through. These were years of panic and immense stress. In that time, we had another child, and my interest in Maldivian politics became deep and personal.

The problem became harder when Abdullah Yameen Abdul-Gayoom came to Perth for a week to settle his son into studies. Trying all I could to get things done in the Maldives, I met up with him and tried to patronise him to use him to get some help for me. Sadly, that plan backfired on me viciously.

During these years, I found myself inspired and encouraged by reading about one particularly brave hero, Mohammed ‘Anni’ Nasheed, and the sufferings and the torture he went through fighting a non-violent struggle against this ruthless dictator Maumoon. This Nasheed character was embedded into my imagination as the archetype of courage, freedom, strength, justice, compassion and liberty.

Though I had never met him, he became something like a cult figure to me. I believed that he was suffering so that all oppressed Maldivians could be free. I believed that he was suffering for me. In my confused, anxious, distressed mind, I felt a deep spiritual bond with this guy, although, at that time he would not have known that I even existed.

Just as the endurance, the non-violence and the suffering of Mohammed Nasheed became the hope of oppressed Maldivians, he became my hope as well.

When my issue was finally resolved, I went to the Maldives for three months. The first thing I did was march into the MDP office wishing to offer my support. Anni and a host of other high profile MDP characters were there as there was some important MDP conference coming up. It was about a year before Anni became President. So I met Anni, and the most embarrassing thing happened. All my stress and anger at Maumoon and Yameen flew out of my mouth in that second. I exploded with rage, sadness, I was trembling. Years of pent up pressure, fear, confusion and anger was released onto Anni. I have no doubt he thought I was a total mad man, and he would have been right. Before I could explain myself to him calmly and plainly, I was whisked out of that MDP office as I had a sea plane to catch. Though I tried desperately hard to meet with Anni again to explain myself clearly, it was never meant to be.

Although my hero ‘Anni’ no doubt remembers me as a mad man, to this day, I still revere him for the sacrifices he made to oust a dictator.

This is why it is so hard for me to mentally digest it if it seems that Anni may have been involved in shady deals (bribing MP’s for example) even if they were deals done in desperation to secure the common good of the Maldives. My education and rational mind tells me, Ben, you know what politics is, don’t be so damned naïve. My rational mind is screaming, you know the way that reality works Ben, get the hell over it, power corrupts, and the path to power is corrupt.

My rational mind knows that the MDP is not entirely a bunch of humanitarian martyrs. I know that MDP has the support of both the liberal thinkers and the previously disgruntled businessmen whose motives may not be national interest. Yet my imagination, my creative mind says NO, not Anni, not he, my hero. It hurts me to digest the truth, but, I am a man, so I am digesting the truth, as unsettling as it is. I went through this same painful loss of faith when I left my church, and I am doing it again. I will be less naïve with my comments from now on.

However, if ever I met Anni again, I would like to remind him, that he is still the hope of many Maldivians for freedom and justice.

President Mohammed Anni Nasheed, I would like to remind you, that for many painful years, you were the hope of the freedom of the people of the Maldives. Your people were lead to believe, through Sandhaanu, through the Maldives Culture website, through Dhivehi Observer website and through Minivan Daily and later through Minivan News, that you would free the people of the Maldives from fear.

This includes the freedom from the fear of being used by corrupt politicians, freedom from the fear of gangsters, freedom from the fear of homelessness, freedom from the fear of hunger and want, freedom from the fear of mind control, and freedom from the fear of the loss of freedom of speech.

For the liberties that you have already given, I am deeply grateful, thank you very much. I am appreciative for all that you have done, and I am sure many of your people are as well.

Again, thank you.

But please keep in mind dear President, that many Maldivians still live in a state of fear, and that it seems that when you made the people believe there would be no more fear of the type they experience, you still have a lot of work to do to fulfill what you have allowed people to believe you would do.

It is less painful to have not hoped, than to have hoped and to have been disappointed, dear President. It seems you have been the source of that hope, you will also be targeted as the source of the pain should the people’s hopes remain unfulfilled. I am sure that you are aware of what that means. You will be punished by the electorate, and in how you will go down in memory, if the hopes of the people are betrayed.

So please, from now on, do everything in your power, to realise your people’s hope, dear President. Put all unnecessary things aside; waste no money on non-essentials, and just GO FOR IT!

Despite the recent disappointments, we still believe in you. Our love and our prayers will help you.

Your Sincerely,

Ben Plewright

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Day of protests ends with pepper spraying of Umar Naseer

An opposition protest held last night near the artificial beach was dispersed by police after the group tried to make its way towards the intersection of Majeedhee Magu and Chandanee Magu, the focal point of last week’s violent demonstrations.

Earlier this week police had announced they were restricting protests to the artificial beach and tsunami monument areas, and have since quickly dispersed those conducted elsewhere.

Demonstrators at the artificial beach last night carried placards written in English reading “Remove sex offenders/drug addicts from government”, and “Resign now”.

As the demonstration took place, five rows of police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) personnel armed with heavy wooden batons stood between the 300-400 demonstrators and the route down Majeedhee Magu.

At around 11:30pm demonstrators, attempted to reach the intersection and were forced to split up by groups of police with interlocked arms.

Police eventually used pepper spray to subdue several protesters who attempted to force their way into the intersection, including dismissed Deputy Leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Umar Naseer.

Placards at the artificial beach

“Five or six people who tried to force their way through our shield line were arrested and taken to police headquarters, and then released,” Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said.

Minivan News observed a light police presence all over the city, with larger squads of riot police stationed near key locations such as the President’s Office and the Chandanee Magu intersection. Several MNDF troop trucks stood ready outside the MNDF headquarters, but the military presence appeared minimal.

Besides the opposition protest and groups of young men hanging around the intersection heckling police, Male’ was unusually quiet for late evening. Entire city blocks in the north-east of the city were closed off and Republican Square was deserted.

An opposition protest in the square that morning involving several hundred people was quickly dispersed by riot police, and covered by foreign media including Associated Press and Al-Jazeera. The protest was subsequently rescheduled for the evening.

Later in the afternoon, a somewhat carnival atmosphere descended over the city as the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) staged a flag-waving counter-protest of several thousand people near the tsunami monument, alongside a concert stage and a police road safety campaign consisting of upturned cars and burned motorcycles.

Five lines of police blocked off Majeedee Magu.

“Anti-government protesters claim the uprising is inspired by the Arab revolution, that people power is rising up,” reported Al-Jazeera. “But here on the other side of town are thousands of voicing pointing out that the revolution has already happened.”

In an interview with the news network, President Nasheed accused the opposition of trying to reinstate authoritarian rule.

“I don’t think these are spontaneous demonstrations. If you look at the events and incidents [this week] it is very easy to understand this is very well stage-managed and fairly well played,” he said.

Al-Jazeera observed that “while leading opposition figures are clearly at the forefront of these demonstrations, they deny this,” and interviewed DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

“It is not attempt overthrow or change the government, it’s just raising voices,” Thasmeen told Al-Jazeera.

Note: Maldives coverage begins at 0:50

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police ask banks to track people trading large amounts of dollars

The police have met with the senior officials of local and international banks based in Male’ to track persons who are found to buying dollars continuously, in a crackdown on the trading of dollars in the Maldives.

There are people who take advantage of dollars provided by the banks for persons who require travel abroad for medical purposes, said police.

“Police asked the banks to identify those who take advantage of the dollars that are supposed to be provided to people who need the money for medical purposes, and to share this information with us,” police said.

Police said they also discussed with banks about how to resolve the issue and what measures would be more effective.

“Police discussed the upgrading on banks’ policies to monitor staff suspected of trading dollars illegally,’’ said Superintendent of Police Mohamed Jinah.

Police would identify those buying dollars and collect information the information according to monetary laws, Jinah said.

He also said that Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) was cooperating with police in its special operation to control the black market for dollars.

The special operation began this week after President Mohamed Nasheed during a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally said that he would “put a police officer behind evey dollar” in the country if necessary.

Nasheed said that there were adequate amount of dollars in the country and that there should be no reason the country was suffering a dollar shortage.

After the police operation started, police have been checking suspicious people and places where illegal dollar transactions are likely to happen.

The set dollar rate in the Maldives is Rf12.75, however during the dollar shortage it has increased to 13, 14, 15 and sometimes even as high as 16 on the black market. However banks routinely refuse to change rufiya into dollars, and experts have claimed that the crackdown will do little to address the demand for foreign currency or the budget deficit, which has led to the pegged rate not reflecting the value of the rufiya.

In 2009 June, to ease the dollar shortage, the cabinet decided to give letters of credit facility to importers of basic food items and other necessary commodities to the Maldives.

The President’s Office then formed a committee consisting of senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development, to review applications for receiving letters of credit, and give the letters of credit in a priority order.

”The government believes that this measure will ease the problem of the dollar shortage,” the President’s Office said at the time. ”The increased number of expatriate workers in the Maldives has contributed to the problem of dollar shortage in the Maldives. It is estimated that every month more than US$2 million is sent out from the Maldives by the expatriate workers. The cabinet members noted that reducing the number of expatriate workers was also an important measure to be taken.”

In December 2009, Spokesman of MMA Ibrahim NaseerNaseer told the local media that the deficit in foreign exchange is a result of MMA printing a large amount of Maldivian rufiyaa to make up to government spending which was more than the government income.

In August 2009, MMA Governor Fazeel Najeeb told the press that the cause of the dollar shortage was that rufiya notes had been printed in large amounts, exceeding the amounts of dollars in the country and dollars coming in to the country, and had been injected into circulation.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Bangladesh and Maldives have long shared histories, says Nasheed at national day celebrations

The High Commission of Bangladesh yesterday celebrated its national day, marking 40 years of independence, with a reception and dinner at Dharubaaruge.

Speaking at the ceremony, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the Maldives, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, observed that the Maldives recognised Bangladesh’s independence in 1972, “soon after our independence.”

Bangladesh was “keenly watching the democratisation process” in the Maldives, Awal said, “and it is gratifiying to watch the Maldives consolidate its democracy.”

Awal congratulated the Maldives for graduating from the UN’s definition of a Less Developed Country (LDC) to a Middle Income country, adding that this was one of Bangladesh’s goals and that it hoped to learn from the Maldivian experience.

“I hope the Maldives retains the advantages of being a LDC by using the climate change card effectively, so we can follow later,” Awal said.

Bangladesh was the world’s 21st fastest-growing economy with a US$90 billion economy, and was now the world’s fourth largest exporter of garments, he said. Even during the global recession Bangladesh had retained a growth rate of 5.5-6 percent, he added.

Acknowledging the large number of Bangladeshi expatriates working in the Maldives, Awal noted that worldwide, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates contributed US$11 billion to the country’s economy.

“At the same time we are working very closely with the Maldivian government to ensure that expatriates can work under proper conditions. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower is in final stage, and the signing will bring the employment of expatriates under greater regulatory approval.”

President Mohamed Nasheed noted that the relationship between Bangladesh and the Maldives extended far into both country’s histories.

“As traders we have always had good contact with Bengalis,” Nasheed said.

“In recent times both our countries have become more strongly joined, not just through just SAARC, but through the immense contribution of Bangladeshi workers to our development efforts. We are thankful for the work done by the Bangladeshi community in the Maldives, and we strongly believe living conditions for migrant workers has to improve.”

Nasheed noted that Bangladesh had worked closely with the Maldives on issues and challenges relating to multilateral agency funding, adding that Bangladesh had very strong experience with the procurement proceedures of international donor agencies.

“Donor agencies funding mechanisms have their own cycles relating to their own administrative affairs, not to the development efforts of recipient countries,” he said. “This has been an issue very widely discussed in Bangladesh.”

South Asia, Nasheed said, “deserves much better. We are one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but very often a large number of people are left behind in development efforts.

“We want to see wider distribution of wealth as well as the provision of safe drinking water and electricity.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Opposition split to MDP’s benefit: Eurasia Review

Knowing very well that the skeletons in the ‘cupboard’ would be dug out, [former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] did the right thing in seeking a deal so that he was left out of harm’s way, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“President Nasheed despite pressure from his colleagues in the MDP did leave Gayoom alone. Yet Gayoom, overtaken by greed for power or perhaps pressure from his relatives, returned to Maldives hurriedly to campaign for the DRP candidates in the local elections conducted recently.

“There is no doubt that Gayoom could claim credit for the smooth transition to democracy and no ‘Jasmine Revolution’ was needed. He had let the tourism industry to flourish despite objections from some of the religious extremists and more importantly kept the Islamists under control. Having provided a good constitution, he should have remained as a great “Patriarch,” keep away from politics and at the same time ensure smooth and peaceful transition.

“He could have as well attended to more critical social and environmental problems confronting the country in his retirement and remembered in history as the maker of modern Maldives. But he chose to stand for presidential elections. He did not do badly either though he lost in the “run off.”

“Now old skeletons are being dug up. The “Week” of 20th February from India, has extensively written about the family of Gayoom of having indulged in an illegal oil deal with Myanmar worth over $800 million and a report is now said to be submitted to the current President Nasheed by a Singapore Consultancy firm Grant Thornton.

“It was just eleven months ago that Gayoom personally handpicked his successor Thasmeen Ali to lead his party DRP and the latter was unanimously elected. Differences have been brewing between the ‘Supreme leader’ Gayoom and the President of the party Thasmeen Ali for some time now, ever since the deputy leader of the party Umar Naseer was sacked from the party. Gayoom’s family members openly alleged that Thasmeen was ‘ill-treating Gayoom’.

“The net result is that the DRP, which is a formidable opposition is in the brink of splitting up into two or more parties. The coalition partner PA led by Gayoom’s half brother Abdulla Yameen is alleged to be behind the split and yet he declared a few days ago that his party for the present will stick with DRP.

“The advantage as of now thanks to the re-entry of Gayoom is with MDP which has been making steady gains ever since it failed to get a majority in the parliamentary elections and has been facing stiff opposition on every issue including the appointment of cabinet ministers till now.”

Read full story

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Mauritius awards Nasheed country’s highest honour

Mauritius has awarded Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed one of the country’s highest honours, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and the Key of the Indian Ocean (GCSK).

President of Mauritius Sir Anerood Jugnauth presented Nasheed with the award over the weekend.

Among the few foreign dignitaries who has been conferred the award are Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, and Former President of Guyana Cheddi Jagan, the President’s Office noted.

Nasheed was in the country to attend Mauritus’s National Day celebrations. During his visit, Nasheed met with Prime Minister of Mauritius Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam and discussed the creation of a body representing Indian Ocean countries to collectively promote development cooperation and common interests at the world stage.

Nasheed also discussed security cooperation, including joint economic zone surveillance.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President did not mention corruption and mismanagement in his speech: PA

The minority opposition People’s Alliance Party (PA) led by Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has said issued a statement responding to the presidential address of Mohamed Nasheed delivered on March 3 during the opening ceremony of parliament’s first session of this year. The PA boycotted the first session of parliament.

‘’Peoples Alliance recognises and appreciates the slight change of tone of the Presidential Speech of 2011, although he partly fulfilled the purpose of the speech, he had failed to address the real issues facing his administration and the country,’’ said PA in the statement.

The PA said that the president did not mention the issues of corruption and mismanagement in his administration, and claimed that the citizens were disappointed because Nasheed had made no plans to solve these issues.

‘’The public was hopeful that the President would address the significant issues of 2010 and inform the public of policy changes to facilitate an atmosphere of trust between the government and opposition parties,’’ the PA said. ‘’We believe that this is important because the President lacks the ability to sit down with opposition parties. We also believe that sitting down together is not enough, the President needs to have the ability to sit together and work sincerely with opposition parties.’’

The President’s speech was presented more as a philosophy than a specific proposal, the PA claimed. “For example, the President expressed his intension to strengthen regulations within the context of the existing laws and implement those regulations to increase the value of Maldivian currency, but failed to explain the specifics of what he meant and what policy changes the business community should expect.”

The party claimed Nasheed’s remarks on deficit reduction were “misleading.”

‘’The forecasted deficit of 2010 wasn’t reduced by efforts of cost reduction.  In reality, the Rf1.2 billion (US$78 million) received by privatisation of the airport was recorded as income and used for recurrent expenditure of the budget. Therefore the expected budget deficit of Rf3.8 billion was reduced to Rf3.1 billion using this income,’’ the party said. “The only measure to reduce deficit in 2010 was to cut down the salaries of civil service. The number of political appointees is increasing year by year.”

PA said Nasheed’s statement on external debt “does not clearly draw the picture.”

At US$607 million we are witnessing a significant increase in the official external debt of the past two years, said the PA.

“We believe that the actual figure will be even higher than this.” PA claimed. “Because since the IMF has restricted the direct borrowing of the Ministry of Finance, the government has started borrowing through government companies by giving comfort letters to companies such as the Works Corporation for politically motivated projects.’’

These projects, PA claimed, would not bring any income to those companies and that the government would have to pay for these debts itself. ” Therefore the overall debt will be even higher than US$607 million.’’

The President’s proposal to strengthen regulations and implement them to increase value of rufiyaa “could mean that he will implement tight controls and control foreign currency exchange, from an economic point of view,” said PA.

‘’We strongly believe that the value of rufiyaa cannot be appreciated through force and strict regulations,’’ said the PA. ‘’Instead we need fiscal responsibility and economic stability to appreciate the value of rufiyaa.’’

The party said that providing housing ‘’is yet another tool to manipulate voters.’’

‘’The government’s plan to offer 25,000 square feet of land of subsidy for 10 housing units worth US$35,000 has failed, and until today not even one housing unit has been delivered from the 10,000 units promised.”

The PA said the few housing units that the government could deliver to the people would be delivered in 2013, “for no reason but to influence the presidential election.”

‘’The policy of duty exemption to the north and south regional ports is not a policy to increase trade in that area,’’ added the party. ‘’Rather it gives the opportunity to give tax exemption to a few businesses that are affiliated with the government.’’

The PA also said that although the President had stated that the capacity of the airport would be increased under its contract with GMR, ‘’the new development plan doesn’t include a new runway.’’

‘’That means only the same number of flights or a slight increase can be expected, since we are operating on a tight schedule even now,’’ the PA claimed. ‘’Additionally the privatisation of the airport does not help the dollar shortage. Dollar earnings for the airport and fuel will be repatriated outside the country while the payments by GMR to Maldivians and Maldivian parties will be paid in rufiyaa,” the PA alleged.

The PA accused Nasheed and his government of either “lacking basic knowledge” on the nation’s economy, or “lacking sincerity and commitment to solve the economic issues.”

‘’The contradicting statements of the President regarding the dollar shortage are a fact supporting that President Nasheed is having difficulties understanding the economy,’’ said PA.’’While he is so concerned with climate change and internal affairs of other countries to get fame, we suspect he is not even seriously thinking about the national security and the impact of his policies on our economy.’’

PA urged the President ‘’to drop out of campaign mode’’ and face reality.

“At the end of the day success will be measured by outcome. Vision does not create jobs, we need to see meaningful and sustainable real action.’’

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Male’ will not survive without resolving housing, congestion and fuel challenges: President Nasheed

President Mohamed Nasheed has said that Male’ “will not survive without some solution to its housing, some solution to its congestion, some solution to the amount of oil that we are importing everyday.”

Nasheed was speaking at a press conference yesterday to launch the second phase of the Gulhi Falhu development project, attended by the Danish Ambassador Freddy Svane.

The first street of the US$600 million Gulhi Falhu development project, intended to reduce the congestion of Male’, will be called Copenhagen Avenue.

The project involves the reclamation of 40 hectares of land on which will be constructed 2500 housing units. The new landmass will be connected by bridge to Villingili on completion of the second stage of the project and eventually, Nasheed said, joined to Male’ via a bridge from the tsunami monument to Vilingili.

“We have one long stretch of road that starts from the tsunami monument in Male’, and ends at Thilafalhu, which is right next to Giraavaru, which is very far away,” he said. This road would be called Copenhagen Avenue, in recognition of the support of the Danish government.

The houses built by the project’s Global Projects Development Company will be constructed in an environmentally-friendly manner, in partnership with US company Red Dot. Red Dot will construct a solar park which will provide electricity to the new residential and industrial districts.

Nasheed also said that a campus for the recently inaugrated Maldives National University would also be constructed on Gulhi Falhu.

“[Gulhi Falhu] is our showpiece development, our showpiece community and we are quite confident that we will be able to use the land by, hopefully end of next year or early 2013,” President Nasheed said.

Development, the President added, was not measured in concrete.

“During the last two months, I have visited more than 130 islands and very often I am given a shopping list. ‘President; we need a harbor, we need a sewerage system.’

“They [say they] need a water system and they also like a lot of concrete. I have been consistently trying to tell everyone that development is not measured in concrete. It is measure by what we know and what we understand. It’s a phenomenon that happens to a person, not to a country. If we want to develop, we will have to develop our minds. We will have to broaden our minds. We will have to be able to think outside the box, find solutions and fix problems.”

Projects such as Gulhi Falhu would not save the world, Nasheed said, “but we like to think that if we can become an example, the rest of the world can have a look at it and people can actually see and understand that it is working. So in very many senses, this whole project is a green project, and at the centre of it is a green park.”

Nasheed thanked the Danish government for its support of the undertaking.

“If all goes wrong in the Maldives, of course it is an issue for the Danes,” Nasheed said. “All of us are interconnected. If things go wrong in Denmark it’s going to have huge effects and impacts on us. We must be able to look after each other. That doesn’t mean that we should be asking for aid and grants. No, we are asking, seeking for trade. This is a very good example of trade collaborations and also a very good example of how a friendly country can actually back a flourishing or a democracy that is in the process of making.

Danish Ambassador Svane expressed gratitude for Nasheed’s “tremendous job” in Copenhagen at the COP15 summit, saying that the Maldives was setting a benchmark for global efforts to fight climate change.

However he also agreed that development was as much a state of mind as it was physical infrastructure.

“We can build up all these fancy buildings, towers and so forth, but we need to change the mindset of people,” he said, adding that President Nasheed had played an important role in changing the mindset of many people all over the world.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)