Tag: Politics

DQP holds party elections and pledges to win 2013 presidential elections

Newly elected Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP) Dr Hassan Saeed has pledged to secure a victory for his party in the 2013 presidential elections, reports Miadhu.

In the first congress of the party held last weekend at Bandos Resort, Dr Saeed said he will continue his party’s efforts to make the current government accountable. He added DQP will form necessary alliances to win the 2013 elections.

Elections for the party were also held, but there was not much competition for leadership positions in the party. Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, Imad Solih and Abdul Matheen were elected as deputy leaders, and Abdulla Ameen was the only candidate for secretary general.

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Comment: United we stand, divided we fall

After reading the article on Minivan News titled “DRP celebrates ‘beginning of the end’ for government” I can only say I hope MDP takes this as a wake up call.

We saw Maldivians uniting to bring down Gayyoom’s regime. Now it looks like Maldivians are uniting to bring down President Nasheed’s regime.

Surely, something must be seriously wrong in how the country is governed. Otherwise why would everyone unite to bring down a government for whose success in the presidential elections they so passionately worked?

Gayyoom could not digest why he failed when he failed. I am not sure whether he has still recovered from that blow. And from what I am hearing from people like Reeko Moosa, it looks like MDP is also in an euphoric state from which a defeat is seen as what is next to impossible, if not as impossible.

The Nasheed-Waheed team is a dream team. Maldivians saw this.

Anyone who has any doubts about this will need to think of what happened in the parliamentary elections when the dream team decided to split and go on their own. The result was Nasheed could not win majority and Waheed could not win a single seat. But together, they formed a team that won the blessings of almost all the other presidential contestants and as a result the majority votes in the presidential elections.

If Nasheed made someone else his VP, will the others back him? Or will he even get enough votes to go for a second round? Only God knows. But because the Nasheed-Waheed team won the presidential elections, and is serving us today as our leaders, it is only fair to say they are a dream team.

From the news of Waheed’s dissatisfaction we have been hearing lately, it is obvious that the dream team no longer works as a team.

According to an article on Haveeru, Reeko Moosa says, the allegation that the president is running the country as per his and Mariya’s advice is true. Form what he says, I understand that it should only be expected. Moosa says the president MUST govern the country according to the guidelines formed by the MDP parliamentary group and MDP members.

This to me is where things are going terribly wrong.

This is not an MDP government. We have a coalition; by which I mean we have a government that SHOULD run not as an MDP government but as a coalition.

I want this government not just to work, but to do it successfully. Otherwise this could be seen as such a mockery of Maldivian politics.

In my mind, President Nasheed rightly deserves the post. After all, he fought for it; he struggled and suffered as a result. But his vision for the people kept him strong. His pledges impressed me and I don’t think they are impossible things to do. And it would be so wrong to say he is not trying to fulfill his pledges. Then why are we hearing so much of criticism of his government?

I have a feeling he is receiving all the bad rap because he is influenced too much by his own party and also by some of the international agencies who supported his cause. This obviously is not helping. Otherwise there should not be even a moment where the government appears to be on the brink of a collapse.

MDP’s euphoric state will perhaps make them blind to the government being at the “beginning of the end.” They will probably not agree with Umar Naseer in this. But, from all we are hearing, the government’s end seems to be not at the horizon, but much closer than that. This to me is a pathetic state of affairs.

The only solution for the government is, to seek vide ranging advice and opinions that will open all lines of thinking. The ‘drawback’ of this is that such consultations will not allow everything to be done the way MDP wants. Even so, I am sure no one in the coalition will act as a hindrance in implementing the MDP manifesto. And this is not at all a drawback considering that this will keep the government standing.

United we stand, divided we fall.

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Politics an inseparable part of religion, reiterates Adhaalath party

Islam and politics are inseparable and it is unIslamic to suggest otherwise, President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed has announced.

”I regret that there are some MPs also who are claiming that politics and Islam should be separated, after taking a oath swearing that they would respect the religion of Islam,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”Politics and religion cannot be separated.”

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed told Minivan News that Islam was a comprehensive religion containing information on economy, family, social, business, communication, politics, military “and many more things.”

Shaheem claimed that separating politics from religion was “a Christian philosophy from the 1940s.”

”The Christians at that time were influenced by the power of their kings and popes, ” Shaheem said, ”so they fought together for their rights and demanded the separation of religion from politics, and that was the time democracy was born.”

Shaheem noted that there were some principles of democracy which were contrary to Islamic principles.

”There are many things that are similar things and there are some things we refuse,” he said. “The resolution in democracy is ‘to keep the religion separated from the state.”’

The Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) was also a good politician, Shaheem explained.

”Those who suggest religion should be separated from politics are not apostates,” he said. “They are only saying such things because of their lack of knowledge.”

He said the Islamic Ministry was a part of the government and the government cooperated the ministry.

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the Adhaalath Party was “power hungry” in accusing the government of secularism.

Newspaper Miadhu today reported Adhaalath party member Sheikh Ilyas Hussain as saying  the government had forgotten the Adhaalath’s Party’s role in the country’s democratic transition and that the presence of the party was one of the reasons the new government had been accepted.

If dialogue failed to keep the government on the right path, Sheikh Illyas warned, the party would “not hesitate to fight against this government like we did the last one.”

He further claimed there were groups within the country that had begun challenging the party’s efforts to promote Islam, and that such trends were bringing the party’s patience to an end.

Zuhair claimed some of the party’s scholars were “directly lying to the people.”

”We support the work they are doing politically, because according to the new law any political party with less than 3000 members should be disbanded. If so, how are they supposed to be in the government if they are not a political party?”

He said the government had provided mosques for people, appointed Imams to the mosques and established the Islamic Ministry.

”We do not know why they are saying all this about the government,” he said. ”We can’t worship in our offices.”

Zakir Naik

In response to concerns about the religious qualifications of visiting Islamic speaker Zakir Naik, who is a medical doctor, Shaheem explained that Naik “is not a a preacher but a lecturer”, and his talks in the Maldives would not contravene the Religious Unity Act.

”The law says that anyone is allowed to give sermons with the permission of the Islamic Ministry,” he explained.

”We have researched his CV, and he is man who has knowledge of Islam and has written many books on Islam as well.”

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Fraudulent party registrations force EC to issue fingerprint forms

The Elections Commission (EC) has released a new political party registration form to avoid a recurrent problem of people being registered for political parties without their knowledge.

President of the EC Fuad Thaufeeq said the commission had uncovered an estimated 900-1100 people registered to political parties without their knowledge, “from all political parties.”

Fuad said the commission had sent notice to all the political parties that they would not accept any other registration form than the new form.

”Before all the parties had their own registration forms,” Fuad said. ”Those forms only required the person’s name and identity card number.”

Fuad said the new form required the person’s fingerprint, two witnesses and their signature.

”If anyone complains about the registrations [from now on] we can check the fingerprint through the police fingerprint database,” he said. ”If a form is presented with the wrong fingerprint we can identify the person and charge him with forgery, giving false information and signing another person’s signature.”

He said that the commission was contemplating creating a law concerning false registration.

”We cannot charge anybody over the 900-1100 false registrations,” he said, ”but hereafter we can identify it and treat it as a serious issue.”

He said the new registration form was now effective.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Mahloof said that he was pleased with the new procedure.

Mahloof claimed that there were many recent complaints by DRP members that they had been registered instead as members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

”They have stolen lots of our people,” he claimed. ”MDP would not even have a membership of 25,000 people.”

MDP MP Ahmed Easa said the new procedure was good and would avoid false registration.

Easa said MDP had received many complaints from people that they were registered in a political party without their knowledge.

”This form will make it more difficult for people to be registered in political parties,” he said.

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Police send case against DRP MP Ali Waheed to Prosecutor General

Police have sent several cases involving  Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Vice President and MP Ali Waheed to the Prosecutor General’s office.

Deputy Prosecutor General Ahmed Shameem confirmed the office had received several criminal cases concerning Waheed, and would decide in a week whether to take the cases to court.

“There is a process in the Constitution [that if a MP is found guilty of a criminal offence] it is punishable by 12 months in prison. He would be automatically removed from Parliament,” Shameem said.

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said one of the cases concerned Waheed’s claims that police helped protesters during a disturbance outside the president’s residence and MNDF headquarters in January.

He said other cases against Waheed would also be sent to the PG as soon as the police finished their investigations.

Meanwhile Waheed said he was “very confident” that he had not done anything against the law.

”It’s all President Mohamed Nasheed’s doings,” Waheed claimed. ”He is afraid of me.”

He added that he hoped the cases would be sent to the courts as soon as possible.

”They take me to police custody like a medicine they take twice daily,” he said, ”so its difficult to identify which cases they have sent to PG. Ask President Nasheed – I have no idea.”

He maintained that the police decision to detain DRP leaders in during last Thursday’s protests was “politically motivated.”

”That night when they took me Dhoonidhoo I was not doing anything,” he said. ”I was trying to protect our people from being attacked by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)  activists and I was standing in front of DRP office as I am a leader of the party.”

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Politicians sponsoring gang violence, say police

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has claimed some politicians are using gangs to cause unrest, intimidate people and attack opponents.

Police said that last week’s violent political clashes between major political parties, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), were tied to gang violence.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that “police have learned some politicians have used gang members to create unrest.”

He said that while the MPS currently could not disclose the names of politicians linked to inciting gang violence, he assured that police “will take legal action against people suspected of being involved in recent violent demonstrations and attacks.”

Minivan News spoke to three gang members on 25 March, two of whom said although they were generally uninterested in politics, they had received financial support from politicians who would pay them for protection and to attack their opponents.

Better things to do

Shiyam added that because members of the special operation had been forced to concentrate on containing the political violence, there had been a corresponding spike in gang violence, burglary and street theft.

All of these had fallen when the special operations team began their work earlier this month, he said.

Shiyam said the special operation had returned to its work again in full force.

Last week, Deputy Commissioner of the MPS Mohamed Rishwan also said the recent political violence was hampering work and diverting resources from the special operation to curb gang-related crimes.

“As a consequence a large number of officers had to stop their work and interrupt their service to the people to go out to control and watch over political activities,” Rishwan said.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said police acknowledgement of politically-motivated gang violence was “a very serious statement [by police].

He noted that members of the MDP have previously accused senior DRP-PA politicians of being connected to gangs, “but police saying it makes the matter more urgent and credible.”

During his opening speech to the Maldives Donor Conference 2010, President Mohamed Nasheed referred to the matter, stating: “I don’t care whether you are a gangster, or whether you are a senior politician controlling the gangsters – if you attack, or orchestrate attacks, this government will take appropriate legal action.”

Zuhair said he hoped police would forward the relevant cases to the Prosecutor General so that they could be resolved in the courts.

Spokesperson for the MDP, Ahmed Haleem said “violence was normal under the previous regime, and DRP are doing the same thing now.”

Haleem said the DRP was trying to harm the country by trying to “stop aid and funds” from international donors.

He said the MDP was “a bit concerned” about politicians being tied to gang violence, “because some DRP MPs are physically involved in violence.”

DRP Vice President and Spokesperson Ibrahim Shareef said the party performed “peaceful protests, not the inciting of violence”, and said police would be making statements “based on their opperational experience.”

“Many DRP meetings have been disrupted by MDP activists, who attack with stones and swords,” Shareef said, adding that shops and houses of DRP members had also been vandalised in the violence over the weekend.

“We are constantly receiving threatening calls from the MDP,” Shareef said, adding that “the ruling party should be more responsible and should not use the gangs.”

“There is a lot of gang violence connected to MDP, and I am worried that it is difficult to control our own activists because they have no protection.”

“If people see the ruling party is inciting violence,” Shareef warned, “the country will lose its peace.”

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HRCM condemns recent violence and political confrontations

The Human Rights Commission Maldives (HRCM) has condemned the recent riots and political confrontations, reports Miadhu.

In a press statement released today, the HRCM has said the recent conflicts erupting during political activities and confrontations between people of different opinions are causing great physical and mental harm to the people.

The HRCM has requested the people avoid violence and cooperate with police. They have also asked the police to continue their work in preventing and dispersing violent demonstrations, and to respect the laws and Constitution of the Maldives.

They stated that although the Constitution provides “right to freedom of peaceful assembly without prior permission of the State” as stipulated in Article 32, this is limited by the “regulation on freedom of assembly” which was drafted before the new Constitution came into force.

The HRCM also expressed concern over the violent acts that took place in Parliament on 23 March, and requested the Parliament resolve issues by discussion and not to disrupt the work which needs to be done in the Majlis.

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Comment: Social fabric on verge of being ripped apart

Extract from a 22-page dossier published by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), entitled “Abuse of Power and Assault on Democracy: A Dossier on the First 500 Days of the Nasheed Administration”

At the onset, the DRP wishes to welcome all the distinguished delegates attending this year’s donor conference. We are pleased to note that the concept of hosting a donor conference in the Maldives annually was developed during the previous administration, and that the Nasheed administration has decided to adhere to this policy.

This donor conference takes place at a time when the Maldivian public feels deceived and let down by the government. Lawlessness has become the norm, people have lost hope, government controls the state media, stabbing and beating of private reporters and journalists has become commonplace, brute force including teargas is used to suppress peaceful dissent, and members of parliament and key opposition leaders are facing arrest and detention.

Democracy in the Maldives, in short, is in peril, and the country’s social fabric is on the verge of being ripped apart.

We need every help we can get to implement meaningful development, restore normalcy, hope, security and the rule of law, and to protect democracy. However such assistance needs to be tied to measurable targets in promoting democracy.

The DRP acknowledges the so called ‘five key pledges’ of the MDP government, and the many additionally promises made by President Nasheed during the 2008 election campaign. We call on President Nasheed to honour the large number of pledges!

We are, nevertheless, deeply concerned by his callous disregard for the sensitivities and wellbeing of the public. We are also concerned by the flawed policies used to implement the ‘five key pledges’.

Civil servants

The government’s rush to downsize the civil service within the year by over 9000 civil servants, who account for almost one tenth of the country’s labour force and breadwinners, is a very serious concern.

The fear of redundancy has created psychological anguish among the whole civil service and their families who account for about one third of the country’s population. The policy is bound to be counterproductive especially in the Maldives, where low and declining labour force participation rate has been identified as one of the most serious problems encouraging drug abuse and other social evils. It is outrageous that the government is going ahead with this flawed policy even after the majority in Parliament has given a clear message that the policy is unacceptable.

Reducing the public sector wage bill is important, but it has to be done gradually to ensure social stability. Government’s proposed saving of US$ 24.8 million a year compared to 2008, through forced redundancy of one tenth of the county’s breadwinners, sounds absurd in a democracy.

The government’s justification for the redundancies has no merit at all when we consider that the proposed saving of US$24.8 million is accompanied by a government’s proposal to increase other allowances to employees by over US$71.9 million a year compared to 2008. Most of these allowances will inevitably end up lining the pockets of political appointees.

Furthermore, the continuing appointment of political appointees, with average salaries eight times higher than civil servants, clearly shows that the government’s intention is not the reduction of the wage bill but a reallocation of it from civil servants to MDP supporters and activists.

At the moment the average salary of a civil servant is approximately Rf2,800 while the average salary of a political appointee is Rf24,793 according to information given to Parliament by the Finance Minister. Nasheed’s government which came to power promising a leaner public service has today more political appointees than the previous government and most democracies like UK, Norway and Denmark.

Foreign assistance needs to be conditional on a freeze on appointment of political appointees until parliament can set a ceiling for political appointees. DRP strongly feels that any reduction in civil servants needs to be accompanied by an equivalent reduction in political appointees based on salary if the process is to have acceptance of the public.

Lack of conviction

The donor community must also exert due pressure on the government to implement an immediate freeze on the release of drug dealers and serious offenders from jail before they complete their sentence. The current practice is leading to rising crime and violence, and it surely does not send out the right signals to the donor community.

I call on President Nasheed to stop the lying and to make good on all the pledges including the pledge for a mid-term election. There is a serious need for his administration to regain public confidence. I note that present popularity ratings of the MDP government are at a pitiful 15%.

President Nasheed needs to implement urgent measures to free the state media and to protect journalists in the country. Also, the stranglehold on the civilian police force, through his Home Minister, must be loosened with immediate effect. I call on all participating delegates to urge the government to stop its current practice of arbitrarily arresting opposition activists and leaders. In two nights this week alone, no less than 40 such arrests were made.

I believe it is time for the international community to closely scrutinise the Nasheed administration’s democracy and human rights record, as, far from his cosmetic image of being a staunch supporter of human rights, he has become the biggest perpetrator in living memory.

As the largest political party in the country, the DRP is committed to ensuring that the rights of the Maldivian people are upheld and that the government is held to account for its failure to deliver on its pledges.

President Nasheed resorting to desperate, unconstitutional and heavy-handed tactics to cling on to power and crush the rising opposition movement is likely to lead to violence, unrest and even civil war in the country!

President Nasheed’s failure to deliver on his promises of upholding democratic principles and the widening gulf between his actions domestically and words overseas has resulted in an overall loss in public faith in the democratic reform agenda.

Also, the opposition, now a majority in numbers in the country, have very little avenue to voice their concerns, as the MDP government continues to keep a tight grip on the media, with full control of the state media.

The opposition DRP is currently dispatching envoys to meet with key diplomatic stakeholders to seek assistance in exerting pressure on President Nasheed to put an end to these Soviet-style ‘show trials’. We believe that the international community, who worked hand-in-hand with us in implementing the democratic reform agenda, has a moral obligation to ensure that the opposition movement can continue to fulfil its parliamentary and institutional duties to the people, without intimidation, harassment and bullying.

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Sheikh Fareed claims judges are bribed

Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed has called upon judges to be fair when issuing sentences, reports Miadhu.

During a lecture entitled ‘To Whom Hellfire is Calling’, held on Friday night at the artificial beach, Sheikh Fareed alleged some judges were being bribed and ruling against their conscience despite overwhelming evidence.

Sheikh Fareed said that without a fair judiciary many social illnesses would be inflicted on society, which would result in punishment from God.

Sheikh Fareed also said talking about politics and ‘wasting time’ were useless, and that the time should be used for productive causes.

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