Political parties both supporting the current government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of ousted President Mohamed Nasheed are planning rallies on Friday.
MDP will hold “Women’s rally for justice” tomorrow evening, calling for early elections. In a statement on the party’s official website, president of the party’s women’s wing, Shiyama Ahmed said “Our rally is to be held in all major streets of the capital Male’ to express our concerns. We shall call for the immediate stepping down of this ‘coup’ government and demand a date for early elections.”
According to Shiyama, the rally will commence near the Social Centre in Maafannu ward at 3.45pm, and conclude near the tsunami monument on the other side of Male’.
The MDP has also planned a ‘sleepover’ event tonight near the tsunami monument, part of their ongoing protest against the government. Nasheed’s party alleges that Dr Waheed’s government illegally came into power through a police mutiny, and are calling for early presidential elections.
The coalition of parties supporting President Waheed’s government have also meanwhile planned a rally on Friday evening at the artificial beach, just a short distance from the MDP’s protest, in which they will call on the government to take legal action against those who were involved in the arson attacks on local police stations and government offices on February 8, after a police crackdown on MDP supporters.
Spokesperson of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), MP Ahmed Mahlooof, said during a press conference yesterday said that the rally held by the coalition would take place at the artificial beach tomorrow evening at 4:00pm.
Mahloof stated that the different parties in the coalition were jointly working on to bring as many people from the islands to the capital Male’ for the rally, and said that many were willing to come and take part in the event.
Mahloof further stated that they had asked the Male’ City Council for the permission to hold the rally near the tsunami monument, but had instead been given the artificial beach area. Mahloof alleged that the MDP had taken hold of the Male’ city council.
“I have a feeling the two crowds will meet at some point tomorrow,” an MDP-linked source told Minivan News. “This is going to be a numbers game. We are demanding an election date.”
Former President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile travelled south to meet supporters in Addu, and is expected to return before the weekend’s protests.
A group of concerned citizens, many of them also members of local non-government and civil society organisations, protested outside parliament today against the recently proposed increase in parliamentary committee members’ allowances, and lump sum back payments of Rf 140,000 (US$9100).
Leaflets scattered across parliament grounds highlighted that MPs were earning Rf 82,500 (US$5350) a month in 2011 compared to Rf 4500 (US$290) in 2004, an effective 18-fold increase.
“Parliament members already have a salary of Rf62,000, and to give them more money in this way is not necessary,” said NGO Transparency Maldives Project Coordinator, Aiman Rasheed. “We feel that giving this allowance for a whole year, and during months when Parliament isn’t even in session, is unacceptable.”
Police had blocked roads close to parliament this morning, and were waiting when protesters appeared at 1:15 pm. Approximately 25 citizens attended the protest, and were quickly penned into a side street away from the building.
Protesters waved poster boards and passed a megaphone for rally calls. However MPs avoided the protest by leaving the building through the back door.
Rasheed said Transparency had been told that if 39 of the 77 MPs refused the allowance, the Public Accounts Committee, which proposed the raise, would submit a motion to reconsider the proposal.
“Most of the people we’ve spoken to have said they would not accept the motion,” said Rasheed.
Local NGOs and CSOs protested the raise near the tsunami memorial last Saturday, August 27. Assembling at 4:30 pm, representatives distributed fliers showing the steep rise in MP allowance rates.
“MPs do not need to be paid more money to do committee work!” read the flyer. “It is the duty of MPs. It is one of the most important responsibilities that has to be carried out by MPs.”
Saturday’s protest made use of Male’s nightly motorcycle circuit of the city to reach a large percentage of the population.
Today’s significantly smaller turnout may be a side effect of the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid, which begins tomorrow August 30. Reports say that many boats have already left Male for other islands.
The deadline for voting on the proposed allowance is 6 September. As of today, 17 MPs have said they would not accept it.
They include: Mohamed Gasam, Ibrahim Rasheed, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, Mariya Ahmed Didi, Mohamed Nazim, Illyas Labeeb, Mohamed Aslam, Ahmed Sameer, ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, Hussein Waheed, Alhan Fahmy, ‘Colonel’ Mohamed Nasheed and Eva Abdulla of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) along with Speaker Abdulla Shahid and Independent MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed.
Police this morning dispersed a rally of several hundred anti-government demonstrators who gathered at Republican Square near the headquarters of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), amid a somewhat carnival atmosphere that settled over other parts of the city on Friday.
Dismissed Deputy Leader of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Umar Naseer, and MPs Ali Arif and Ahmed Mahlouf were detained for an hour after allegedly shoving police.
After a run of demonstrations across Male’ this week in protest against the government’s decision to implement a managed float of the rufiya, effectively devaluing the currency, police on Wednesday announced that any protests not held in the open artificial beach or tsunami monument areas would be immediately dispersed.
The DRP, which insists the protests are ‘youth-led’ despite the apparent leadership of its MPs, has tried to replicate the ‘Arab Spring’ protests across the Middle East, painting President Nasheed as a despot to the international media and dubbing a busy Male’ intersection ‘Youth Square’.
The DRP announced that the protest would continue this evening at the artificial beach from 8:45pm.
Meanwhile, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) held a counter-protest this afternoon, with several thousand people gathering near the tsunami monument carrying banners and waving yellow flags.
Speaking at the rally, President Mohamed Nasheed stated that the government’s currency decision was backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and challenged the opposition to defeat him in an election rather than attempting to topple the government illegitimately.
Nasheed claimed that the budget deficit had improved since the government took power, and that it had also introduced state pensions, health insurance and benefits for single parents and the disabled.
A concert stage and a number of upturned and smashed vehicles in the area, part of a police ‘Speed Kills’ campaign, provided a surreal backdrop to the pro-government demonstration.
An upturned car near the MDP rally, part of a police road accident campaign.
A number of foreign media outlets, including Al-Jazeera, have arrived in Male’ to cover the demonstrations after violent protests last week were widely publicised internationally.
Passing the DRP headquarters this afternoon and assumed to be foreign media, Minivan News was approached by an opposition supporter who compared the pro-government demonstrators to “pro-Mubarak supporters” who “beat us at night.”
Former Egyptian President of 30 years Hosni Mubarak was deposed by a democratic uprising in Egypt, leading to a tide of similar pro-democracy rallies across the Middle East.
Maldivian tourism representatives attending the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, the region’s largest such expo, claimed this week to be receiving cancellations because of safety fears amid the ongoing demonstrations.
“Travel operators in Taiwan have said they are postponing and cancelling group bookings because of negative perceptions [of safety] in the Maldives,” a tourism source attending the expo told Minivan News.
“We just had another two confirmed bookings cancelled today because of reports of riots and instability. We worked hard to get these bookings and the potential domino effect is really worrying – people panic.”
Economic problems
An ongoing dollar shortage, reluctance of banks to exchange local currency, and a flourishing blackmarket that reached Rf 14.2-14.8 to the dollar, culminated in mid-April with the government finally acknowledging that the rufiya was overvalued – after a short-lived attempt to crack down on ‘illegal’ exchanges.
High demand immediately led to most banks and companies dealing in dollar commodities – such as airline ticketing agents – to immediately raise their rate of exchange to the maximum permitted rate Rf15.42.
With the Maldives almost totally reliant on outside imports, including fuel and basic staples such as rice, the government’s decision has effectively led to a 20 percent increase in the cost of living for most ordinary Maldivians.
In an article for Minivan News, Director of Structured Finance at the Royal Bank of Scotland Ali Imraan observed that ‘growth’ in the domestic economy had been driven by the public sector and “paid for by printing Maldivian rufiya and clever manoeuvres with T-Bills, which the government has used since 2009 to be able conveniently sidestep the charge of printing money. In simple terms: successive governments printed/created money to drive domestic economic growth.”
With the introduction this year of a 3.5 percent tourism goods and services tax, a business profit tax and a revision of the rents paid for resort islands, the government now has a number of economic levers it can pull to increase revenue in the future.
However, it has struggled to explain that to people now paying up to 20 percent extra for basic commodities – an affront to the MDP’s pledge to reduce the cost of living – and was caught unawares by this week’s populist protests.
Both factions of the opposition have seized the political opportunity to take the focus off the party’s internal troubles, but have offered few alternatives beyond demanding the government “reduce commodity prices”.
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.
A funeral in Iran for a student shot and killed in protests on Monday has become a catalyst for anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.
The 26 year old student at Tehran University was killed during a rally of thousands of opposition members, sparked by the wave of civil discontent spreading across the Middle East in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.
A report on Iran’s state-run media claimed that supporters of “sedition” clashed with the pro-government supporters during the funeral, while the BBC reported that police had blocked all roads around the university.
“Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony of the martyred student Sanee Zhaleh have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites,” the media outlet stated, while opposition groups claimed 1500 people had been detained.
The government has claimed that Zhaleh, a Sunni Kurd and fine arts student, was a member of the volunteer Islamist Basij militia – a claim disputed by the opposition, who accuse the government of pressuring his family to say Zhaleh was pro government.
The protest is the first since an uprising in February 2010 was suppressed by the government, however rising discontent directed at the region’s more unpopular leaders makes Iran a likely candidate for further civil strife.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has meanwhile embraced the Egyptian revolution and departure of President Hosni Mubarak as the dawning of a “new Middle East” – drawing parallels with his own country’s 1979 revolution.
Ahmadinejad reportedly told crowds in Tehran that Mubarak’s departure was likely to bring major changes to global politics.
“In spite of all the (West’s) complicated and satanic designs … a new Middle East is emerging without the Zionist regime and US interference, a place where the arrogant powers will have no place,” he said.
Former President and ‘Honorary Leader’ of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has said that the current government is attempting to erase Islamic education from the Maldives, reports local newspaper Haveeru.
At a rally last night held on Villingili, Haveeru reported Gayoom as saying that citizens “are again in need of a change.”
”I have to say that people are now in need of change. The way things are going now is not the way people want it to be,” said the former President. “Our economy has gone down, respect for the constitution and laws have totally disappeared, violence and assault have become widespread and extreme, thousands of people are unemployed, and the amount of money they earn has decreased,” Haveeru quoted the former president saying.
”The religion of Islam is treated very poorly – you will know the disturbance and troubles caused to the Islamic education centres.”
Gayoom also raised concerns of vote rigging during the Presidential Elections in 2008, and urged people “to have sharp eyes on the Local Council Elections.”
He claimed to have accepted the result of the election “for the sake of people’s security”, Haveeru reported Gayoom as saying.
The former President came out of retirement to campaign for the DRP ahead of the local council elections on February 5.
The head office of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) suffered almost Rf 1 million in damage in an alleged arson attack last night, according to managing operator Ibrahim Manik.
”Photocopy machines, fax machines, printers, huge speakers, microphones, cloths and flags were burned in the arson attack at around 12:45am, last night after the MDP rally,” Manik claimed.
The arson attack caused more than Rf 900,000 (US$70,o00) in damage to the office.
Manik said that when he came back from dinner after the rally, some of the MDP supporters present at the head office claimed to have heard something hitting the roof.
”So we checked the area, because recently some people on different occasions have attempted to attack us with petrol bombs,” Manik claimed. ”We checked but did not see anything, but after a while we started smelling smoke in the area so I went to check the depository room.”
Manik said he saw clothes in the room on fire, and ”I called the people outside and told them the place was on fire.”
”We started to evacuate the room, but everything was destroyed after we evacuated. We controlled the fire using a water tap, but it was a dangerous attack and it caused us to lose much of our valuable property.”
Manik claimed the fire was the result of an attack orchestrated by “some opponents.”
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the case was reported to police, who were now investigating the case. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the matter, he said.
Recently a group of people attacked and destroyed the glass windows of shops belonging to Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) deputy leader Ibrahim Shareef.
In another incident, a group of people attacked the house and car belonging to People’s Alliance [PA] leader and MP Abdulla Yameen.
Very recently during an MDP protest, protesters threw stones at the house of Deputy Leader of PA Ahmed Nazim, breaking the window of the house’s first floor at midnight.
The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Peoples Alliance party (PA), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Jumhoory Party (JP) last night held a joint rally to deliver what they promised yesterday would be “a shocking message” to the government.
DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali told the assembled crowd that this was the first step of the opposition to change the administration.
“The government has recently on different occasions attempted to smear [the name of] independent institutions and commissions of the state,” said Thasmeen. “The government fist attempted to influence and smear the Civil Service Commission (CSC) first, then the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), now parliament and the judiciary as well.”
Thasmeen accused the government of attempting to retain power by “misusing” the armed forces.
“The government has attempted to threaten and hold the media captive,” he alleged, “and has been trying to influence the state media.”
PA leader Abdulla Yameen, who along with JP leader Gasim Ibrahim was recently released from house arrest by the Supreme Court following allegations of corruption and treason against the two high-profile businessmen, said the government had “sold everything the country owns except the national flag located in Jumhoory Maidhaan.”
“Recently we have witnessed the government trying to assassinate opposition leaders and hold the constitution in contempt,” Yameen alleged. “The president has threatened the opposition leaders and people of the country.”
Yamin said the Supreme Court’s ruling “proves the independence and fairness of the judiciary.”
Gasim meanwhile apologized to the people for his work bringing the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to administration.
“Without the sacrifices made by the JP and DQP, this government would not have been able to win the last presidential election. Every Maldivian will understand that,” said Gasim. “I thought President Nasheed would be a sincere man, but it turned out that it was all sour poison.”
Gasim also said that he did not wish to run for the presidency anymore.
“But when the government is trying to sell the assets of the nation, I cannot wait patiently,” he said.
DQP leader Dr Hassan Saeed, who represented Gasim in court, was not present at the rally but Deputy leader of DQP Dr Ahmed Jameel spoke on behalf of the party.
The crowd dispersed peacefully following the rally, making the event rather more more muted than the ‘Red Notice’ protests DRP recently led against rising electricity prices. Police presence was light and the absence of MNDF personnel suggested the government had revised its predictions of clashes following the conclusion of the World Cup.
A fight between the former Island Chief of Miladhu in Noonu Atoll Abdul Sattar Mohamed and Island Councillor Hassan Moosa escalated into a brawl on Saturday night.
Moosa told Minivan News that Sattar, also the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) President for the island, “defamed my character” during a speech he gave to a DRP meeting that evening
“So I went and asked him about it,” Moosa said, claiming DRP supporters broke the windows of the island office and damaged some of its property in the subsequent scuffle.
”He claimed that I am in debt,” Moosa said, ”and that I built my house using his money, so I went there and asked him why he was spreading untrue information.”
Moosa alleged that Sattar hit him in the face in full view of the police when he asked him “why he was misleading the people.”
Senior member of DRP at Miladhu, Ahmed Hassan, said the councilor broke into the DRP meeting with the intention of disrupting it.
”Moosa could not digest what Sattar said,” Hassan claimed, explaining that the island councillor and four others had appeared at the meeting to scold Sattar.
”Our supporters started shouting at him, so we told him to leave the place immediately.”
Hassan claimed Moosa kicked Sattar in the stomach, and described him as “a person who used to fight very often.”
Moosa claimed he did not hit anybody.
Head of Noonu Atoll police station Ibrahim Fayaz said Sattar was under arrest for hitting the island councillor, and that one other man was under arrest in connection with vandalism of the island office.
He said the police were currently investigating the case.
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