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Uncertainty the only certainty in Maldives capital

As tensions between the Maldives’ government and India continue to rise over allowing former President Mohamed Nasheed high commission refuge from his arrest warrant, conspiracies spread through social media networks are furthering uncertainty in the capital.

The rumours first came around 10:00pm – and social media was quick to respond.

Former President Nasheed was once again facing a warrant for his arrest, in what his party contend are a politically-motivated attempt by the country’s compromised courts to bar him from standing for election.

With both the government and Indian officials claiming yesterday evening they were unaware of any new arrest warrant, the real drama – it seemed – was happening on Twitter.

One prominent representative for the Nasheed-aligned opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) wrote on the social media site yesterday:

“Local media reports new Court order to Police to Present Prez Nasheed before court on Wednesday [February 20]. Will the police barge into the Indian HC?”

Other social media users were quick to respond in a manner critical of the former president’s actions:

“police might nt barge in.. but that doesn’t mean indian high commission is not hiding the suspected criminal@MohamedNasheed.”

Fanciful tales from either side of the Maldives political divide are nothing new. Yet it is a sign of either the impact of social media, or the diplomatic unease between Male’ and the Indian government, that the prospect of a police raid on diplomatic territory or a one-time head of state being smuggled out of the country can hold any credibility.

Nasheed has been in the chancery building since Wednesday (February 13), pulling India into domestic Maldivian politics.

How long he is able to remain there is uncertain, considering pressure from senior government figures that he be handed over to face trial.

The tweets hinted that a hugely significant event in an already turbulent period in Maldives history was on the verge of coming to pass. There was just one problem: neither the government or the High Commission of India were aware of any plot or conspiracy to remove the former president from his sanctuary.

Had India been made aware of attempts to re-issue an arrest warrant and possibly bring Mr Nasheed into custody? “Not yet,” said an Indian High Commission source.

Had the government heard of whether judicial authorities and police would be taking proceedings against the former president? “No, not heard of it before,” a government official responded off the record.

Rumour and uncertainty were once again the driving force of political discourse concerning the government, Nasheed and the Indian High Commission.

Outside the Indian High Commission building at 10:30pm last night, staff were servicing a sedan car and seemingly working to ensure nothing was visible through its back seat windows. Meanwhile, police officers at infrequent intervals would pass the commission building on their way to deal with a third consecutive night of demonstrations.

Most of the officers paid little attention to diplomatic building at the centre of the nation’s latest political turmoil. However by midnight, a handful of officers had set up temporary barricades outside the chancery.

At the same time, MDP protesters made their way to barriers set up around the corner on Sosun Magu.

Was this the beginning of an audacious attempt to retrieve the former president from his diplomatic confines? The relatively free passage of tourists, students and a small number of locals through the nearby barricades suggested not.

Half an hour later, a single figure finally appeared from the high commission building – surveying the scene up and down the street before entering the sedan and quickly reversing the vehicle into a concealed garage area. The vehicle’s lights remained visible for a few minutes behind the garage door – then they were switched off.

Things remained quiet until 1:30am, when two police officers guarding the temporary barricades outside the Indian High Commission building took notice of some discarded material staff had left behind after the servicing of the vehicle.

The material raised great interest from one of the officers as he lifted a thin piece of dark tape up to eye level for further inspection. He called over his fellow officer. Then for a brief moment, they engaged in what appeared to be a game of peek-a-boo before returning to manning their barricade.

The street, as for the last three hours, returned to relative silence.

By morning, Nasheed – as far as anyone knows – remained in the high commission. Meanwhile, diplomatic relations between India and Maldives, though reportedly strained, are still being observed.

Nasheed, it is confirmed, is to be summoned before the courts in 48 hours time. His immediate future remains unknown.

In the Maldives capital it seems, the only certainty remains uncertainty.

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Comment: Impunity can only be matched with impunity

This article originally appeared on Ibra’s Blog. Republished with permission.

Many of my friends and colleagues, especially my ‘twitter friends’ have been inquiring me of late, about my view of President Nasheed’s decision to disregard a summons by ‘Hulhumale’ Court’.

I myself have been pondering over it as my initial reaction was that President Nasheed should not have done it. However, when I looked at the issue dispassionately and in the context of many anomalies in the Criminal Justice System of the Maldives, the case does not appear to be so simple. In fact it is rather complex, and adds to the myriad of convoluted issues we are being forced to grapple with.

It is so complex that the 140 meagre characters that twitter gives us is barely enough to expound on this particular problem. At best, it is a unique and delightful academic issue to ponder. What I write below is not meant to be a legal discourse, but more an academic and intellectual approach to analyse a social problem.

It is not helpful to consider President Nasheed’s decision to ignore the court summons just by itself to fully understand the phenomenon. One needs to consider a host of other issues to grasp the enormity of the situation.

On the face of it, anyone who is summoned by the courts should willingly do so, and anyone disobeying an order by the court should rightfully be held in contempt of court and punished for it. This is necessary for the upholding of the rule of law.

However, one needs to also consider the basic assumptions underlying these powers of the courts and the reasons for granting the courts such powers.

Among many, the following assumptions are made in relation to the courts:

The courts will not act outside the jurisdictions granted to them by law, and any ultra vires orders by courts do not constitute a valid order which falls within the concept of contempt of court
The courts will apply same procedures to all, and are bound by law to do so, and will not be selective in the application of law and procedures
The courts shall not display any bias in any way towards or against any person, and most importantly will not be seen or perceived to be biased in any way

There are many other such assumptions, but I limit this discussion to the above three assumptions.

Firstly, on the matter of jurisdictions:

There is huge contention whether Hulhumale’ Court has been granted powers by the law to try any case whatsoever. The Constitution says very clearly that trial courts will be defined and created by Law. When Parliament created courts by the Judicature Act, there was no “Hulhumale’ Court” designated as a Magistrates Court.The Supreme Court itself is still sitting on the case of the validity of the Hulhumale’ Court. It was created by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), without authority derived from Law. Therefore the validity of any orders or judgments issued by this court is questionable, and the Constitution says no one has to obey any unlawful orders, i.e, orders which are not derived from law. Therefore, President Nasheed’s decision to ignore the summons has more than reasonable legal grounds.
The Judicature Act does make some provision for Superior Courts (Criminal Court, Civil Court, Family Court and Juvenile Court only) to appoint a panel of judges for some cases. Such panel has to be decided by the entire bench or Chief Judge of that court. In this case, a panel of judges from other courts was appointed by the JSC to Hulhumale’ Court. JSC does not have that authority by Law.If Hulhumale’ Court is legitimate, and is a Magistrate’s court, it would be the only Magistrate Court in Male’, and per the Judicature Act, would not have any other court to tie up to in order to convene a panel of judges. If it is considered part of Kaafu Atoll, then the panel should be convened from among magistrates assigned to Magistrate Courts operating within Kaafu Atoll, and the Chief Magistrate for Kaafu Atoll should convene the panel. The panel of judges convened now was convened by the JSC, and the panel includes judges from other atolls.
The Hulhumale’ court issued a travel ban order to President Nasheed, without ever summoning him to court, and in his absence, before any charges had been presented before him. No court has the power to issue such an order under any law. The court could have issued such a bail condition after the first hearing, if there was reasonable justification to believe President Nasheed might flee the country or he might present a security risk for the community through further criminal activity.

On the basis of the above, there is more than ample grounds to contend that the summons was issued by an Unlawful Panel of Judges, sitting in an Unlawful Court, which had already issued an Unconstitutional restraining order which was ultra vires

Secondly, on the matter of selective application of procedure:

Deputy Speaker of the Majlis Ahmed Nazim defied 11 summons and only appeared in court for the 12th summons. No action was taken against him.
An order for Abdulla Hameed (Gayyoom’s brother who now resides in Sri Lanka) to be brought to court was issued by the Criminal Court a long time ago. However the Court has not provided an English translation of the Court Order to be submitted to Interpol. Nor have the Police contacted Sri Lankan authorities to repatriate him under the bilateral agreement which allows that. It should be noted that Sandhaan Ahmed Didi was repatriated from Sri Lanka airport under the same agreement, without even a court order, or charges being laid against him.
There are numerous cases of prominent politicians and business tycoons disobeying court summons, and to date no one has been convicted for contempt of court for this offence. This leads to the argument that not appearing before the court on account of a summons is not an offence for which people are prosecuted even though it is a prosecutable offence. By past practice and hence precedent and customary practice, no one has to appear before the court every time a summons is issued.

Based on the above, there is more than ample grounds for President Nasheed to claim that there is no need for him to appear before the Court at the Court’s convenience and his inconvenience. Further, there is a rightful claim that the court has already exercised bias against him and that it is unlikely that he will receive a fair trial. More importantly, the fundamental principal of equal application of law and procedure has been seriously compromised.

Thirdly, on the matter of bias:

Ample demonstration of bias has been made in the above paragraphs to start with
One of the three judges on the bench has wrongfully authorised detention of President Nasheed before, and can be considered as biased against him
One other judge already has cases of misconduct being investigated against him by the JSC
The third judge is reportedly a classmate of Abdulla Mohamed in the Mauhadh Dhiraasaathul Islamiyya
Thus there is a widely held perception that President Nasheed will not be accorded a fair trial. One of the Principles of Natural Justice is that not only should justice be done, but it must be seen to be done too
When over 2000 cases are waiting to be prosecuted (including murder, rape, child molestation, child abuse and other serious white collar crimes) at the Prosecutor General’s Office, one asks the question why has this case been expedited beyond normal protocol

Thus there are grounds to argue that a panel of judges who issued ultra vires restraining orders on no demonstrated reasonable grounds cannot be expected to give a fair trial or judgment.

Thus, it would appear to be a reasonable decision on the part of President Nasheed that since he is not being summoned by a legitimate court, by legitimate judges through legitimate procedures, he is unlikely to get justice; and that his appearance before the court will simply whitewash a huge injustice to him, and therefore he will not appear before the court and face the consequences and fight it in his own way.

This is just a very summary description of what I think are some relevant issues surrounding the situation.

The legitimacy of courts and their orders and decisions lie in the courts and their actions being within the framework of the law, which is applied equally to all. An ultra vires decision of the court is no different from a decision by an individual to disobey the decision of the court itself.

Hence my tweet : Impunity can only be matched with impunity.

When legal systems break down to the level we are seeing, laws are not worth the paper they are written on. Anarchy rules, which comes from a very primitive instinct within human beings : survive any which way one can.

We enact laws and try to uphold the rule of law to move away from this and live in a civilised fashion. For rule of law to be upheld, all public institutions and officials have to abide by it.

It is extremely fragile. If just one disregards the rule of law and the issue is not rectified quickly, it spreads rapidly like a cancer and destroys the whole system, paving the way for anarchy. I think we are fast approaching that point. The final signs, that of treating human life with impunity on account of difference of opinion is already here. The rest is likely to follow soon.

The outlook is appears to be rather bleak. But from a systems theory perspective, this had to happen. All vestiges which held the faulty system had to break before reformation could take place. There will be chaos. There already is. It may worsen. And then, if we are lucky, out of chaos will emerge order. But what kind of order it will be depends on which paradigm wins. At this point in time, I would tentatively suggest it may be religious extremism.

Ibrahim ‘Ibra’ Ismail of the former Chairman of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of the Special Majlis, responsible for drafting the 2008 constitution

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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Tourism authority’s Twitter campaign “hijacked”, “travel-related farce”, world media reports

A social network strategy launched this week to promote the Maldives has been labelled a “travel-related farce” by media sources including Conde-Nast Traveller, while publications such as the Daily Telegraph newspaper report that the focus has been “hijacked” by anti-government protesters.

The scheme, launched on Thursday, was devised to have the country’s recently reintroduced “Sunny Side of Life” slogan become an online trend among Twitter users by playing up the destination as an unparalleled tourism paradise and honeymoon getaway.

However, global news reports soon emerged that “pro-democracy campaigners” were sabotaging the focus by using the “#SunnySideOfLife” hashtag to draw attention to alleged human rights abuses reportedly committed during the last few months by the government of President Mohamed Waheed.

“For example, the majority of the site’s users are using the term to post tweets such as ‘#SunnySideOfLife: Pristine white sandy beaches, crystal clear lagoons filled with blood of its citizens who are fighting for democracy’,” the Daily News of New York reported on Thursday.

Tourism authorities in the country have recently targeted the increased use of social media sites like Facebook to more effectively promote the destination. The promotion plan was adopted on the back of fears that global headlines following the controversial transfer of power in February have had a detrimental impact on the destination’s reputation.

Industry view

Contacted by Minivan News about the implications the week’s global media coverage might have on future social media promotions in the country – as well the more encouraging developments of the “Sunny Side of Life” Twitter campaign – Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb said he was about to board a plane and unable to respond at the time of press.

Speaking before embarking on his flight, Adheeb added that the question of a future direction of social media to promote the destination was something that “required thought”, but he could not elaborate further at the time. Calls to Deputy Tourism Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal went unanswered.

However, on the official Visit Maldives Twitter Page, the focus remained on encouraging guests at properties such as Bandos Island Resort and Spa to make use of the Twitter to play up the Maldives’ reputation internationally.

“MMPRC thanks @bandosmaldives guest and staff for having this event ‪#SunnySideOfLife‬pic.twitter.com/STXG3A0N,” read one of the more recent tweets posted on the Twitter site on Thursday (July 12).

Opposition allegations

In addressing the coverage of the Twitter promotion, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) claimed that it was presently between “a rock and a hard place” in terms of balancing the economic need for preserving tourism in the country, whilst asking tourists to boycott the destination to pressure the government for early elections this year.

President Waheed, who maintains that he was constitutionally sworn into office on February 7 following the resignation of his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed, said that the e arliest elections can be held under the constitution is July 2013. Political bodies and organisations including the EU and Commonwealth have recommended that early elections be held this year to bring political stability back to the country.

The MDP alleges that the elected government of former President Mohamed Nasheed was removed from office on February 7 by a “coup d’etat” sponsored by mutinous sections of the police and military. It claims the action was additionally financed by certain prominent local tourist tycoons, who control significant amounts of the nation’s wealth.

Earlier this month, former President Mohamed Nasheed told the UK-based Financial Times newspaper that he was calling for a blanket boycott of tourism in the country, earning criticism from a number of resort operators that employ a significant amount of local people alongside foreigners at their properties.

Though the opposition party claims to have no direct affiliation with the Twitter stunt, MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said the focus indicated young people were adopting a “grass roots” approach to highlight concerns about the present government’s legitimacy.

“There would appear to be no needed for a boycott of tourism with Twitter campaigns like this,” he claimed. “Whose bright idea was this? We are seeing the Maldivian youth raising their voices about democracy.”

Ghafoor contended that with such a high-profile focus seemingly now raising the issue of alleged human rights abuses around the world – the concept of needing a tourism boycott, as previously advocated by Nasheed, was a “lot less relevant”.

He pointed to his own observation of some Chinese tourists this week, who during a visit to Male’, asked local people about the reason for successive days of protests. These protests have at times escalated to violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police.

These clashes have led to allegations and reports of attacks on members of the media both reportedly by police and anti-government protesters, while certain reporters were also criticised for reportedly involving themselves in protests.

“Inevitable”

Fellow MDP MP Imthiyaz Fahmy added that it was “inevitable” that by turning to popular services like Twitter to promote the destination, the government would open itself up to allegations about police brutality and reported human rights abuses.

“This is not an MDP thing, but people here know very well what is going on and the role of some resort owners in sponsoring this ‘coup’,” he claimed.

Fahmy claimed that despite former President Nasheed’s recent calls for a boycott, the MDP at present was “undecided” if the party would support a blanket boycott or calls to avoid certain tourism properties in the country.

“We all know that some of the country’s richest people are behind the coup,” he said. “We need a focus that will help the Maldives bring about early elections.”

Despite the party’s claims, UK-based NGO Friends of the Maldives, which had previously been associated with a targeted travel advisory asking tourists steer clear of resorts owned by figures alleged to have a direct roll with brining the present government to power, warned against blanket action.

Friends of Maldives – established in the UK in 2003 during the autocratic rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to focus on human rights issues in the country – raised concerns against seemingly penalising the entire tourist industry in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“A boycott is a last resort and I don’t think it has reached that stage,” Friends of Maldives founder, David Hardingham told the paper. “It’s easy for people like us to tell tourists not to visit, but it is the people of the Maldives who will suffer – and they are the ones who must decide whether it’s worth it. Any campaign for a boycott needs to be a grass-roots one.”

However, Friends of Maldives said it continued to reject the legitimacy of the present government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan, which the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) linked to Mohamed Nasheed has since alleged came to power in February through a “coup d’etat”.

“Jumper”

As of the time of going to press, the official Visit Maldives Twitter service’s last tweet – posted 18 hours ago – read: “Did you know that ‪#Maldives‬ was mentioned in 2008 Jumper movie …‪#SunnySideofLife‬ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt048909 …”

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MMPRC to open department of social media

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has opened a social media department to promote the Maldives on networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Head of the MMPRC, Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, told Minivan News that the new ‘Digital and Social Media’ department would aim to establish the Maldives as a “strong presence in the social and digital sphere.”

“Social networks have been under-utilised in the Maldives [as marketing tool] in the past,” Maleeh said, adding that the department would also work on search engine optimisation for the destination.

MMPRC staff will be trained to use the networks for marketing purposes and would attend the Digital and Social Media Conference in London in November, he said.

Dismissing potential criticism that the new approach was a ‘Department of Facebook’, Maleeh explained that social media was a cost-effective marketing tool that would enable greater sharing of positive messages about the destination, especially given its popularity with international – and tweeting – celebrities.

“Honeymooners are a key market for the Maldives, and social media users are quite young. It is good if we can occupy a space in their mind when they are booking their honeymoon,” Jamal explained.

Furthermore, “all other major destination promoters are is doing it, and we don’t want to be left out,” he said.

The Maldives was very social media-savvy, Maleeh noted, with a ‘social media population’ of around 50,000.

“If one person sends out a positive message, that is worth millions of rufiya in word-of-mouth marketing. Visitors are also very loyal – 25 percent are repeat visitors,” he added.

According to Facebook statistics, there are 123,280 active Facebook users in the Maldives – a third of the population. The vast majority of these – 113,760 – are under the age of 35. Sixty percent of all Maldivian Facebook users are male.

While Facebook has been popular in the Maldives for many years, Twitter use has exploded following the controversial transfer of power on February 7. Tags such as #mvcoup are full of furious exchanges between bloggers, activists, politicians and office holders.

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Comment: The spy who came in from the coup

Law and order appears to have gone a bit schizophrenic in the Maldives in the last few days. First the Maldives Police Service (MPS) arrested its intelligence head, Chief Superintendent (MC) Mohamed Hameed, on charges of ‘endangering internal security’ by disclosing classified information.

Hameed is alleged to have co-operated with the co-authors of ‘The Police and Military Coup’, an MDP-affiliated investigation into the events of 7 February 2012. The report was released in response to the current government’s ‘findings’ into the events, published so prematurely as to be available for public feedback even before investigations began.

The MPS says drafts of the Coup Report, along with commentary, were found in MC Hameed’s gmail account. Nobody has yet answered the question of why the MPS was snooping around in the man’s private email account in the first place. Is it normal for the MPS to spy on their officers?

Then the Criminal Court granted the MPS a five-day extension to Hameed’s detention. He was promptly taken to Dhoonidhoo, the Maldives’ most famous prison island. Hameed’s lawyers lodged an appeal at the High Court on the same day but he was not granted a hearing until the fifth and last day of his detention. Three Justices agreed unanimously that he should be detained for five days, just hours before the five-day detention period expired.

Now, is it just me, or is it a bit difficult to get your head around the question of why the High Court would deign to deliver that judgement at that particular time? Three more hours, and the detention order would no longer be valid anyway. So what was the eleventh hour High Court ruling for?

The High Court’s behaviour becomes all the more inexplicable in light of the fact that shortly afterwards the Criminal Court released Hameed. It saw no grounds to detain him further. All told, the judiciary does not seem to know quite what to do, with itself or with a problem like Hameed.

What is to be done with Hameed? Was he ‘spying for the enemy camp’ as some are alleging? Or is he a heroic whistle-blower? Is he to be jailed for life, or celebrated as a voice that stood up for democracy?

National security violation or whistle-blowing?

The MPS is alleging that by talking to the authors of the Coup Report, Hameed had facilitated an ‘intelligence leak’. Here’s a Tweet by pro-government blogger endorsed by Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz.

police intelligence leak is a crime even in UK bbc.co.uk/news/uk-171513… #Mvcoup #Mvprotest

— heyoverikan (@heyoverikan) June 15, 2012

Was it an intelligence leak?

The Coup Report does not name any names that are not in the public domain already as having been involved in the events of 7 February; nor does it reveal information a third party had not been privy to previously. What the report seems to have done, for the most part, is gather together scattered evidence already available on various platforms on the Internet and other media into a coherent single narrative.

It appears the authors shared their drafts with Hameed, and he acted as some sort of a proof-reader or a fact-checker. Double-checking what was in the report against what he saw and knew as the Intelligence Chief on 7 February. The MPS says it saw evidence of this in Hameed’s gmail account.

In the absence of an Official Secrets Act or whistle-blower legislation (any lawyer wanting to stop practising the art of silence is welcome to contradict or complement this), what is the most likely legal instrument that would be used for prosecuting Hameed?

The Police Act is a likely resource. It is what the MPS says Hameed violated. The Police Code of Conduct says:

4. Confidentiality

Information obtained during police duty should be confidential and not shared with a third party. Information about police operations and information contained within official police records should not be made public unless their exposure is lawfully ordered.

So, technically, Hameed was acting against the Police Code of Conduct when he liaised with the authors of the coup report.

But, what if he was co-operating in revealing a crime? In such a scenario, Hameed cannot be regarded as guilty of misconduct or any other offence, but becomes a whistle-blower. In the absence of a Maldivian legal definition, let’s go by the dictionary definition:

whis·tle·blow·er or whis·tle-blow·er or whistle blower (hwsl-blr, ws-)

n.

One who reveals wrongdoing within an organisation to the public or to those in positions of authority: ”The Pentagon’s most famous whistleblower is . . . hoping to get another chance to search for government waste” (Washington Post).

whistle-blowing n.

What the Coup Report alleges, and is the opinion shared by tens of thousands of Maldivians, is that the elected government of the Maldives was illegally overthrown on 7 February with the help of police mutiny. If so, providing information on how the police mutiny occurred is not a crime.

Besides, information relating to those events should not be an official secret or classified information. What could there be of more grave public interest than knowing how a government most voted for ended so suddenly and in such questionable circumstances?

Would Hameed not have given the same information to the Commission of National Inquiry if it had bothered to ask him? Would he be not sharing the same information with CoNI now that it’s work has begun at long last? Or is this a way of making sure Hameed is not able to freely speak to CoNI?

If the State were to go after Hameed, there is also Section 29 of the Penal Code:

Whoever attempts to commit or participates in or facilitates the commission of an act against the State shall be punished with imprisonment for life or exile for life or imprisonment or exile for a period between 10 years and 15 years.

An ‘act against the State’ is a term so broad that the act does not necessarily have to amount to an offence to be deemed punishable. The State, meanwhile, is defined as:

the Cabinet existing in accordance with the Constitution, People’s Majlis and collectively all agencies that are entrusted with the administration of those entities. This definition shall also include all property belonging to the State.

So, anyone who does anything about anything to do with the State, which the state deems to be ‘against’ it, can be jailed for life, or banished for life?

Then again, the above definition defines the State as ‘the Cabinet existing in accordance with the Constitution.’ Which means that, if this government is found to be illegitimate, the Cabinet cannot be seen as existing in accordance with the Constitution, and therefore, Hameed could not have committed an ‘act against the State’.

Which brings it all back to the Mother Question upon which all other questions depend: is Waheed’s government legitimate?

Should that question not be answered first before pursuing people who talk about it for espionage and/or defamation? Shouldn’t any information made public for the purposes of answering that question be deemed valuable rather than criminal? Shouldn’t holders of such information be regarded as vital witnesses to be protected rather than traitors to be prosecuted?

Every question that depends on ‘if this government were legitimate’ should take a back-seat to that of how the first democratically elected government ended on 7 February. Especially the question of who is the hero and who the villain.

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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Comment: Maldives politicians take to twitter, results mixed

This article first appeared on DhivehiSitee. Republished with permission.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, when asked for his views about politicians on Twitter, famously replied: ‘Too many tweets might make a twat.” Cameron was discussing the instantaneousness of modern communication, and the perils of politicians tweeting without thinking.

It should be said that neither side of the divided Maldivian political landscape are too keen to listen to Cameron right now. The authoritarians have a bone to pick with him for declaring President Nasheed his ‘new best friend’ and ‘ideal stag party-companion’ not long before the coup; and Nasheed’s supporters aren’t happy with him for abandoning his new best friend at the first sign of trouble. But, on lessons about tweeting, Cameron’s advice is spot on for Maldivian politicians.

Twitter is as popular in the Maldives as it is in all other countries going through political turmoil. Ordinary Maldivian Twitterians and Tweeps have the same behavioural patterns as those of their foreign counterparts. Both supporters of the government and opposing democrats are on Twitter everyday, expressing their divergent opinions, heckling the opposition, drumming up support for and covering protests, having fun, and of course, trolling.

The behaviour of Maldivian politicians and other leaders on Twitter, however, is an entirely different matter. Their Twitter life is remarkably different from tweeting politicians in other countries. Like the sheer amount of time they seem to have to devote to Twitter for one thing. Whereas other leaders such as American President Obama or say Dr Manmohan Singh, the Indian PM, all have their staff tweet for them, President Waheed likes to do it himself.

To be fair, Dr Waheed has only tweeted just over a hundred times but, clearly, he does it himself, and also thinks it is about himself as a person rather than about his presidency. He likes to post pictures with supporters (an inordinate number of them appear to be children), and at times provide some intimate insights into his life such as how he enjoys taking the time to smell flowers on weekends.

Then there’s the large number of fake accounts that have sprung up pretending to be some politician or another. By fake accounts I don’t mean those that are obviously parodies. The new president Dr Waheed and his wife Ilham Hussein both have good ones. Witty and insightful, they satirise the couple well:

From inside Presidents office with other senior officials, watching live coverage of security forces attacking the enemy base at usfasgandu.

— Mohamed Waheed (@DrWaheeedH) May 29, 2012

This cheap flower bouquet is going back to High Commission. #Maldives — Madam Ilham (@madamilham) June 4, 2012

President Waheed became the butt of many jokes when his first Tweet as president was one about having his account verified as authentic by Twitter. It was a similar story with newly appointed Attorney General Azima Shukoor. Her first order of business after assuming office was to send out a press release – on official letterhead of the Attorney General’s Office – to confirm which of two Twitter accounts in her name was the authentic one. Don’t know why she bothered. She doesn’t have much to say anyway. Perhaps Twitterians shouldn’t have laughed at their antics so hard. Differentiating between fake accounts and real ones has become important, given the content of some Tweets. One of the most dubious ones is that of the President’s Spokesperson Abbas Riza. He has said on television that the account is his, but I still inadvertently do a double-take at some of the Tweets he sends out. He never refers to MDP (Maldivian Democratic Party) – to which President Nasheed belongs – as MDP. He prefers to call it ‘NDP Terror Wing’. Presumably the N stands for Nasheed. Any protest that MDP organises, the President’s Spokesperson refers to as activities of ‘NDP Terror Wing’. What’s worse are his personal attacks on Nasheed. His most offensive Tweet of late has been:

NDP terror leader to show his size tonight at ‘rundi kaalhu’ maalan. OMG what a shame: i hear its only 2.5 inch. #lailaal — Abbas Adil Riza (@AbbasRiza) May 31, 2012

‘Run’di Kaalhu’ is an insult in Dhivehi. Loosely translated, it means ‘whoring crow’. That’s the name the President’s spokesperson has decided to refer to the protest camp MDP had on the South eastern corner of Male’. I don’t think the rest of the tweet needs any explanation. These types of tweets on a regular basis, from a person in such a job, would be regarded as highly offensive, and often defamatory, in any other country which claims to be a democracy. In the Maldives, however, they go un-remarked upon by the mainstream media or anyone else. The only people who seem to care are the Twitter community. Pro-government Tweeps find it hilarious, the other side is outraged. But they remain on record, and the President’s Spokesperson keeps on tweeting. The Commissioner of Police, Abdulla Riyaz, has an account which nobody doubts is his, and is quite possibly the most frequently updated timeline of all leaders appointed to high ranks after February 7. He is convinced that his role in 7 February events [he was one of the three civilians who ‘negotiated’ President Nasheed’s resignation inside the military headquarters] was heroic, and has boasted on Twitter that he has nothing to apologise for as he’s ‘proud of what he did’. Here’s a typical example:

@Luhanio That day Police publicly said NO to unlawful orders. Enough is enough. Ensure us no unlawful orders echoed by Police officers.

— Abdulla Riyaz (@riyazabdulla) June 13, 2012

And it’s not uncommon for him to come out with an absolute shocker, something that a police commissioner wouldn’t say even in your wildest dreams. Like this one:

The prostitutes do a lot of harm to the society? — Abdulla Riyaz (@riyazabdulla) June 9, 2012

Another account that caused consternation among the Twitter community is that purported to be of Masood Imad, Dr Waheed’s Media Secretary. Masood’s timeline is less shocking than that of the President’s Spokesperson, but it seems to have got the President’s goat more than any others.

Dhivehi Sitee has come upon some evidence to show that the President has tried hard to stop the ‘Masood Imad’ account. Not because it’s insulting, but because it was deemed to be providing ‘somewhat accurate projections of the administration.’

Here is a screen shot of the President’s son – it is not known in what capacity he is acting – trying to get the owner of the account to hand it over to the Real Masood Imad.

I guess this means that although the Masood Imad account is fake, it is one that we should follow if we want to have some ‘somewhat accurate projections of the administration’.

Azra Naseem holds a doctorate in International Relations.

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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MMPRC targets social media push to bolster online presence

The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) has pledged to more than double the number of users currently subscribed to its official Facebook and Twitter services in a greater focus on incorporating social media into its marketing efforts.

As part of a new campaign designed to try and specifically target the growing importance of internet users to the travel industry, the MMPRC said it hoped by May 31 to increase the number of Facebook fans from just over 4,000 to 10,000 users. Over the same period of time, the local marketing body said it aims to boost its current tally of 458 followers on Twitter to 2000 people.

The pledges are part of the MMPRC’s wider ambitions in 2012 to accrue over 50,000 “likes” on its Facebook services, 14,000 followers on Twitter and to also sign up 10,000 people to its official newsletter.

As part of the plans to achieve these aims, the MMPRC has said it will be adopting real time updates on its Twitter service in order to establish it as a key source for breaking industry news for the travellers.

From the perspective of Facebook, the marketing body added that it would attempt to provide timely communication with tourists and industry stakeholders like airlines, PR agents and journalists to deal with queries and questions about the destination.

Earlier this month, the MMPRC said it was aiming to record one million tourist arrivals into the country during 2012 as it reverted to its long-standing “Sunny side of life” branding.

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