Archive for September, 2010

29th September, Male’, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

Three men aged 18, 20, 24 have been arrested by the Maldives Police in connection with Hussain Manik’s murder on 28th early morning. All of them are from Hoarafushi. Police did not reveal the names of the arrested people.

Police and Star  Force are deployed in the island. Lastnight the murdered Hussain Manik was buried in the island. The burial ceremony was attended by many islanders.

14:57, Male’, Maldivestoday.com

Political experts believe its cheap tactic of Mr. Nasheed to send the commissioner and deputy commissioner to Hoarafushi. It’s to influence the upcoming local council election. Also president is undermining the investigation capability of junior police officers. There are number of murders by gangs in Male’ president Nasheed has never condemned or deployed commissioner or deputy to investigate such matters.

The main issue is not upholding supremacy of law and order. The cabinet Ministers have not been approved by the parliament. Some legal experts beleive the cabinet is illegal. In July 2010 President Nasheed confiscated keys of Supreme Court and locked its doors. Following the incident his Attorney General resigned.

Police Commissioner also disregarded a parliementary request to be present to the National Securty Committee of Parliament following detentioned of opposition MPs and leaders.

14:25, Male’, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

Our sources has confirmed that the gang was suspected to have carried out another murder. A young boy was murdered but the investigation of the incident has so far failed to bring anyone to justice. This is one of the reasons that the islanders are angered.

The gang is operated in the South area  of the island. The area is densely vegetated. The group has build some huts in this area. This morning angered citizens has put petrol and set the area on ablaze.

The murdered Hussain Manik operates 3 shops in the island. Which includes a hardware shop. He is someone who is love by the island community. He has known to have provided credit fecilitiesn to many households.

14:27 Male’, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

Our sources in Hoarafushi has informed that the situation in the island remains very tense. The islanders set huts used by the gangs on fire in the morning. The blaze has been controlled. However, confrontations between the gangs and ordinarary citizens are not a far scenario.

People are very angered said our source in the island.

Meanwhile some police officers from nearby Dhidhoo and Kulhudhufushi island has already been deployed.

The children of Hussain Manik who reside in Male’ has already departed and they likely arrive to the island today. Police Commissioner and deputy has so far not arrived to the island.

Islanders want justice to be carried out by themselves however police has controlled the angered crowd.

28th September, Male,Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

Businessmen murdered

An elderly businessmen Hussain Manik from HA. Hoarafushi, Sea View house was brutally murdered lastnight. The father of seven children and 81 year old Manik is engaged in distribution of fuel in the island and he was returning home after closing his fuel store in the harbour area of the island. Lastnight was a rainy night in HA. Hoarafushi. A group abducted him while he was returning home and grabbed him to an abandoned house stealed all his money and brutally murdered.

Angered islanders set huts belonging to gangs ablaze

Police and the islanders suspect the case to gangs operated in the island. The angry islanders set ablaze huts built and used by the gang in the harbour area. Originally from Noonu atoll Lhohi, Manik married a Hoarafushi woman and has been living in the isalnd for years.
Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh and Deputy Commissioner Mohamed Rilwaan along with a senior police team are set to depart to the island at 10.30am to investigate the case on President Mohamed Nasheed’s request. Gangs fights, murder, robbery by gangs are becoming more common in Maldives. Experts blame the government and judiciary for their negligence. President Nasheed has no solid policy to combat gang violence and address the increasing drug abuse and trafficking. In fact front line activists in protests and rallies organized by MDP are convicted criminals and well known gangsters. People of Male’ alone are upset because over 500 harcore criminals have been released to the streets of Male’ who also include convicts of Sultan Park Bombing incident.

Guantanamo Bay Prisoners to be transfered to Maldives

While the safety and security of the citizens are on stake Nasheed’s government is trying to rehabilited Guatanamo Bay terrorists in Maldives. The country’s foreign ministers has recently iterated his interest to bring Quantanamo Bay detainees to Maldives although Maldives Parliament has objected such a transfer of prisoners to Maldives. The citizens are upset of hearing that detainees of Guatananomo bay to be transferred to Maldives because growing extremism in Maldives is danger to national security.

Back ground of the island of Hoarafushi

The island has a population of less than 3000 people. Located in 316km north of Male’ the capital of Maldives. The island was also known as the “Bangkok” of Maldives during Hoako Maree fishing vessel operation in the 80s. In 1206 A.H., during the reign of King Hassan Nuraddheen, the royal Bodu Ban’deyri was Hathifushi Mohamed Handheygiri who is from Hoarafushi. Hathifushi Kaannaa Kaleygefaan was buried at the Kuda mosque in Hoarafushi. It is also said that the Hui Ali Didi the (first poet of the Maldives) was buried at the Kuda Mosque cemetery.

The current under secretary of President’s Office Mr. Ibrahim Rasheed (commonly known as Hoara Ibbey) is also from the same island. Other personalities from the island include Ibrahim Khaleel ( the Managing Director of controversial MNBC), Madulu Waheed (The Chairman of controversial MNBC). MNBC is former Television Maldives which has been hijacked by the government of Nasheed. Madulu Waheed and Hoara Ibbey are relatives. Both of them hold senior posts of Nasheed’s government.

Horafushi has produced a number of controversial as well as famous Maldivian citizens, ranging from engineering to music to poetry to politics. They include Abdulla Hamza (the person who invented the hand operated fan), Adam Saleem (a famous poet) and Mohamed Murushid who tried to assassinate former president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom. One of the wives of the richest person in Maldives Mr. Gasim Ibrahim is also from this island.

22nd Sept Male’, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

The Civil Court of Maldives has just now issued an order to stop Sale of prime land from South West harbour area of Male’, the capital of Maldives. Nasheed’s government went the extend of selling prime land below market value from Male’ South Harbour area while the opposition party’s resented such actions.

The well known corporate law firm Rajje Chambers represented opposition political party’s in court. Dhivehi Qaumee Party, DRP, PA and Jumhooree Party opposed sale of already planned land in Male’. However, Mr. Nasheed’s government ignored the opposition voices and they had to file a case in the court against sale of land. Recently Nasheed’s government has been operating above the law. Nasheed’s attorney general resigned following legal controversies of the government.

Prime Land in Capital Male’ for Sale

Maldivestoday has learnt that a group of technocrats in the field of Urban Development and Built Environment are disgusted about Nasheed’s government decision to sell prime land from the South West Harbour Front of the Capital Male’ where 150,000 people live in less than 3sqm land. They suspect that it would put the urban development plan of the world’s smallest capital island Male’ into total disarray. The group of technocrats are well educated and has vast experience in the field and has been involved int he land planning of Capital Male’ and other island in Maldives.

The man behind this deal is the controversial president of Male’ Municipality Mr. Sarangu Adam Manik who is also going to compete in the coming local council election. He is father of the Maldivian who was jailed in Sri Lanka for possession of drugs and later transferred to serve sentence in Maldives under prisoner exchange with Sri Lanka but only to be freed by the Nasheed’s government.

The Main Concerns

The main concerns the group of technocrats are going to discuss with the government authorities are purely based on the sense of responsibility to advice the Government for the well being of development endeavors. They feel that a few individuals representing the National Planning Council cannot simply advice on this matter, neglecting others voices.

A. The Southwest harbor area currently serves as a major supply point for inter-atoll trade, and for loading and unloading of construction materials and industry-related equipments. Almost all the passenger cum cargo vessels that commute between Male’ and various local communities berth at the quay wall area for various business related transactions ever since the facility was built. Furthermore, due to the limited land availability in Male’ for Garages, workshops, carpentries ,storage and warehousing facilities of various related works , part of this limited land is assigned for such facilities under the approved land use plan for the South West Harbour. According to the government’s practicing regulations (if not annulled by the present authorities), this approved land use plans fall under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Housing and Environment as the planning authority, with Male’ Municipality acting as the implementing agency. With the current lacking of trained planning experts in Male’ Municipality, technocrats opinion is that this agency should not embark on executing their own plans on a sensitive issue of this scale. They therefore advice all the concerned authorities to focus more on developing this area in context with the economic activities engaged by the general public such as warehousing, catering, and selling of general household goods. Sale of plots will hinder land use development plan of South West Harbour Should the proposed selling went ahead to even a single plot, this will severely curtail any future potential of improving the land use development plans of the South West Harbour reflecting the optimal needs of end users. Even though the Government ratifies a swapping of land with a new owner of a plot, there would be a huge compensation bill associated with such an event which would eventually become unaffordable and irrevocable.

A. They all agree with the concept of private partnership in the development, which would attract private finances to complement to national economic development. By retaining the legal land title under government hands, the plots could be tendered to the highest bidder for a number of years, in the manner which the resorts are currently operating in the country. This was also the proposal made earlier to develop this land. A delay in its implementation for any reasons should not be construed as an excuse to shelve it and propose selling some plots instead. With the legal title under government hands, it will have a substantial say in the type of transaction which would be adopted, in addition to approving the design of the built infrastructure and the regulator of the development. On the other hand, their opinion is that selling land from an area of huge social, economic and environmental importance to public will surely generate immediate cash, to the detriment of long-term financial returns, with loss of control in future planning for a more integrated development. Lessons should be learned from North Harbour the current main domestic sea port in Male’

Their experience from the development of North harbor area and its present functional needs shows that the constraints to development of wider roads to accommodate for ever-increasing traffic, and hindrances to development of public facilities to complement with the development potentials revert back to lack of sufficient public land. Though the relatively recent Southwest harbor has eased the burden of activities in the Northern harbor, it is still operating in total chaos in excess of capacity. By selling of land at the only area where a parallel facility to North harbor could be developed, the ownership is passed on to a few rich and influential business tycoons, while the interest of the majority stakeholders from the community is taken out of the picture. With this experience, one ought to pre-empt wisdom ahead of any decision related to land sale in the only area left in Male’ for a parallel development. With ample space still left, the potential for substantial improvements is possible, with better planning and sourcing of funds. There is no need to recreate the operational scenario of North Harbour. Who is likely to secure plots of Land A. Experts believe State Bank of India is likely to buy a staggering 7500sqf of land at around MRF5000 per square feet while its hard to get beach front land from Male’ for even MRf10,000 per square feet. B. Sarangu Adam Manik the president of Male Municipality is likely as he has recently bought around 3-4 plots of land from the capital Male. He is also one of the major financier of Nasheed’s MDP party. C. Ali Hashim and Mahamood Razy the current finance Minister & Economic Minister respectively who also holds share of Lintel Investment is likely to secure some plots

D. The leader of MDP Parliamentary Group Mr. Moosa Manik’s Heavy Load Pvt Ltd which has secured many government projects is another likely candidate. People suspect that State Band of India in Maldives is likely to fund close associates of Mr. Mohamed Nasheed’s minority government to secure plots of land after they themselves secure a piece of land for their bank. Government land has not been sold in Male’ for social harmony and social justice. The land in Male’ is one of the most expensive in the world. The country is facing huge economic crisis when such prime lands are sold well below market rate. Economists believe its not time to sell such government assets. It is also vital to note that recently Government of Nasheed has leased the only functional international Airport in Maldives to Indian GMR for 25 years against the parliament of Maldives.

China has devised a novel strategy to relieve pressure on its overcrowded prisons: Use convicts as labourers on overseas projects in the developing world. The practice has exposed another facet of China’s egregious human-rights record, which, when it comes to the overseas operations of Chinese companies, includes the government’s failure to enforce its own regulations.

Not only is China the world’s leading executioner – it puts to death three times as many people every year as the rest of the world combined – it also has one of the largest prison populations: 1.57 million inmates in 2009, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College, London.

The forced dispatch of prisoners to work on overseas infrastructure projects raises new issues regarding China’s human-rights record. It also adds a new element – the dumping of convicts – to its trade and investment policy, which has been much criticized for dumping goods.

Thousands of Chinese convicts, for example, have been pressed into service on projects undertaken by state-run Chinese companies in Sri Lanka, a strategically important country for Beijing as it seeks to enhance its regional position in the Indian Ocean. After providing Sri Lanka’s government with weapons systems that helped end the country’s decades-long civil war, China has been rewarded with port-building, railroad and other infrastructure projects.

Chinese convicts also have been sent to the Maldives, where the Chinese government is building 4,000 houses on several different islands as a government-to-government “gift” to win influence. So far, however, China has failed to persuade the country’s President to lease it one of the 700 uninhabited Maldivian islands for use as a small base for the Chinese navy.

Chinese companies’ operating practice for overseas projects is to keep the number of local workers to a bare minimum and to bring in much of the work force from China, including convicts “freed” on parole for project-related overseas work. Convict labourers, like the rest of the Chinese work force on such projects, are housed near the project site. That way, if any convict worker escaped, he would be easy to find in an alien setting.

In theory, such practices run counter to regulations promulgated by the Chinese commerce ministry in August of 2006, in response to a backlash against Chinese businesses in Zambia after the death of 51 Zambian workers in an explosion at a Chinese-owned copper mine. These regulations called for “localization,” including hiring local workers, respecting local customs and adhering to safety norms. In October of 2006, the State Council – China’s cabinet – issued nine directives ordering that Chinese overseas businesses “pay attention to environmental protection,” “support local community and people’s livelihood cause” and “preserve China’s good image and its good corporate reputation.”

But Chinese regulations are sometimes promulgated simply to blunt external criticism, and thus are seldom enforced (except when a case attracts international attention). In 2003, for example, China enacted a law on environmental-impact assessments that was followed in 2008 by “provisional measures” to permit public participation in such assessments. Yet, Chinese leaders remain more zealous about promoting exports and economic growth than in protecting the country’s air and water.

Similarly, the State Council’s 2006 directives to Chinese overseas companies have been subordinated to the drive for exports and growth, even when it imposes environmental and social costs on local communities abroad. Indeed, as part of the government’s “going global” policy, Chinese companies are offered major incentives for bagging overseas contracts and boosting exports.

The use of convict labourers adds a disturbing new dimension to this strategy. But even before convicts became part of China’s overseas development effort, some Chinese projects, especially dam-building schemes, were embroiled in disputes with local communities in Botswana, Burma, Pakistan, Ghana and Sudan. Several bombs exploded recently at the site of Burma’s Myitsone Dam, whose construction by a Chinese company in insurgency-torn Kachin state is displacing thousands of subsistence farmers and fishermen by flooding a wide swath of land.

Chinese companies can’t get thousands of prisoners released on their own, let alone secure passports and exit permits for them. It’s obvious that the practice of pressing convicts into service on overseas projects has been instituted by the Chinese government.

Until China’s treatment of its own citizens and those of other countries is guided by respect for basic human rights and the rule of law, Beijing is unlikely to command the respect it seeks on the world stage.

Brahma Chellaney is a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and the author of Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/exporting-convicts-stains-chinas-reputation/article1657921/

18th September 2010, Male’, Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

The government of Maldives awarded  State Dignitary title to two pioneers of the successful tourism industry of the Maldives. The Chairman of Universal Enterprises which operates and owns many resorts and Mr. Hussain Afeef the Chairman of Champa Brothers who also owns and operates many resorts in Maldives and overseas were awarded this title in a ceremony held at the President’s Office. They are awarded this award in recognition of their invaluable service to the state.  Both gentlemen are well respected in Maldives and have made immense contributions to the development of the Maldives, especially in the tourism sector.

Mr. Afeef is the craftman and the person behind bringing tourism to the South of Maldives. The Herethera Island in Addu Atoll was developed with the help of Mr. Afeef who was involved in person at the development stage. In addition he also gave personal guarantee for USD46 million dollars to develop the island. MU Manik is the Chairman of MATI the resort owners association.

Both gentlemen has received awards for their contribution to the tourism sector during the former government.

It was surprising though that Mr. Waheedu Deen, Mr. Abdulla Ali, Mr. Gasim Ibrahim, Mr. Ahmed Siyam, Mr. Hussain Hilmy, Mr. Solah Shihab etc were not given this title although these individuals have immensely contributed to the tourism sector and Maldivian economy.

Recently, a bill was passed by the parliament to charge 3.5% as GST from all tourism related business and while resort lease period can be extended for 50 years.

DRP

18th September 2010, Male’ Maldives, Maldivestoday.com

DRP Deputy leaders planned protest tonight has been cancelled due to bad weather. The protest organized by the deputy leader Umar Naseer and Ilham Mohamed faced criticism from the DRP secretariat. Secretariat of DRP said if DRP is organizing such an event the party will inform its members. Umar Naseer took allegance to DRP after abandoning his own political party Islamic Democratic Party.

The deputy leaders plan multiple protests and rallies in future. They argue that Party council endorsement is not necessary to hold protests. Today they were planning tp protest over selling land plots in South West Harbour. The Opposition political Parties DRP, PA, DQP and JP has filed a case in the Civil Court against sale of prime plots of land near South West Harbour.

Recently protests in Maldives have turned violent and lead to injury to people and damaged properties.

16th September 2010, Male’, Maldives

Four council members of the main opposition party DRP has send a statement to the DRP council to declare a decree that prohibits talks with the government unless they walk the talk. Among other things that the government has not acted are not ratifying the amendment to the Public Finance Act which was passed by the 2/3rd majority of the parliament. The government also rejected Public Broadcasting Act. Under the act the state media (TVM, Radio Maldives) has to be handed over to the independent board which was approved by the parliament. However, the government continues state media without handing over the company to the newly appointed board.