Some economists predict that the U.S. economy will slide into recession next year. The outlook is the gloomiest in years and the World economy will take a hard hit if the world's largest economy goes into a recession.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times since September, lowering its benchmark rate to 4.25 percent. Economists expect the Fed to keep cutting, dropping the rate to as low as 3 percent by midyear, which would be the lowest since May 2005. That should help the economy because lower interest rates encourage consumer and business spending by lowering borrowing costs.
The U.S. economy is expected to be most vulnerable in the first half 2008, when growth is so slow that even a mild shock, like another surge in oil prices, could push it into recession.
Click below to listen to the United States presidential candidate Dr.Ron Paul discuss economic and currency issues.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
An unislamic silence
These are early signs of going overboard.
In an MDP meeting recently, this is what President of MDP’s Consultative Council on Islamic Affairs Adam Naseem has said as reported on Miadhu.
Quote. "Speaking at the gathering Sheikh Adam Naseem noted that many of the customary practices practiced currently are alien to Islam and are imported to our modern culture from other religions. He said such acts as “holding a moment of silence” was unIslamic and as such, such a moment will not be held in memory of Late Saleem." Unquote.
Following this nitpicking logic, our country will have to start a national house cleaning exercise to weed out unislamic elements if the conservatives have their way. With increasing influence of the religious parties in Maldives, the politics that gets played out could mirror the political chaos that is happening in Pakistan. The politics is not based on issues, instead it is based on keeping personalities in power.
The tragic death of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan is a stark reminder of the gruesome reality of imposing twisted notions of religion in political governance. There are some hard-line radical clerics who believe that Benazir Bhutto was too much of a liberal who supported US in their fight against terror and therefore she must be eliminated. While it may be unseemly to talk about benefiting from a person's death, her death is another chance for the world to realise that dictators and clerics who oppress their people using religion can never deliver peace and no one is safe, for they only create conflict within society.
Islam is a religion of peace. It respects and calls for individual rights, liberty and justice for all. But a country like Maldives which claims to be a 100 per cent Muslim country does not care about individual rights or equitable distribution of wealth to allow its citizens such respect and proper living conditions.
In Maldives, our clerics need to keep their focus and address major issues such as education, housing, health care, employment, drug addiction, equitable distribution of wealth, and social justice. These are the critical issues for our society. Our status as Muslims cannot change with a minute of silence.
In an MDP meeting recently, this is what President of MDP’s Consultative Council on Islamic Affairs Adam Naseem has said as reported on Miadhu.
Quote. "Speaking at the gathering Sheikh Adam Naseem noted that many of the customary practices practiced currently are alien to Islam and are imported to our modern culture from other religions. He said such acts as “holding a moment of silence” was unIslamic and as such, such a moment will not be held in memory of Late Saleem." Unquote.
Following this nitpicking logic, our country will have to start a national house cleaning exercise to weed out unislamic elements if the conservatives have their way. With increasing influence of the religious parties in Maldives, the politics that gets played out could mirror the political chaos that is happening in Pakistan. The politics is not based on issues, instead it is based on keeping personalities in power.
The tragic death of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan is a stark reminder of the gruesome reality of imposing twisted notions of religion in political governance. There are some hard-line radical clerics who believe that Benazir Bhutto was too much of a liberal who supported US in their fight against terror and therefore she must be eliminated. While it may be unseemly to talk about benefiting from a person's death, her death is another chance for the world to realise that dictators and clerics who oppress their people using religion can never deliver peace and no one is safe, for they only create conflict within society.
Islam is a religion of peace. It respects and calls for individual rights, liberty and justice for all. But a country like Maldives which claims to be a 100 per cent Muslim country does not care about individual rights or equitable distribution of wealth to allow its citizens such respect and proper living conditions.
In Maldives, our clerics need to keep their focus and address major issues such as education, housing, health care, employment, drug addiction, equitable distribution of wealth, and social justice. These are the critical issues for our society. Our status as Muslims cannot change with a minute of silence.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Drawing inspiration from 'Room to Read'
Room to Read is a non-profit charitable organization founded by former Microsoft employee John Woodand based in San Francisco. It is dedicated to building education infrastructure in developing countries to end the cycle of poverty.
It all statrted in 1998, when John Wood, Microsoft’s director of business development for China, went on an eighteen-day trek through the Himalayas. He stopped for tea and met a headmaster from Bahundanda, Nepal, who invited him to visit his school. John found eighty kids crammed into classrooms for fifteen to twenty, and 450 children studying from cast-off Danielle Steele–type adult novels.
“Perhaps, sir, you could help us get more books?” the headmaster requested.
After returning from the trek, Wood managed to collect over 3,000 books from friends, acquaintances, and donors. He then returned with eight donkeys and delivered the books. In 2000, after a rough transition out of Microsoft, he founded Room to Read and is operating it to this day.
John Woods left a all-consuming lucrative job at Microsoft to follow the passion of his heart to donate books and build education infrastructure and he couldn't be happier to see the smiles on the children's faces.
Room to Read has created more than 2,000 schools and libraries for children across Asia. From his first trip to Nepal, where he was struck by the country's 70% illiteracy rate, through his courageous decision to leave Microsoft, to the logistics of growing and expanding the Room to Read initiative, Wood comes out as an honest and caring person.
The Room to Read's unique "adopt a project" form of donating, in which you are told how much money is needed to build a school/library/computer lab or award a scholarship and therefore know exactly what your money goes to, has met with considerable success. They have operations in many South and Southeast Asian countries, including Nepal, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Sri Lanka. They are currently expanding to Africa, with South Africa being their first country in that region.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
No place to flee
The Maldives has fragile environment and our Environment Minister has said global warming is destroying coral reefs of the world and this is posing serious threats to economic and social development and survival of many countries. He said about 27% of coral reefs has already been lost and faster loss of coral reefs is inevitable unless global warming is tackled urgently.
We have a fragile democracy too, one that is just beginning to shape and is fraught with difficulties as the political parties remain polarized and jostling for power.
In December 2004, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami hit Asia and Africa, devastating many coastal areas. Almost 200,000 people in eight countries perished in a few hours, and over 100,000 are still missing.
According to the UN, the estimated cost of the Indian Ocean mechanism would be US$30 million (not including maintenance), a far cry from the billions in damage caused by last month's Asian tsunami disaster, and a worthwhile investment to avoid the massive human loss suffered by the affected countries.
The Meteorological Department in Male' informs that it has the capacity of sending an early warning signal to Maldivians before a tsunami or earth quake affects Maldives.
Following such a warning, where are our people to run to get away from the disaster even if they get few hour escape time? We live in such cramped living conditions, the government will have to come out with clear guidelines on where the people can escape before such disaster occurs. The easier part will be to to issue the warnings. The difficult part will be to educate the vulnerable communities and implement the evacuation plans by our Government departments.
We have a fragile democracy too, one that is just beginning to shape and is fraught with difficulties as the political parties remain polarized and jostling for power.
In December 2004, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami hit Asia and Africa, devastating many coastal areas. Almost 200,000 people in eight countries perished in a few hours, and over 100,000 are still missing.
According to the UN, the estimated cost of the Indian Ocean mechanism would be US$30 million (not including maintenance), a far cry from the billions in damage caused by last month's Asian tsunami disaster, and a worthwhile investment to avoid the massive human loss suffered by the affected countries.
The Meteorological Department in Male' informs that it has the capacity of sending an early warning signal to Maldivians before a tsunami or earth quake affects Maldives.
Following such a warning, where are our people to run to get away from the disaster even if they get few hour escape time? We live in such cramped living conditions, the government will have to come out with clear guidelines on where the people can escape before such disaster occurs. The easier part will be to to issue the warnings. The difficult part will be to educate the vulnerable communities and implement the evacuation plans by our Government departments.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The row over music
Is music allowed in Islam?
Adaalat versus the Supreme Religious Council.
According to Miadhu, "In Dheenuge Magu, Shiekh Mohamed Rasheed has said that expressing joy, singing, beating drums, using tambourines and playing music on Eid days, wedding receptions and circumcision ceremonies are allowed within the boundaries of Islam.
“Mentioning the boundary, religious scholars have said that it has to be done in such a way that it does not put an obstacle in performing religious obligations, not in a way that it put obstacle in the work to do to feed your family, and in a way that bad actions are not included in a ceremony and that no bad words are not included in a song”
Sheikh Hussain Rasheed has said that there is no controversy among the scholars that singing without music and without bad words and love is allowed in Islam. But he said that the majority of eminent religious scholars agree that singing with all modern music instruments excluding tambourine are not allowed. "
Does this mean all the killer songs, the magnus opus of Hindi entertainment that drown our nation's radio and TV are unislamic? Does it mean Muslims should not watch them and our learned religious scholars failed to get this right?
Adaalat versus the Supreme Religious Council.
According to Miadhu, "In Dheenuge Magu, Shiekh Mohamed Rasheed has said that expressing joy, singing, beating drums, using tambourines and playing music on Eid days, wedding receptions and circumcision ceremonies are allowed within the boundaries of Islam.
“Mentioning the boundary, religious scholars have said that it has to be done in such a way that it does not put an obstacle in performing religious obligations, not in a way that it put obstacle in the work to do to feed your family, and in a way that bad actions are not included in a ceremony and that no bad words are not included in a song”
Sheikh Hussain Rasheed has said that there is no controversy among the scholars that singing without music and without bad words and love is allowed in Islam. But he said that the majority of eminent religious scholars agree that singing with all modern music instruments excluding tambourine are not allowed. "
Does this mean all the killer songs, the magnus opus of Hindi entertainment that drown our nation's radio and TV are unislamic? Does it mean Muslims should not watch them and our learned religious scholars failed to get this right?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Beeratehin : Are they still around?
Beeratehin, were a culturally and intellectually inferior class of people who thrived in Maldives. There were seen as unintelligent. They were hard-working and they were exploited. Most importantly they were outsiders to Male', the Capital of Maldives where the superior people resided. Traditionally, a significant gap has existed between the elite living on Male and the remainder of the population inhabiting the outer islands, those atolls distant from Male where the Beeratehin harvested the seas to eke out a living.
These days we don't hear the word beeratehin, the word probably has been substituted by 'raajethere meehun' as the term is more politically correct.
So, have Beeratehin gone extinct?
Click here to read the meaning of 'beeratehi' as given on Radheef, the Maldivian dictionary.
Male, the traditional seat of the sultans and of the nobility, remains an elite society wielding political and economic power. Members of the several traditionally privileged ruling families; government, business, and religious leaders; professionals; and scholars are found here.
Since the monarchy was abolished, the facts about the aristocracy and ancient titles, offices and ranks have been forgotten. However Maldives still has the emotional trappings of a caste society. People are still very much class conscious and subservient to deep rooted nobility. Those who despised the old "beyfulhu" ways are the ones who are now interested in re-imposing the class system since they now see themselves as the "upper classe". They now use the upper-level of speech and address which they once condemned in the past.
Islam has been used to up hold the different caste-based traditions such as nobility and the clerics who portray them as holding a monopoly over morality, have cleverly used religious rhetoric to follow blind faith. Thus even though the term beeratehin is no longer used, they still serve at the pleasure of the elites.
A fundamental change in thinking is required in the interest of national unity. Ultimately, it is important that our leaders and people recognise that it is respect for basic democratic rights and human rights that will save us from the brink of barbarism.
These days we don't hear the word beeratehin, the word probably has been substituted by 'raajethere meehun' as the term is more politically correct.
So, have Beeratehin gone extinct?
Click here to read the meaning of 'beeratehi' as given on Radheef, the Maldivian dictionary.
Male, the traditional seat of the sultans and of the nobility, remains an elite society wielding political and economic power. Members of the several traditionally privileged ruling families; government, business, and religious leaders; professionals; and scholars are found here.
Since the monarchy was abolished, the facts about the aristocracy and ancient titles, offices and ranks have been forgotten. However Maldives still has the emotional trappings of a caste society. People are still very much class conscious and subservient to deep rooted nobility. Those who despised the old "beyfulhu" ways are the ones who are now interested in re-imposing the class system since they now see themselves as the "upper classe". They now use the upper-level of speech and address which they once condemned in the past.
Islam has been used to up hold the different caste-based traditions such as nobility and the clerics who portray them as holding a monopoly over morality, have cleverly used religious rhetoric to follow blind faith. Thus even though the term beeratehin is no longer used, they still serve at the pleasure of the elites.
A fundamental change in thinking is required in the interest of national unity. Ultimately, it is important that our leaders and people recognise that it is respect for basic democratic rights and human rights that will save us from the brink of barbarism.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Global Warming : Spread the message
A High School Teacher's Web Video Is Among YouTube's Most Watched. Whether global warming is caused by humans or cows, climate change is a reality that affects all of us.
What action will Maldives need to take if the islands were to be wiped out?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Adversarial Politics
The formation of political parties and their involvement in the political process in Maldives has not helped to bring about an easier path to political reform that the country has embarked upon.
Most Maldivians now believe that a one-candidate, one-party system isn't in the spirit of democracy and isn't good for most of us. While we cannot expect perfection from political parties and candidates, we do want choices, and an honest exchange of ideas. Differences between political parties and office holders prevent secrets, and lead to public debate and ensure we hear both pros and cons on issues. This is the adversarial politics of democracy.
The politics that we are seeing in Maldives is turning out to be skulduggery, with twists and turns and switching of allegiances. The recently resigned foreign minister and the presidential spokesman's heated public exchanges about the autopsy of the Maldivian whose mysterious death saw his family get embroiled with the Government is a sad reflection of the state of our national politics.
We need to shift the focus of our politics from an all out adversarial fight to a more collaborative one because the issues that we face are complex. From housing, health care, education, drug addiction, employment, fair distribution of wealth and social welfare are all interdependent and we need to find lasting solutions. We have to find common ground so that we can all cooperate and develop on a progressive path. We have to give up capitalising on conflict and taking advantage of each other's weakness.
With a new constitution that is nearing its completion, one would have hoped that the way forward would be smooth. The difficulties of getting to this point over the last three years has shown that the pages of a constitution does not lead to proper governance and a thriving democracy. We need to build up independent institutions and choose a more civic temperament to communicate and resolve our problems.
Over the years, Maldivians have become more cynical as a people and as a result are more detached from their political leaders and from each other. Cynicism has destroyed our civic values and eroded our confidence as a people. Our character defined by our unity and social harmony is almost non-existent now. We are also losing faith in the idea of freedom. Politicians can rise to the challenge and reverse this trend.
With an eye on next year's presidential election, political parties are bad-mouthing and finger-pointing at each other and working overtime. What is emerging is bitter rivalry showing us the darker side of humanity.
The true success of a democratic society will depend on the willingness of their citizens to take ownership of their communities and government. The political parties and the political process must allow that to happen in Maldives. Maldivian political parties will have to ease up throwing barbs at each other and get back to dealing with the issues of the country.
Most Maldivians now believe that a one-candidate, one-party system isn't in the spirit of democracy and isn't good for most of us. While we cannot expect perfection from political parties and candidates, we do want choices, and an honest exchange of ideas. Differences between political parties and office holders prevent secrets, and lead to public debate and ensure we hear both pros and cons on issues. This is the adversarial politics of democracy.
The politics that we are seeing in Maldives is turning out to be skulduggery, with twists and turns and switching of allegiances. The recently resigned foreign minister and the presidential spokesman's heated public exchanges about the autopsy of the Maldivian whose mysterious death saw his family get embroiled with the Government is a sad reflection of the state of our national politics.
We need to shift the focus of our politics from an all out adversarial fight to a more collaborative one because the issues that we face are complex. From housing, health care, education, drug addiction, employment, fair distribution of wealth and social welfare are all interdependent and we need to find lasting solutions. We have to find common ground so that we can all cooperate and develop on a progressive path. We have to give up capitalising on conflict and taking advantage of each other's weakness.
With a new constitution that is nearing its completion, one would have hoped that the way forward would be smooth. The difficulties of getting to this point over the last three years has shown that the pages of a constitution does not lead to proper governance and a thriving democracy. We need to build up independent institutions and choose a more civic temperament to communicate and resolve our problems.
Over the years, Maldivians have become more cynical as a people and as a result are more detached from their political leaders and from each other. Cynicism has destroyed our civic values and eroded our confidence as a people. Our character defined by our unity and social harmony is almost non-existent now. We are also losing faith in the idea of freedom. Politicians can rise to the challenge and reverse this trend.
With an eye on next year's presidential election, political parties are bad-mouthing and finger-pointing at each other and working overtime. What is emerging is bitter rivalry showing us the darker side of humanity.
The true success of a democratic society will depend on the willingness of their citizens to take ownership of their communities and government. The political parties and the political process must allow that to happen in Maldives. Maldivian political parties will have to ease up throwing barbs at each other and get back to dealing with the issues of the country.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Mayor of Mumbai calls for a no-car day.
Mumbai formerly known as Bombay has a population of 19 million and is the commercial and the entertainment capital of India. Mumbai houses many important financial institutions, such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the corporate headquarters of many Indian companies and numerous multinational corporations. The city is home to Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world.
This vibrant city is being choked by heavy vehicular traffic, immense air and noise pollution which is putting their lives in danger. The mayor of Mumbai Dr Shubha Raul is urging, just for a day, not to use four-wheelers and two-wheelers. Instead, to take public transport like local trains and BEST buses to help cut the pollution level in the city.
While every one accepts that pollution is silent a killer, keeping the private cars off the roads, even for one day will be quite a difficult challenge in a city that is gasping for breath.
This vibrant city is being choked by heavy vehicular traffic, immense air and noise pollution which is putting their lives in danger. The mayor of Mumbai Dr Shubha Raul is urging, just for a day, not to use four-wheelers and two-wheelers. Instead, to take public transport like local trains and BEST buses to help cut the pollution level in the city.
While every one accepts that pollution is silent a killer, keeping the private cars off the roads, even for one day will be quite a difficult challenge in a city that is gasping for breath.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Who's to blame for sexual promiscuity in Maldives?
As reported on Haveeru, 29 per cent of children under the age of 18 in Maldives have sex outside the marriage.
According to a study the main reason for such sexual activity among kids is BOREDOM.
What is going on in this country that demands by its Constitution that all Maldivians must be Muslims? Isn't it the worst cliche to call Maldives a 100 per cent Muslim country when in some aspects we are no better than any secular country?
Who will the politicians blame for this one?
According to a study the main reason for such sexual activity among kids is BOREDOM.
What is going on in this country that demands by its Constitution that all Maldivians must be Muslims? Isn't it the worst cliche to call Maldives a 100 per cent Muslim country when in some aspects we are no better than any secular country?
Who will the politicians blame for this one?
Here's the blame game for some other social ills.
- Maldives has kept the flood gates to drugs wide open. From heroin our youth have moved for the latest and deadliest high, the crystal methamphetamine also known as ICE. The parents are responsible to control the children.
- Gang violence and mob killing. The killing can only stop when those who are doing it stop it.
- Bursting prisons. Prison rules are to blame for escaping prisoners during family visits.
Fake Tuna to be used in Tossing Competition
A tuna being tossed at the annual Tunarama Festival, Australia.Australia's competition to see how far someone can throw a tuna is going green next year. Organizers of the Tunarama Festival held each January in Port Lincoln on the remote Eyre Peninsula are replacing the real thing with polyurethane replicas for the highlight event, the frozen tuna toss.
Each year, contestants in four categories hurl fish weighing up to 10 kilograms as far as they can, usually using a technique akin to an Olympic hammer thrower's. The winner in each category receives $1,000 Australian ($890).
Tuna tossing is the highlight of the annual social calendar in Port Lincoln where fishermen who have grown rich from catching the prized fish and exporting them to Japan for high quality sushi and sashimi.
One good-sized tuna — known for their high-speed swimming and deep red flesh — can fetch more than $5,000. A local artist has sculpted the fake fish to look just like the real thing. "The dimensions are perfect," said Ms. Merriwyne Hore, the acting manager of the 2008 festival.
Some locals are unhappy that the real fish would no longer be thrown.
It is not clear why after the toss, the parts of a real fish cannot be eaten, by humans or by animals. What can't be eaten can be composted. How is it "greener" to use polyurethane which will eventually end up in a landfill is also not clear.
Although the organisers of this contest have to cave in to pressure from the environmentalists fighting against the depleting tuna stock, the locals can still enjoy the camaraderie of the event with a look-alike tuna.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Killed for not wearing a hijab
Canada has reported the country's first honour killing. A memorial for Aqsa Parvez is set up at Applewood Heights S.S. in Mississauga, in this undated handout photo. Sixteen-year old Muslim Mississauga teenager Aqsa Parvez died on Tuesday of wounds suffered in an attack on her Monday — allegedly by her father who strangled her. Friends of Aqsa painted a picture of a young girl eager to integrate into Canadian society, in ongoing conflict with her conservative Pakistani father who insisted she wear the hijab.
Aqsa Parvez was largely estranged from her family and sleeping away from home in recent days. Her friends said she returned to her home in Mississauga on Monday only to collect her belongings. Friends described her as a hardworking and cheerful girl who loved dancing, fashion and photography - interests that often clashed with her strict her home environment.
Police arrested the victim’s 57-year-old father, Muhammad Parvez on Monday morning after receiving a 911 call from a Mississauga home from a man saying he had killed his daughter. He is being charged for his daughter's death.
Friends of the dead girl told journalists that Ms. Parvez’s relationship with her father was antagonistic. She used leave home in track pants and hijab, then change into close-fitting jeans and remove her hijab when she got to school. She wanted to live her life the way she wanted to, not the way her parents wanted her to.
The full details of the killing are not yet available and other aggravating factors (e.g. Mohammad Parvez’s mental health) have not been discussed publicly. What is clear from news reports is that Aqsa’s refusal to wear a hijab was the catalyst to her murder and that her friends sensed that her home conflicts could quickly spin out of control.
Canada’s Muslim community has always remained moderate, although the tragic death of Aqsa Parvez has brought fears of militant Islam that has caused terror and death in Paris, London and Stockholm. The sight of a woman in a full burqa is an extraordinary rarity outside of a few small urban pockets. And such horrors as that allegedly visited upon Ms. Parvez remain almost unheard of.
Canada is not Europe and we should not read too much into this family tragedy. At this stage, it may be premature to suggest that this was a case of the clash of two cultures but what we know is that the murdered girl wanted to be "free" and independent of her family's devout Muslim beliefs. There lies the whole problem.
It is amazing how some Muslims feel wearing a headscarf is more important than a life. Such intolerance and insanity should have no place in any society.
While this incident could turn out to be domestic abuse and murder, it brings the spotlight back on the radical fanatical thinking of some Muslims who would insist adherence on their uncompromising values. This is where the danger lies and it is such unaccepting intolerance that needs to be wiped out from all societies.
Aqsa’s father who is no longer living in Pakistan and has migrated to Canada for a better life has to accept the fact that his family has come to a country where women are not forced by any man to wear uniforms that define them as property or symbols of their family’s “honour.” And if Aqsa's father accepted it, she might be alive today.
How many thousands of other Aqsas hate the hijab but wear it without complaint because they fear their fathers’ or their society's wrath? It is time in all these countries such matters be rationally and openly discussed without resorting to violence such as that which led to Aqsa's death.
All Muslim societies will have to deal with bigoted thinking that leads to violent consequences. If Canada gives a fair trial to Mr. Parvez, and is convicted and sentenced without the case being hijacked into a referendum on Islam, Canada will have sent a clear message to all religious radicals: there is ONE law in Canada and everyone is subject to it regardless of their different customs. Canada has one chance to solidify the distinction between religious and legal authority before activists on both sides of the multiculturalism debate including those against domestic abuse and feminism turn this tragic domestic abuse case into a political circus.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
What about safety of workers?
This article on Haveeru reads that two young men, 16 and 22 years old, fell from a height of 40 feet while working at Alimas Carnival. The report states that the men were seriously injured and that they are being treated at IGMH after initially going the ADK hospital.
When an incident like this occurs, in most countries the Government Authority responsible to oversee workers safety will immediately launch an investigation to determine if all safety precautions were taken in working in high rise places. Since Maldives does have a 'Building code of Safety from Falling' in place, one wonders whether this matter is being investigated and why journalists do not report on these vital safety matters.
If the men are contract workers or under employment, the employers are also answerable for their safety and they have to conduct their own investigations. I assume they are responsible for the workers medical treatment and workman's compensation depending on the disability.
How does this work in Maldives?
When an incident like this occurs, in most countries the Government Authority responsible to oversee workers safety will immediately launch an investigation to determine if all safety precautions were taken in working in high rise places. Since Maldives does have a 'Building code of Safety from Falling' in place, one wonders whether this matter is being investigated and why journalists do not report on these vital safety matters.
If the men are contract workers or under employment, the employers are also answerable for their safety and they have to conduct their own investigations. I assume they are responsible for the workers medical treatment and workman's compensation depending on the disability.
How does this work in Maldives?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Battle of Reform is heating up
These are nervous times for politicians wanting to cling on to power. Politics is a dirty game and every rule, if there is any, is made to be broken. No refereeing is required for the victor takes all and the vanquished must be destroyed as the ancient Romans did inside the Colosseum in front of the watchful eye of their emperor who amused in the gory gladiator fights.
The nation is bleeding from old wounds. The hostilities among rival armed gangs in our nation has reached staggering heights. Only the tough and well-connected can survive. A significant number of our youth are depressingly high on drugs and we are just waking up to the reality that we have been in a culture of denial for too long.
The holier-than-thou political Imams of our country with their self-righteous hypocrisy of intolerance have destroyed religious unity and harmony which we took for granted for all these years.
We face turbulent times ahead. Now we have to bite the bullet to solve our problems brought about by the folly of our leaders.
This the beginning of the deadly game of brinkmanship between rival political parties taking aim to grab political power. The sole purpose of the opponents is to bring down the present government and seize power.
The main opposition political parties who were at each other's throats until recently have declared a truce and formed an alliance to challenge the government. One would think these are strange bedfellows, given the hard line opposition of the mainly conservative Adhaalat to the secular MDP.
Presidential contender Dr. Hassan Saeed now accuses the Government of wastefulness and arrogance. Echoing the Alliance's shared vision of what an interim government should look like, MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) who has defined himself by his unflinching opposition to President Gayoom has called for the president to be given immunity from prosecution.
It is impossible to guess where our country will end up on this path of reform. Looking back into history, we know that political leadership transitions have always been messy. We have wretched social conditions in Maldives from housing, health care, pensions, rising cost of living etc. The voices of public disquiet of unaddressed grievances are growing louder. Even our parliament where traditionally stone-faced men who represented unsuspecting constituents has become more boisterous. Their unholy alliances and shifting loyalties has nothing to do with any political ideology or betterment for their constituents. It is an intriguing public spectacle of scheming chameleon-like characters. Socially, our country is operating at boiling point, a dangerous level for a country that depends on the tourist dollar promoting itself as a tranquil paradise for the rich and famous.
The nation is bleeding from old wounds. The hostilities among rival armed gangs in our nation has reached staggering heights. Only the tough and well-connected can survive. A significant number of our youth are depressingly high on drugs and we are just waking up to the reality that we have been in a culture of denial for too long.
The holier-than-thou political Imams of our country with their self-righteous hypocrisy of intolerance have destroyed religious unity and harmony which we took for granted for all these years.
We face turbulent times ahead. Now we have to bite the bullet to solve our problems brought about by the folly of our leaders.
This the beginning of the deadly game of brinkmanship between rival political parties taking aim to grab political power. The sole purpose of the opponents is to bring down the present government and seize power.
The main opposition political parties who were at each other's throats until recently have declared a truce and formed an alliance to challenge the government. One would think these are strange bedfellows, given the hard line opposition of the mainly conservative Adhaalat to the secular MDP.
Presidential contender Dr. Hassan Saeed now accuses the Government of wastefulness and arrogance. Echoing the Alliance's shared vision of what an interim government should look like, MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) who has defined himself by his unflinching opposition to President Gayoom has called for the president to be given immunity from prosecution.
It is impossible to guess where our country will end up on this path of reform. Looking back into history, we know that political leadership transitions have always been messy. We have wretched social conditions in Maldives from housing, health care, pensions, rising cost of living etc. The voices of public disquiet of unaddressed grievances are growing louder. Even our parliament where traditionally stone-faced men who represented unsuspecting constituents has become more boisterous. Their unholy alliances and shifting loyalties has nothing to do with any political ideology or betterment for their constituents. It is an intriguing public spectacle of scheming chameleon-like characters. Socially, our country is operating at boiling point, a dangerous level for a country that depends on the tourist dollar promoting itself as a tranquil paradise for the rich and famous.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Supreme Religious Council losing conservative grip
What evoked the ire of the Supreme Council to struck down Dr. Afrashim Ali , a Maldivian scholar from preaching was mysterious to me until I read this article.
Now we know that the Supreme Council has worked up a residency law that imposes a residency requirement of one year before a preacher is allowed to preach. What could be the purpose of this law?
The Government's Information Minister has promised to defy the Government’s own highest religious authority by allowing the moderate preacher Dr Afrashim Ali to appear on state broadcaster TVM.
We need the silent liberal voices in Maldives to support the view that the Information Minister has boldly taken on this case. For far too long, the liberals have allowed the conservatives to go unchallenged, thus emboldening extremist and intolerant thinking in the name of religion. The liberal scholars need to take the lead to espouse moderate views creating a culture of acceptance and tolerance as good Muslims should be doing.
As an institution, the current Supreme Council has failed to maintain religious unity, i.e, if the word 'failure' appears in their dictionary. On their watch fanatical groups fostered in Male and elsewhere and they could not stop extremist groups from taking the law into their own hands in Hinmadhoo in the name of practising their religion.
For the foot soldiers to be united in diversity, there must be unity of tolerance among the scholars and preachers. Unity in Diversity means to explore and enhance common values that emphasize interdependence, equality, justice, human rights, and the sanctity of each individual’s dignity. The religious conservatives must be willing to coalesce with their liberal counterparts to build a more inclusive community and support the diversity of religious opinions without insisting adherence to dogmatic views.
Now we know that the Supreme Council has worked up a residency law that imposes a residency requirement of one year before a preacher is allowed to preach. What could be the purpose of this law?
The Government's Information Minister has promised to defy the Government’s own highest religious authority by allowing the moderate preacher Dr Afrashim Ali to appear on state broadcaster TVM.
We need the silent liberal voices in Maldives to support the view that the Information Minister has boldly taken on this case. For far too long, the liberals have allowed the conservatives to go unchallenged, thus emboldening extremist and intolerant thinking in the name of religion. The liberal scholars need to take the lead to espouse moderate views creating a culture of acceptance and tolerance as good Muslims should be doing.
As an institution, the current Supreme Council has failed to maintain religious unity, i.e, if the word 'failure' appears in their dictionary. On their watch fanatical groups fostered in Male and elsewhere and they could not stop extremist groups from taking the law into their own hands in Hinmadhoo in the name of practising their religion.
For the foot soldiers to be united in diversity, there must be unity of tolerance among the scholars and preachers. Unity in Diversity means to explore and enhance common values that emphasize interdependence, equality, justice, human rights, and the sanctity of each individual’s dignity. The religious conservatives must be willing to coalesce with their liberal counterparts to build a more inclusive community and support the diversity of religious opinions without insisting adherence to dogmatic views.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Who should wake up?
UNICEF has launched a Wake Up campaign in Maldives. It is a nationwide drug campaign aimed at preventing drug abuse and promoting recovery among addicts throughout the Maldives, a country known as a holiday haven for the rich and famous.
Here are the reasons for waking up according to wake up website.
Why? – As you read this, drug abuse is increasing in the Maldives
- Children as young as 9 and even 7 are starting to experiment with dangerous drugs
- The most popular drug in the Maldives – heroin – or brown sugar – is one of the most highly addictive and destructive drugs in the world.
- Drug addiction can happen to anyone, regardless of age, gender, economic status, or the family they belong to
- Every family is affected by drugs, either directly or indirectly – therefore it is in the interest of each and every one of us to take action.
- We are a small community and when one of us suffers, we all end up suffering
Drug addiction can happen to anyone, regardless of their age, gender, economic or social status,” said UNICEF Representative Ken Maskall. “Many people don’t realize that addiction is really a chronic, progressive condition that requires professional treatment, help and support. For a small country like the Maldives, if one member suffers, we all end up suffering, especially children. It is in the interest of each and every one of us to take action now and to say no to drugs.”
Knowledge can be power and so we should applaud UNICEF's effort in the Wake Up campaign to educate the people. But if UNICEF Rep's statement that 'being a small country if one member suffers, we all end up suffering' holds true for Maldivians, then we would not have this problem. The solution to this problem lies in our Govt's ability to stop the influx of drugs into Maldives. So far, they have not been able to do so. Rehabilitation, recovery and assimilation of recovering addicts into the mainstream society will become an easier process if we make it a national goal to stop the import of drugs into the country. Until we stop the drug trade, sadly the battle against drugs will continue to be a losing one as we have seen up to now.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Making more money with less fishing
An AP report reads, "At a time when a quarter of the world's fisheries are considered depleted, can commercial fishermen make more money by fishing less? A study published in the Friday edition of the journal Science says they can, with one condition.
They must be in a cooperative fishery, like those operating in New Zealand and Australia, where individual fishermen own a share of the total harvest _ known as individual transferable quotas _ rather than the competitive fisheries more common in the United States, where it is a race to catch the most fish.
The idea is that when there are more fish and no race to catch them, fishermen spend less on fuel and other costs chasing far and wide to fill their nets, and can concentrate on delivering a high-quality product to the dock, said lead author Quentin Grafton, research director at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at Australian National University."
Read more here.
In Maldives, tourism has grown significantly and currently accounts for 33% of GDP, a quarter of total employment and more than 60% of the Maldives' foreign exchange receipts.
Fisheries is the main activity outside of Male and the tourist islands. It employs 19% of the country’s labour force but accounts for only 6% of its GDP. Fisheries exports are mostly canned and fresh tuna, which is the second largest source of foreign exchange for the country.
Maldives needs to develop the fishing industry. Maldives has been graduated from LDC status by the United Nations in December 2004 to "become" a Developing Nation with a three-year grace period ending in November 2007. Since our economy is highly dependent on imports which will deplete our foreign exchange it is necessary to intensify our efforts on development of fisheries and our agriculture.
The cooperative fisheries is an interesting idea from which the Maldivian fisherman can benefit to improve their livelihood and alleviate poverty. The fisherman can form cooperative societies like many other developing countries. They can also set up their own marketing and distribution networks. Such cooperatives can undertake other income generating activities with financial support by the government, or foreign donor agencies where necessary.
They must be in a cooperative fishery, like those operating in New Zealand and Australia, where individual fishermen own a share of the total harvest _ known as individual transferable quotas _ rather than the competitive fisheries more common in the United States, where it is a race to catch the most fish.
The idea is that when there are more fish and no race to catch them, fishermen spend less on fuel and other costs chasing far and wide to fill their nets, and can concentrate on delivering a high-quality product to the dock, said lead author Quentin Grafton, research director at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at Australian National University."
Read more here.
In Maldives, tourism has grown significantly and currently accounts for 33% of GDP, a quarter of total employment and more than 60% of the Maldives' foreign exchange receipts.
Fisheries is the main activity outside of Male and the tourist islands. It employs 19% of the country’s labour force but accounts for only 6% of its GDP. Fisheries exports are mostly canned and fresh tuna, which is the second largest source of foreign exchange for the country.
Maldives needs to develop the fishing industry. Maldives has been graduated from LDC status by the United Nations in December 2004 to "become" a Developing Nation with a three-year grace period ending in November 2007. Since our economy is highly dependent on imports which will deplete our foreign exchange it is necessary to intensify our efforts on development of fisheries and our agriculture.
The cooperative fisheries is an interesting idea from which the Maldivian fisherman can benefit to improve their livelihood and alleviate poverty. The fisherman can form cooperative societies like many other developing countries. They can also set up their own marketing and distribution networks. Such cooperatives can undertake other income generating activities with financial support by the government, or foreign donor agencies where necessary.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Grim news about young drug users
National Narcotics Control Board (NCB) has confirmed that there are some four and five year old children in Maldives that have used banned substances.
What is happening here is clearly abuse of children by parents or others who have no idea of the harm they are causing. TV Maldives blacked out the news once the the NCB official revealed that 4-year old children were involved in drugs. Bringing out these facts into the public domain is not to glorify the drug abuse or its trade. But Maldivians will have to face up to the facts even if we do not like them. There is no loyalty, no trust, or security with the drug users. It is all about the 'high' which will eventually kill them, unless they can get help and stay away from drugs.
As a society, we have to ask an important question. Should we save our children from drugs? For any sane society, the answer is a resounding 'yes' excepting for the drug addicts who are not in control of their senses. Such people's children must be protected by the State and NCB must intervene to stop such adults causing harm to their children.
There are few things more tragic than having a promising young life cut short prematurely due to drugs. What starts as an experiment turns into an uncontrollable obsession and leads to the most degrading way to end a human life.
What is happening here is clearly abuse of children by parents or others who have no idea of the harm they are causing. TV Maldives blacked out the news once the the NCB official revealed that 4-year old children were involved in drugs. Bringing out these facts into the public domain is not to glorify the drug abuse or its trade. But Maldivians will have to face up to the facts even if we do not like them. There is no loyalty, no trust, or security with the drug users. It is all about the 'high' which will eventually kill them, unless they can get help and stay away from drugs.
As a society, we have to ask an important question. Should we save our children from drugs? For any sane society, the answer is a resounding 'yes' excepting for the drug addicts who are not in control of their senses. Such people's children must be protected by the State and NCB must intervene to stop such adults causing harm to their children.
There are few things more tragic than having a promising young life cut short prematurely due to drugs. What starts as an experiment turns into an uncontrollable obsession and leads to the most degrading way to end a human life.
Maldives is emerging as a market for hatred
The waves of global violence and mass murder that we see and read about with increasing frequency has firmly entrenched its roots in Maldives. We have seen a home-made bomb go off in Sultan Park and to our dismay, we are increasingly witnessing gang warfare and even mob killings in what we used to call peaceful communities.
How did our people turn out to be blood-thirsty killers?
First, our politicians, our parliament and the members of the special majlis are all busy in political wrangling leaving the country to slip down into social anarchy. Robbers are running rampant in stealing while rival gangs are engaged in murderous violence making it appear that this is a country that does not have a police force entrusted to protect its citizens? For a moment, you gasp to think whether that this is the same beautiful country described as paradise for the sun seeking rich and famous, also featured among the first to sink due to sea level rise and climatic change of global warming. Religious hard-liners are creating pockets of religious chaos with flourishing extremism and fanaticism leading some youngsters being indoctrinated into terror. If the killing spree continues unabated, you shudder to think that suicide bombers may follow soon, as Pakistan whose chaos has appeared on our shores has reported its first female suicide bomber. Around 20 percent of our nation's residents under the age of 15 are using banned substances, according to the National Narcotics Control Bureau. Wayward youngsters who comprise more than 40 percent of the population of 300,000, with nothing meaningful to look forward to are increasingly turning to drugs. The problem of drugs continues to flourish despite a growing tourism industry which has made the 100 per cent Muslim Maldives, the richest nation in South Asia. Per capita income is 2,674 US dollars.
If getting rich should solve more social problems because we have the means to do so, we certainly don't see this happening yet. Maldives now has a sub-culture of drugs mostly young people who need our compassion and treatment but instead they are stigmatised and labelled as 'parteys' or 'druggies', words that are used to demean them. For some strange reason, we are out to destroy our own people. It is said that 80 per cent of recovering addicts relapse after rehabilitation. This drug abuse and addiction could destroy a large segment of our young generation, their families and our communities with unimaginable consequences.
As usual when a tragic incident like the mob killing occurs, Members of our Parliament in hastily convened meetings fall over each other to express their concern and frustration over the increasing violence on the streets of Male’. Beyond that, such expressions broadcast for public consumption turns out to be idle chatter for nothing constructive ever happens to make the streets safer or to reduce the violence. Over the years it has progressively worsened from street brawls, to fights using sticks and sharp objects to sword fights out to kill each other.
Increasing hard-line views on how we should practise Islam and our intolerance of accepting the rights of non-Muslims to their faiths , and the absence of an ideology that guarantees fundamental rights and saves us from the tyranny of a government has left us a bitterly divided community. We have lost our ability to empathise and our humanity only recognises the greed for money. We are a nation that operates at boiling point and since we do not know how to peacefully co-exist, our threshold for violence remains very low. But our delirious politicians will not face the problems of this community. They do not have the wherewithal to make the tough choices and put the community back on a peaceful path.
How did our people turn out to be blood-thirsty killers?
First, our politicians, our parliament and the members of the special majlis are all busy in political wrangling leaving the country to slip down into social anarchy. Robbers are running rampant in stealing while rival gangs are engaged in murderous violence making it appear that this is a country that does not have a police force entrusted to protect its citizens? For a moment, you gasp to think whether that this is the same beautiful country described as paradise for the sun seeking rich and famous, also featured among the first to sink due to sea level rise and climatic change of global warming. Religious hard-liners are creating pockets of religious chaos with flourishing extremism and fanaticism leading some youngsters being indoctrinated into terror. If the killing spree continues unabated, you shudder to think that suicide bombers may follow soon, as Pakistan whose chaos has appeared on our shores has reported its first female suicide bomber. Around 20 percent of our nation's residents under the age of 15 are using banned substances, according to the National Narcotics Control Bureau. Wayward youngsters who comprise more than 40 percent of the population of 300,000, with nothing meaningful to look forward to are increasingly turning to drugs. The problem of drugs continues to flourish despite a growing tourism industry which has made the 100 per cent Muslim Maldives, the richest nation in South Asia. Per capita income is 2,674 US dollars.
If getting rich should solve more social problems because we have the means to do so, we certainly don't see this happening yet. Maldives now has a sub-culture of drugs mostly young people who need our compassion and treatment but instead they are stigmatised and labelled as 'parteys' or 'druggies', words that are used to demean them. For some strange reason, we are out to destroy our own people. It is said that 80 per cent of recovering addicts relapse after rehabilitation. This drug abuse and addiction could destroy a large segment of our young generation, their families and our communities with unimaginable consequences.
As usual when a tragic incident like the mob killing occurs, Members of our Parliament in hastily convened meetings fall over each other to express their concern and frustration over the increasing violence on the streets of Male’. Beyond that, such expressions broadcast for public consumption turns out to be idle chatter for nothing constructive ever happens to make the streets safer or to reduce the violence. Over the years it has progressively worsened from street brawls, to fights using sticks and sharp objects to sword fights out to kill each other.
Increasing hard-line views on how we should practise Islam and our intolerance of accepting the rights of non-Muslims to their faiths , and the absence of an ideology that guarantees fundamental rights and saves us from the tyranny of a government has left us a bitterly divided community. We have lost our ability to empathise and our humanity only recognises the greed for money. We are a nation that operates at boiling point and since we do not know how to peacefully co-exist, our threshold for violence remains very low. But our delirious politicians will not face the problems of this community. They do not have the wherewithal to make the tough choices and put the community back on a peaceful path.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
This society is imploding
The day after Haveeru ran an article titled, 'Top dogs of Male’ Drugs Ring arrested', the nation's headline news was the tragic death of a young man by gang violence.
It was reported that one of the two men arrested for drugs had bought a plot of land in Male’ last year for a sum of Rf 2 million. He is currently building a five-storey building on the plot. It was also reported that the same person travels frequently to Dubai, having already made more than 50 trips there since last year; an average of once every two weeks in Business Class. It is not clear whether this man's travels to Dubai had anything to with trafficking of drugs. As alleged, if he is one of the kingpin drug dealers to Maldives, how did he manage to escape the authorities and continue for so long?
Senseless violence has caused the death of a young man of 21 and twenty six people have been arrested in connection with the incident. According to the father of the deceased, his son had received a death threat about six days back. It is really sad that in the tranquil land of the 100 per cent Muslims, Maldivians are unable to feel safe anymore.
A worrisome sign of the psychotic nature of our people much like ancient Romans who enjoyed the gladiators brutal death fights inside their Colosseum is revealed when it is reported that there were some people who apparently stood silent spectators when the horror of a gang murder took place right in the midst of our small tightly knit community.
It was reported that one of the two men arrested for drugs had bought a plot of land in Male’ last year for a sum of Rf 2 million. He is currently building a five-storey building on the plot. It was also reported that the same person travels frequently to Dubai, having already made more than 50 trips there since last year; an average of once every two weeks in Business Class. It is not clear whether this man's travels to Dubai had anything to with trafficking of drugs. As alleged, if he is one of the kingpin drug dealers to Maldives, how did he manage to escape the authorities and continue for so long?
Senseless violence has caused the death of a young man of 21 and twenty six people have been arrested in connection with the incident. According to the father of the deceased, his son had received a death threat about six days back. It is really sad that in the tranquil land of the 100 per cent Muslims, Maldivians are unable to feel safe anymore.
A worrisome sign of the psychotic nature of our people much like ancient Romans who enjoyed the gladiators brutal death fights inside their Colosseum is revealed when it is reported that there were some people who apparently stood silent spectators when the horror of a gang murder took place right in the midst of our small tightly knit community.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Random insanity
These Muslim protesters want a British teacher to be executed for allowing her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. (photo:Mohamed Nureldin Abdalla / Reuters)All too often, we are witnessing the muddling of politics and religion in Muslim countries leading to serious consequences.
On Friday, a crowd of about 1,000 young Sudanese men brandishing swords streamed out of mosques to gather outside Khartoum's presidential palace, later marching to the British Embassy and burning newspapers bearing images of 54-year-old Gillian Gibbons.
The crowd demanded that the teacher jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam by allowing her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad be executed following her conviction on charges of blasphemy. The crowd went on calling for her death, saying “No tolerance: Execution”, and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad”.
Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, of the Sudanese embassy in London, blamed the demonstrations on "hot heads" from "hard-line" mosques. He said: "There are many mosques and different groups congregating in different mosques. After prayer, people in particular mosques, not the mainstream, were the ones shouting the slogans to this effect."
The Muslim government of Sudan already seen as a pariah in the international community for the genocide of more than 250,000 in Dafur is facing another embarrassment for their failure to rein in the hard-line clerics.
The Ministry of Justice that dealt with Gibbons case is the same Ministry that was referred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague by the UN Security Council in 2005, which described it as unwilling and incapable of dealing with Darfur's atrocities.
The Sudanese government depends on Western donors to feed about four million Darfuris every day. Like many Muslims governments do, the Government of Sudan is prepared to use Islam for political gains as it appears to do in this case.
Gibbons had one of her seven-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Mohammad, a common name among Muslim men. Each student then took the bear home to write a diary entry about it and the entries were compiled into a book with the bear’s picture on the cover titled, “My Name is Mohammad”.
The case against Gibbons started when an office assistant at the school complained to the Ministry of Education that Ms Gibbons had insulted the prophet by comparing him to an animal or toy.
While Gibbons' action can be taken as a cultural 'faux pas', it is an unreasonable assertion that she has insulted Islam in any way. These are the kinds of unaccepting hard-line intolerant attitudes that Muslims need to change in all societies including Maldives.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Malaysia's balancing act under pressure
Ethnic Indians mainly Tamils in Malaysia that constitute eight percent of the total population of 27 million but control just 1.5 percent of the economy are dissatisfied that they do not get equal racial privileges.
The Malaysian Indian community also alleged that access to housing, education, financial loans and jobs is given to Malays on a preferential basis. The recent destruction of Hindu temples by the Malaysian government has further inflamed the ethnic Indians' grievances. The declaration by some politicians that Malaysia is an Islamic country has also created problems for freedom of worship.
The 25 November 2007 civil disobedience organized by Tamils in Malaysia against their discrimination and marginalization by the Muslim dominated government represents a significant milestone in their long struggle for equal and democratic rights. The demonstrations in which hundreds and thousands of Tamil converged in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur was a rude shock to the government who has given preferential treatment to the ethnic Malay Muslims.
The Malaysian police crushed a rally of more than 10,000 ethnic Indians who were protesting against marginalisation and also to support a $4 trillion lawsuit filed in London in August by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), a rights group demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors to the country as indentured laborers and exploiting them.
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu, homeland of the Indian Tamils has written a letter to Prime Minister Manomhan Singh, expressing deep concern at the treatment meted out to ethnic Indians in Malaysia. The chief minister has urged Prime Minister Singh and the central government to take appropriate action to end the sufferings and ill treatment meted out to Malaysian Tamils.
It looks like Malaysia's Tamil problems have spilled over its border and gained support from India.
The Malaysian Indian community also alleged that access to housing, education, financial loans and jobs is given to Malays on a preferential basis. The recent destruction of Hindu temples by the Malaysian government has further inflamed the ethnic Indians' grievances. The declaration by some politicians that Malaysia is an Islamic country has also created problems for freedom of worship.
The 25 November 2007 civil disobedience organized by Tamils in Malaysia against their discrimination and marginalization by the Muslim dominated government represents a significant milestone in their long struggle for equal and democratic rights. The demonstrations in which hundreds and thousands of Tamil converged in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur was a rude shock to the government who has given preferential treatment to the ethnic Malay Muslims.
The Malaysian police crushed a rally of more than 10,000 ethnic Indians who were protesting against marginalisation and also to support a $4 trillion lawsuit filed in London in August by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), a rights group demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors to the country as indentured laborers and exploiting them.
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu, homeland of the Indian Tamils has written a letter to Prime Minister Manomhan Singh, expressing deep concern at the treatment meted out to ethnic Indians in Malaysia. The chief minister has urged Prime Minister Singh and the central government to take appropriate action to end the sufferings and ill treatment meted out to Malaysian Tamils.
It looks like Malaysia's Tamil problems have spilled over its border and gained support from India.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Does this amount to Insulting Islam?
A British teacher has been detained in Sudan after her 7-year-old students called a teddy bear Mohammad. Gillian Gibbons, 54, was also charged with inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. The teacher will appear before a Sudanese court and if convicted, she could face 40 lashes, a fine, or one year in jail.
The day before these charges were brought, the British ambassador to the United Nations asked the Security Council to address warrants against a Sudanese official and a militia leader accused of war crimes in Darfur, a troubled region of western Sudan where more than 200,000 people have died. Some Sudanese analysts wondered if charges had been filed against the teacher in retaliation.
A 7-year-old Sudanese student on Tuesday defended his British teacher saying he had chosen to call a teddy bear Mohammad after his own name.
"The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy," the boy said shyly. "I said Mohammad. I named it after my name," he added.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said in a statement released in London: "This is a disgraceful decision and defies common sense."
The day before these charges were brought, the British ambassador to the United Nations asked the Security Council to address warrants against a Sudanese official and a militia leader accused of war crimes in Darfur, a troubled region of western Sudan where more than 200,000 people have died. Some Sudanese analysts wondered if charges had been filed against the teacher in retaliation.
A 7-year-old Sudanese student on Tuesday defended his British teacher saying he had chosen to call a teddy bear Mohammad after his own name.
"The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy," the boy said shyly. "I said Mohammad. I named it after my name," he added.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said in a statement released in London: "This is a disgraceful decision and defies common sense."
Friday, November 23, 2007
Islam and the Challenge of democracy
This post comes as a follow through of a post on Simon's blog and a comment by Dr. Freex. Thanks to Dr. Freex for the link of Boston Review, the subject of which I have used here.
My analysis of the the issues in contention is as follows.
Both in Maldives and outside Maldives, our politicians have publicly been talking about making the necessary constitutional amendments and introducing the reforms to take Maldives on the path of a liberal democracy. Both the government and the majority of the opposition in the parliament and the Special Majlis hold this view.
The constitutional amendment for Maldivian citizenship has once again been passed without any opposition by uniformly affirming that Maldivian citizenship is only for Muslims. One aspect of the anticipated problem was highlighted by prominent MDP MP and lawyer Husnu Sood who said that some Maldivian children of other faiths living abroad will lose their citizenship when the bill comes into force.
We know there are many countries in the world, including in the South Asia region, which have adopted a State religion, but do not require all their citizens to adhere to that religion.
The least any one can expect from our Special Majlis on a bill such as the citizenship bill is to have a vigorous debate reflecting the current situation and feelings among the Maldivian community. If the conservatives had won over the liberals after such a debate, then accepting the outcome without feeling squeezed out is part of the democratic process.
In Maldives, the concept of national unity and harmony are linked to the concept of religious unity, and drummed into the minds of the population at every opportunity. A country does not have to be 100 per cent Muslim to have perfect harmony in religious unity. It is a false argument. Maldives has been a 100 per cent Muslims for a long time. As a result of the constitutional requirement for all Maldivians to be Muslims, have Maldivians become better Muslims or are there any who have turned away from Islam? No, we are not better Muslims than any other multi-religious country where the Muslims exist in harmony with people of other faith.
The Maldivian government should not force any Maldivian to be a Muslim through its Constitution.
Coming back to Dr. Freex comment that democracy is no more Godsent than the 'Sharia', while I agree to the premise of that argument, I also believe that it distracts the focus from the issue of the Maldivian citizenship only for Muslims. The two are separate arguments, one about an individual's right to decide the faith without compulsion by the State and the other about the case for democracy in Islam.
I will leave Khaled Abou El Fadl's excellent explanation on democracy to the reader. It is on the Boston Review link above.
My analysis of the the issues in contention is as follows.
Both in Maldives and outside Maldives, our politicians have publicly been talking about making the necessary constitutional amendments and introducing the reforms to take Maldives on the path of a liberal democracy. Both the government and the majority of the opposition in the parliament and the Special Majlis hold this view.
The constitutional amendment for Maldivian citizenship has once again been passed without any opposition by uniformly affirming that Maldivian citizenship is only for Muslims. One aspect of the anticipated problem was highlighted by prominent MDP MP and lawyer Husnu Sood who said that some Maldivian children of other faiths living abroad will lose their citizenship when the bill comes into force.
We know there are many countries in the world, including in the South Asia region, which have adopted a State religion, but do not require all their citizens to adhere to that religion.
The least any one can expect from our Special Majlis on a bill such as the citizenship bill is to have a vigorous debate reflecting the current situation and feelings among the Maldivian community. If the conservatives had won over the liberals after such a debate, then accepting the outcome without feeling squeezed out is part of the democratic process.
In Maldives, the concept of national unity and harmony are linked to the concept of religious unity, and drummed into the minds of the population at every opportunity. A country does not have to be 100 per cent Muslim to have perfect harmony in religious unity. It is a false argument. Maldives has been a 100 per cent Muslims for a long time. As a result of the constitutional requirement for all Maldivians to be Muslims, have Maldivians become better Muslims or are there any who have turned away from Islam? No, we are not better Muslims than any other multi-religious country where the Muslims exist in harmony with people of other faith.
The Maldivian government should not force any Maldivian to be a Muslim through its Constitution.
Coming back to Dr. Freex comment that democracy is no more Godsent than the 'Sharia', while I agree to the premise of that argument, I also believe that it distracts the focus from the issue of the Maldivian citizenship only for Muslims. The two are separate arguments, one about an individual's right to decide the faith without compulsion by the State and the other about the case for democracy in Islam.
I will leave Khaled Abou El Fadl's excellent explanation on democracy to the reader. It is on the Boston Review link above.
Dubai set to introduce VAT
Taxation is not a popular financial instrument in most countries. In the Gulf countries, taxation is a politically sensitive subject.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been urging the Gulf countries to introduce a value added tax (VAT) as it will offer a fiscal cushion to service driven economies such as Dubai and Qatar, and to others a diversified source of income that will hedge the government finances against future oil price volatility.
Dubai is off the blocks faster than other Gulf countries. Introduction of VAT across the UAE have been backed by the IMF.Quoting a government official, it has been reported that the UAE could implement Value Added Tax (VAT) "in a year's time", which could be supervised by a new federal authority.
The other Gulf states' plans to introduce a VAT could be further delayed due to disagreements among them. The Gulf states have been planning to unify their economies and introduce a single currency by 2010.
VAT would be another tax adding to the already existing taxes like housing fees for rentals in Dubai. VAT being an indirect tax may hold better than a direct tax like income tax or property tax in Dubai, according to tax experts.
Dubai is increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance. It is now focused to diversify from a trade-based, but oil-reliant, economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented. Dubai has become an exciting tourist destination and a thriving business and logistics centre.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been urging the Gulf countries to introduce a value added tax (VAT) as it will offer a fiscal cushion to service driven economies such as Dubai and Qatar, and to others a diversified source of income that will hedge the government finances against future oil price volatility.
Dubai is off the blocks faster than other Gulf countries. Introduction of VAT across the UAE have been backed by the IMF.Quoting a government official, it has been reported that the UAE could implement Value Added Tax (VAT) "in a year's time", which could be supervised by a new federal authority.
The other Gulf states' plans to introduce a VAT could be further delayed due to disagreements among them. The Gulf states have been planning to unify their economies and introduce a single currency by 2010.
VAT would be another tax adding to the already existing taxes like housing fees for rentals in Dubai. VAT being an indirect tax may hold better than a direct tax like income tax or property tax in Dubai, according to tax experts.
Dubai is increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance. It is now focused to diversify from a trade-based, but oil-reliant, economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented. Dubai has become an exciting tourist destination and a thriving business and logistics centre.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Challenging the male dominated hierachy
For too long women in Maldives have been held back from holding important positions in the political hierachy. Often the reasons cited are of tradition and culture, and relatively few women seek or are selected for public office. The percentage of women in government and politics does not correspond to their percentage of the population.
In order to increase participation by women in the political process, women are taking the lead now. The first women attorney general Azima Shukoor and other prominent DRP women, including minister for Presidential affairs Aneesa Ahmed, walked out of the Special Majlis building yesterday when the speaker of the constitutional assembly rejected a measure to boost the number of females in parliament.
While more women are joining the job market and other professions, Maldives remains a very male dominated society. While the modern women are self-reinventing in the public service and private industries, the men it seems still falter when it comes to advancing women to be self-sufficient.
Old traditions will die hard but it is time for men to realise that women can no longer be held back.
In order to increase participation by women in the political process, women are taking the lead now. The first women attorney general Azima Shukoor and other prominent DRP women, including minister for Presidential affairs Aneesa Ahmed, walked out of the Special Majlis building yesterday when the speaker of the constitutional assembly rejected a measure to boost the number of females in parliament.
While more women are joining the job market and other professions, Maldives remains a very male dominated society. While the modern women are self-reinventing in the public service and private industries, the men it seems still falter when it comes to advancing women to be self-sufficient.
Old traditions will die hard but it is time for men to realise that women can no longer be held back.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Making our public schools purposeful
Maldivian Government will spend MRF 131 million in the free give away books and examination fee of needy students for the year 2008.
The mission of public schools must be to inspire a passion for learning and develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable all students to maximize their potential as positive, responsible participants in our community and the global community.
If our country's national education policy accepts such a mission, it has to instill the kind of values that can pass down such enthusiasm and creativity for learning. In this respect, the public policy of giving away free books to suit a political objective fails to address the major problems within our education system.
Families, schools and their communities are the primary agencies in the education and behaviour of the child. Not only does the family introduce him to the basic forms of civilized living, but it shaped his attitudes, formed his patterns of behavior, endowed him with manners and morals.
It is important for Maldives to have a debate on the kind of values that are currently passed on to the younger generation. What has made a segment of our young people, even if they are a fringe minority, to fight in the cause of terror? Why did parents, school and the community fail to stop such people getting distracted and taking up to violence? We need to seek answers for some hard questions to restore harmony and avoid having to live in fear.
Our national education must internalise the value of education, the value of hard work, intellectual challenge, curiosity, creativity, etc., that will greatly affect individuals' creative growth and economic prospects. And these positive values are, to a large extent, passed down from one generation to the next.
The mission of public schools must be to inspire a passion for learning and develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable all students to maximize their potential as positive, responsible participants in our community and the global community.
If our country's national education policy accepts such a mission, it has to instill the kind of values that can pass down such enthusiasm and creativity for learning. In this respect, the public policy of giving away free books to suit a political objective fails to address the major problems within our education system.
Families, schools and their communities are the primary agencies in the education and behaviour of the child. Not only does the family introduce him to the basic forms of civilized living, but it shaped his attitudes, formed his patterns of behavior, endowed him with manners and morals.
It is important for Maldives to have a debate on the kind of values that are currently passed on to the younger generation. What has made a segment of our young people, even if they are a fringe minority, to fight in the cause of terror? Why did parents, school and the community fail to stop such people getting distracted and taking up to violence? We need to seek answers for some hard questions to restore harmony and avoid having to live in fear.
Our national education must internalise the value of education, the value of hard work, intellectual challenge, curiosity, creativity, etc., that will greatly affect individuals' creative growth and economic prospects. And these positive values are, to a large extent, passed down from one generation to the next.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Bollywood goes global
Here's globalisation in action making the popular Bollywood film industry a major entertainment brand worldwide.
Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are winning more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas and the just released film Saawariya starring the deutants Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. As the first Bollywood film to be co-produced and financed by a Hollywood studio, Saawariya is an example of globalization reaching across far distances and cultures. The movie is the first product of a recent wave of alliances between Indian producers and the likes of Disney, Warner and Sony which backed Saawariya, released worldwide on Friday.
When Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s most popular star, arrived on the red carpet launch of his film Om Shanti Om in London, he spelled out his ambition: “I want to make the first Indian film that the whole world will watch.”
The night before the Om Shanti Om bandwagon rolled into London, rival 'Saawariya' had its world premiere in New York. Saawariya is the first Bollywood film produced by a leading Hollywood studio, Sony, and the two films have been vying for publicity in the Indian media before their release on Diwali, 9th November, traditionally a peak box-office slot.
Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are winning more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas and the just released film Saawariya starring the deutants Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. As the first Bollywood film to be co-produced and financed by a Hollywood studio, Saawariya is an example of globalization reaching across far distances and cultures. The movie is the first product of a recent wave of alliances between Indian producers and the likes of Disney, Warner and Sony which backed Saawariya, released worldwide on Friday.
When Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s most popular star, arrived on the red carpet launch of his film Om Shanti Om in London, he spelled out his ambition: “I want to make the first Indian film that the whole world will watch.”
The night before the Om Shanti Om bandwagon rolled into London, rival 'Saawariya' had its world premiere in New York. Saawariya is the first Bollywood film produced by a leading Hollywood studio, Sony, and the two films have been vying for publicity in the Indian media before their release on Diwali, 9th November, traditionally a peak box-office slot.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Fight for climate change begins with Maldives
The Maldives, a country that is entirely dependent on oil to run its economy and tourism has to start walking the talk and cut down on its own greenhouse gas by reducing the emissions from vehicles that are jam packed on our streets in Male'. We must use less energy and be more efficient in our use of energy. We need to promote energy efficiency and conservation measures, and our Government has to help the population achieve these aims by offering incentives and creating awareness. We need stringent efficiency standards for appliances, homes and offices, industrial processes and vehicles. We need more renewable energy. We need more public transport.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Retain talent with challenging jobs
The National Fund for Higher Education and Training has opened applications for 24 scholarships. Candidates applying for the scholarship scheme will come from various government departments chosen and announced for this year.
According to this article from Haveeru, the Ministry of Higher Education has offered scholarships on the basis that successful candidates on completion of their course must payback 25% of the total cost within a period of 12 years.
Even now Maldives is seeing a brain drain where highly qualified individuals are seeking more challenging and rewarding jobs outside the country. Even if a formal Deed of Agreement is kept between the scholarship applicant and the Government, returning graduates will find that it is not easy for them to payback the 25% of the scholarship within the compensation they earn from one job, either in the public or private sector.
Maldives will also find that in a globalised world, there are many countries in our region and beyond that compete for our top talent. Even now our talent is being lured out of Maldives, and unless our work conditions, compensation, job satisfaction and quality of life are improved dramatically, the exodus will accelerate hollowing important sectors like health care, as more people become highly qualified and are sought after by overseas demand.
Just to give an example of this problem, let us take another developing country: the Philippines. With medical tourism expanding in several in countries, at least 15,000 nurses and other medical professionals are leaving the Philippines each year for better-paying jobs abroad, mainly to United States, Britain and lately to Australia and even Asian destinations, threatening the country's health infrastructure. WHO officials have called it a serious situation for the Philippines. The starting pay for a graduate nurse in government hospital is 10,000 pesos (Sin.$322) about the average wage of a maid in Singapore. Hospitals and administrators in Philippines are grappling to keep up with high leaving rates.
The challenge for our Government will be how to meet from limited financial resources rapidly rising social demands for education scholarships, jobs, infrastructure, health and other social services while retaining our best talent in Maldives.
According to this article from Haveeru, the Ministry of Higher Education has offered scholarships on the basis that successful candidates on completion of their course must payback 25% of the total cost within a period of 12 years.
Even now Maldives is seeing a brain drain where highly qualified individuals are seeking more challenging and rewarding jobs outside the country. Even if a formal Deed of Agreement is kept between the scholarship applicant and the Government, returning graduates will find that it is not easy for them to payback the 25% of the scholarship within the compensation they earn from one job, either in the public or private sector.
Maldives will also find that in a globalised world, there are many countries in our region and beyond that compete for our top talent. Even now our talent is being lured out of Maldives, and unless our work conditions, compensation, job satisfaction and quality of life are improved dramatically, the exodus will accelerate hollowing important sectors like health care, as more people become highly qualified and are sought after by overseas demand.
Just to give an example of this problem, let us take another developing country: the Philippines. With medical tourism expanding in several in countries, at least 15,000 nurses and other medical professionals are leaving the Philippines each year for better-paying jobs abroad, mainly to United States, Britain and lately to Australia and even Asian destinations, threatening the country's health infrastructure. WHO officials have called it a serious situation for the Philippines. The starting pay for a graduate nurse in government hospital is 10,000 pesos (Sin.$322) about the average wage of a maid in Singapore. Hospitals and administrators in Philippines are grappling to keep up with high leaving rates.
The challenge for our Government will be how to meet from limited financial resources rapidly rising social demands for education scholarships, jobs, infrastructure, health and other social services while retaining our best talent in Maldives.
Extreme poverty leads 11-year-old girl to suicide
By hanging herself a day after All Saints' Day, 11-year-old Mariannet Amper of Davao City, has become the embodiment of the Filipinos' worst nightmare, a saint of poverty for a nation that continues to deny the blighted reality of its impoverishment.
As this news quickly spread around the world, the Philippines promised yesterday to investigate the apparent suicide of the 11-year-old girl due to poverty after the incident generated angry public reactions and street protests.
She wrote a letter to a television network asking for a new pair of shoes, a bag, a bicycle and better paying jobs for her parents, local newspapers said. She also left a diary narrating her family’s difficulties in sending her and a younger brother to school and how she wished her father’s health would improve and get him a good job other than doing small carpentry work.
She was in the sixth grade and eager to catch up so as to finish her elementary education. It is reported that Mariannet killed herself out of quiet desperation over her school absences and her inability to catch up with school work.
Mariannet's diary is similar to Anne Frank's: both prefigured the unyielding doom in their lives--Anne's, the holocaust of the gas chambers; Mariannet's, the holocaust of extreme poverty.
These incidents are immensely tragic and shows humanity's inability to take care of the most vulnerable in society. World Bank estimates that 40 per cent of the Phillipines population of 87 million live on less than US$2 a day. While the country's economy is currently improving and making good economic progress, the economic gap between the rich and poor is also widening thereby deepening the despondency of the poor. In most third world countries, corruption and mismanagement have made their governments the key perpetuator of poverty.
As this news quickly spread around the world, the Philippines promised yesterday to investigate the apparent suicide of the 11-year-old girl due to poverty after the incident generated angry public reactions and street protests.
She wrote a letter to a television network asking for a new pair of shoes, a bag, a bicycle and better paying jobs for her parents, local newspapers said. She also left a diary narrating her family’s difficulties in sending her and a younger brother to school and how she wished her father’s health would improve and get him a good job other than doing small carpentry work.
She was in the sixth grade and eager to catch up so as to finish her elementary education. It is reported that Mariannet killed herself out of quiet desperation over her school absences and her inability to catch up with school work.
Mariannet's diary is similar to Anne Frank's: both prefigured the unyielding doom in their lives--Anne's, the holocaust of the gas chambers; Mariannet's, the holocaust of extreme poverty.
These incidents are immensely tragic and shows humanity's inability to take care of the most vulnerable in society. World Bank estimates that 40 per cent of the Phillipines population of 87 million live on less than US$2 a day. While the country's economy is currently improving and making good economic progress, the economic gap between the rich and poor is also widening thereby deepening the despondency of the poor. In most third world countries, corruption and mismanagement have made their governments the key perpetuator of poverty.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Perils on the path of democracy
Recent developments in Fiji where the elected government was forcibly removed from office, and Zimbabwe where the members of the Opposition were not only prevented from holding a rally but were arrested and beaten by the police while in custody brings into sharper focus the perils on the path of a liberal democracy. Closer to home, Pakistan where the chief justice was suspended under circumstance which undermines the separation of powers and the rule of law is a clear indication of how a system is manipulated by a military dictator. These are situations when the majority consent through the process of an election is withheld and it calls for a re-examination of the Rule of Law and the concept of democracy as mentioned here on the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative newsletter.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is an international non-governmental organisation formed to support Human Rights and particularly to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration which set out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, for the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The developed West imposes upon developing countries, the traditions of democracy as experienced by them. The starting point for most countries like Maldives, struggling on the path of democracy could be the public voting and majority rule, most people can choose for all of us, and majorities can impose their will on minorities.
Collective decisions affect us all only because the majority is empowered to force its will on everyone. We have begun to see this process get played out in Maldives. For example, recently when a constitutional amendment was proposed by a leading critic of police powers from the MDP, even activists from the MDP reacted with horror. Clause twenty five of the draft bill of rights had read, “no person shall be arrested or detained without reasonable and probable grounds to believe he has committed an offence.”
The MDP sponsored amendment allows a police officer to detain anyone, “he believes may commit an offence.”
The amendment was passed in the Special Majlis with the MDP splitting its vote on both sides. Thus sweeping powers are given to law enforcement by the collective will of majority. Now the people could be faced with situations of saving themselves from the tyranny of the majority who get to choose something for everyone.
As Fareed Zakariya, Editor of Newsweek International who explained the term "illiberal democracy", the real key to freedom is to secure people from tyranny by the majority, or freedom from democracy.
For much of modern history, what characterized governments in Europe and North America, and differentiated them from those around the world, was not democracy but constitutional liberalism. The "Western model of government" is best symbolized not by the mass plebiscite but the impartial judge. (Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom, p. 20.)
Eighty years ago, Woodrow Wilson took America into the 20th century with a challenge to make the world safe for democracy. As we enter the 21st century, Fareed Zakariya envisions our task is to make democracy safe for the world.
With all its flaws, democracy — represents the “last best hope” for people around the world. But it needs to be secured and strengthened for our times. Maldives is at the threshold of this challenge now.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is an international non-governmental organisation formed to support Human Rights and particularly to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration which set out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, for the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The developed West imposes upon developing countries, the traditions of democracy as experienced by them. The starting point for most countries like Maldives, struggling on the path of democracy could be the public voting and majority rule, most people can choose for all of us, and majorities can impose their will on minorities.
Collective decisions affect us all only because the majority is empowered to force its will on everyone. We have begun to see this process get played out in Maldives. For example, recently when a constitutional amendment was proposed by a leading critic of police powers from the MDP, even activists from the MDP reacted with horror. Clause twenty five of the draft bill of rights had read, “no person shall be arrested or detained without reasonable and probable grounds to believe he has committed an offence.”
The MDP sponsored amendment allows a police officer to detain anyone, “he believes may commit an offence.”
The amendment was passed in the Special Majlis with the MDP splitting its vote on both sides. Thus sweeping powers are given to law enforcement by the collective will of majority. Now the people could be faced with situations of saving themselves from the tyranny of the majority who get to choose something for everyone.
As Fareed Zakariya, Editor of Newsweek International who explained the term "illiberal democracy", the real key to freedom is to secure people from tyranny by the majority, or freedom from democracy.
For much of modern history, what characterized governments in Europe and North America, and differentiated them from those around the world, was not democracy but constitutional liberalism. The "Western model of government" is best symbolized not by the mass plebiscite but the impartial judge. (Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom, p. 20.)
Eighty years ago, Woodrow Wilson took America into the 20th century with a challenge to make the world safe for democracy. As we enter the 21st century, Fareed Zakariya envisions our task is to make democracy safe for the world.
With all its flaws, democracy — represents the “last best hope” for people around the world. But it needs to be secured and strengthened for our times. Maldives is at the threshold of this challenge now.
Monday, November 05, 2007
State welfare can lead to a crutch mentality
Maldives is hitting the election fever and political parties are positioning to appease the voters.
The Maldivian government has announced that it would increase the wages of the state employees in 2008 . Further measures include the government funding the books and stationary needed by all students from Grades 1 to 12. In addition, the fee for participating in the O' level and A' Level exams are to be paid by the government for those who can't afford it.
While we welcome a little benevolence from the Government, when the budget for 2008 is presented to the parliament, members will have to find out how this social welfare scheme is being financed. Who is paying for this handout? While many needy children will benefit from this programme, the rich don't need government handouts for their children for the rich are blessed with an abundance of wealth. Such schemes need to be designed to help the needy and to help them become self-reliant. While the social realities of our country make it necessary to help the needy through such programmes, it is also worth noting that most of the countries that practice such welfarism find that lifelong handouts is not the solution to the low income group. Such action tends to create a mentality of dependency on the those who are able to give. It is important to empower the people at the lower income levels, for them to have the self determination to help themselves. It is important to create the conditions and provide the incentives for such people to build up their own capability and to earn their living.
The main opposition party MDP has said the party will ensure all Maldivians benefit from tourism the mainstay of our economy, give more tourism jobs to Maldivians, open doors for Maldivians in the industry, and use tourism to strengthen the economy. MDP has also said it wants to dismantle the present patronage system by taxing the businessmen with corporation tax and introducing income tax and at the same time allow ownership of property rights. They will reduce import duties and remain committed to free market economics. MDP's detailed policies on health care, education, taxation and the economy will be made public only a month prior to the 2008 general election.
The Maldivian government has announced that it would increase the wages of the state employees in 2008 . Further measures include the government funding the books and stationary needed by all students from Grades 1 to 12. In addition, the fee for participating in the O' level and A' Level exams are to be paid by the government for those who can't afford it.
While we welcome a little benevolence from the Government, when the budget for 2008 is presented to the parliament, members will have to find out how this social welfare scheme is being financed. Who is paying for this handout? While many needy children will benefit from this programme, the rich don't need government handouts for their children for the rich are blessed with an abundance of wealth. Such schemes need to be designed to help the needy and to help them become self-reliant. While the social realities of our country make it necessary to help the needy through such programmes, it is also worth noting that most of the countries that practice such welfarism find that lifelong handouts is not the solution to the low income group. Such action tends to create a mentality of dependency on the those who are able to give. It is important to empower the people at the lower income levels, for them to have the self determination to help themselves. It is important to create the conditions and provide the incentives for such people to build up their own capability and to earn their living.
The main opposition party MDP has said the party will ensure all Maldivians benefit from tourism the mainstay of our economy, give more tourism jobs to Maldivians, open doors for Maldivians in the industry, and use tourism to strengthen the economy. MDP has also said it wants to dismantle the present patronage system by taxing the businessmen with corporation tax and introducing income tax and at the same time allow ownership of property rights. They will reduce import duties and remain committed to free market economics. MDP's detailed policies on health care, education, taxation and the economy will be made public only a month prior to the 2008 general election.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Social enterprises- the true answer to happiness?
Singapore Management University (SMU) alumni Shashank Nigam writes that living in Boston has a number of upsides. One of them is the opportunity to meet world-renowned luminaries such as Dr Mohammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen bank. He writes an interesting perspective on social enterprises, about doing more than just increasing the profit-making behaviour in order to help lift the poor out of poverty. Read more here.
Despite the multitude of benefits that free market capitalism has brought, it still leaves vast number of people trapped in poverty. Professor Yunus believes that social businesses can help people in this group more effectively. Yunus’ idea of social business is catching on in many countries. Unlike the regular concept of business to maximise profit, social business is to maximise "doing good" for the benefit of other people.
Speaking to The Singapore Straits Times recently, Professor Yunus said, "Social business" is not charity but more in keeping with the adage: it's better to teach a man how to fish than give him fish."
Professor Yunus gave a lecture at the International Islamic University, Malaysia on how to empower the poor through social business.
Despite the multitude of benefits that free market capitalism has brought, it still leaves vast number of people trapped in poverty. Professor Yunus believes that social businesses can help people in this group more effectively. Yunus’ idea of social business is catching on in many countries. Unlike the regular concept of business to maximise profit, social business is to maximise "doing good" for the benefit of other people.
Speaking to The Singapore Straits Times recently, Professor Yunus said, "Social business" is not charity but more in keeping with the adage: it's better to teach a man how to fish than give him fish."
Professor Yunus gave a lecture at the International Islamic University, Malaysia on how to empower the poor through social business.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Radicalism cannot be defeated with hypocrisy
Maldives is facing a growing problem of radical Islam and with the crude home-made bomb that went off recently in the Sultan Park, it is clear that hard line views and intolerance has exploded into dangerous violence.
Last year a UN rapporteur on Freedom of Religion who visited the country was accused of, "trying to undermine the Islamic Unity of the Maldives," by then Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel. Now UN has sent another Shari’ah Law expert to Malé. Mohammad Hashim Kamali who is Shari’ah advisor to Government bodies in Malaysia and South Africa has said the ban on freedom of religion in the Maldives is a “disservice to Islam.” He urged that the 64,000 expatriates living in the Maldives, “should be able to open schools for their children and practice their faith openly.”
It appears that political unity is only possible in Maldives when it comes to religion. All the four main parties uniformly rejected Kamali's appeal. Radical Islam feeds off on this kind of intolerance and their agenda is to promote extremism and violence. The main opposition party MDP has said, it would be “political suicide” to advocate freedom of religion. Politicians do not resort to such desperate tactics for they are too busy looking after their personal interests. Some of them can't even trust Maldivians to believe in their own religion. What these people fail to understand is that the freedom of religion is given to human beings by Islam that imposes no compulsion of faith on its believers. They don't deny that this is a fact revealed in Quran. Yet, they continue the intolerance as though it is politically correct to do so. We need to change this attitude if are we to reverse the tide of radical Islam and its extremism. We have witnessed the folly of misinformation in Hinmadhoo and elsewhere in Maldives that has led us to unexpected crisis.
Muslims should live as good Muslims because of the personal conviction in their faith and not only because some experts or politicians force them to do so.
Last year a UN rapporteur on Freedom of Religion who visited the country was accused of, "trying to undermine the Islamic Unity of the Maldives," by then Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel. Now UN has sent another Shari’ah Law expert to Malé. Mohammad Hashim Kamali who is Shari’ah advisor to Government bodies in Malaysia and South Africa has said the ban on freedom of religion in the Maldives is a “disservice to Islam.” He urged that the 64,000 expatriates living in the Maldives, “should be able to open schools for their children and practice their faith openly.”
It appears that political unity is only possible in Maldives when it comes to religion. All the four main parties uniformly rejected Kamali's appeal. Radical Islam feeds off on this kind of intolerance and their agenda is to promote extremism and violence. The main opposition party MDP has said, it would be “political suicide” to advocate freedom of religion. Politicians do not resort to such desperate tactics for they are too busy looking after their personal interests. Some of them can't even trust Maldivians to believe in their own religion. What these people fail to understand is that the freedom of religion is given to human beings by Islam that imposes no compulsion of faith on its believers. They don't deny that this is a fact revealed in Quran. Yet, they continue the intolerance as though it is politically correct to do so. We need to change this attitude if are we to reverse the tide of radical Islam and its extremism. We have witnessed the folly of misinformation in Hinmadhoo and elsewhere in Maldives that has led us to unexpected crisis.
Muslims should live as good Muslims because of the personal conviction in their faith and not only because some experts or politicians force them to do so.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Change driven by crisis
Change occurs in Maldives largely driven by crisis. This is evident when we look at political succession, public housing in Male', and the various land reclamation work that is carried out throughout the country in spite of the fact that many pristine islands remain uninhabited. Today the capital island Male' has its population living shoulder to shoulder, yet our community as a whole fails to show empathy or express sufficient outrage when injustices and abuses happen to one of us. The thread running about Dr. Niyaf on MaldivesHealth demonstrates this point in the health care which needs the services of dedicated professionals to provide the best care.
Change can take many forms and include many environments. You hear this term frequently in the corporate world and there are so many change-management programs that are used in corporations and in countries. Maldives is going through a process of change, an attempt to install the framework of good governance, separation of powers and enhancing individual freedoms.
Typically the objective of any change is to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk of failure of implementing the change. Change is not implemented on this basis in Maldives. For example, it has taken more than three years to revise a constitution that is nearing completion now. If the purpose of the revision is to work out a just constitution, then every effort should be made to live up to it. As things stand now, parliament itself has become a public spectacle of archaic procedures, mindless jargon, amusement and even ridicule.
We need to recognise the individual talent in Maldives to reverse this trend and provide social justice and good value to every citizen. Our biggest threat comes from proponents of radical Islam and they have found a group of our young vulnerable for indoctrination. These forces need to be defeated by our community reaching out to every vulnerable individual with intensive counselling so that extremist elements can be stopped on their track.
Change can take many forms and include many environments. You hear this term frequently in the corporate world and there are so many change-management programs that are used in corporations and in countries. Maldives is going through a process of change, an attempt to install the framework of good governance, separation of powers and enhancing individual freedoms.
Typically the objective of any change is to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk of failure of implementing the change. Change is not implemented on this basis in Maldives. For example, it has taken more than three years to revise a constitution that is nearing completion now. If the purpose of the revision is to work out a just constitution, then every effort should be made to live up to it. As things stand now, parliament itself has become a public spectacle of archaic procedures, mindless jargon, amusement and even ridicule.
We need to recognise the individual talent in Maldives to reverse this trend and provide social justice and good value to every citizen. Our biggest threat comes from proponents of radical Islam and they have found a group of our young vulnerable for indoctrination. These forces need to be defeated by our community reaching out to every vulnerable individual with intensive counselling so that extremist elements can be stopped on their track.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Contributing to social good
During the past few years, philanthropy has taken a high profile due to increased media coverage of activists like rock star Bono and his campaign to alleviate Third World debt to developed nations. The ambitious projects of the Gates Foundation's resources and initiatives, such as eradicating malaria ; and Warren Buffett's donation in 2006 of $30 billion to the Gates Foundation made world headlines.
The purpose of philanthropy has been debated in both positive and negative terms. Some equate philanthropy with benevolence and charity for the poor and needy. Others hold that philanthropy can be any altruistic giving towards any kind of social need that is not served, underserved, or perceived as unserved or underserved by the market.
Whatever the case maybe, philanthropy is a perfectly legitimate practice and there is no question that people who are prepared to give millions for the public good are entitled to respect and appreciation. But the mere fact that they can afford to give millions does not mean they should be singled out ahead of others who dedicate themselves to public service.
According to a Boston College study, Americans are sinking $5.5 trillion to $7.4 trillion into the philanthropic industry during a 20-year period that will end in 2017. Most of the activists involved in the giving are coming up through the high-finance and tech industries. They are highly engaged in their causes, investing not just money but also time, energy and oversight.
Philanthropy is a private sector means of affecting social change without recourse to government mechanisms such as those represented by aid programs.
Do the rich in Maldives help the less priviledged by engaging in various causes to build up a stronger community?
The purpose of philanthropy has been debated in both positive and negative terms. Some equate philanthropy with benevolence and charity for the poor and needy. Others hold that philanthropy can be any altruistic giving towards any kind of social need that is not served, underserved, or perceived as unserved or underserved by the market.
Whatever the case maybe, philanthropy is a perfectly legitimate practice and there is no question that people who are prepared to give millions for the public good are entitled to respect and appreciation. But the mere fact that they can afford to give millions does not mean they should be singled out ahead of others who dedicate themselves to public service.
According to a Boston College study, Americans are sinking $5.5 trillion to $7.4 trillion into the philanthropic industry during a 20-year period that will end in 2017. Most of the activists involved in the giving are coming up through the high-finance and tech industries. They are highly engaged in their causes, investing not just money but also time, energy and oversight.
Philanthropy is a private sector means of affecting social change without recourse to government mechanisms such as those represented by aid programs.
Do the rich in Maldives help the less priviledged by engaging in various causes to build up a stronger community?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What if oil runs dry?
Humanity's way of life is on a collision course with geology—with the stark fact that the Earth holds a finite supply of oil.
No one knows for sure, and geologists and economists are embroiled in debate about just when the "oil peak" will be upon us.
Peak oil takes the premise that the amount of oil left for us to use has "peaked" (or is just about to peak). Once worldwide production begins to fall and with no corresponding decrease in demand, oil prices will skyrocket, leading to widespread chaos. Richard Heinberg, a Californian college professor paints a dire picture.
"It's not just going to be a matter of replacing gasoline with something else and continuing on our merry way. We're actually going to have to change our transportation systems and reduce the amount of transportation that we do."
Heinberg is also sceptical of the prospect of biofuels saving the day. "It's clear ethanol and other biofuels are going to entail a trade-off between food and fuel. If we try to replace gasoline and diesel fuels with biofuels we'll simply fail because we don't have enough land and people will starve in the process."
If we are to gently surf the downward slope of Hubbert's bell curve rather than precipitously tumble off the edge, Heinberg says, it will take a social transformation of no lesser magnitude than the industrial revolution. "I don't think we are going back to exactly how people lived 200 years ago but we are going to need lots more human labour in agriculture and that means the middle class is going to start shrinking."
No one knows for sure, and geologists and economists are embroiled in debate about just when the "oil peak" will be upon us.
Peak oil takes the premise that the amount of oil left for us to use has "peaked" (or is just about to peak). Once worldwide production begins to fall and with no corresponding decrease in demand, oil prices will skyrocket, leading to widespread chaos. Richard Heinberg, a Californian college professor paints a dire picture.
"It's not just going to be a matter of replacing gasoline with something else and continuing on our merry way. We're actually going to have to change our transportation systems and reduce the amount of transportation that we do."
Heinberg is also sceptical of the prospect of biofuels saving the day. "It's clear ethanol and other biofuels are going to entail a trade-off between food and fuel. If we try to replace gasoline and diesel fuels with biofuels we'll simply fail because we don't have enough land and people will starve in the process."
If we are to gently surf the downward slope of Hubbert's bell curve rather than precipitously tumble off the edge, Heinberg says, it will take a social transformation of no lesser magnitude than the industrial revolution. "I don't think we are going back to exactly how people lived 200 years ago but we are going to need lots more human labour in agriculture and that means the middle class is going to start shrinking."
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Healing the poor
According to a report on Business Standard, villagers and slum-dwellers who are the poorest of the poor in Maharashtra, India run their own health insurance fund, with spectacular results.
Dandekar bridge slum in Pune is unlike any other slum in the country. When someone here falls ill, the family just has to dial a 24-hour helpline, whose doctor advises them which government hospital the patient should consult. The family also receives money for treatment.
The slum-dwellers are part of a health security fund, an experimental project to which each person contributes Rs 60 annually. The unique fund is run by the slum-dwellers themselves along with those living in 88 other slums in Pune, Mahrasthra. So far, 30,000 have joined the fund, which covers all Pune slums and some villages in two other districts of the state. Dandekar bridge slum in east Pune accounts for 8,000 members.
More on this scheme on Business Standard.
Dandekar bridge slum in Pune is unlike any other slum in the country. When someone here falls ill, the family just has to dial a 24-hour helpline, whose doctor advises them which government hospital the patient should consult. The family also receives money for treatment.
The slum-dwellers are part of a health security fund, an experimental project to which each person contributes Rs 60 annually. The unique fund is run by the slum-dwellers themselves along with those living in 88 other slums in Pune, Mahrasthra. So far, 30,000 have joined the fund, which covers all Pune slums and some villages in two other districts of the state. Dandekar bridge slum in east Pune accounts for 8,000 members.
More on this scheme on Business Standard.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Lending money between family and friends
British billionaire Richard Branson who started his 'Virgin Records' business from a loan he took from an aunt knows the effect of small loans. He is today launching Virgin Money USA, a financial-services powerhouse he plans to carve out of what’s currently a small Waltham start-up.
Branson is creating Virgin Money USA out of rebranding the Circle Lending Co., a “peer-to-peer” lender that the Branson bought in May for an undisclosed sum.
Founded by entrepreneur Asheesh Advani, Circle Lending helps friends and families formalize loans to one another.
"We’ve developed a very flexible set of products where you can pick your own interest rates, miss a payment if you want - basically enjoy a freedom that’s totally different from what you get at a bank,” said Advani, who’s staying on as Virgin Money USA’s CEO. “Our vision is to build a major Boston-based financial-services company.”
Advani and Branson intend to add education loans, financial planning and other services to Circle Lending’s existing line of mortgages, personal and small-business loans.
Advani's six-year-old company emerged alongside the "peer-to-peer" lending industry that seeks to snatch business away from banks by using the Internet to match borrowers with lenders. However, unlike CircleLending, those services generally pair up strangers.
In CircleLending, because borrower and lender know one another, loans typically carry lower interest rates than banks offer -- without the unforgiving nature institutional lenders often adopt with delinquent borrowers, Advani says.
Branson is creating Virgin Money USA out of rebranding the Circle Lending Co., a “peer-to-peer” lender that the Branson bought in May for an undisclosed sum.
Founded by entrepreneur Asheesh Advani, Circle Lending helps friends and families formalize loans to one another.
"We’ve developed a very flexible set of products where you can pick your own interest rates, miss a payment if you want - basically enjoy a freedom that’s totally different from what you get at a bank,” said Advani, who’s staying on as Virgin Money USA’s CEO. “Our vision is to build a major Boston-based financial-services company.”
Advani and Branson intend to add education loans, financial planning and other services to Circle Lending’s existing line of mortgages, personal and small-business loans.
Advani's six-year-old company emerged alongside the "peer-to-peer" lending industry that seeks to snatch business away from banks by using the Internet to match borrowers with lenders. However, unlike CircleLending, those services generally pair up strangers.
In CircleLending, because borrower and lender know one another, loans typically carry lower interest rates than banks offer -- without the unforgiving nature institutional lenders often adopt with delinquent borrowers, Advani says.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Dealing with Islamophobia from within
Wittingly or unwittingly, we have undermined our unity by allowing different religious fanatical factions to take roots in our small communities of what used to be moderate Muslims. We now have to engage the separatists in meaningful dialogue and their fears need to be addressed and listened to, not brushed aside by branding them as outcasts. Criminal behaviour will have to be dealt with according to law.
Enter Islamophobia into our small community of just over 300,000 Sunni Muslims.
Islamophobia is a political term, though controversial is an increasingly accepted prejudice or discrimination against Islam or Muslims. The term has been revived after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Not long after Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech that enraged Muslims around the world, some people in Denmark called for a contest to depict Prophet Muhammad through drawing or caricature. The world is witnessing growing Islamophobia, a phenomenon that has existed between Muslims and the western civilization for a long time. Now the Muslims are practising Islamophobia among themselves.
Early this year, an article written by Aniya showed how sensitive Maldivian conservatives are to any criticism of religion. Aniya's article was thought-provoking and one can say she gave the wrong interpretation of the wearing of veil by women as revealed in Quran. To question in Islam cannot be considered as heresy and even if she is wrong she has a right to her opinion and those who don't agree with her will have be tolerant of different views. Instead she was condemned and forcefully dragged to Supreme Religious Council. All of us will have to learn to tolerate each other's differences. If a crime is committed, then deal with it according to law.
The Sultan Park bombing incident is a criminal act and will have to be dealt with as such. Separatist groups like the people of Himandhoo have chosen a certain way of life. We have to ask ourselves, is the problem with their way of life (how they dress, pray etc.) or are they also committing any punishable crimes? We need to deal with criminal behaviour such as getting married outside the law. If their intention is to deliberately stir trouble, that too will have to be dealt with. More of the same failed preaching by the Supreme Religious Council is not going to solve this problem. Knowledge without understanding can easily turn destructive as we are finding out in Maldives.
Teaching tolerance as Muslims and respecting diversity will be the peaceful way forward.
Enter Islamophobia into our small community of just over 300,000 Sunni Muslims.
Islamophobia is a political term, though controversial is an increasingly accepted prejudice or discrimination against Islam or Muslims. The term has been revived after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Not long after Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech that enraged Muslims around the world, some people in Denmark called for a contest to depict Prophet Muhammad through drawing or caricature. The world is witnessing growing Islamophobia, a phenomenon that has existed between Muslims and the western civilization for a long time. Now the Muslims are practising Islamophobia among themselves.
Early this year, an article written by Aniya showed how sensitive Maldivian conservatives are to any criticism of religion. Aniya's article was thought-provoking and one can say she gave the wrong interpretation of the wearing of veil by women as revealed in Quran. To question in Islam cannot be considered as heresy and even if she is wrong she has a right to her opinion and those who don't agree with her will have be tolerant of different views. Instead she was condemned and forcefully dragged to Supreme Religious Council. All of us will have to learn to tolerate each other's differences. If a crime is committed, then deal with it according to law.
The Sultan Park bombing incident is a criminal act and will have to be dealt with as such. Separatist groups like the people of Himandhoo have chosen a certain way of life. We have to ask ourselves, is the problem with their way of life (how they dress, pray etc.) or are they also committing any punishable crimes? We need to deal with criminal behaviour such as getting married outside the law. If their intention is to deliberately stir trouble, that too will have to be dealt with. More of the same failed preaching by the Supreme Religious Council is not going to solve this problem. Knowledge without understanding can easily turn destructive as we are finding out in Maldives.
Teaching tolerance as Muslims and respecting diversity will be the peaceful way forward.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
