Saturday, November 29, 2008

MATI should respect workers rights

According to a Minivan News report, "Maldives’ Tourism Employees Association (TEAM) has "no right" to make demands for labour rights enshrined in the Employment Act, secretary general of the country's leading resort owners association has said on Saturday.

Sim Ibrahim Mohamed from Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) made the comment after a leaked letter shows he called on the Tourism Ministry to inform resorts that TEAM does not have “any mandate” from the ministry.

The letter, which says TEAM's demands are "unwarranted, unlawful and unnecessary”, also urges the ministry to “caution the media about publishing or broadcasting stories that are biased and defamatory”.

MATI should not resort to bully tactics.

The Maldivian tourism industry has benefited from cheap labour in Maldives. Most of the tourist resort owners and operators have made handsome profits at the expense of the workers because workers rights have never been protected in Maldives.

While the Maldivian Government has taken membership of most the UN organisations, it has failed to take the membership in one of the most important organisation; The International Labour Organization (ILO). ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues. In structure, the ILO is unique among world organizations in that the representatives of the workers and of the employers have an equal voice with those of governments in formulating its policies.

Under the MDP coalition government, the Minister for human resources Hassan Latheef has now confirmed that Maldives would join the ILO before Dec 7th 2008.

We now have the opportunity to address worker issues such as unfair dismissals and refer to labour tribunals.

MATI should get over its arrogant attitude and advocate to give workers their full benefits without pushing them to take mass industrial action through work stoppages.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Denounce the tyranny and honour Nasir's virtues


When former president and independence hero Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, NGIV, resigned in 1978 Maldives, he had modernized the fisheries industry with mechanized vessels and started the tourism industry. He is credited with many other improvements such as introducing an English-based modern curriculum to government-run schools.

As a person from Havaruthinadhoo, I strongly believe that former president/prime minister Nasir was wrong to impose collective punishment and expel everyone from my island. His actions were brutal and unjust against those of my island who were imprisoned without any trial and died in custody. I support the protesters of Havaruthinadhoo who are demanding an apology from the Government and a suitable form of compensation.

That said, it is time to pay a tribute to former president Ibrahim Nasir recognizing his stature as a national leader of our country who died in Singapore and was laid to rest in Male' with full honours on Monday, 24th November 2008.

Ibrahim Nasir ran an authoritarian government that maintained discipline and a clean record. He held regular elections that was fair and reflected the will of the people. He did not interfere with the electoral process to rig the elections as was done by the Gayoom regime during its thirty year rule starting in 1978. When Nasir relinquished power Maldives was debt-free to the international community. Under his watch, the national shipping line with more than 40 ships that were plying the oceans of the world remained a source of national pride. It was a remarkable success story among the maritime nations of our region.

After experiencing the Gayoom government during the last thirty years, many people now feel it is time to restore discipline and run a corruption-free government.

It is time to revitalize the old values of thrift, hard work, saving and living within one's means. These values did us good as a nation when we faced difficult times before. The world is facing perilous financial challenges and Maldives is going through a political transition and reform process and needs to take every step with caution.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

R.I.P Ibrahim Nasir



Former President Ibrahim Nasir passed away in Mt. Elizabeth Hospital Singapore at 9.30 PM today. He was 82.

May God have mercy on his soul.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Counter secular fascism in Maldives

Michael Parenti, the American writer and lecturer who spoke about the irrational features of fascism must have found this phenomenon in the distant land of Maldives.

Fascism is the unchecked rule of a class of the privileged, or relatively rich, in power--a full-scale assault on poor and working people. Parliamentary institutions are usually set aside, or so demeaned as to be meaningless.

This is how Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a secular fascist adopted a fascist style of government and ruled like the medieval kings who acted above the law. Gayoom practised nepotism and cronyism. His opponents were thrown into prison, tortured and killed.

Obviously Gayoom's brand of leading fascists were never true to Islam. Their intention was to divide and rule with devastating consequences. These secular fascists were motivated by greed to make money and they compromised the principles of justice and fairness just in order to remain in power. Within the country, their policies of elitist development has turned a vast majority of the population into second-class citizens.

This has created a leadership cult in the government bureaucracy. The result is the rich became richer creating an economic elite and consigning the poor to a permanent underclass.

While Governments were created for the sake of security of the people, the Gayoom Government became themselves the biggest threats to people’s security in Maldives.

"Parenti writes that “Much of politics is the rational manipulation of irrational symbols.” The emotive appeals of fascist ideology have served a class-control function, “distracting the populace from their legitimate grievances and directing their frustrations at various scapegoats.”

The Gayoom regime was very good in symbolism, they created corporate feudal alliances and ran a casino economy. They addicted our younger generation to illegal drugs in order to keep them silent and President Nasheed has inherited a bankrupt country.

In order for Maldivian citizens to find a fulfilling life in Maldives, President Nasheed has to focus his efforts to provide greater meaning than just economic survival of our nation.


"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived. But if we rise up to meet it head-on, then history need not be re-lived. When we as a people fail, or worse yet, refuse to stand up to the injustice of historical past, then that injustice becomes an ever-present constant in our daily lives." - Cia Bannar, film maker and human rights activist.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Gayoom's apology

According to Miadhu, "For the first time President Gayoom made a public apology to the people of the country for anything that he or his government has done which would have caused any harm on any one or hurt anyone."

Is it too little too late?

The Maldivians are a forgiving people. But for the majority of Maldivians who have been systematically deprived justice and basic rights, and to the families of those who were tortured and killed in state prisons and those who blame the Gayoom regime for the addiction of our young to illegal drugs, the personal apology of Gayoom is not enough.

Holding the Gayoom regime accountable is not a cry for vengeance as the Gayoom cronies did to former president Ibrahim Nasir when he resigned and handed over to Gayoom peacefully 30 years ago. No official of the Gayoom administration should go scot free of their abuse of human rights, torture and killings. These are serious crimes which Gayoom's Government overlooked by error or design and both must be investigated under the due process of law.

Gayoom must answer why he allowed a system that perpetrated such crimes while his government promoted selected islands as idyllic haven resorts for the rich and famous in the world.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

President-elect Nasheed will have a short honeymoon

President elect Mohamed Nasheed takes over the presidency on November 11 to become our 4th President. He has may pressing problems that require immediate attention such as housing of the cramped Male', drug addiction among youth and providing justice to the many citizens who been deprived their rights and the dignity of life for the last 30 years by the Maumoon regime.

Surely the least of the president-elect Nasheed's problems should be to worry about security and other privileges to the out going President Gayoom even until the bill submitted to the parliament is passed.

President Gayoom has said that former president Ibrahim Nasir did a smooth handover 30 years back. We have the precedent of how Ibrahim Nasir was treated by the Maumoon regime after such a peaceful transition. Thus, president-elect Nasheed has his transition job cut out for him.

President Gayoom speaking on Henyabo variety show, called on the people to continue in the righteous path of Islam and to protect the sovereignty of the Maldives. We don't need President Gayoom or any of his evil cronies to lecture the Maldivian people about Islamic values for while the ordinary Maldivians remained true to Islamic values the Gayoom cronies plundered the wealth of the Maldivian nation for their personal gains against all Islamic values.

Immediately after inauguration, President Nasheed should lead the nation to clean up its checkered political history of murder, violence and root out endemic corruption in all sectors of the society.

A report on Minivan News by Olivia Lang and Shauna Aminath reflects the apalling state of our social affairs in a country seen by the west as a haven for the rich tourists.

"Just over two months ago, Shareefa Abdul Kareem’s 14-year old daughter was grabbed by a group of six men when she was walking home on her small, sleepy island in Noonu atoll.

Dragging her to an isolated beach, four of the men violently raped her, to the extent where she needed hospital treatment for three days.

Despite confessing their actions to police, five of the men remain free on the island, and have threatened the girl – who remains in her house for safety – they will carry out another attack.

As fellow islanders remain silent, Shareefa, 50, talks to Minivan News about how she copes with the trauma – and, as a mother of five, how helpless she feels. "

President-elect Nasheed should shift his focus to redress these social problems and seek to provide justice to those who have suffered under this evil dictatorship for so long.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Its time for a "Celebration"

Replace hatred with compassion

Amid the tragedy of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, April 4, 1968, an extraordinary moment in U.S. political history occurred as Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, broke the news of King's death to a large gathering of African Americans in Indianapolis, Indiana. He appealed for compassion and love toward one another. Listen to his speech below.



Some of RFK's quotes.

1)“Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.”

2)“I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.”

3)“It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task.”

4)“Gross National Product measures neither the health of our children, the quality of their education, nor the joy of their play. It measures neither the beauty of our poetry, nor the strength of our marriages. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It measures neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our wit nor our courage, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worth living. It can tell us everything about our country, except those things that make us proud to be a part of it.”

5)My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

The text of RFK speech.