The Perils of Climate and Capitalism

We have come a long way from the subsistence fishing of our forebears and many of the values and social norms that served us well have changed. We are facing different challenges now- environmental threats due to global warming and sea level rise, an illegal drug epidemic, appalling living conditions in the capital Male', a highly polarised political atmosphere, religious extremism and intolerance are some of the major problems.

Our forefathers should be lauded for the manner they endured the rigors of harvesting the sea to thrive on a livelihood dependent on fishing. Fishing was the principal industry which was the mainstay of our national economy until the development of the tourism industry which started in the early 1970s. Thrift was the way of life for our forefathers. For them, living by the values of thrift meant that they earned more than what they spent. Our society's needs at that time were the basic necessities relevant to living a simple life.

Just like other capitalistic countries of the world that embraced consumerism through the process of industrialisation, eventually Maldives made consumerism as an integral part of its economy. The Maldives economy depends heavily on foreign imports and the major portion of the country’s revenue is derived from: import duties, tourism tax, dividends from state-owned enterprises and land lease rent. All of these revenue sources are influenced the development of tourism. Tourism is the main driver of our economy today.

As is the case with other capitalist consumer based economies of the world, Maldives too has become a consumer obsessed society following an unsustainable economic model. The more our society consumes, the better for our economy. Globalization has also made it possible for goods and services previously out of reach in developing countries to be much more readily available. Items that at one point in time were considered luxuries—from cars, air conditioning, televisions to cell phones,—are now viewed by many people as necessities. Some of them have have become fashion accessories and status symbols. Scientists have now warned the global community that our environment faces catastrophic consequences due to our excessive consumption leading to global warming and sea level rise. Our planet is in peril and radical changes in our industrial development and in our social behaviour of consumption habits are necessary to create sustainable economic growth.

The Maldivian government has declared its intention to make the country carbon-neutral within a decade. British climate change experts Chris Goodall and Mark Lynas are working to develop a package of measures that aims to eliminate the use of fossil fuel in Maldives by 2020.

The plan includes a new renewable electricity generation and transmission infrastructure with 155 large wind turbines, half a square kilometre of rooftop solar panels, and a biomass plant burning coconut husks. Battery banks would provide back-up storage for when neither wind nor solar energy is available.

The cost for the package of low-carbon measures is estimated to be about $110m a year for 10 years. The scheme should pay for itself quite quickly, because the Maldives will no longer need to import oil products for electricity generation, transport and other functions. If the oil price were to rise to $100 per barrel, the payback period would be as short as 11 years. At current prices, it would take roughly twice as long to break even. (Link)

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas produced when fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) are burnt. Presently almost all aspects of our lifestyles from transport, power generators to household appliances rely on oil and that creates the the greenhouse gases detrimental to our environment.

In the past people lived within their means, accumulating individual savings, planning for education and a better future. Now it has become a feature of the capitalist economies to make consumer credit available to to buy houses, to start small and medium businesses or to take student loans. Maldives is following this path of economic development. The ability to borrow money can help to improve the livelihood of people by providing them access to financial resources which they do not possess. But as economists like to point out that consumer credit is a double-edged blade: It can lead to greater opportunity and freedom, but, if promoted deceptively and used recklessly, it can lead to disaster, as has so painfully been revealed by the American subprime loan crisis. The unprecedented loan defaults of the subprime home mortgages, which caused the collapse of the US housing market at the epicentre of the recent financial crisis triggered the current global recession. Click here for a multimedia guide that illustrates cause, and implications of the current financial crisis.

While financial advisers in advanced economies still emphasize the timeless principles of thrift, planning, and living within one's means, they also say the use of productive credit, or credit used to enhance one's financial future, as wholly acceptable. In their view, productive credit included debt incurred in purchasing a home or even such goods as sewing machines, or furniture. In contrast, the use of consumptive credit, or credit which satisfied an immediate need or wish that had little to no future value, is unacceptable.

This is turning out to be only a feel-good theory. By the time American students leave college, many of them often come out with twenty or thirty thousand dollars in debt even before they start a career.

The capitalist world's consumer conformism mentality creates artificial needs promoted by a multi-million dollar advertising media who work for powerful corporations only interested in making more profits. Every individual is made to become a perpetual consumer who is hungry for more.

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) often quotes the principle of privatising state owned companies as a standard prescription to developing countries who need their assistance, developed countries have now shown us that the state has to intervene to save the private companies, many of them too-big-to-fail. Recent financial crisis in US and Britain has revealed that a number of their top banks and corporations cannot stay afloat due to the shortage of 'liquid cash' and the only way to save these too big-to-fail corporations is to nationalise them. These corporations and banks demand that the state should bail them out. The state is being forced to bail these enterprises out on condition that they shall sell the bulk of their shares to the state. This means that these capitalist states are being forced to move in the direction of central planning and management of the economy of the socialist model.

This course of action is just the opposite of what the IMF prescribes to the developing countries.

Amartya Sen who has won the Nobel Prize for Economics has written some thoughts on the limitations of the market based capitalism in an essay in the New York Review of Books.

He wrote: "Historically, capitalism did not emerge until new systems of law and economic practice protected property rights and made an economy based on ownership workable. Commercial exchange could not effectively take place until business morality made contractual behavior sustainable and inexpensive—not requiring constant suing of defaulting contractors, for example. Investment in productive businesses could not flourish until the higher rewards from corruption had been moderated. Profit-oriented capitalism has always drawn on support from other institutional values.

The moral and legal obligations and responsibilities associated with transactions have in recent years become much harder to trace, thanks to the rapid development of secondary markets involving derivatives and other financial instruments. A subprime lender who misleads a borrower into taking unwise risks can now pass off the financial assets to third parties—who are remote from the original transaction. Accountability has been badly undermined, and the need for supervision and regulation has become much stronger.

And yet the supervisory role of government in the United States in particular has been, over the same period, sharply curtailed, fed by an increasing belief in the self-regulatory nature of the market economy. Precisely as the need for state surveillance grew, the needed supervision shrank. There was, as a result, a disaster waiting to happen, which did eventually happen last year, and this has certainly contributed a great deal to the financial crisis that is plaguing the world today. The insufficient regulation of financial activities has implications not only for illegitimate practices, but also for a tendency toward over speculation that, as Adam Smith argued, tends to grip many human beings in their breathless search for profits."

While capitalism has swept aside other economic systems like the feudalism, socialism and communism and has enormous potential for positive change, it has not solved problems of inequality and poverty. Infact, while capitalism continues to provide opportunities for creating more wealth, the gap between the rich and the poor is also widening.

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging business trend, where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today’s most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. This is the world of social business.

Creating a World Without Poverty tells the stories of some of the earliest examples of social businesses, including Mohammad Yunus’s own Grameen Bank. It reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already under way—and is the worldwide effort to eliminate poverty by unleashing the productive energy of every human being.

Among the several challenges we face in Maldives; playing our part to avoid further destruction to the environment has now become the imminent priority on the world stage.

The furore over disclosing uderage pregnancy tests

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) is investigating into reports of underage concubines in Maldives. Using confidential information obtained from the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), the HRCM has revealed that 85 girls under 18 years of age took pregnancy tests at the IGMH between January and September this year.

How these pregnancy tests are linked to the alleged concubines has not been made clear by the HRCM.

Now the IGMH is hitting back in order to show that they have not violated the strict medical code of ethics- i.e.,the releasing of patient confidential information without the consent of the patient.

IGMH has said that in matters of national importance the hospital would provide information to the relevant authorities, as it has done by informing HRCM of the underage pregnancy tests.

The IGMH has, however, not clarified about what was the specific national importance to these underage pregnancy tests.

Clouding any real issues that may be behind the underage pregnancy tests, the HRCM and the IGMH have engaged in a squabble of who is right and wrong, the sort of chaotic process that is typically used by our esteemed organisations in order to resolve complex social and health problems considered to be of national interest.

Link.

Maldives holds underwater cabinet meeting

The government of the Maldives has held its first underwater cabinet meeting to attract international attention to the dangers of global warming.

President Mohamed Nasheed, dressed in full scuba gear (above photo by AFP), conducted the 30-minute meeting at a depth of 20 feet off the coast just north of the capital Male.

Most of the island nation, a tourist paradise featuring coral reefs and white sand beaches, lies less just over three feet above sea level and scientists have warned it could be uninhabitable in less than 100 years. (Link Telegraph)

This marks an important step in the quest for survival against a predicted sea level rise due the effect of global warming.

Bloggers To Give Full Disclosure

As a marketing and business tool, blogging has finally come of age. Blogs have also matured as a communications tool within business companies, from C.E.O. on down.

On Monday, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is the independent agency of the United States government that promotes "consumer protection" and prevents "anti-competitive" business practices, said it would revise rules about endorsements and testimonials in advertising. The new regulations are aimed at the rapidly shifting new-media world and how advertisers are using bloggers and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to pitch their wares. The FTC said that beginning Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid by advertisers, as occurs frequently. (Link)

For bloggers who review products, this means that the days of an unimpeded flow of giveaways may be over. More broadly, the move suggests that the US government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print.

Many of the new products and services are provided by the rapidly growing sector of the information technology and communications technology. Those who use the new electronics technologies especially computers and video technology have seen the most profound changes.

As blogs have gained in popularity, demand is also growing for employees who can write them or have the technical expertise to support them.

Is it time to pass legislation for children to look after aged parents?

Until recently, elderly people in Maldives enjoyed considerable status, respect, care, and support from their families and the community. But due to migration, changes in values and life styles, and the breakdown of the traditional family system, it is now reported that more elderly people are turning to the state for assistance and care.

Maldives is a 100 per cent Muslim country. In Islam children are obliged to take care and be kind to their parents.

What would be the reasons why some children forsake their parents?

Is it because of a financial burden, lack of filial piety or a complete disregard of children's responsibility to parents?

Our government has the responsibility to find non-legal ways to help people who need assistance to take care of their aged parents. Since we are seeing a growing neglect of the elderly, is it also time to enact legislation mandating care for the elderly with punitive measures for those who fail to do so?

Korean drama's country romance- The Vineyard Man

Obama praises Gandhi's nonviolent social action

As the world celebrates International Day of non-violence, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said America has its "roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi."

"His teachings and ideals, shared with Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1959 pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through our civil rights movement," Obama said on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Americans owe enormous gratitude to Gandhi, he said.

"The America of today has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent social action movement for Indian independence which he led," Obama said in a statement.

On behalf of the American people, Obama said he wants to express appreciation for the life and lessons of Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his birth. "This is an important moment to reflect on his message of non-violence, which continues to inspire people and political movements across the globe," he said.

"We join the people of India in celebrating this great soul who lived a life dedicated to the cause of advancing justice, showing tolerance to all, and creating change through non-violent resistance," Obama said.

As the world remembers the Mahatma on his birthday, Obama said: "We must renew our commitment to live his ideals and to celebrate the dignity of all human beings.

Last month Obama had said that if given a chance he would love to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi.

Obama expressed his desire in response to a question from a student Lilly during his discussion with 9th graders at Wakefield High School in Arlington Virginia where he, accompanied with the Education Secretary, gave a national speech welcoming students back to school.

Link: The Times of India

Video Ads hit Print Media

The American magazine 'Entertainment Weekly' has brought the first video advert in the print media. Much like the singing greeting cards, when you turn the page the advert gets loaded and played on a small screen. The internet has been delivering video-embedded-in-text technology for some time. Now Pesi Cola and CBS are taking it to a new level in the print media.

An assault on the free market- The Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine

Build Trust and Increase Tolerance

This year Maldives has marked the International Day of Democracy, a day observed on the 15th of September each year. The UN member countries are expected to commemorate the International Day of Democracy to increase awareness, to respect and promote the values of democracy and human rights.

In his message on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy, Coeur-Bizot, the United Nations resident coordinator said, “Public confidence and trust in the new government and the democratic institutions need to be strengthened through reinforcing strong mechanisms for transparency and accountability.” He also called to strengthen the civil society as well as the free media- an important institution in a free society that has the task to scrutinise and debate public policy reflecting the views of the people. He went on to point out that both the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs and on the Freedom of Expression and Opinion have noted the absence of the freedom of religion in the Maldives.

In a statement from the government marking the day, vice president Mohamed Waheed said, “First of all, it is very important that political philosophies of parties become clear,” he said. “Today what we are seeing from most parties is that they are formed around their leaders.” He also said different philosophies of political parties should be known to the public for it to be debated and built upon.

The declared ideology that all political parties hold in Maldives is that Maldives must remain an Islamic state and that all Maldivians must be Muslims as required by the constitution. Maldives is on the path of building a democracy with the separation of powers and independent institutions. Presently political parties do not engage the citizens in any meaningful dialogue regarding any political philosophy or the various issues facing the country. There is no bipartisan agreement among the lawmakers while crafting policies to tackle the nation's problems.

Although we are following the US model of the presidential system of governance, we do not follow the civil decorum that we see in the US Congress. On few occasions in our parliament chamber, members' heckling and unruly behaviour became so bad, the speaker had to call off the session. Our parliament needs to determine what is their acceptable decorum and make it a more productive institution.

We are a nascent democracy trying to find our foothold in a fast changing global world.

As Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and third United States president said, "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."

Therefore, the people of Maldives have to be empowered and kept informed, enabling them to keep a watchful eye on their government while trusting the elected leaders to do their job and deliver the results. An unbiased free media has an important role to play to achieve this objective.

A lot depends on the elected officials to create a more equitable system to distribute wealth even within the context of the capitalistic free market economy. Lot of work also needs to be done to move beyond the political apathy which is so widely prevalent in our society, build trust within the community and with the leaders and become a more tolerant society.

Salih Yucel's interview on Islam

Salih Yucel, lecturer at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology at Monash University in Australia has spoken to Minivan News. His talks deal with the theory and practice of Islamic law, the Sharia law on some important social matters.

Link to part 1

Link to part 2

Why Our Health Matters by Dr. Andrew Weil

Dr. Andrew Weil, the world's leading proponent of "Integrative Medicine" describes it as a healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.

In the clip below Dr Weil talks about his latest book "Why Our Health Matters."

We need to re-integrate ex-addicts into society

A halfway house of sort organised by some former addicts has been working for recovering drug addicts to help them on their path towards a drug-free life style. The community-based NGO program 'Journey' started in 2005 is being supported by UNICEF, their main funder.(Link)

'Journey' can play a useful role to complement the work of the government's Detox Centres (one opened in Vilimale' recently and others to follow in the islands) which will provide proper treatment and rehabilitation for drug addicts. As the relapse rate for hardcore addicts is high, it requires a multifaceted approach to re-integrate the recovered addicts back into society and allow them to become productive citizens. The addicts who recover should not be stigmatised. They should be encouraged to take up meaningful work so that they can keep away from drug abuse, violence and crimes.

The government should introduce programs and incentives to provide former drug addicts life skills and training to enable them find employment. The government should also introduce policies to offer them employment in the public sector and convince the private sector to employ them as long long they live a drug-free life.

Heroin addiction has become an epidemic in Maldives affecting some 40 per cent of our youth. This is a very serious social problem for our future generation and our country. Rigorous action needs to be taken to control drug trafficking and tough enforcement action has to be taken against those who do to sell drugs and addict our young people.

To stop the plague of drugs, our government and civil society will have to rise up and meet this vicious challenge. Awareness programs should be run in schools, homes and work places.

In treating the addicts, medical and health professionals need to monitor individual cases to make sure that they don't get over the addiction to one drug by getting addicted to another in the process as has happened in some other countries. We need to keep in mind that anyone in our society can become a victim to this epidemic of drugs and a concerted effort has to be made to bring an end to this unfortunate tragedy. Our people should be able to live a life free of drugs and crime due to drugs.

Our parliament is efficient only to take recess.

The 1st session of the new parliament has ended, with lawmakers taking one month recess after three months of work from June to August, without passing a single bill out of the 51 bills put forward to the majlis. Link Haveeru.

As agents of the people, members of our parliament have an important obligation to hold the executive branch of the government accountable. If our democracy is to succeed with the separation of powers and improve the lives of our people, then our parliament has to respond to the challenges facing our nation. Parliament has the task to scrutinise, amend and facilitate the government's legislative agenda. None of this is being done by our parliament which is turning out to be a self-serving elite that is only interested in protecting powerful forces within the political parties. It appears that the peoples' representatives have forgotten to work for their constituents who elected them to protect the citizens' interests. Instead lawmakers have become very efficient to abide by their internal procedures and take leave, first from January to February, then the month of May and now September.

This is outrageous considering that the lawmakers gave themselves a 500 per cent increase in pay last year.

Protesting workers a distress to investments

According to Human Rights Commission, work stoppages caused by protesting workers has become a concern for foreign investors in Maldives.

The Maldivian worker now has the right to protest, in the form of work stoppages and strikes if negotiations with managements fail to bring an acceptable outcome through concessions and compromise. Both employers and employees are guided by contractual rights.

As Maldivian employers are learning, workers strikes cause lot of damage and financial losses. When a dispute arises, workers tend to show solidarity with other workers. Employers need to show some goodwill towards workers and demonstrate that they can be trusted to take care of the workers.

Maldivian government, the biggest employer in Maldives and private sector bosses will have to learn that any process of negotiated settlement with workers involves giving and taking on both sides. Political leaders, business leaders and labour leaders will have to recognize the damage and losses caused by industrial unrest. In a culture of negotiating, workers will have to learn how to seek consensus while pursuing their demands. No agreement is possible without compromise from both sides. Managing conflict and allowing for peaceful resolution of disputes is vital if companies and the country is to grow and prosper where both the employer and employees can benefit.

Painful reforms

After 30 years of a dictator's political madness, now it is time for the nation to bite the bullet.

President Nasheed has embarked on an ambitious reform programme. Decentralisation of political power centred in the capital of Male' to the provinces has begun. The president wants to trim the bloated civil service from 32,000 to 18,000 and in his words 'all state institutions had to cut costs and "swallow bitter medicine" to survive the economic slump.'

The executive, the legislative and the judiciary are now separate branches of power. Indepenedent institutions such as the Human Rights Commission and the Anti Corruption Commission will help to strengthen the new constitutional democracy.

As we begin a new journey after decades of tyranny, we realise that the process of these changes will be difficult and painful but we are finally on the path of genuine democratic reform, freedom and liberty.

The job of the independent judicial branch is to interpret the law and render judgement after hearing the merits of the arguments brought before the court. There is increasing public frustration that the rule of law is not seen to be upheld in these courts. There are allegations that the judges have not broken the old bond of loyalty to the previous government.

We are hoping that the current government will not go back to the pork barrel politics that was routinely practiced in the past. That means whether it is public projects or privatisation of state enterprises or passing of new laws, the government should undertake them on their own merits and benefit to society without just seeking political party objectives.

Legislation against antisocial behaviour

Maldives Attorney General Husnu Sood is introducing a bill to the parliament intended to penalise and prevent antisocial behaviour.

When such a bill is passed and enacted into law, it will give the necessary powers to the police and the courts to deal with antisocial behaviour targeted in the bill. Such an Act would become an important tool to combat increasing gang-related violence, theft and disorderly conduct that disrupts public peace and harmony.

The Nasheed government and his Attorney General should be lauded for taking this initiative to prevent antisocial behaviour for the first time in our history.

It is also worth noting that much of the serious crimes, violence and theft also has a direct link to drug trafficking and addiction to it mainly among the youth in Maldives. For thirty years, the previous government took a lax attitude against drug traffickers and failed to provide proper rehabilitation and treatment to addicts. The Nasheed government has to demonstrate that it has the political will to lock up the traffickers and petty peddlers to serve out their full sentence. In the past such convicted criminals managed to come back to the streets without serving out their full sentence either because the jails were full or for other reasons.

Even if our government can deal with the serious crimes of the gangster groups and the drug barons, that would be good a beginning towards a society that maintains social harmony. It was only recently that President Nasheed participated in an event organised by the Municipality in collaboration with the Maldives Defence Force to clean up the litter dumped by public littering in all the wards of Male'. Clearly, we still have a long way to go to become a civil society which has determined its acceptable social norms and standards. Parents and teachers of schools will have to play a vital role to instill such civic norms in our young children so that our society can become a better and safer place for everyone eventually.

Our country is at the crossroad to install democratic reforms from a prolonged totalitarian form of political governance. The benefits of such reform can only be realised if members of our society can coexist peaceably. This is a change even the rich and powerful will happily welcome.

Stars honour Mandela on 91st birthday

Hordes of stars including Hollywood heavyweight actors Forest Whitaker, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freemon, Susan Sarandon and Matt Damon gathered at the Radio City Music Hall concert in New York late on Saturday to pay tribute to legendary anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela on his 91st birthday.

Among the mega celebrities who sang at the concert was the former model and French president's wife Carla Bruni, who is performing for the first time after marrying President Sarkozy in January 2008.

All proceeds from the major charity concert will go to Mandela's 46664 campaign, 46664 being Mandela's prison number during the 27 years he spent in the African jail.

This year's birthday marks the inaugural Mandela Day, initiated by his charitable Mandela foundation in honour of the much-loved icon.

Mr. Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served only one term did not attend the celebration in New York due to his frail health. The Nobel Peace Laureate celebrated his 91st birthday at home in Johannesburg with a visit from President Jacob Zuma and the whole executive of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress.

Mr. Mandela has become a powerful global brand that symbolises forgiveness, inclusiveness and reconciliation. He still campaigns extensively for children and AIDS awareness and is seen as one of the world's most respected elder statesmen, despite having officially retired from public duty in 2004.

Listen to this New York Post where some stars have given their views about the popular leader.

Bringing focus on the dangers of unbridled capitalism

Pope Benedict XVI has brought focus on the "grave deviations and failures" of capitalism exposed by the financial crisis and issued a strong call this week for a "true world political authority" to oversee a return to ethics in the global economy. The Pope's call came just before the Summit in Italy of the G8 heads of Government, attended by 39 heads of government and international institutions. The Pope's concerns to find new "forms of Redistribution of Wealth" is likely to fuel debate on the failure of rich nations, notably Italy and France, to honour past aid commitments to poor nations.

The Pontiff's call was also to find a sustainable business development model in the broadest sense, and doing business with a social responsibility. It is capitalism in a globalised world where the market forces are regulated by a strong oversight authority. Enterprises are needed to seek a new way of understanding business that would respect the dignity of workers and foster the "common good by prioritising ethics and social responsibility over dividend returns" said the Pope.

The prevailing economic paradigm in most of the countries of the world including Maldives is capitalism.

Eight months after President Nasheed took office, our government is still pre-occupied with the old issues including investigating the corrupt practices of the Gayoom government that remained in power for thirty years. For the legislative agenda of the Nasheed government to become effective, the government needs to pass several bills to fulfil their election pledges, including the decentralisation of power to the provinces. These bills that are necessary to bring structural, social and economic reforms are getting hindered by the opposition party holding the majority in the parliament . They have placed their own party politics over the national interest and the future direction of the country.

Moving away from the crony capitalism of the previous government, the Nasheed government is embarking on initiatives to privatise state-controlled industries and empower the private sector to do business. But such private sector empowerment allowing for a more business-friendly environment and the government pulling out of doing business is not a panacea to root out corruption or solve all of our problems.

If we are to learn anything from the 2008/9 financial meltdown of the United States, the bastion of free market capitalism, we now know that unless adequate oversight regulations are enforced timely the same financial market that makes people rich can also ruin livelihoods with millions of people losing their jobs, bankrupt companies and even countries. The financial collapse that began in the Wall Street due to greed, reckless risk-taking, and dangerous speculation of investors, traders and bankers, quickly spread all across the globe bringing the worst recession since The Great Depression of the 1930s. The US federal oversight authorities failed to act for far too long until the economic roof fell on their head.

The Nasheed government needs to maintain strong oversight institutions in Maldives entrusted with the authority and responsibility to monitor our stock market with proper disclosure and good governance. Such oversight authorities should hold financial market players like the banks and financial brokers accountable, thus reducing the room for market manipulation. A well educated citizen who understands the financial markets is the best tool to avoid huge losses and financial havoc.

Maldives can only achieve the ideals of a strong democracy by building a strong economy that values innovation and provides opportunity to its citizens.

The present government needs to lay down a firm foundation of the institutional framework for good governance and create a system that provides a more equitable distribution of wealth. Unless the citizens reap the benefits from such reform process, it is likely that our country could slip back into crony capitalism and the "business as usual" system with another change of government. If that happens we will be back to the old system that promoted widespread corruption and allowed open borders for illegal drug traffickers who made tons of money while addicting and killing our youth.

Grim forecast with El Nino set to return

The dreaded news of warming patterns of the El Nino weather conditions comes in the midst of the worst global recession since the Great Depression of the 1920s. The last severe El Nino was in 1998, when the Asian financial crisis was at its peak.

Reports say the 1998 El Nino killed over 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and Asia.

According to a report from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday, an El Nino weather pattern this year appears almost certain, raising the prospect of drought in Australia and a weaker monsoon in India.

As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall so far has been well below normal and the onset of monsoon in large rain-dependent agricultural states of central India has been delayed, forcing water levels to fall sharply and hampering irrigation in many parts. The monsoon rains are the lifeblood for farmers in India. Its faltering sugar crop is a prime reason why sugar prices are at their highest levels in three years.

El Nino is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The severe drought caused by the deadly cycle of El Nino across the Asia-Pacific region will destroy crops and increase the price of commodities like wheat. Australia is one of the world's biggest wheat producers and has barely recovered from the worst drought in 100 years which hit a few years ago.

The mainstay of Maldivian economy is tourism. The beauty of tranquil Maldives includes the lagoons of crystal clear water surrounding the islands with coral reefs and brightly colored schools of fish. The El Nino of 1998 wreaked havoc on the hard corals of Maldives due to the extensive bleaching. However, these reefs have subsequently recovered showing their resilience to bring back the spectacular colours of marine growth and the bright-coloured fish.

For the global economy still in recession, the El Nino of 2009 could not have come at a worse time.