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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

People power rise to end a murderous regime

Photo credit: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP /Getty Images

Supporters of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed celebrate with tears of joy after his win on October 29, 2008.

This is a remarkable turn in history for the nation of Maldives, known to the world as the most popular honeymoon destination and tourist paradise.

Mohamed Nasheed,41, known to his supporters as Anni was imprisoned 13 times by the Gayoom regime. On one occasion Nasheed wassbeaten so badly that he now walks with a limp.

On October 29, Asia's longest serving leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been toppled by his arch rival Mohamed Nasheed in the country's first-ever democratic election. This brings to an end the the thirty years of the Egypt-trained Maldivians who took over power from former president Ibrahim Nasir when he resigned in 1978. The fake imams failed to provide justice to the citizens and they created a situation to enrich the rich while impoverishing the poor. More than 70 percent of the Maldivians still live below the poverty line inspite of the fact Maldives has the highest GDP in the region.

The swansong of Mohamed Nasheed's election victory will be to bring those who are responsible for the systematic killings in prisons to justice. The fake imams will now have the opportunity to witness the functioning of a caring society. The Maldivian people will count on president-elect Nasheed to rise to the occasion.

Congratulations to president-elect Mohamed Nasheed.

Impose truth tests on our presidential candidates

Here is an excerpt from an article on NDTV.com .

"Forensic tools like polygraphs or lie-detection tests are not just for criminals and terror suspects. Many in the corporate world are opting for this technology for pre-recruitment screening and also post-employment, for integrity check and zeroing in on fraudsters.

These are no isolated cases. Several top corporates, including MNCs, are opting for this technology to keep out the bad eggs. "

India is the biggest democracy in the world and some of their top corporations will have financial strength greater than the entire reserves of our country Maldives.

There will be no harm done to us if we follow their steps of good governance.

After decades of dictatorship and political stagnation, now everyday is a new beginning that will decide the fate of Maldives and its people.

In order to weed out the evil characters before they capture the power on our national stage, the State must impose truth telling tests by the polygraph. Then we will know what kind of people our leaders are, where they stand on different issues and what matters to them most.

In the United States, where there are 47 million people without health insurance, read about a truth test in one state that wants to tackle their health care problems.

If leaders of corporations should be put to polygraph tests to determine their truthfulness, the same measure should be applied to national leaders of countries who carry greater responsibility. National leaders entrusted with the well being of people's lives should be held to a higher standard than corporate leaders.


In the case of Maldives, the two presidential run off candidates- DRP's leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and MDP's leader Mohamed Nasheed should be polygraphed to test their truthfulness.

Here are some pertinent questions on the issue of drugs- the biggest appalling problem in Maldives.

• Are there any Maldivian Government officials complicit in drug trafficking or in anyway involved in the drug supply chain?
• Do you have the political will of what it takes to stop drug trafficking in Maldives?
• Do you believe that during the last three decades abuse of drugs and drug addiction has reached epidemic levels among the young people in Maldives?
• Is it true that many people accuse the Government of failing to stop the inflow of drugs into Maldives?
• Do you agree that illegal drugs is the cause of so much of gang violence and increasing robbery in Maldives?
• Has drugs become a national security problem?
• As president would you keep the convicted drug traffickers incarcerated to serve out their full term without any early release?

President John F Kennedy warns of secret government in America

Hollywood's Drew Barrymore advocates it's time for change

Barrymore recently directed a documentary, “The Best Place To Start,” which advocates voter registration.

“Does anyone really want to hear from me?" she asks. "But I think people know I’m not just a party girl. I’m a producer, a director, an actor; I believe in philanthropy.”


Source: link

A remarkable transformation: Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam

More on Yusuf Islam and his charitable works. http://www.yusufislam.com/

A father deals with meth-addiction. "My Addicted Son"

Nick now claims that he was searching for methamphetamine for his entire life, and when he tried it for the first time, as he says, ''That was that.'' It would have been no easier to see him strung out on heroin or cocaine, but as every parent of a methamphetamine addict comes to learn, this drug has a unique, horrific quality. In an interview, Stephan Jenkins, the singer in the band Third Eye Blind, said that methamphetamine makes you feel ''bright and shiny.'' It also makes you paranoid, incoherent and both destructive and pathetically and relentlessly self-destructive. Then you will do unconscionable things in order to feel bright and shiny again. Nick had always been a sensitive, sagacious, joyful and exceptionally bright child, but on meth he became unrecognizable.


So writes David Sheff in a gut-wrenching article posted on The New York Times.


Through Nick's drug addiction, I learned that parents can bear almost anything. Every time we reach a point where we feel as if we can't bear any more, we do. Things had descended in a way that I never could have imagined, and I shocked myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things that were once unthinkable. He's just experimenting. Going through a stage. It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using heroin. He would never resort to needles. At least he's alive.

A fortnight later, Nick wrote an e-mail message to his mother and asked for help. After they talked, he agreed to meet with a friend of our family who took him to her home in upstate New York, where he could detox. He slept for 20 or more hours a day for a week and began to work with a therapist who specialized in drug addiction. After six or so weeks, he seemed stronger and somewhat less desolate. His mother helped him move into an apartment in Brooklyn, and he got a job. When he finally called, he told me that he would never again use methamphetamine, though he made no such vows about marijuana and alcohol. With this news, I braced myself for the next disaster. A new U.C.L.A. study confirms that I had reason to expect one: recovering meth addicts who stay off alcohol and marijuana are significantly less likely to relapse.

Two or so months later, the phone rang at 5 on a Sunday morning. Every parent of a drug-addicted child recoils at a ringing telephone at that hour. I was informed that Nick was in a hospital emergency room in Brooklyn after an overdose. He was in critical condition and on life support.

After two hours, the doctor called to tell me that his vital signs had leveled off. Still later, he called to say that Nick was no longer on the critical list. From his hospital bed, when he was coherent enough to talk, Nick sounded desperate. He asked to go into another program, said it was his only chance.

So without reluctance this time, Nick returned to rehab. After six or so months, he moved to Santa Monica near his mother. He lived in a sober-living home, attended meetings regularly and began working with a sponsor. He had several jobs, including one at a drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation program in Malibu. Last April, after celebrating his second year sober, he relapsed again, disappearing for two weeks. His sponsor, who had become a close friend of Nick's, assured me: ''Nick won't stay out long. He's not having any fun.'' Of course I hoped that he was right, but I was no less worried than I was other times he had disappeared -- worried that he could overdose or otherwise cause irreparable damage.

But he didn't. He returned and withdrew on his own, helped by his sponsor and other friends. He was ashamed -- mortified -- that he slipped. He redoubled his efforts. Ten months later, of course, I am relieved (once again) and hopeful (once again). Nick is working and writing a children's book and articles and movie reviews for an online magazine. He is biking and swimming. He seems emphatically committed to his sobriety, but I have learned to check my optimism.

Democracy is a tough business

In an interview with TV Maldives on the night of the first multi-party contested election for the presidency, the Deputy President of Maldives Human Rights Commission, (MHRC) Mohamed Zahid has said the people have shown a remarkable example of democracy and change in Wednesday's presidential election. He said the peaceful and smooth manner in which the election was held and results were received by the people is also an excellent example of the respect of the people to the ideals of democracy.

All these years we had a system that is rigged to bring to power people who are already in power. Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) a likely future president has been imprisoned by this autocratic Government for being a reform activist and advocate for democracy. Now he has the freedom to contest and unseat the incumbent president who has held power for thirty years.

It appears Maldives is following the Middle East path to democracy. For decades there have been less than democratic elections in the Middle East, where ruling parties control candidates’ and voters’ access to the ballot and also control the vote counting.

Egypt's long serving President Husni Mubarak and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad have tried ruthless tactics to keep them in power through the referendum on a single candidate that Maldives followed up to now. The general feeling among democracy advocates in the Middle East is that elections have increasingly become a tool used by authoritarian leaders to claim legitimacy. Thus, elections are being used as a technique to mislead the people. What is missing in these countries are the independent institutions and democratic values that underpin the democratic process and good governance.

The democracy experiment by the Americans in Iraq has shown mixed results. The Americans invaded Iraq captured a brutal dictator and hanged him. They held elections and put in a puppet regime yet the country's problems remain unsolved. In fact, violence has increased between sectarian groups and Iraq has become a haven for terrorists to conduct their operations.

From this we know that democracy is not the answer to a society's all the problems. A country does need good elected leaders dedicated to public good and committed to solve a country's problems.

This is just the beginning of democracy and freedom in Maldives. Hence now is not the time to celebrate anything. The old leaders have failed our people and a new set of leaders will have to come and make their mark in history. Only time will tell their performance and the electorate should always remain ready to petition or strike with work stoppages as done by the teachers and tourist resort workers recently claiming higher compensation and demanding their rights.

Democracy is a messy and unpleasant business when leaders are corrupt and insincere.

The Maldivian people have lived in a state of depression for so long that they have lost trust in their elected leaders who up to now appeared at their doorstep once in five years to buy their vote and forgot about their promises once they turned their back. The new political leaders will have to walk their talk to regain the lost trust.

Immoral Politicians

For the last three decades, the Egypt-trained politicians who came into power and wore Islam up their sleeves have turned Maldives into a country without morals. They are shrewd, narcissistic and hopelessly addicted to seeking vain glory. They thrived on empty pride. They violated the principle of justice and failed to deliver equitable distribution of wealth which they preached from the pulpits.

In this fledgling multi-party democracy, we have now entered the era of boastful challenges and provoking one another. The arrogance and incompetency of the present Government has created many difficult problems. By some estimates half of the country's young people are abusing drugs. Drug addiction has reached epidemic proportions in this tranquil country and yet the Gayoom Government claims it has not failed in its responsibility to stop the influx of drugs into Maldives. This Government lacks the leadership and sincerity to provide the necessary medical treatment and rehabilitation for the addicts. What is happening in Maldives on the explosive growth of the drug trade is a crime against humanity and those responsible must be held accountable as advocated by Umar Naseer in his presidential election manifesto. It is the Singapore theory. "If you addict my child, I will execute you."

At a time when there is a global financial crisis, difficult times lie ahead for us in the short term. The internal house cleaning process brought by the thirty-year autocratic regime has begun to take its bite.

In the first independent auditor general report, AG Ibrahim Naeem said the President’s Office is currently owed Rf 47.7 million (US $3.7 million) in outstanding loans to highly-placed government officials. Naeem also blamed Gayoom’s Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) for “misuse of state funds”, as party business was conducted on official trips.

It now appears even before the curtains close on the Gayoom regime, the finger pointing and the blame game has begun with the same ferocity and venom that the current administration started against former president Ibrahim Nasir after he resigned and handed over power peacefully.

The repressed feelings of the last three decades has brought us back full circle. The barbaric behavior this government unleashed against former president Ibrahim Nasir has turned on its head after thirty years.

Wen Jiabao's revealing interview

Wen Jiabao, the Premier of China is one of the most influential international figures of this generation. He is also on Facebook and gave an interview to Fareed Zakaria’s GPS - an hour long program that takes a comprehensive look at foreign affairs and policies shaping our world.

Wen Jiabao discussed several topics of extreme relevance to the global community, showing the man's intellectual prowess and sharp focus.

On a day when the US Congress is feverishly working to unfreeze the free market system on Wall Street by injecting $ 77billion into the market, the advise from the Socialist flag bearer was worth listening to. Asked about the prevailing economic philosophy for Wen Jiabao who did Jiabao quote? Who other than Adam Smith, suggesting that the free hand of capitalism should be balanced by Government regulations to keep things fair and orderly.

Adam Smith is, of course, known as the father of modern day economics, and regularly quoted for his words supporting the free-market and “the invisible hand”: lt is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their selflove, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

A large part of Smith's book - The Theory of Moral Sentiments - deals with ethics, morality, and the role of government, regulation and application of “morality” to free markets - a historical point often lost in debates over free market virtues.

What’s Jiabao reading? Stoic Marcus Aurelius apparently is one of his favorite philosophers, a thoughtful Roman emperor who advocated social responsibility and internal progressive social reforms even as he persecuted wars and treated some dissenters ruthlessly.

Read the full transcript of interview from CNN.

From chaos to more chaos

Maldives has finally broken the grip of the single-candidate presidential elections that kept Ibrahim Nasir in power from 1968 to 1978 and Maumoon Abdul Qayoom from 1978 up to now.

When the Egypt-educated politicians took over the presidency thirty years ago, the people were looking forward to a period of spiritual enlightenment. The same folks are now being accused of being greedy for money and power. They have failed to deliver justice according to the Holy Quran they preached. How ironic it is that these people who blame the West on charges of trying to impose Christianity on us have to import their concept of a Human Rights Commission to be the watchdog for justice and human rights.

Now we enter the confusing and murky world of coalition politics. Even the most unlikely bedfellows could come together for political advantage or to seize power. We see such alliances being formed in Maldives between the different political parties, all jockeying to share power in the upcoming presidential elections. The muddling through has begun in earnest.

People are the backbone of any society and their right to assemble and protest which is a constitutional right in a democracy is beginning to work in Maldives. Recently teachers had protested over poor pay and now tourism workers are due to protest in early October. Our Government is run on a deficit budget and every effort is being made to cut down the expenditure. But the members of parliament have increased their own salary by a 500 percent to some rf 67,000 per month setting a benchmark for various members of newly formed independent institutions to be paid similar amounts.

For workers at the lower economic ladder like teachers and airport workers to get a suitable raise, they have to indulge in work stoppages and strikes. Theses are uncharted waters for us but it also reflects badly on the uncaring Government of our country.

In Maldives, we now see a clear trend of religion being replaced by materialism in the same manner as it is happening in other capitalistic countries. Every individual; man, woman and child is a consumer. Companies and corporations have realized that rich consumers are the most attractive targets for marketing their products. The upper class' tastes, lifestyles, and preferences, trickle down to become the standard which all consumers seek to emulate. A consumer can have the instant gratification of purchasing a high-ticket item that will help improve their social status.


Maldives does not have an income tax or corporate tax system. Therefore while the rich continue to get rich, the poor are left behind to fend for themselves often struggling to live a decent life.

Once the campaign for the presidency is over and the first multi-party contested president is elected this year, it will be time to act on the promises that are flying all around us. We will soon learn whether the import of drugs into Maldives will be stopped by taking firm action and treatment provided to all the addicts or will it be more of the same old bluff of greedy and dumb politicians who only seek power for the sake of it.

Worrying extremes of the free market

The US Federal Reserve announced that it will lend AIG (American Insurance Group) up to $85bn in emergency funds in return for a government stake of 79.9 per cent and effective control of the company - an extraordinary step in the bastion of the free market capitalism, meant to stave off a collapse of the giant insurer that plays a crucial role in the global financial system.

Of AIG's 116,000 staff in 130 countries, almost half are reportedly in Asia, where wholly-owned subsidiary American International Assurance Company Limited (AIA) manages most of the operations in Southeast Asia, China and Australia.

Even after the US Federal Reserve rescued AIG, hundreds of worried and nervous customers converged on the company's Singapore subsidiary on Wednesday, many looking to end their contracts -- some having flown in from abroad.

Singapore's de facto central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said AIA has enough assets to meet liabilities to policyholders, who should "not act hastily to terminate their insurance policies".


The AIG crisis unleashed another day of turmoil on global markets on Tuesday sparked by the weekend failure of Lehman Brothers, a leading US investment bank and the rushed takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America.

In March, the Fed helped JPMorgan Chase buy Bear Stearns, one of the world's largest investment banks by providing a $29bn credit line. Earlier This month, the Treasury seized control of troubled US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

These are unprecedented steps but we are also living in unprecedented times.

In a global world, what happens in the USA quickly affects other markets all round the world as we have witnessed in the stock markets losses this week. We have also seen that no country is practising unrestrained capitalism- i.e, the economic system governed by free market than by state regulation. The US Regulatory Authority, the Fed decided to bail out AIG, Bear Stearns, and Mortgage Houses Fannie Mae an Fredie Mac because they involved huge public investments and their collapse would result in untold global financial losses and loss of public confidence.

Like most other countries, Maldives follows the capitalistic model of economy with oversight by the state regulatory authority, the Maldives Monetary Authority(MMA). The important question for Maldives in the ever changing global capitalistic system is; " Is Maldives ready and prepared to react timely to give the warning signals to its investors about the financial health of publicly traded companies like the Bank of Maldives Plc (BML), State Trading Organization Plc (STO) or the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to avoid financial hardship and chaos in a small community?"

The bumpy road of reform for Maldives

Maldives has embraced the presidential form of government that is practised in the United States of America. The old Constitution has been amended to separate out the powers; the executive, the parliament and the judiciary - and structure the society as a representative democracy with individual rights protected by law. Thus, for the first time in our history, we begin the arduous task of carrying out multi-party elections to choose our next president who should be sworn in on November 11th of this year according to the revised constitution.

The constitution requires that every Maldivian should be a Muslim and so Maldives is a 100 percent Muslim country. The Maldivian Government and its leaders have always used Islam as a political tool to control and manipulate the 350, 000 citizens living on 200 of the 1192 islands of this country that looks like a dotted chain scattered in the Indian Ocean.

Maldives needs the financial aid and grants from the West and the flow of their tourists to bring in the foreign currency. Therefore, it is not surprising that pressure was made to bear on the Maldivian Government who have been forced to liberalise and bring in the political and social reforms. Thus an autocratic regime is being unravelled with the introduction of the necessary independent institutions designed to create a just society with the appropriate checks and balances of power.

Over the last three decades the GDP of the country has increased from $ 300 to $3,000 per capita. This shows remarkable progress but equally revealing is another more starling aspect. The political and business elites who are resident in the capital Male' and control all businesses and tourism have largely continued to enjoy the benefits of the economic growth and become astronomically rich while the hard working people in the outer lying islands have remained relatively poor. The poor and the needy have become victims of a grossly unfair system and they rely on the benevolence of the rich and powerful in Male' to provide them adequate medical treatment.

Politicians in Male' are not out to serve the nation and its people. They take up a job only to make money and they thrive on the job because of their love for money and power. The Government in Male' is broken and needs to be fixed. It can only be done by a demanding citizenry who knows their rights and will settle for nothing short of what they are due.

As our country faces the first multi-party presidential elections, it is worth remembering that the "majority rule" is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, but without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the "tyranny of the majority".

The presidential contenders contesting for this year's election should know that they must fulfil their promises should they win the election. An inapt Government has taken the citizens for granted for far too long and now their patience has run out. If the politicians cannot inspire the people to unify around common causes to build up a just society and a system for equitable distribution of wealth, then the road ahead will most certainly be a bumpy one for Maldives.