Muthuim's Blog - 1323

Mr.President Celebrates his Birthday. (17 May 2009)

2009-05-18T17:36:00.005+05:00

What happened to Dr.Hassan’s team of technocrats?

2009-05-18T01:36:00.006+05:00

It was during the presidential election campaign Dr.Hassan Saeed and his campaign team heavily critisised MDP and its candidate Anni saying Anni is just an activist and for the top positions of the nation it’s highly important to elect technocrats (with PhD’s?). They also said if Anni gets elected, will only assign government positions to the activists from ‘haruge’. Nevertheless finally it was Anni (the activist) who won over the technocrat (Dr.Hassan).

Dr.Hassan Saeed and his Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) had similar agenda on the parliamentary election as well. On several occasions they have criticized government and Anni for ignoring the technocrats of the country. According to them it’s the educated minds of the nation who should be given the essential tasks simply as they are the ones holding academic qualification for the same. I’m also not very pleased on how the cabinet postings and some others are being assigned. (From the position of deputy ministers, state ministers to councilor were handed over to hardcore MDP activists. President’s intention or political motives were reasonable and acceptable for MDP supporters as political positions should be held by trustworthy personnel and not necessarily should be PhD holders.)

The DQP contested in the parliamentary election with 21 technocrats. According to Dr. Hassan, DQP is the only party who has offered well-educated candidates with university degrees to the people. Apart from 2 or 3 candidates all others fit the well-educated criteria.

Well! With the official election results being announced now, we see among the DQP’s massive educated force just the “left-out/odd” 2 uneducated candidates have won the only seats for them. While many of the MDP’s so called activists graduated from ‘Haruge’ won the seats.

Why Dr.Hassan’s team of technocrats failed? There is no doubt they could very well be the best on merit basis but people have a different viewpoint in deciding. What is it?

Perhaps to be a PhD holder only isn’t enough to obtain people’s trust. Together with the intellectual qualifications one should also be trustworthy, sociable and pleasant in order to acquire peoples support.

I reckon Dr.Hassan’s men need some ‘haruge’ styled political skills if they want succeed more in future elections. This might not be the ideal way it should be but this is how it works here at the present.

We have got rid of ONE, with ONE to go - Yamin

2009-05-17T11:33:00.010+05:00

In the ceremony held last night at Artificial beach to celeberate the election glory of DRPA, leader of PA and brother of Gayyoom Abdulla Yaamin Abdul Gayyoom have said:

"Two people should be responsible for the current volatile politics where road protests have made peoples lives ended in a misery and created a very scary/miserable environment within the nation. Among them people have clearly said NO to ONE and have send him home(out of politics). And the remaining ONE is holding the most precious position of the country as the President of Maldives. Even that change is not favoured/liked by the people. Its not what people are proud of. Maldivians wants the before-maldives not the Another-maldives"

About the two he accused one surely is president Nasheed. The other one i could think of matching with the statement is Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra). Yaamin's this statement could have some hidden meanings too considering his evil and cunning political capability. I have seen MDP and the reform movement strongest when Anni & Ibra were alighned together. It was a combination Yamin and Gayyoom were uncertain and hard to compete with.

Is their seperation, political conflicts and Ibra's failure in the parliamentary election a conspiracy plot by Yamin?

(in simple words it only means we have got rid of one, with just one to go. then we can end this and can earn the power we lost!!)

Muraasil.com - A revolution to maldivian e-journalism?

2009-05-03T13:08:00.012+05:00

'Muraasil’ (Dhivehi word for correspondent) is a project into making for more than a year. With detailed research and careful planning we developed a finely tuned eye catching user interface with a sophisticated article management system. Introducing cool and innovative gadgets, functions and tools redefining the way Dhivehi language could be utilized in the future of web.

Due to the existence of difficult hurdles in developing a full fledge Dhivehi application most Maldivian developers resists developing applications to uphold the official language of the Republic of Maldives on the World Wide Web. Until today mostly Dhivehi has been employed on official websites of government and political bodies, local news agencies and some personal blogs. Only some web services like radheef.com and mvheadlines.com have been developed for Dhivehi. ‘Muraasil’ is packed with tools that will prove Dhivehi is after all not as rigid as most of us developers believe.

‘Muraasil’ is a service that collects and organizes news and documents submitted by the crowd and distribute it to the web. We provide open platform journalism, distributed reporting and what’s now called crowd sourcing. Crowd powered journalism is a growing trend today. Without the journalistic training and hardened editorial filters, these contributors add their view through their own personal lens. This gives the readers not only insight into the topic, but insight into the mindset of the public's engagement with the topic. ‘Muraasil’ is mixing professional journalists and amateur contributors to deliver a social article base. We strive to reach our aim “Liyuntherikan Enmenah”

In the eye of the general audience ‘Muraasil’ will seem to look like just another online news service. Major functionalities incorporated in ‘Muraasil’ will prove otherwise. The concept of ‘Muraasil’ has a greater depth. Some functionalities of ‘Muraasil’ are described below.

Channels
A main aim of ‘Muraasil’ is to increase the quantity of Dhivehi literature on the web. To achieve this we enabled individuals or groups to create personalized and independent segments on the ‘Muraasil’ platform. The layout for these channels and its membership management is entirely controlled by the channel owner. Members participating in the channel can post their articles to one or more channels through ‘Muraasil’ article management screen. The RSS feed provided in the channels can be used to syndicate the content on an external web location.

“Bodu Suvaalu” – The big Question.
Every idea and every thought cannot be expressed in detailed articles. Not all individuals are capable to present them in a reader friendly article. Questions and doubts in community matters are frequent in this age of information. There are times when user opinion and input add a great credence to the article. ‘Muraasil’ big Question could be used as a solution for the previously mentioned scenarios. Members could post questions to instigate a discussion or could indulge in discussion for the posted question. Writer could choose the feedback in the big question area as pointers for the next big article.

“Kuru Habaru” – Short News
For news to become popular it needs to be fresh. To bring fresh news the reporter needs to be able to update the news live from the area of incident. ‘Muraasil’ Short news, optimized for quick update using mobile phone is the best solution for this. As most handsets are not compatible to display and write in ‘thaana’ you can submit short news via mobile in Latin which will be converted to ‘thaana’ on the fly and displayed on the web. To submit short news live as it happen just login to m.muraasil.com from your gprs enabled mobile handset.

‘Muraasil’ facilitates different keyboard choices for ‘thaana’.
‘Thaana’ typing on the web and the computer world does not have a fixed standard at this moment. There is the now frequent UNICODE incorporated by Microsoft regional and language option since XP (Phonetic Keyboard) and the ASCII previously used with ACCENT and RECORDER (Typewriter Keyboard). ‘Muraasil’ does not wish to handcuff the group of writers who choose a certain keyboard standard hence we enabled the option for writers to choose their choice of keyboard standard and continue using ‘Muraasil’ without disappointment. When commenting users may choose to input comments using either of the previously mentioned keyboard standard or input comment using latin standard which will convert the latin input to ‘thaana’ at time of comment submission.

Latin to ‘thaana’ and ‘thaana’ to latin conversion.
To facilitate a more flexible choice for data input in to ‘Muraasil’ and to enable viewing and posting to ‘Muraasil’ via mobile handset without the use of a thirdparty application we implemented latin to ‘thaana’ and ‘thaana’ to latin conversion by Jaawish Hameed. When viewing ‘Muraasil’ from a mobile handset the most recent news articles is converted to latin and displayed on the mobile browser. User input fields is also latin based and the data posted using latin is converted to ‘thaana’ when published on ‘Muraasil’.

Multiple profiles
Every Individual has some certain standards which they abide when writing. Times come when the writer feels to refrain from the personal binding to these standards. Writer may also wish to hide behind curtains in some articles. In such cases user may choose to create a new profile in ‘Muraasil’ which acts as an entirely new user without the need for log-out and log-in to change user. When submitting articles user has the option to select a profile under which that specific article will fall under. This feature is included as per the demand for a feature was noticed to be high while we conducted the pre development researches.

Radheef Lookup in article write page.
Radheef (Dhivehi Dictionary) is a handy tool to lookup Dhivehi words to clarify its meaning. ‘Muraasil’ incorporates radheef lookup feature within the article write page to assist writers in compiling a rich article. Writer may look up a word, review its meaning and double click the word to instantly add the word to the article s/he is writing. We lookup data from radheef.com owned by Technova Pvt Ltd. The word/definition data that appear on it is the excellent work by the National Center for Linguistics and Historical Research

“Dhuvahu Noos thakun” - From Local papers and the title comparison
Most Dhivehi content currently resides on the online home of local papers. Hence links to those resources was a major requirement. We choose to integrate feed from mvheadlines.com however we noticed the need for enhancement and developed a function to compare titles in the mvheadline feeds to group similar news. This function is will be utilized in a broader scale in the upgrades to follow.
There are still more but they are mostly innovations for technical functionalities which drives the whole service. Bug fixes, upgrades and functionality enhancements and new tools will be added in the subsequent phases of development.

‘Muraasil’ is still in the Eveyla stage (term we use for beta stage). Your feedback and comments is an essential element for the success and the development of ‘Muraasil’. Send your feedbacks to feedback[at]muraasil.com

Join this web service and experience a beginning of a new beginning. Get yourself registered to ‘Muraasil’ and start writing.

http://www.muraasil.com

Why is it wiser to consider a Majlis which does not have the majority of any one party?

2009-04-25T17:04:00.009+05:00

How can MDP majority in parliament have an effect on the justice system and the independent commissions?? (doesn’t it require 2/3 majority to appoint judges?) How does it mix all 3 powers?

If you read the Constitution carefully, you will see that the current Supreme Court will be dissolved automatically after the election, and judges will be appointed again on a permanent basis. To appoint Judges to the Supreme Court and Independent Commissions does not require a 2/3 majority which often people get confused. A simple majority of those present and voting will do the job.

This will be the only time all 5 judges will be appointed at once, and it does not require a 2/3 majority. ALL democratic countries don't do it. We are also doing it because this is the first time a Supreme Court is being established. After this, appointments will happen only when a judge retires, dies, or is impeached. It is unlikely that all five judges will retire or die or will be impeached all at once. Impeaching a judge is not easy, nor desirable. That is why it requires 2/3 majority to impeach a judge.

If Anni gets a majority in Parliament, he will get the opportunity to nominate judges, MDP simple majority will confirm them, and we will end up with an Anni as President, his majority in Parliament, and a Supreme Court appointed by him. If that does not mean the three powers will become one, then what will? In addition, we will have a set of "independent" commissions, prosecutor general and auditor general appointed at his whim and fancy.

All state organs defined in the constitution will be dominated by the President. Do you really believe that is a good scenario for the country? Also, all judges to the Supreme Court will remain in office until they are 70 years of age, too. That is the scariest bit.

Is it undemocratic to give a parliamentary majority to the ruling party MDP? If then why it is safe in other democratic countries like in US where ruling party sometimes get the majority and not same here in Maldives?

It is not undemocratic for a sitting president to enjoy a majority in the Parliament. However, there are many factors which bear on this. Firstly, in most mature democracies, MPs usually put national interest before party interest. There is strong internal democracy within parties so that the executive cannot control the Parliament (even with their majority) to the extent that state machinery can be used by the executive to ursurp fundamental rights and interfere in the judicial process. MPs will hold the executive from their own party accountable.

Our democracy is still budding, and we do not see this level of maturity in MPs or the executive. For example, if you have listened to the debates in the Majlis of recent, you will have noticed that many seasoned MPs and heavy weight MPs from MDP are continually arguing to pass government proposed bills and motions AS PROPOSED BY THE GOVT, without debate or amendment. During Question Time, government MPs are defending the government when they are in clear breach of the constitution. You see government MPs trying to silence opposition voices and dominate every single committee which is elected. These are early signs of undemocratic practices, which is exactly what Qayyoom was doing.

The current reaction against an MDP majority, stems from unhealed wounds of a long history of autocratic rule, and a lack of trust in the executive resulting from the executive's untimely bid to control all state machinery.

The next Majlis is going to be a unique Majlis in that it will be defining the legal framework for the new democracy, and that rules of the game of politics should not be defined by one party. It should be designed with pluralistic views and through negotiation rather than through a party whipline which does not represent party grassroot views. Therefore, it’s wiser to consider a Majlis which does not have the majority of any one party.

What would happen if DRP/PA wins the majority? (With the kind of majority everyone is concerned MDP might get, DRP will have chance to put their cronies to the independent commissions and Supreme Court!?.) And also can they intimidate government from implementing its policies?

Even if DRP/PA gets the majority, they can't put their cronies in independent institutions, because the Majlis can't propose names. The President will be proposing the names, and the Majlis will be confirming or rejecting. This is the CHECK AND BALANCE system in the Constitution. We will lose this critical CHECK with an MDP majority at an untimely moment. Yes, it is not illegal. But the public should decide how much of power can be given to the Government at a given moment in time.

The other misconception is about Majlis obstructing government policies. The Constitution gives all powers of policy to the President. The Majlis has no say in it. The Majlis will be simply checking on the government to ensure that the government does not step outside the law or is unfair in implementing policy.The main concern is not policy. Policy is between the President and the people. Main concern is the many laws, particularly as relates to the judiciary that has to be made.

If the Executive controls the Judiciary, what will a citizen do if his or her fundamental right or liberty is violated by the Government? Where will s/he go?

So, these issues are not as simple as some make out. They are rather complex, and most of our public are not informed enough about these things to make sound judgements. The public media or the government is certainly not doing much to inform the public on these issues. The civil society is silent, or don't have the opportunity to engage in public education. More's the pity.

Even if you fear any evil might create by DRPA with a majority, it’s again wiser to consider a Majlis which does not have the majority of any one party.

PS: Above i have only compiled the answers by Male' Mp Ibra to some comments on his blog, Ibra's Blog.(www.ibra2008.blogspot.com). I just have made a slightest modification.

TVM Parliamentary Debate Schedule

2009-04-13T21:32:00.005+05:00

Maldivian Doctors Vs Civil Service Commission - A clash which might jeopardize the medical profession!

2009-03-26T21:48:00.004+05:00

It’s saddening to witness a scenario of tug-of-war between Maldivian Medical Association and Civil Service Commission of Maldives (CSC). The situation initially heated up when the CSC revised the pay structure which resulted 13-42% deduction in doctors salary. The pay structure was revised with the main objective of pay increment to civil servants following the government decision to allocate further 1 billion rufiyaa to the purpose. But the expected happy news from the government turned out to be a nightmare for doctors by the unfair means it was delivered by CSC.

CSC is repeatedly opposing the fact there is any reduction in the pay, which is an act simply to fool/confuse public on the issue and spread hatred against Maldivian doctors. They even have publicized grossly inflated and erroneous figures to show doctors are being paid excessively. In fact in a meeting with Nurses Association the President of the CSC has apparently remarked that "even though doctors may be angry with us, now (we have made sure) public is against them”. BUT all this while it is their actions and silly application of 'rules' that has vastly reduced the services being rendered to patients, in terms of OPD patient numbers and ease of follow up.

Post	Pay till 31^st Jan 2009 (Total in Rf)	Pay from 1^st Feb 2009 (Total in Rf)	Deducted Amount (Rf)	Deducted %
Medical officer	13077	11375	1702	13%
Senior Medical Officer	14786	12335	2451	16.6%
Senior Registrar	22441	14565	7876	35%
Consultant	26517	17390	9127	34.4%
Senior Consultant	37481	20920	16561	44.2%

(The simplest rule one can see in this is the higher the qualification and the level the higher amount of salary is deducted as the reward)

After doctors enquired this controversial- revised- pay- structure a ‘migration allowance’ has been included to fill up the deducted amount. BUT the CSC circular number (188-B/2009/8) clearly states the various allowances which can be listed under the ‘other allowance’ kind. It hasn’t revised since then which could give them authority to include whatever they wish. The regulations clearly indicate ‘migration allowance’ is not a permanent solution rather it’s a temporary trick CSC attempted to calm the heated situation. Therefore doctors who will get recruited after March 1^st will not be entitled with this ‘unknown-fill-up” Migration allowance. Also this allowance might get investigated by anti-corruption board (cases such happened in past where CSC allowed allowances later were made to re-pay from servants own pockets)

The result of the pay deduction is not just a problem of medical professionals getting less salary; more importantly it might risk the future of the whole health sector. In this globalize world opportunities are open for qualified professionals as they are always in-need everywhere like here in Maldives. We have several vacancies and doctor shortage are all over the country, and public is desperate to have competent, qualified doctors in all health centres and hospitals. BUT as some of the doctors stated on this issue “If we pay peanuts we will only get monkeys”.

This issue should have been resolved peacefully at first place. Instead various sources within government and CSC hurried in blaming doctors negatively in public which lead the profession in risk.

The decreased pay to medical doctors means the availability of qualified expatriates will decrease.

The decreased pay and most crucially the negative image (hatred) public has for the profession might change the minds of our youths who previously admired to pursue carrier in medicine.

Already graduated doctors might seek jobs abroad and their migration together with the above reasons will decrease the country’s medical professionals.

CSC claims they have revised it having dialogue with concerned people and did it with points given to technical, professional (skill and knowledge), and interaction with the public together with the leadership ability. Which is always pleasant to say but the truth is Maldivian doctor were never communicated or consulted with this issue (to whom its mainly related) and with the ‘fair’ pointing system, presently a doctor who has to handle life-risk situation in ICCU is offered a lower salary than a laboratory technician or a radiographer. (How on earth a medical doctor can be equaled in any professional way with someone taking a simple X-ray?) Please before comparing different professionals reflect on how much sacrifices, how much time and money one spend/use to become a doctor. By ignoring the qualified professionals with technical skills and knowledge there is great fear, the country might face the condition of ‘brain drain’ which will be very costly for the betterment of the nation.

I call CSC to respect the rules and regulations and refrain from spreading false information on this issue and end the defamation campaign it’s carrying out against the doctors. We have given you high-profiled post and giant salary in order to serve us with justice and honesty. There is nothing positive we can achieve by blaming each other instead it will only harm the people of this country.

A hoax call that could have triggered war

2009-01-10T07:06:00.005+05:00

During the evening of Nov 28, with the Mumbai massacres still enduring, a call was put through to President Asif Ali Zardari by his obviously amateur staff. He was told that the caller was Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian external affairs minister. Now, external affairs ministers do not usually call presidents, other than in the case of the US and Pakistan. Zardari took the call and was informed by the caller that unless Pakistan took immediate action against the suspect terrorist groups in Pakistan which had instigated the attack India would spring into action — militarily.

The president sprang into action without further verification. ‘Special-flighted’ from Lahore was his prime minister and from New Delhi his foreign minister, and summoned from nearby was his ‘real prime minister’, Rehman Malik. Security officials came into play and passed on the word that the coming 48 hours were ‘critical’, that troops may be moved from the west to wherever, and the air force was on to high alert. Frantic calls were made to Uncle Sam seeking guidance laced with sympathy. In due course of time, Secretary Rice got on the line, woke up Minister Mukherjee, and asked him what he was up to. Nothing, he told her. Why had he called Zardari? He had not called Zardari.

We can laugh now, but at the time it is doubtful if Rice or her team could raise a laugh when they knew well with what nations they were dealing. When nuclear arsenals are involved, with insecure men in charge, doom cannot be ruled out. The calming factor as far as Pakistan is concerned is the fact that it is the army that controls the nuclear button, and Gen Ashfaq Kayani is probably too wily a bird to be taken in before instigating a thorough check and confirming the information.

As a result, the hoax call to the presidency triggered a major diplomatic crisis. Since then, the authorities have reworked the procedures by putting enough checks and filters for such high-level contacts in order to avoid embarrassment in the future.

P.S. I found this news surprising and hilarious as the two nuclear giants almost started a war due to a false call. Get the detail of this A HOAX CALL that could have triggered war

'War crime'

2009-01-10T05:59:00.006+05:00

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said an alleged failure of the Israeli military to help wounded civilians in Gaza could constitute a war crime. On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its staff had found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Ms Pillay told the BBC: "The incident the Red Cross describes is very troubling because it has all the elements of what constitutes a war crime. "There is an obligation to protect the wounded, to treat the sick, to remove them to safety and here, according to the Red Cross, Israeli soldiers just stood by and did nothing for these four children and one adult who were too weak to move."

Asked whether Israel was living up to its human rights obligations, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was hard for Israel to safeguard civilians because Gaza was very densely populated. US kept its usual backing for Israel as fourteen out of 15 Security Council members backed the resolution on the Gaza crisis, (with the US abstaining).

The motion called for an "immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire" leading to the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Israel wants to stop rocket attacks on southern Israel and to stop Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza via Egypt, while Hamas says any ceasefire deal must include an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Gaza health officials say about 800 Palestinians have been killed since the current conflict began on 27 December.Thirteen Israelis had died as of Thursday, according to the Israeli military.

Ibra’s New “Aneh Dhivehirajje” Look?

2008-11-10T00:03:00.013+05:00

(Ibra appeared on the TVM programme "Gaumee Hayaath" tonight. Sorry for the blurred and unclear pictures. Clicked these instantly from my mobile (an executive yet having a minute 1.3 M pixel camera).

The discussion was about an overview of the process of establishing democratic norms in our system and lives. Ibra together with Liberal party leader Mazlan Rasheed discussed the topic on a wider aspect. (The duo – if not the best is one of the finest legal/constitutional minds of the realm)I could only follow later half of the programme and some points I thought they asserted of great concern:-

1- The significant role of Parliament to make executive fully and effectively accountable. Practically it’s ideal to have one of the opposition parties dominate the parliament (means it would be independent from powers of the president) in-order to maintain the proper checks and balances.

2- The concept of rule of law. Governing and obeying the law and its significances. Roles of Judiciary and its protection and equality among people.

3- A leader, a politician not necessarily should be holding a PhD. This is a belief many are entitled with today. Some take the “Dr” as the only decisive measure of a politician’s capability, but the truth is it’s certainly a very positive quality but is not the utmost important character. It’s the ones policy, past track record, sincerity…etc which contributes a politician’s credibility. For an example:- Barack Obama is the 44^th president of US. Among the 44 presidents how many or is there any who is Dr.?

4- Politics should be an open/facilitated carrier option for today’s youths. The importance of fresh and young ones to inspire a political carrier and pursue it which can enrich the political spectrum. (Even thinking about being a politician used to be a crime in last few decades.)

As expected from his interviews it was highly informative, constructive and useful one. What amazed me was his new look. Is this the Ibra of “Aneh Dhivehirajje”?

America - Black Or White?

2008-11-08T18:12:00.005+05:00

Does Michael Jackson’s transformation of appearance evident for the equal opportunities for black in America? This supposed to be a hilarious joke. But the racial discrimination is an inevitable reality in the most civilized, powerful and the richest country in the globe.

There is a story of white and black in America. A white men when asked, “Who will take care take care of the poor whites?” The man answered,” Wealthy white people will take care of poor white people.” Then when asked, “Who will take care of poor Blacks?” The man said, “God will take care of poor Blacks.”

This is the some what real portray of American discriminatory acts towards its black race. Black Americans always complain and endure they are just nothing but strangers in their own nation, treated like shit. Even some restaurants and other high-class places alleged to have “white only” tags which remind me off “Dogs not allowed” tags of such sites. Majority of the jails are filled with black prisoners! Well. These are few of their numerous complains. Contrary to these some even say they are too sensitive and always believe and live as victims of racial discrimination.

The fight for their rights kept on. “We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live” Martin Luther King Jr.

Nevertheless now the black people are seen much satisfied and relieved to have got a president from their race. A historical incidence of an expected-impossible has been made to an unexpected-possible. Yes! It was the great Barack Obama, the first African American to win the white house race.

He was not only voted by Black people. His packages of fresh and effective policies were accepted by majority people regardless of the skin colour. US statistics show that blacks make up just 13.1 per cent of the American population and a similar proportion of the US electors’ roll. Which means even if every black woman, man, child and their dog had voted for Mr Obama, he would have had only 40.2 million votes, 15.5 million fewer than what Republican opponent John McCain received, and 23 million less than what he ultimately got. He was liked by both white and black. Perhaps this will ensure them (black population) is an end of the long sufferings.

Barack Obama extended family belongs to and lives in Kenya. Apparently I have a Kenyan class mate who was kind of mad & crazy on Obama’s victory day. She was overdosed with excitement while my white “American” friends seem to admit their support for Obama, but didn’t show any such thrill. According to her (Kenyan) all boys born on that day were named as Barack Obama and girls as Michelle Obama in Kenya. In addition the very next day was declared as a public holiday for celebrations. I have never seen her with such cheerfulness before. I really couldn’t figure out the real benefits Kenyan will be gaining from his presidency. Does it could mean greater prosperity for Kenya? Or is it just inner relief, happiness and proud for the success of a black man.

Michael Jackson’s Black or White (separation) has become black and white (unification) in this case. A very positive sign and possibly we are witnessing Martin Luther King’s ‘dream’ getting closer to be fulfilled. If not at least are the signs of oneness among the longtime rivalry races. No more black or whites. We are brothers and sisters. Is this what im sensing?

I Said If
You're Thinkin' Of
Being My Brother
It Don't Matter If You're
Black Or White

Phase I: Take Back Our Nation (Completed),...Phase II: Re-build The Nation (Processing……)

2008-10-31T10:07:00.009+05:00

The Historical Maldivian first ever-multiparty elections concluded with a comprehensive win for the Opposition alliance candidate Mohamed Nasheed (Anni). The Asia’s longest serving leader who is much acclaimed as ‘A man for all islands’ lost the polls against the prominent activist whom DRP describe as ‘A man for all streets’. The results showed what majority of Maldivians admire. A CHANGE. People are thirst to see something different. They are frustrated, upset and annoyed seeing the brutal and iron-fist rule of Maumoon. Enough is enough is what they unanimously voiced. Yes! As Maumoon himself admitted ’the 30 years factor’ (the pessimistic) did played a vital role for his defeat.

Future of Maumoon, DRP and Theemuge:

Maumoon failing for the first time in an election in past 30 years will certainly bring tears and sorrow to some. His genuine supporters and those who have benefited from his unfair favours in past 30 years will be among top the list. The ruling DRP will be the opposition. What is its future and of its leader?

Maumoon’s brother Yamin Abdul Qayyoom is most likely to be his successor. He is a potential leader we all know. A very intellectual person yet not applauded same because of his corrupted self. I look forward for an opposition coalition of PA and DRP led by Yamin. Perhaps Maumoon will be his special advisor or a symbolic leader. (Some elements within current regime are even likely to fly abroad as they might face probable charges of corruption)

Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom is alleged to have huge interest in academics. He even stated in a previous interview if not being a politician he should have being a tutor. Hence I reckon as now he decided to stay in Maldives he might consider an academic carrier. His dream and pledge of converting Maldives College of Higher Education to a University is still unfulfilled. May be his successor(Anni) has to fulfill his many such dreams. Moreover if Anni transform Theemuge into a University campus as he assured during campaigns it will be a way for Maumoon to keep in-touch with his lifetime long residence. It’s understandable it will be full of memories, and will not be easy to leave those. Guys! We might witness a Professor Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom in a Maldivian University in a near future.

Well, the man himself is multi talented and has various other carrier choices too. He might even consider being a Cricket trainer. Perhaps it might open a possibility for me to get his guidance somewhere in my life. :-D

Finally we are in ‘Aneh Dhiveirajje”

President Maumoon’s gracious attitude in accepting the defeat is commendable. Its not such we often expect from a long ruling dictators. Together with Anni’s magnanimous and kind response it has set-up a perfect example of democracy. We indeed are proud of our Nation and its leaders today.

Congratulations to the president-elect Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) and his alliance members (Ibra, Dr.Hassan, Qasim & Adhaalath). Indeed this is a dream come true. A dream all reform valued Maldivian’s have for their country. Personally it was one of the happiest moments of my life, a glory of lifetime. It’ not only because someone I support won the highest post of the country but more of that it opened a gateway for the access of democratic principles and values. A gateway which will propel out corruption, nepotism, cronyism and all other ill components dominated in our current system.

I have many expectations from the newly elected government. And I believe it has the capacity to accomplish those. It needs time and it needs space. BUT bear-in-mind this is not the end, but a beginning of a new day, beginning of a new phase of re-building our nation. The phase we will practically embark on 11^th November 2008. President Maumoon is history now, and for the betterment of our lives, and of our future generation we need to fight against the numerous ills and wrongs in the system.
PICTURE Abhi Bhi BAAKHI Hain Mere Dost!!!

Transcript of 101-East’s journalist Fauziya Ibrahim’s (F.I) interview with President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom.

2008-10-25T06:00:00.008+05:00

wanna share an email i received with the transcript of Maumoon's interview on Aljazeera.(additional to the interview it has some comments on his answer)

Its apparent now his own words do imply against him. I dont think he can achieve any more votes with his false, undiplomatic and unreasonable oratory. His supporters/campaign advicers need to avoid him speaking in public in next few days in-order to even get hold of the 40% he acquired in first round.

Check this yourself!

Link: this interview on youtube

F.I: You’ve been in power for the last thirty years. Why has it taken this long for you to introduce true democracy and allowing opposing voices in Maldives politics?

Gayyoom: Infact I’ve been introducing democratic principles to the country from the very beginning, from 1978 onwards. But you must...er...recognize the fact that at that time we were a very poor under developed country. We didn’t have even food for our people. And we didn’t have any sort of education. And our health were...services were very very low indeed. So people were not ready for any modern form of democracy. I have been able to achieve great progress both socially and economically during the past thirty years. So now we are ready, we are ready for democratic reform so thats why four years ago I introduced this new agenda of reform.

(Contradicting statement – says that he has been introducing democratic principles from 1978 onwards. Then he adds that Maldives was not ready for democracy at the time. He then claims that he introduced democracy after he achieved social and economic progress, which, according to him, is now. So when truly did ‘he’ introduce democracy here?)

F.I: You don’t think the 2003 riots had anything to do with pushing you into...

Gayyoom: It didn’t have anything...

F.I: ...introducing democracy?

Gayyoom: ...to do, because this has been in my thinking from the very beginning even when I took office in 2003 for this term. I explained this to the people, I, in my presidential address, I mentioned that I’m looking forward to changing the constitution and that I’ll be calling the people’s special majlis to do that. And...er...so this has been in my thinking from the very beginning. So any events either domestic or external, had any influence on my thinking.

(Maumoon took office for the new term and talked about reform AFTER the riots in 2003).

F.I: In the first round of presidential elections, though, 60 % of the ballots went against you. Were you surprised for that? Especially after 30 years of being in power?

Gayyoom: Let me say that 60% of the vote did not go against me. We were six candidates vying for the job. And if you divide one hundred by six, you get 16%. So getting 40% ...

F.I: But still you got 40%. Only 40% of the population voted for you. Its not even half mark.

Gayyoom: ...yeah...that...but only...when you consider the situation that....yes yes...I’m sure that...er...I can reach that in the next round. But what i want to say is 40% is quite good considering the fact that we had six candidates contesting in the election. It is a very very...

F.I:...But it still means that 60 percent don’t want you on board....

Gayyoom: No, no indeed not. It doesn’t mean that. But their first choice for various reasons could have been somebody else. But now its up to me to prove that I have got enough votes in the second round to be a president. That, I’m confident that I will do.

(Fact remains that only 40 percent voted for him and 60 percent preferred someone else to lead the country. Own statement confirm that 60 percent preferred somebody else for “various reasons”.)

F.I: Let’s look at some of the major campaign issues involved in this particular election. Now this country is suffering from a major drug problem. 21 percent of the population is living in poverty. There is a major divide between rich and poor, and it is an increasing divide. How do you hope to resolve these issues in the next five years in the next term. Issues that you could have addressed in the last thirty years?

Gayyoom: First let me tell you that those figures may not be accurate. But I must also say that the drug problem is a very serious problem here. We have been trying to tackle that for the past...say...twenty years...But we haven’t been able to find a solution

(Concedes own failure (but ofcourse uses “we” when addressing a failure) Says he couldn’t find a solution in the last twenty years. Is it wise to believe that he can find a solution in the next five years? (note that: he had promised to tackle this issue in the next term.) Also important to bear in mind that the problem has been rising within the last twenty years while he had been “trying to tackle” the problem.)

F.I: the same issue with poverty though

Gayyoom: Poverty also we have dealt with it quite well, I think. We don’t have the abject poverty that you see in the south asian countries. You’ll never see anybody going hungry here. Nobody is...

F.I: But the reality of it, sir, I’ve walked through the streets of Male’ and I have seen the reality of it. I have seen seven families living in one room...

Gayyoom: Yes, I think that is a problem...

F.I: I’ve seen people in sleep shifts, taking turns to sleep because they can’t afford a house, a place of their own....

Gayyoom: Not they can’t afford a house

F.I: ...and yet your country...

Gayyoom: No no no no...it is not

F,I: ...quotes tourist dollars, millions of tourist dollars. And 21 percent live in poverty.

Gayyoom: No no...

F.I: ...under your watch.

Gayyoom: No no. It is not true. You know we have a housing problem, like many other countries. Male’ is a congested place. When I was young, there were only eight thousand people living in Male’. Now we have a hundred thousand people, they have come. So this is a problem for congestion. But they have, you know, many of the people that you see sleeping like that, have their own homes in their own islands. They are not living there. Its deserted. So its not a problem that is of poverty, it is a problem of housing where people, for instance, come to Male’ for various purposes. They want to live here.”

(Says that they have come (referring to islanders) for various purposes. Is he implying that people want to live in small congested rooms and struggle everyday while they have perfectly good homes in their islands? Why does he not mention that sufficient health services, employment opportunities and reasonable level of education is not available currently in most Maldivian islands, which obliges islanders to move to Male’? This leads one to assume that he’s blaming the Maldivian islanders for coming to Male’ and causing congestion and overpopulation, while he ignores that the government has failed to provide these necessities for those islands.)

F.I: But isn’t that a problem that you should have addressed in your last three decades of rule?

Gayyoom: We are addressing, we are addressing. We have been addressing this for the past so many years. We have so many housing schemes that have been implemented in Male’, we have a built a completely new island, HULHUMALE’, you know. That is the size is more than Male’ itself. We now have thousands of people living there. Very good roads, buildings, very good infrastructure. And we have converted a tourist island near Male’, it has become now a place where people live. We have done a lot of things but the problem is such that we cannot solve it so quickly.

(Again-focussing on centralized development of the capital island while ignoring the development of the islands – thus problem of congestion is not solved. While Hulhumale’ project is underway to address the housing problem, people with low income cannot afford to purchase those houses as they are placed on bids. High-income earners continue to purchase and sublease to the low-income earners (at a notably high rent). This consequently contributes to the trend in rising rental prices and increasing the income gap (between rich and poor). This is evidence that the housing problem is positively related to poverty.)

F.I: The Opposition alleges that under thirty years of our rule, the government has become corrupt,its become inefficient, it's basically become a machinary that has helped you, your allies and your family.

Gayyoom: Thats wrong. Ofcourse any opposition will say everything possible to in order to win elections. So they are doing, fabricating a lot of these things which are not quite true. There is no corruption to that extent I am sure. Ofcourse I know every country has corruption, but the level of corruption (in) this country is much less than you... what you’ll find maybe in the neighbouring countries”.

(Does only the opposition fabricate ‘lies’? Further, stating that corruption levels are higher in neighbouring countries is not very diplomatic. This makes the Maldives look bad in the eyes of our neighbours on whom we depend and could also possibly hinder diplomatic relations.)

F.I: Well let me just read to you a recent independent auditor’s report which found that 3.7 million US dollars was issued in loans to unnamed individuals with no repayment expected, a cash gift of 563,000 US dollars given to two defence personnel again no repayment expected, the state budget contravenes accounting principles, for the last three years the IMF has said that your state expenditure is unsustainable -all this under your watch.

Gayyoom: Two issues. One of the...the...independent Auditor’s report is based inaccurate facts, we have replied from the President’s Office, we know that this is (a) politically motivated report. Although its a....

(Where is the evidence that the facts in the audit reports are inaccurate? Why didn’t he raise this issue when the MTDC report was first published (could it be because it did not damage the current government?)

F.I: It is an independent auditor’s report.

Gayyoom: It is not an independent in such. You can’t be independent in a country where all sorts of political....

(So what is the purpose of having an independent Auditor General? If it can’t be independent why are we spending our resources on paying high salaries to the AG? Is it not independent because the government corruption has been revealed to the public with sufficient evidence? His duty as the AG is to conduct audits of the public corporations in order to minimise corruption. And if the government is behind the corruption within those corporations, does this make him politically motivated to publish the audit reports?)

F.I: This is a man you appointed.

Gayyoom: Anyway… I have appointed some, many people but they’ve proved themselves unworthy of their job.

(What does this imply? That he is not capable of appointing ‘worthy’ people?)

F.I: Because they disagreed with you.

Gayyoom: No not disagreed with you (me). Because they have...

F.I: Because they found discrepancies in your system?

Gayyoom: No no no...ofcourse not... I am taking legal action against him because he produced a report in er two days before the election in order to reduce the chance of my re-election.

(Is there a law against releasing the audit reports within that timeframe just because it may reduce Maumoon’s chances to win in the election? Is it not a right of the citizens to be aware of such issues before they decide on whom to vote for? Why does he fear that he may lose the election due to the Audit Reports? Is he admitting to the fact that corruption exists to a great degree?)

F.I: You have been known to arrest opposing voices before though..

Gayyoom: No

F.I: You deny arresting political prisoners??? You deny...

Gayyoom: I deny it, I deny arresting...

F.I: ...opposing.... You deny arresting Nasheed?

Gayyoom: Nobody is above law in this country. So anybody who contravenes the law will be punished, will be arrested.

F.I: What law did he contravene?

Gayyoom: ... so many laws! …So many laws, there are so many laws he contravened and he has been tried in court and he has been found guilty of an... of an offence. There are no political prisoners in this country.

(Why has he not been able to pinpoint the exact laws Nasheed contravened? And “ so many laws”??? Where’s the justification for this claim?)

F.I: There have never been in your thirty year rule?

Gayyoom: There have never been any political prisoners. Anybody who breaks a law can be punished whether he is an ally of mine or an opponent of mine. Whether he belongs to my family or he belongs to any other family in the country. Everything is done according to law.

(Quoted from report on “Repression of peaceful political opposition - Amnesty International -
30 July 2003”

“In the past decade, dozens of people - including politicians, journalists and others protesting government policies - have been detained arbitrarily in defiance of their fundamental right to freedom of expression and assembly. Several prisoners of conscience have been tried and convicted by the Criminal Court without having access to a lawyer, or to an independent and impartial appeal mechanism. They have been denied even the most basic facilities such as pen and paper to prepare written statements in their own defence. They are serving their sentences after grossly unfair trials. One prisoners of conscience is reportedly awaiting a similar trial. Tight restrictions imposed on the right to freedom of expression by the Government of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom makes the gathering of information on human rights violations in the Maldives difficult. However, Amnesty International has received compelling testimonies from former detainees and other sources showing systematic violations of the fundamental rights to freedom of conscience and expression, the right to a fair trial, and the rights to physical and mental integrity.’

[Refer to http://www.maldivesculture.com/maldives_amnesty_report2003.html]

Is Maumoon alleging that the Amnesty International is providing false reports? Denying this fact to this extent, is embarrassing and gives evidence that his word prevails, thus proving he’s a dictator.)

F.I: How do you rate your presidential rival Mohamed Nasheed as a politician?

Gayyoom: Well, first of all I don’t think he has the experience to lead the country. Neither the education nor the moral character because he is known to be making up all sorts of stories without any basis of truth.

(We can see the stories made up by Maumoon even within this interview. Where was the basis of truth when he claimed the Audit reports were inaccurate? Where was the basis of truth when he claimed there were no political prisoners under his 30-year rule? Double standards???)

F.I: You are Asia’s longest serving leader. You have turned Maldives from a rural fishing village to one of the top notch luxury destinations in the World. If you had a chance to do it all over again what would you do differently?

Gayyoom: I think I’ve done pretty well. My record shows that, I wont change anything.

(Is he lying to the Maldivian citizens during his campaign, when he promises that there will be improvements and changes in the next five years?

Thus he is in denial of all the social and economic issues we are currently facing today. If he will not change anything, why should we give him another chance to rule for another 5 years and continue with the system that has led us to suffer immensely????????)

F.I: Mr.President thank you for speaking to us.

Can Your Vote Islamize Or Christianize Maldives?

2008-10-19T22:53:00.014+05:00

“Religion and extreme nationalism have formed deadly combinations in these decades, ". The New York Times, December 15, 2001,).”

Maldivian Presidential election ended its round one with full of exhilarating campaign strategies, tactics and conspiracies. The much expected US form of campaign has turned out to be more like of Nigeria or Zimbabwe. The last few days it has given us an idea about how dirty, politics can be. Verbal to physical attacks within political arena surely had rocked this nation. With no candidate acquiring the required more than 50% has stretched this drama into an additional episode. The grand finale!

The runoffs granted both leading candidates opportunity to re-launch and re-structure its campaign. Mohamed Nahseed (Anni) has managed to acquire the massive opposition backings and “Aneh Dhivehirajje” is currently what “Wathan Edhey Goth”. Ibra, Gasim and Dr. Hassan have dedicated entirely to garner support for Anni.

But what’s new and what’s now from DRP lobby? Last few days of runoffs, I could only notice they are more focused to attack Anni and alliance on religious grounds than the needed political arguments. Various accusations on Anni and MDP labeling them as sponsors of Christianity have turn out to be their main attempt or strategy. Are they out of any other strategies to have this desperate attempt to ‘win the hearts’ of the Maldivian people? Or aren’t they prepared for a probable runoff? Or just is there no further way they can attack opposition? The incumbent leader Qayyoom has proved in past he can manipulate people’s minds with various religious sentiments. So it might be his winning formula..?

“The election would decide the state of the country for the next five years,” he said in one of campaign speeches “It will decide whether Islam would remain as the religion of the people of the country or not.” He said. What justification he has accusing opposition as Christian missionaries? IF it is because:-

Anni graduated from John Moore’s University of UK, Then are all children of Maumoon too. His four children Farish, Dunya, Yumna and Ghassan studied in the UK - Dunya and Yumna studied at St.George School and then Yumna studied in Oxford. Dunya went to Christ's College. Farish Maumoon studied at Eton College, London. It says on the college website "Eton is a religious foundation and religion continues to play a central role in the life of the community". Even his running mate Mr. Thasmeen studied in University of Warwick, UK. (sources: http://maldiviandevil.blogspot.com/ and wikipedia)

Anni and opposition get political advice from “Christians”, then Maumoon is the only one who has imported a Cross into the Maldives, The Grand Cross of St.Michael and St.George. No one has imported a Cross into the Maldives, (not even by the charged guys…Anni, Gasim, Dr. Hassan or Ibra).

Some of opposition activist are suspected of being atheists or anti Islam then it was Maumoon’s personal photographer Hassan Najmy who was the head of the Maldivian church. It was his Executive Director at the Presidential Palace , Adam Naeem, whose clinic AMDC, was the centre of the missionary work in the Maldives in the nineties. (source:http://maldiviandevil.blogspot.com/)

Of MDP collaboration with British Conservative party, subsequently is DRP with Communist Parties. If MDP gets advice from Mcgrath (sent by UK conservatives to assist MDP campaign), DRP is advised by an international polling organisation MORI. Recently an e-mail sent to Farish Maumoon by Sir Robert Worcester got exposed. (He is the chairman and founder of MORI, Market and Opinion Research International, a UK-based company founded in 1969). Mr. Maumoon has also sought similar advice from Hill & Knowlton of the UK.

If hardly any Islamic scholars back DRP (namely Dr. Afrasheem and Sheikh Gubaadh), MDP has majority scholars as Adhaalth backing them. (Also the much independent Jamiathul Salaf is mostly not in favor of Gayyoom in religious grounds)

So who is it who has more connection with the UK and Christianity? With above bit of facts, does DRP or Maumoon have any real chance to accuse anyone else for such? Or are they troubling themselves? It’s always healthier to look before you leap.

This DRP commenced confrontation (religion-in-politics dilemma) have erupted a religious battle between two sides. Islam has being used as a tool to gain (MDP) and sustain (DRP) power. Mixing religion with politics is a very serious, scary and sensitive stuff. Please note I’m not encouraging secularism here. But I strongly believe Islam plays a vital role in purposeful leadership, community building, social justice, law and order, peacemaking, reconciliation, forgiveness and the healing of wounds, be they political, family or personal. But what we have to bear in mind is the uses of religion negatively for political gains continue to impact negatively on our unity and trust. "Mixing religion with politics is like mixing ice cream with horse manure. It doesn't hurt the manure, but it ruins the ice cream."

Certainly none would like to witness any violence provoked by such politically motivated religious vitriolic. Therefore it will be wise for Mr. Maumoon to refrain from this ridiculous attempt of using religion as a weapon in his campaign. Same pertain to Adhaalth if they act similar. It's been 855 years since we embraced Islam. Does this end on 28th October if we vote Anni?I believe we Maldivians are much civilized now. We are not so dumb to fall such cheap attempts? Or am I misjudging? In any case definitely I will not vote for anyone who has proven to be a lying, disgraceful, hypocrite, who seems to have lost his plot, even before the actual encounter has begun.

He Isn’t Perhaps The Most ‘Capable’ Candidate, Then Why Opposition Voted Him?!

2008-10-14T11:15:00.004+05:00

I thought you might be interested to know about a recent research in social psychology which may provide some interesting perspective to those who are still mystified the reason majority opposition voted or backed Anni while we had more capable leaders in list.

The research named ‘the glass cliff’ conducted in Exeter University of UK under Dr Michelle Ryan. It suggests that when times are tough, people are more willing to choose as a leader someone of a social category that they would not necessarily see as leaders. For example, a woman is more likely to be given a chief executive job when the company is in trouble. A man is more likely to chosen as the head of a team of nurses if the team is judged to be dysfunctional.

Not every research can be appropriate to every situation but this theory ‘might’ elucidate some. Anni has always being a person who is consistent in opposing Qayyoom and he is in struggle for reform and democracy since early 90s. Consequently it is understandable among reform minded leaders he is the most sociable for the majority population. At present in every aspect our nation is in crisis. Various social-economic ills are widely spread. Let’s have faith in the one who is promising to clean all chaos. Let's give him an opportunity?

"Elephant Joke" Analogy Applies To The Runoff b/w Maumoon And Anni.

2008-10-12T03:28:00.013+05:00

Elephant jokes are fun, entertaining and pleasant… people like flipping such jokes among friends, relatives as it makes free times enjoyable. Likewise I have a cousin (currently resident in Malay) who often throws such jokes and I always find it very humorous. He isn’t 'very' enthusiastic in politics as far as I have seen but relating to Maldivian political scenario, this joke of him really impressed me. This elephant joke analogy can very well be applied to the picture and is not only fun, it’s sensible and has a moral.

Q: How do you get an elephant into the fridge?

Ans:
1. Open door.
2. Insert elephant.
3. Close door.

(Note: This can be applied to the effortless way Maumoon obtained the power)

Q: How do you get a giraffe into the fridge?

(We need a wise leader who can rule our country, our people, in accordance with new democratic constitution. We are all calling for a BETTER change. I guess ‘giraffe’ here can be considered as the change we need.)

Answering this some people forget to remove elephant before inserting giraffe & give same ans as above. (except, instead of inserting elephant it becomes that of giraffe)

.................

But.....

................

The right Ans is:
1. Open door.
2. Remove elephant.
3. Insert giraffe.
4. Close door

Moral of the story:
Anni may not be the ideal choice (the giraffe), but first we need Qayyoom (the elephant) to be removed from the power (fridge) in order to get the ideal leader we believe in (giraffe) in to power (fridge).

Vote for Anni to unlock the path for a BETTER change. Let’s get united and back Anni to remove the elephant.

Election results: 40% < 60%

2008-10-10T09:10:00.004+05:00

The 30 year incumbent Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom led the election with a 40.62% of votes. A man who claimed to achieve more than 90% victory in past six terms was seen faded and paled in today’s post-election news conference despite the win. The Inaugural democratic election (with restricted means for him to rig the votes the way he did last 30 years) showed him the much right stand he has in Maldivian political spectrum. His confession about his lowered popularity indicated the guy is not confident anymore. If the election is regarded as a no confidence vote; then he has failed by marginally.

Although he acquired 40.62%, although he claimed to be satisfied with the lead…although he celebrated the glory with his DRP allies… somewhere back in his mind will be the 59.38% majority opposition acquired. If we analyse this in a Maumoon-against-opposition set, then it’s a clear defeat for him. Therefore in the second round he will be pitted against the massive opposition. Surely a very tough upcoming fixture for the veteran!

The election results were much as I expected except Ibra was far behind which stunned almost every citizen. The reasons for his failure are understandable yet unacceptable for me. Even most of his faithful supporters shifted in the last minute to Anni compromising their choice on rage towards Maumoon. I don’t believe the 1382 figure or 0.78% is the indication of his total popularity but it’s the number of people who heartedly believe in the rule of law, in pre-school education, a proper education system, in an anti-trust law and a restructuring of the economy as he was the only one who proposed those. (Having said that I’m sure there is a mass population who accept Ibra’s proposal but as I said earlier was more enthusiastic to vote the alleged most popular candidate). His campaign wasn’t wide enough and critically he was labeled nil popular pre- to elections. He wasn’t even lucky enough to acquire the ‘throw away votes’ as he has being regarded as a strong political figure. (Which Umar Naseer obtained). Yes, personally I’m very disappointed & hurt for the reason he is my favourite, for the reason majority of the people rejected the policies which I thought was the best on table …Perhaps that’s where his calculations went wrong. Majority wants Maumoon off before even thinking about ideal policies.

Among the five opposition candidates MDP-Iththihad candidate Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) has being elected & got the privilege to be the nominee from opposition movement to contest in the second round. Anni is undoubtedly a very consistent figure opposing the regime. This is a moment, a chance we accomplished due to several bloodshed & numerous sacrifices of many of reform minded heroes. Anni is inevitably one of them. Let’s overcome the personal differences and let’s not throw away this golden opportunity.

All opposition candidates except Umar Naseer have endorsed Anni as per their pledge immediately after the results were declared. Dr. Hassan Saeed and Gasim Ibrahim’s backing surely will bring an adequate number of voters to the side while I believe Ibra’s input can enhance the credibility for Anni’s candidacy. We shouldn’t forget Ibra is one of the most respected politician from both side of the fence.

The battle field is very clear now. It’s the moment we eagerly waited for years. The dictator vs. anti dictator clash… Lets unite together and vote for the cause of reform, vote for Anni to throw the trash out. Let’s make the 29^th October the historic day.

This isn't 'just' about bringing down a dictator; it's about electing your leader

2008-10-07T19:33:00.004+05:00

(This is a translation of Ibra's radio broadcast to the people of the Maldives on the occasion of the presidential election to be held tomorrow)

I believe that the people's vote tomorrow will decide the future of this nation and what it will have to offer for the generations to come. Beginning in 2004 as a reform movement with the participation and sacrifices of countless people, we have completed the amendment of the Constitution, which is the foundation for a legal environment crucial for reform in this country.

I believe that we have achieved at this stage primarily what the people of this nation aspired for. Forming independent commissions and granting these commissions with the necessary authorities and responsibilities, we have stripped from the Head of State most of the powers he had in his hands for too a long time. We are prepared today for these independent commissions to provide a service in protecting and promoting the rights of the people in order to allow for the will of the people to be exercised in our nation.

As the elections stand just a day away form us, many different sounds and stories reach the people in different ways. Whilst some in good intentions are trying to educate the public about the rights of the people, we see others trying to deceive and mislead the people for their own selfish ends. As such one of the most widely used issue to mislead the people is that by casting or not casting the vote to a particular candidate may result in that vote being a waste. This is clearly going against the principles of the Constitution.

I assure the people of the Maldives that the Constitution is compiled in a way that not a single vote cast by the people can be wasted or lost. The Constitution is made in a way that everyone can show their preference on the ballot and derive a result that consists of the majority of the nation. No one can become the President of this country without winning the votes of more than half of the total votes cast. Today's presidential election is different from those we have had where the candidate with the most votes win.

What I have to say to the people today is that today is the result of a great deal of efforts. My constant plea to the people is that, in order to run this country in a just manner, to have equality and harmony within the people, the people must have rule of law equal to all. This nation needs a government that will create an enabling environment to accommodate the basic needs of the people and to take this nation to where the people want it to get to.

I have made numerous efforts in the parliament to protect the rights of the people. Such efforts were required because the present government has designed almost everything to violate those rights. What you must decide today is, that a person who has fought for the rights of the people would definitely not violate those rights, should he become the Head of State. Assuring you of this, in order to make your ballot a gainful vote, I ask for your vote in the elections tomorrow. It shall not be a wasted vote. The doors to winning this election, if not in the first rounds then in the second rounds, is open to us.

Numerous people from Male' and a number of islands have from what they have said, ensured me that my words and actions are accepted wholeheartedly. Hence, I wanted to give you this message of hope at this time.

Please cast your vote with a conscience; whatever the result is, it will not be a lost vote. The people have the opportunity to cast their ballot as they choose. This time is for the people. The people have the chance this time to have this election as they want, and by majority to bring about a government that shall exercise its power for the people, by the people. Please do not let this opportunity pass; it will not be a lost vote. The result of that vote shall be the beginning of bringing about a system of governing this nation that will hear the voices of Maldivians and bring the country back to the people, for the generations to come.

Vote splitting dilemma...!!??

2008-10-05T06:32:00.002+05:00

With our first multiparty presidential election less than 72 hours away, it’s disturbing that a nasty vote boost up theory has been encouraged or promoted by some of the campaign lobby. The story line is extremely touching but immoral.

“We understand your candidate is better and capable, but our main aim has to be over throwing this regime…so if you vote for him it will split the opposition votes and it will be a waste “

I can’t understand what impact it will have on Maumoon’s chances. No matter I vote Anni, Ibra or Umar, its certain Nasreena, Abdulla Hameed or Zahir Hussain will still vote for Maumoon. Meaning he has a fixed number of voters and they will vote for him anyway. Hence voting the one we favor won’t have any effect on him.

In the other hand, having various choices for the opposition means more people will participate in the voting. One who dislikes both Anni and Umar might vote for Ibra. Mathematically this will result in increasing total number of voters thus when converted into percentage Maumoon’s result will decrease.

Furthermore it’s highly expected and as of the theory above its highly possible no one will acquire the required 50% in the first round. A second round will be with the top two candidates of the first.

So what if we keep away the Maumoon factor in the initial round and make it as a primary of opposition candidates. By doing this we will get the ‘real’ most popular candidates for the second round. Isn’t this sound more effective??

I’d say this vote splitting strategy is an act of hypocrisy which has become a tricky campaign slogan used by some of lobbies. In tonight’s TVM news MDP candidate Anni openly called people not to split votes by voting others. And the JP campaign allies also call people to prefer their candidate for the same reason. Every candidate claims to be the most popular while the truth is the popularity can only fairly be tested by an election. The recent polls conducted by dhiFM turned out to be worthless. Majority of the voter population is still undecided or silent. With such circumstance is there any way we can measure the true popularity of candidates?

Its only the 8^th October election which can illustrate the ‘true’ popularity .Let the decision be taken by the people. And the people; let your decision be free of any kind of pressure, analyze the past track records, manifesto, speeches, sincerity...Etc of all candidates and vote for the one you believe in.

We shouldn’t be so desperate to give our leadership to just anyone, while we have the option to elect the most capable one. In a very similar scenario recently a dictator’s regime was toppled by the desperate people of Pakistan. And after just few days of new government they realized a dictator has being replaced by a blockhead.

Decide wisely to prevent such an occurrence in our nation.

Do you know this talent of him? i got surprised, what about you?

2008-10-04T18:33:00.013+05:00

It was last wednesday The Liberal Party celebrated the Eid with a gig at their haruge situated north of the Olympus theatre. Trio, mishy and x-ray athif performed live, but there was a BIG surprise. The presidential candidate and Male' Mp Ibra performed live which amazed whole audience.

I have got this interesting peice from a blog. check it for details.

"I don't think most of the crowd was expecting Ibra to walk up on stage after Athif finished his song, but that is exactly what happened next. I saw some surprised looks from the crowd as many did not know that Ibra actually used to do gigs whilst he was studying in Australia and even after coming back to Male'. Ibra covered Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight and Cliff Richards' Travelling Light."

http://subdreams.blogspot.com/2008/10/liberals-eid-
celebration.html

The young generation must have liked this talent of a presidential hope. Yes! we have some true liberal leaders in our nation.

Ibra - No sensible drawbacks, outstandingly exceptional …what else we want him to prove?

2008-09-22T19:17:00.019+05:00

He is the man with a vision, man with great political wisdom. Man firm of his principles and beliefs. Man fearless to voice for the betterment of the people. He has repeatedly proved his integrity and selflessness work for the people. Undoubtedly he is the most prominent and pragmatic political figure of current political spectrum. These descriptions only better goa well with the academic turned reformist turned politician Mr. Ibrahim Ismail, famously known as Ibra.a

I don’t think there willa be much who disagrees with what I mentioned above. As a parliamentarian and from his rhetoric attitude, he has earned a huge respect of the people via his vital role in advocating several crucial issues close to our lives. MDP or DRP, Maumoon or Anni, South or North, everyone regard Ibra as a respected politician.

Nonetheless when he is now on the run for the president I have sensed there are some who aren’t prepared to support their sincere candidate. Reasons are not quite clear as not very often it’s revealed. As it sounds this scenario is very confusing and upsetting to me. So I attempted to discover what his ‘secret’ drawbacks are:-

Discriminative Reason

Many aren’t very open to express their reluctance towards him because major complain is his disability. I know, it sounds very immoral and sick, but there are some who finds nothing wrong with him except his physical disability / or his look.

Why do we consider physical appearance as the ‘decisive’ quality of a leader? Are we defining disabled just physically? (We have experienced a ‘mentally disabled’ regime for long enough). Anyone who has witnessed the Q&A session of all candidates Ibra was much ‘able’ then all of the so called ‘able’ contenders. He talked concrete, substantive stuffs with clarity unlike others. C’mon friends it’s all we need… an earnest voice or an intellectual to enhance our lives and our beloved nation. And Ibra is the one whom we can depend and we can trust.
….What else we want him to prove?

If anyone thinks he can’t be active enough to transport to approach enough to the people then just get hold of this simple fact, Ibra has travelled 198 islands even before becoming a politician. He did his Bachelor degree and masters in the University of Canberra of Australia just being the same him (for his thesis he received commendation and honours). And he was the same ‘disabled’ when he was the key architect in renewing our constitution. He was the same while addressing numerous of our essential concerns in the parliament. I salute him for these achievements.

Moreover let’s gain knowledge from the history of politics. History has witnessed some golden (significantly physically disabled yet) greatest leaders of the world. You already might have known Mr. Abdul Rahman Wahid of Indonesia, he was blind but yet was a president. Let’s take UK… The current PM, Mr. Gordon Brown is half blind. One of the leaders of French revolution George counthon was paraplegics (paralysis). Furthermore one of the greatest presidents United States of America (our role model system) has ever seen is Franklin D. Roosevelt. The US president during the period of Second World War is the only president who has served the office four terms.

Franklin D Roosevelt

When he was elected for the final term he was parapelgic (his both legs and lower extremities were paralysed entirely). Was only able to move with assistance of his wife and a wheel chair, yet the Americans did elect him as their leader just because he was keen and capable of the job.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! We need to think civilized. Decide based on needed talent and not on a locomotive limb.

Lack of financial influence in campaign

Distinct to other candidates Ibra is not involved in playing the money politics.

His philosophy is to try convincing people detailing his policy and vision rather doing it with the money power. He is not scared to take any action for the good even if the circumstances may uncertain his popularity.

He is the most fearless candidate who respects our thinking. One who is asking us to believe what he says, only after showing his potential, practically. One who believes in our right to think and our right to decide based on our assessment.
…What else we want him to prove?

Need to over throw this regime

Some believe it’s not time to pick a wise leader rather have to go with anyone who can topple this regime.

It’s totally a very incorrect thinking. It’s a mistake we did 30 years back and the very reason we are suffering today. We have a new democratic constitution. It can only be governed by a person who has potential to establish rule of law and justice, person who can establish equality among us. That’s what Ibra is promising, contrast to others; his promises are realistic, obligatory and logical.
….What else we want him to prove?

He is a reformist who is constant and coherent with his statements. His actions are parallel to his words. Past or present, he is fighting for the same cause.
http://muthuim.blogspot.com/2008/09/history-matters-when-deciding.html

We can vote for the most competent even in this election. It will not enhance Maumoon’s chance of winning neither it will get wasted. Any vote against Maumoon will lower his total results and you can have a possible second round to blindly vote the opposition most ‘influential’ candidate. To get some details of this click this link;
http://muthuim.blogspot.com/2008/09/one-candidate-or-more.html

Therefore its time for us to wake up, time to decide our votes wisely. Study all candidates thoroughly, from past track record, manifesto, actions, and speeches…Etc.

We not only need a change, but we need a BETTER change. & I believe Ibra is the charismatic change we can trust upon, a change we can, and change we shall.

A Failed ‘Siyaasath’ – Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom

2008-09-17T17:28:00.003+05:00

Last night was quite historical. A man mostly characterized as a violent and autocratic ruler, Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom was live on a talk show ‘Siyaasath’ of TVM. This was the first time I have seen a Maldivian journalist throwing ‘some’ pressurize questions at him. Perhaps first time he was facing such face to face too. It was an interesting episode although the interviewer appeared a bit fearful to his brutal leader. Mr. Shakir from VOM (interviewer) did a commendable job by hosting the show, but last night even he was looking faded and rather simply out of touch. He did ask sensibly fine questions, but failed to respond smart following answers which he did well in previous episodes.

Mr. Maumoon was looking over-confident as he is always and also did talk rubbish, also something he do often. Most strangely when he was asked if he had lied to the public in any circumstance in his 30 years of service? Reply was a big NO with a smile. (May be he has forgotten the definition of lie)….It’s not a joke! One who always Claim himself as the only ‘recognized’ religious academic, his explanation for this was queasiness. “I always do say ‘insha allah’ or ‘by will of god’ starting all my promises, so it cannot be a lie”! Is that means with those he is immune to lies? I’m not a religious intellectual but it simply doesn’t make sense to me.

Another interesting point he highlighted was about the Quran translation. Answering about his view on women covering with veil he said it’s not legitimate to rely on Quran translation when reasoning or giving verification. (But the English translation of Quran is used in many Islamic Universities in researching …are these works futile!!?) We all know his view on the topic. None of his family members is covered. (As if it’s not compulsory to his family but is to Sheikh Rashid’s.)

He is standing for a seventh term only because he thinks he is still the Mr. Perfect who can lead us on the road of democracy. Was his 30 years of ruling failed to educate or train people who are capable to lead this country? His answer was NO, thus admitting there are capable leaders…if so why is he in a run after serving six terms? I couldn’t figure out any other possibility than being egocentric or being selfish.

We Maldivian have lot of distance yet to complete to attain a liberal democracy. It took 25 years just to initiate a reform process. It took 25 year just for ourselves to get prepared for such a change. But when started it took just 5 years to bring about so many changes, HUMAN MIND…. Very unpredictable. Isn’t it?

Maumoon has already shown in past that his administration (should he win the election) will simply be a continuation of the untruths and distortions. Although there is constant change in every political campaign - one thing remains the same. It’s the same MANTRA - every five years he says, the media regurgitates it, outraged public condemn it, and voters complain about it. It’s as though we’ve forgotten that five years ago we have heard the exact same promises from the same person

Despite the inflation rising to two digit figure he claims our economy is intact. The society is contaminated with various social ills. Well! His plans of resolving these issues are a bit comical. The “universal” solution is said to bridge between Hulhumale and Male’!!!!?????? (May be I’m too dumb to understand this!! It only reminds me of Alladin and his magical lamp)

I fear this whole country is headed on a “Bridge to Nowhere”….

History matters when deciding.

2008-09-14T16:21:00.008+05:00

Thursday, 12th August 2004

Source: Dhivehi Observer

2:15am
"Then Special Majlis member for Male' Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra) called out on the megaphone 'Assalaam alaikum' and the crowd replied the salute back, 'Alaikum salaam'. All the people addressing the crowd began with 'Assalam Alaikum'. I mentioned Ibra's salute because he repeated the phrase a couple of times until there was complete silence. The crowd was eager to hear what he was going to say, unlike the previous speakers.Ibrahim Ismail said that he was not a person who can move easily among such a crowd. He said he was asked to come and address the crowd because people didn't listen to the previous speakers. He asked the crowd to tell him what their demands were, and he would take these demands to the NSS authorities for their consideration. People told him their demands, which were:
- Release of the detained reformists
- Release of Sandhaanu prisoners (writers and reformists)
- Release of Naushad Waheed (artist and reformist)
- Resignation of Abdullah Hameed (Minister of Atolls, Gayyoom's brother)
- Resignation of Yameen (Minister of Trade, Gayyoom's brother )
- Resignation of the President (Maumoon Gayyoom) "

2:35am
"Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra) then told the crowd that he wanted the people to move back into the Republican Square to properly discuss all their issues and submit them to NSS Brigadier Moosa Jaleel. The crowd moved along with Ibra. He was carried by the crowd and seated at the base of the tall flag post in Republican Square. This is the same flag post under which Gayyoom and his supporters allegedly cast a fanditha (black magic) spell to protect his presidency.When Ibrahim Ismail tried to address the people around the flag post, one NSS officer stood on the platform and harassed the crowd. People were furious and demanded that he go elsewhere. I was told he said, 'I will not move from this location while the flag is hoisted.' People around the platform then removed him from the platform. There was a loud cheer when this happened.Ibrahim Ismail said he was with the people and he will always listen to the people. He said that NSS Brigadier Moosa Jaleel has assured him that no force would be used against the people if they remained peacefully in Republican Square.The square was almost full of people now."

One candidate?? OR more??

2008-09-10T05:31:00.002+05:00

In a previous post I have expressed my view about one candidate issue. At that moment I thought its impractical if multiple opposition candidates contest against Gayyoom. But later I did study the plot proposed by Ibra. Let me share how I think it works:

For an e.g.: Let’s assume the total no of eligible voters is 20.

Only two candidates contested, say Maumoon and Anni. As we all know people are politically differentiated to pro-Maumoon and anti-Maumoon. So its obvious Maumoon will get a fixed number of voters for his side. Say its 9.

There will be some anti-Maumoon voters who even dislike Anni. So there is high probability some of them won’t take part in the election saying they don’t like either. Let’s take it total of 3. Which means Anni can get a maximum of 8 votes.

Therefore number of voters participated in the election is 17

When percentage is done in such circumstances, the results will be as follows:-
Maumoon - 9/17 = 52%
Anni - 8/17 = 47%
(Meaning Maumoon gets more than 51% thus winning)

BUT
With several candidates available, varieties of choices are available so even those who dislike Anni among opposition will have their favourite to vote. This will surely split opposition votes but the number of voters take part in the election will increase. Say it increased to 19. The new calculations for Maumoon will be:-

Maumoon - 9/19 = 47%

This shows although he has the same 9 voters his total percentage decrease when more choices are given to public which will increase the number of voters. At the same time we will get the most popular opposition candidate for the second round of voting.

P: S. In an interview to the Siyaasath program of TVM, Anni did admitted this theory can be more effective. He said he now believes what Ibra said then was right.

It’s the time to show bravery over egoism.

2008-05-08T19:26:00.001+05:00

The Civil Service Act ratified by president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom during May last year was to be made effective within 12 months of the ratification. Despite facing huge challenges especially within or by those who very implemented the act finally it has came into force. From the initial statements by Dr. Latheef (president of the civil service commission) for May 1, 1714 civil servants was retired due to reaching the retirement age of 65.

I would like to thank deep from heart to all 1, 1714 employees who has to retire under this act. We do and always will appreciate their precious dedication to the civil service.

This act is in fact very much needed for the civil servants. It was expected to get rid of the ‘politically mixed up, confused’ government infrastructure. BUT sadly in the very first days after enforcement, 10 special Majlis members have filed law suits against civil service commission due to the notice they were given asking to choose between staying as a MP of Majlis or to remain in the civil service. The court ordered not to act up on the notice until the matter is decided accusing its conflicting with the constitution. Responding to this Commission has issued a notice declaring they aren’t part of the service. Indeed a very pleased reaction… but will those MPs be silent and pleased with this decision? No they aren’t….

My point here is if they aren’t ready to obey the act why first place implemented it by voting? If it is conflicting with the constitution what is the role of AG and president before ratifying? And interestingly and ‘perhaps’ it’s coincide that all of the MPs are DRP members. And it’s them who gave majority votes to pass the civil service bill and it’s their ‘zaeem’ who as the president of the republic of Maldives ratified it.

I’m shameful to even mention that, while our economy is on a downfall these already highly paid MPs are on a discussion to increase their salary to a record breaking 67000 rufiyaa!!!! (Where as in all other sectors the basic salary is still as low as 2500 rufiyaa)When country’s inflation is being raised to a double digit figure I reckon this is a huge threat to the national economic reservoir.

With due respect its advisable to all these MPs to RESIGN from one of the post immediately. Otherwise the civil service act will be meaningless which will kill the hopes/rights of several government employees. Its time for the MPs to do something good for the people whose votes ‘only’ elected them.