Has Islamic terrorism arrived on Maldives

Fears have been growing in the Maldives that Islamic radicals would bring violence to the Muslim island state. There were concerns that yesterday's bombers had deliberately targeted foreign tourists – as Islamic terrorists did on the holiday island of Bali in 2002. Despite its reputation as an Indian Ocean paradise, the former British protectorate is no stranger to unrest, riots and attempted coups. But this is the first time that it has been bombed. more

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Twelve tourists injured in Maldives explosion

MALE, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Twelve tourists have been injured in an explosion in the Maldives' capital, Male, local media and a witness said. The explosion took place just after 1500 local at the entrance to the capital's Sultan Park, a stop-off for all tour groups in the capital.more

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BBC World Service in the Maldives for the first time

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29 September August 2007

Listeners in the Maldives capital of Male can now enjoy BBC programmes for the first time thanks to a new agreement with 95.6 Capital Radio, owned by Asna Maldives Pte Ltd. 95.6 Capital Radio will broadcast BBC news bulletins, current affairs and analyses programmes daily .

Helen Kathuria, BBC Business Development Manager for the South Asia Pacific region said: “We are delighted to be partnering with one of the first private radio broadcaster in the Maldives. Listeners can now enjoy a range of BBC programmes, including news and analysis, and be kept up to date with the latest developments in global affairs and events.”

Mr. Abdulla Nasheed, Managing Director of Asna Maldives owners of Capital Radio said: “We are thrilled to be offering quality radio programmes from a credible news source to our listeners."

BBC programming can be heard on Capital Radio 95.6 every day between 0400 and 1000. In addition, BBC news bulletins will broadcast at 1100, 1400, 1700 and 2100 as well as sports news at 1350, 2050. Health Check can be heard on Mondays at 1530.

Intervene for reform in Maldives

as the government of Maldives tightens its grip and unleashes repression to foil the right to freedom of association and assembly of the supporters and activists of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on 10 November 2006 at capital Male, international community, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights must intervene to bring an end to the repression.

On 4 November 2006, Minivan News correspondent Phillip Wellman, an American national, and Graham Quick, a photographer with Britain's Observer newspaper were asked to leave the country immediately. Foreigners have been advised not to visit the country ahead of the November 10^th demonstration. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the longest serving dictator in Asia, has turned entire Maldives into an “Incommunicado Detention Centre”.more

Reports that the dictator printed more than 500,000 ballot papers

Maldives Dictator had pre-planned to rig Saturday's vote and printing extra ballot papers was part of the plan, it's been revealed. "We know that he had printed 500,000 ballot papers, but as we witnessed on the day, lots of stations ran out of ballot papers and in the case of Thinadhoo, papers were brought later on by a chartered flight," said Saleem Ali, asserting his view that the vote was rigged. "Also, the ink used in the voting was not permanent so many supporters of the regime, especially police in the island were able to vote more than once. We did not think about all this when we were monitoring the voting procedure," he added further. Despite this large quantity to printed ballot papers, we understand that new papers are being printed for the re-run of voting in two locations in Hithadhoo, which many are saying that they will boycott in protest for rigging the vote.

MDP office in Male' vandalised by thieves

Male' - Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) head office in Male' was broken into and vandalised by thieves on Wednesday. According to the secretariat, the incident occurred whilst the office was shut between 4:30pm and 9:30pm. "They broke in and forced open all the lockers. They also ripped the wood off the walls and door. We called the police immediately," Sec-Gen Hamid confirmed. It is unclear whether this was a random incident or a premeditated assault on party premise by the Dictator's thugs, which could not be ruled out considering such incidents in the past. Premises belonging to democracy activists and supporters have been under attack since the movement began and recent incidents such as that of robbery at Capital Travel office have once again raised concerns about the on-going lawlessness in the capital Male'. Many believe that these incidents are organised to create fear and unrest amongst the public.

Finance Ministry Tight Lipped On $30 Million HSBC Loan

By Ajay Makan
September 24, 2007

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The government is refusing to explain why it has borrowed $30 million from international bank HSBC at commercial interest rates.

Governments are generally able to borrow money from development institutions such as the World Bank or Asian Development Bank at below market rates.

But HSBC is a profit making private bank, and their loan must be repaid at 2.25% above LIBOR, LIBOR is the floating rate at which banks lend to each other.

LIBOR is currently at just over 5%. Repayments are due to start in two years and must be complete within eight.

A Finance Ministry statement said the loan will be used “to rebuild harbours destroyed in the 2004 tsunami,” and for, “other important projects.”

But Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim had already earmarked finance for harbour rebuilding in his 2007 budget.

It is the second time the government has turned to HSBC for finance. In 2002, the bank lent just over $10 million for the redevelopment of Gain airport.

But this time the government has borrowed for an already budgeted spend, adding to fears it has failed to raise finance to meet the ambitious spending plans outlined in Gasim’s $1 billion budget.

Analysts are speculating on other possible motives for borrowing from a private bank.

A Colombo based financial journalist said a development bank would demand expenditure is linked to development projects, whereas a commercial lender does not impose any limits on how money is spent.

The HSBC loan could therefore be intended for money printing, or to resolve a short term cash flow crisis.

"But 7.5% is not a bad rate for a country like the Maldives, if they spend it wisely. It just depends what they are going to use it for," she added.

Ali Hashim the former shadow Finance Minister, suggested the government may have been forced to borrow from a private bank because of a poor credit rating.

According to Hashim a team from Standard and Poor visited the Maldives two months ago to carry out an independent credit rating, but the Finance Ministry has refused to reveal the results.

“If the government’s credit rating is poor, private banks will be the only people they can get money off,” Hashim said.

Government finances have been under intense scrutiny following a barrage of negative assessments from international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.

But the government is avoiding questions about the loan. The Finance Ministry statement was not released to Minivan News or Jazeera, the papers most critical of the government.

Minister of state Rilwan Shareef told Minivan News “I have nothing to add to the press statement.” While Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim said he was too busy to comment.

HSBC has so far also refused to comment.

Referendum fraud case accepted by court

Male' - The case of referendum fraud submitted by Ali Sawad of S. Feydhoo has finally been accepted by the courts yesterday. "Initially they refused again but I called the Minister and a few minutes later the court called me and it was accepted", explained Sawad. This is the first of the many such cases which are being filed in the courts to prove that the August 18th referendum results were heavily rigged by Dictator Gayyoom. Sawad's case is about irregularities with voting procedures in his Atoll which he personally witnessed. Gayyoom's courts initially refused to accept any cases relating to the referendum but the new Justice Minister Muizzu appears to be a much more open minded person who is unwilling to bend the law to please his master.

Excess Ballot Papers Proof Of Vote Rigging: MDP

By Minivan News
September 26, 2007

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The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party claims to have more evidence of vote rigging in last month’s constitutional referendum as it seeks to have the result overturned.

Party chairman Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) appeared at a press conference yesterday brandishing a photocopy of a referendum ballot paper, which should not have passed out of the hands of election officials.

Anni told journalists the party had received “a number” of papers, “enough to change the result,” although he would not reveal exactly how many or where they were obtained from.

”Let The Special Majlis Decide”

Last month’s vote appeared to give victory to a government backed presidential system over an opposition backed parliamentary system by over 30,000 votes out of 160,000 ballots cast.

But the MDP has accused the government of vote rigging, and is seeking to overturn the result in the courts and in the Special Majlis.

The party says the government appointed election commissioner distributed additional ballot papers to allow vote stuffing in favour of a presidential system, and this is how the party has obtained a ballot paper.

“We want the results to be invalidated and for the Special Majlis to decide on a form of government,” Anni told Minivan News.

An in built government majority means the Special Majlis would most likely vote for a presidential system. But with an eye on next year’s presidential election, Anni is determined to alter the impression that the MDP suffered a popular electoral defeat in last month’s vote.

“We don’t want the government to say the people have voted for a presidential system, when they didn’t,” Anni says.

Key Report

With no court hearings scheduled on the legal challenges to the referendum results, the MDP is relying on the Special Majlis voting to overturn the results.

A key report from the committee of Special Majlis members which oversaw the vote is to be submitted by Saturday.

Annis is hoping the committee will detail sufficient voting irregularities for the result to be scrapped.

The committee has been divided between opposition aligned members of the People’s Association (PA), who are intent on highlighting irregularities, and government members led by committee chair Moosa Nizar, who support the result.

But PA member of the committee Abdullah Jabir said the committee is likely to agree a report by the postponed Saturday deadline. A draft document was circulated Monday, and will be discussed by members tomorrow.

Jabir stressed the report will not recommend either endorsing or rejecting the result, as “the Special Majlis must decide either way.”

Delaying The Constitution?

The government has seized on the MDP’s objections to the result to accuse the party of delaying the agreement of a new constitution. With a new constitution required for multi-candidate presidential elections to be held next year, and a November 30 deadline for agreeing a text looming, no party can afford to be seen stalling.

But Anni insists the MDP is doing everything it can to ensure a constitution can be agreed in time. And he says the party is willing to vote on any constitution proposed by the Special Majlis drafting committee in full, rather than debating individual chapters and amendments.

Is the five star hotel the solution?

The decision of the Government of Maldives to develop a 15-storey 200-bed tourist hotel on one of the few remaining public open spaces on Male' is an issue of serious concern for the residents of Male'. Given the urban conditions, the placement of this development in Male' is inappropriate and will further exacerbate the social, transport, housing and environmental problems. The process of decision making and execution of this project contravene existing government policies and strategies to alleviate the urban congestion of Male'. Based on this assessment, it is concluded that a better choice for the location of this development could be found elsewhere within the Greater male' Urban Region. This is an assessment made by a team of local professionals. download report (0.97MB)

MDP sues Elections Commissioner over Referendum fraud

The Maldivian Democratic Party last week submitted complaints against the Commissioner of Elections Mr. Kaaf Dhaal Ahmed Maniku to the Civil Court in Male’, citing him culpable in a number of fraudulent practices pertaining to the Referendum on a system of governance held on 18 August 2007. more