The Six Drug lords

Four years and years we have faced with the growing concern of drug abuse in the Maldives. Under the rule of the so called notorious dictator Gayoom and his chief torturer Adam Zahir there was wide spread accusations that the state is behind the huge imports of narcotics into the Maldives.

It is with great expectations of the people that the old guard was got ridden of and the new government was put in place. One was to stop the inflow of narcotics and to establish mechanisms that will enable the arrest and prosecution of the drug lords of Maldives.

During the run up to the last parliamentary elections we heard about six drug lords of whom the Police had ample evidence to prosecute them. The reasons, as stated by the President himself was that the current Administration do not wish to influence the elections as some among the six well know drug lords to this administration was some who were running for the parliament. The President also stressed that just after the elections these drug lords will be arrested.

There was wide spread speculations that among the aforesaid six there will definitely be Gayoom’s brother Yaamin. And several others were finger pointed at.

So, a month after the elections, where are these six drug lords. They are still taking lives of so many youth in Maldives. A lot of parents are still left out to grieve. We still live in constant fear of gang violence that the Police relate to drug dealings and drug abuse.

I believe it is time to the President to speed up this operation and arrest those responsible for the inflow of narcotics into the country. Or like Gayoom is Nasheed’s hands tied as well. We are yet to find out.

Comment and Analysis: Shelter in the "Other Maldives"

Since my childhood, my siblings and I have been living like refugees. We've been continuously moving from one room to another for shelter. That’s not because we’re real refugees, but because my father refuses to let us into our home.

For the past 14 years, my two sisters, two brothers and I have rented different places from north to south and east to west Male', even though we are Male’ citizens. There wasn't much to distinguish us from immigrant islanders. The only difference was that they’re registered in the registry of Male’ municipality, and we’re registered in my father’s house, G.Shady Ground, which he inherited from our grandfather.

Unfortunately, before giving us any chance to live in it, my father sold our house in two parts. One half was sold in the earlier Maldives, before the 2008 presidential elections, and the second half was sold in the "Other Maldives”.

When we got the news that the second half of our house was sold, we immediately filed the case at High Court. We were very confident that we would win the case for three reasons.
The first reason was that when my father sold our house, he had a minor and two unmarried girls to look after. Under the law, children under the age of 18, as well as unmarried girls, have to be provided with property. Secondly, he sold our house, by giving a false statement to the civil court. For example, he said that his family (including us) was living in Sri Lanka, which wasn’t true. Lastly, he sold our house, even though he had a mortgage for it from the Bank of Maldives.
All of these were in breach of the Land Act, but shockingly, the civil court failed to address the above issues before the verdict.

Before the High Court case, the civil court had declared that my father had legally sold the house. But during our High Court hearings, the court sent a letter suspending the civil court ruling, until the verdict had been announced. During this time, the house still belonged to my father.

Although we had the legal right to move back into our half of the house, the buyer's family did not move out. After holding two protests, demanding to get our house back, my siblings and I were finally able to move into my father’s place. We were sharing a single bedroom from my father’s part of the house, while the rest was occupied by the buyer’s children.
For more than two weeks police were looking after the security, as per request of the buyer.
One night, a team of police arrived at our house, demanding us to leave the place. We responded, saying if we had to leave the room, the buyer should also clear the rest of the rooms, which were on my father’s side. But the police team refused to communicate with us, claiming that the decision was made under a court-issued warrant.

When we refused, dozens of star force police came, and arrested me, my sisters and brother. We were handcuffed behind our backs and taken to Atholhuvehi custodial at around 2am. We were made sit in chairs, handcuffed, facing a wall until early morning.
We were told that there hadn't been a court order for our arrest, but only a command of a “superior person”. After the call for morning Azaan, my eldest sister was released, while the rest of us remained detained. Instead of the morning breakfast, we were welcomed with a special investigation.

Separately, at first, my elder brother was made to fully undress, and then I was as well. Later, both of us were taken to a cell. My youngest sister too was forced to undress. They made her stand up and sit down while naked three times as a punishment. We have since been told that her treatment was highly irregular and have filed a case with the Human Rights Commission Maldives.

In the afternoon, my brother and I were served lunch. We refused to eat it, knowing that my younger sister wouldn’t eat anything, believing that we were hungry. And indeed this was what happened. When we met up with her again, she said she had refused to eat, because she thought that we hadn't been fed.

I never dreamed that I would have to experience such cruel and inhumane things in the "Other Maldives”, but unfortunately, my siblings and I were one of the early victims.

In the afternoon, we were released. Frustration and anger didn’t make us give up. We protested outside the civil court, demanding our rights. Days later, High Court made a ruling in our favour, but once gain the police refused to let us into the house. Instead, the buyer continued living there without adhering to the High Court verdict.

In order to adhere to the High Court ruling, we presented this case to civil court. Before any of the hearings, once again my father presented a case to the civil court to sell the same house to the same buyer.

We had also brought my father’s case to the police, asking for an investigation into providing false details to civil court, when selling our home. Yet it seemed that still the case wasn't considered a big deal.

These things remind me of a quotation from Mother Teresa, which gives us the strength to fight for our rights.

“Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.”

Article: Minivannews

Biggest IT con artist has been sacked

During the late 90's a chap who used to work for Dhiraagu went from enterprise to enterprise convincing the management that the future of their business is through Information Technology. He was the one who introduced the idea of going to a more IT friendly approach and hence creating a wealth of his own through sale of computers in the name of "Information Technology" at prices twice as high as buying a better configuration from nearby Singapore.

During the millenium bug hype, his company sold, on average, 500-600 computers at markups not less than $1000  each. The entire government and the corporates were entagled in this hype that his company made a huge fortune. 

The next step to him was networking. He has implemented networks at resorts the did not work even on the first day. His policy for partnerships did not bear fruit as his approach for a partnership was more based on "I want it all".

Then came the internet age. Through his not so good guidance and technology knowhow, he led a licensed service provider to its doom. From low level technologies and equipment to false promises to major customers to whom he delivers less than half of the solution promised.

The fate of him should and did end as the community anticipated. He has been sacked form the post of Managing Director of his own company. Though we would like to wish him luck, it is high time everyone learned that he should better find another profession. 

Law can be a good alternative...

The Abdulla Kamaaluddeen Example

People Say - Kamaaluddeen Go Home...

Maumoon Says - Kamaaluddeen come as Minister...

MDP Says -  When People reject, no place in government... So Dictatorship...

People Say - Unimaage' Adhil Go Home...

Anni Says - Unimaage' Adhil come as State Minister...

DRP Says - ???????????????

Cognitive dissonance

How did people who stood in line to vote for a dictator rationalise their decision? It remains a mystery to me. But a blog post, riddled with contradictions, by former legal reform minister Mohamed Nasheed threw up some interesting clues. 

“MDP [Maldivian Democratic Party] must be recognised for the creative thinking behind its propaganda. They were able to convince a great deal of Maldivians that democracy and freedom as available in the western world today should have been available in the Maldives all the way through the past thirty years,” Nasheed writes (Italics mine).

Nasheed dismisses out of hand that his former master Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was a despot responsible for human rights abuses, wanton corruption, and nepotism. Not to mention, 30 years of undemocratic misrule and curtailment of basic rights.

Tracing the history of the democracy movement, which forced Gayoom to enact a sweeping agenda for democratic reform, Nasheed implies that its demands for freedom of expression, an independent judiciary and separation of powers were unwarranted and unreasonable, arguing that the MDP “distorted” the truth to serve its purposes. 

Strangely, Nasheed then acknowledges, and even commends, the success of MDP’s “anti-Gayoom rhetoric”, but goes on to state that the public perception of a dictatorship it fostered was not based on reality.

But, just as he conveniently omits any mention of torture and arbitrary arrest of activists, he does not offer any explanation as to why so many people accepted MDP’s message of liberation from the clutches of a tyrant. But it begs the question, why did it resonate so deeply and “sink into the psyche of the Maldivian people” if it was so wildly exaggerated? 

Ultimately, his argument boils down to a patently absurd narrative: a bunch of restless rabble-rousers misled a sleepy populace to rise up against a benevolent ruler who brought progress and prosperity to the nation.  

The Maldives during Gayoom’s reign might not have been apartheid-era South Africa, but it is still disingenuous to deny that gross injustices took place. It did not happen that long ago either. 

In his blog post, Nasheed further implies that Maldivians were not overly concerned with democracy before MDP came on the scene. As a result of the opposition’s efforts, he says, inalienable rights became important “almost overnight”. 

“Equality before the law, fair share in economy, equitable distribution of wealth, rule of law, fundamental rights, democracy, freedom and many more similar phrases became household expressions. All of a sudden, everybody was conversant in the language of democracy,” he writes.  

It is a common diversionary tactic to ascribe these universal values to the West as if to say social justice does not matter to people east of the Suez Canal.

Moreover, apologists for the former regime excuse police brutality and mass incarceration by saying the old illiberal constitution entitled the president to take such measures. Yet these same people now self-righteously extol the virtues of the democratic principles enshrined in the new constitution.   

According to that logic, morality is derived from laws written on a parchment and changed radically on 7 August 2008, when the constitution was ratified. 

Ironically, although they did not believe it was necessary for 27 years, Gayoom and his party now claim credit for introducing democracy by pointing to a “successful” reform agenda. I am willing to concede that it was indeed successful. It was so successful Gayoom ended up losing his job.

Article by Ahmed Naish on www.minivannews.com