NOOR denied its peaceful gathering!

According to a NOOR spokesperson Thanzeela, everything was going according to plan to hold the show on the night of 21st November 2008 (originally it was planned on the 2th but was later changed to the 21st) until the Home Ministry stepped into the matter to complicate things.

One Rishwan speaking on behalf of the Chief of Staff of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) Moosa Ali Jaleel, according to NOOR spokesperson, gave full assurance from the MNDF to uphold the constitutional rights of the citizens for peaceful gathering before the music show was planned. MNDF even went a step further in promising to provide electricity from their HQ and a large tent in case it rains.

On the morning of the 21st, a spokesman from the Maldives Police Service called Jenny Latheef, and that that the show cannot be held in that area as it was and area that could provide a national security risk in the event a large gathering of people did attend the show. Now we all know that the Police falls under the Home Ministry currently headed by Hon. Gasim Ibrahim. This leaves a lot of people to believe that Hon. Gasim Ibrahim using his powers as the Home Minister had blocked the peaceful protest from taking place.

A little while later on the same day, Hon. Shafeeg, MP for Meemu Atoll, who works closely with Gasim Ibrahim called NOOR organizers and said that a permission had to be obtained from the Male Municipality. Despite many attempts the permission was unobtainable.

At this point major politics had come into play and the MNDF also withdrew their commitment to provide electricity for the show. NOOR, not to be defeated easily, decided to rent a generator, for as they say "the show must go on". Male' rental company, RKL was on the only people who can provide a generator of that capacity at such short notice and they agreed to rent the generator for MRF 1000 for the single nights use.

Personnel from NOOR went to collect the generator from RKL to collect the generator and make payments. RKL, broke their commitment to lease the generator to NOOR with no reason given as to why they will not be renting the generator to a cash paying customer. Again according to NOOR it was confirmed that major politics was at play here.

At this point NOOR changed its strategy to make it a protest against Gasim from the initial protest that was planned. On the NOOR face book group "Due to Home Minister denying us our right to gather peacefully for a musical gathering at Our public park, led to an impromptu musical lorry round calling for a better Home Minister who Understands the constitution."

On the 22nd, the very following day, Maldives Police Service in their website published a press released which I will publish in full. It reads;

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"Old Prison cells to be demolished

Police have taken the decision to terminate some of the old cells in Dhoonidhoo, a place where suspects are held temporarily during investigations.

The decision was made after the Home Minister's visit to Dhoonidhoo prison today, in which he declared that some of the older cells in the prison was not in a good enough condition for people to be held in.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Qasim Ibrahim, visited Dhoonidhoo prison upon the request of the Prison Committee of the People's parliament.

A total of 29 prison cells have been selected for termination including 2 cells from no. 1 Jail, 8 cells from no. 2 Jail and 19 cells from no. 6 Jail."

--------------

Speaking exclusively to "Random Thoughts on Paradise" Thanzeela, NOOR spokesperson asks a direct and confronting question to Gasim Ibrahim;

"Dear Mr. Home Minister, what are you trying to cover up? - does this have anything to do with your long standing connections with the Endherimaage clan who ruled the Maldives until recently for 30years as a dictatorship? - How can we as a nation face our dark and torturous past and achieve reconciliation if you are going to demolish the same cells that we wanted to be made open for the public and try and hide the atrocities committed by the Gayyoom Regime that you seem to have direct connections with?"

Now this is a tough question for a beloved dictatorial leaning Home Minister to answer. Lets see if the man has guts to respond to this question.

YOUTH MOVEMENT FOCUS! - NOOR

NOOR is an Youth Movement currently operating on on Facebook and was established on the 13th of Nov 2008, @ around 21.00hrs. Some of the key people involved in the movement are;

• Amdy Asif (Facebook Group Creator)
• Aminath Shifana
• Susan Ibrahim Fulhu
• Fathimath Thanzeela Naeem
• Anthu Omar
• Abo Rasheed
• Jenny Latheef.

This is not to say that these are the only people behind the movement. Many would like to remain anonymous due to their own reason and the type of work that they do in the NOOR movement. Even though we do not mention the names of all the people that is behind the Movement, it is a tremendous effort and contribution to this infant democracy that the organization is contributing towards.

NOOR stands for NATIVE OPERATORS ON RIGHTS (Haggah Takaa Dhivehin).

As published in their Facebook page the main objectives of the organisation are as follows;

Objectives
- Awareness and Advocacy on Rights
- Prevention of Rights Abuse

Non Violent Actions/Methods Utilized for Advocacy & Rights
- Awareness Campaigns
- Mobilization of People/Grassroots
- Petitions
- Demonstrations
- Other non-violent strategies

Functions
- Addressing issues of national & social concern through relevant utilization of non-violent methods
- Acting as watchdogs of the democratic pillars of our society to maintain a true democracy
- Advocacy & Awareness on truth & reconciliation
- Advocacy for national history to be told objectively and in truth.

It is very much understood that since the demise of the 30 year old dictatorship of Gayyoom and the inauguration of president Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed as the newly democratically elected president of the Republic of Maldives, it is my belief and the belief of the a lot of people, especially the youth of the nation to put to task the new administration of President Mohamed Nasheed as soon as possible so that our journey towards a full fledged democracy is not curtailed or delayed in anyway.

My sources confirm me that the president himself, who has been a human rights activist for most of his life supports the initiatives undertaken by NOOR and is willing to give the necessary support within the guidelines of the law. The people that is scared of Movements like NOOR are our beloved Home Minister Hon. Gasim Ibrahim and the police force that he commands. But the upside of this is and the fact that we can all rejoice is that the MNDF headed now by recently appointed Chief of Staff Moosa Ali Jaleel is also in support of such movement and we are grateful for this kind of support. These information's that I have obtained from the very people that is involved in the Movement and the leaks that we have obtained from the police, the Home Ministry and the MNDF. So it remains to be seen how this Youth movement would fare out in the coming days and months ahead.

NOOR's activities were first seen when they participated in the Joining of Hands on the International Children s Rights Day ( 19th November 2008 @ 4.30pm). The event was mainly held in the Capital Male' but it is reported that some islands participated to make it a nationwide event. All in all, the event was considered a success by the organizers of the event and the participants.

NOOR is currently working on an ambious project of shutting down Dhoonidhoo Detention Unit (DDU). One of the first steps that NOOR is taking is to organize a music show at the Jumhoory Park (for those who don't know - its the Park in front of the Police Station HQ). The event has been dubbed "Loiybah Takaa - meaning "For Love"). It is to be currently scheduled to be held on the 21th November 2008, starting from 4pm to 6pm and 8pm to 12am.

According to the flyers distributed in Male' yesterday, it reads;

"The "Loibah Takaa" musical gathering is a loving call to the newly elected president to stop the saga of fear of Dhoonidhoo Detention Unit (DDU), as a goodwill gesture to all ALL citizens of our nations future. We are also asking for DDU to be (made) open to (the) public so that people who hasn't seen the place can see and get a good idea of the conditions of our jails, and we as a nation learn from our mistakes and grow to understand that all people are equal in front of the law, and that humanity is important for us to survive as a nation in peace. Amin"

Jenny Latheef, one of the founders of the NOOR Youth Movement writes in the NOOR Facebook Group:

"Through out our lives many of us have heard stories of the infamous Dhoonidhoo Detention Center. Maybe not all of us have been unfortunate enough to experience the isolation, or torture at this jail, nonetheless, it has been feared by almost all Maldivians. I believe by closing the jail as a jail down and opening it to the public will be a goodwill gesture of being non threatening to our people by President Nasheed. We really don't need this huge infrastructure of jails in this tiny nation."

Jenny continues;

"DDU has been used for too much evil for too long.... it's a symbol of crimes against humanity... (there is) no need for a place like that. We have more jails per square meter than most countries. We do not have that many criminals do we? Most people in jail are for brown sugar (low grade heroin) related issues. Since the new government said they will find a solution for the drug problem, I think it is safe to say the new government does not see brown sugar addicts as criminals, but as a social and national problem. And it would lower their costs of governance if DDU is shut down as a jail, but opened up for public view. People could even pay a few Ruffiyya's to go there, thereby getting a revenue too.

"Can't imagine Anni (President Mohamed Nasheed) using DDU as a jail.... as he and many in his family went through a lot their too... but then again so did Gayoom. My hope.... that President Nasheed puts an end to the DDU saga... as a good will gesture to all people of this nation that he has no intention of being a threat to anyone unjustly..."

On the Question of why Dhoonidhoo Detension Unit (DDU) and not other Jails that has seen similiar torture, Fathimath Thanzeela Naeem, also one of the founders behind NOOR says in the same NOOR Facebook Group:

"Do you think that if they closed this jail facility that we would lack the jail space needed? Or do we have more Jail spaces? Does anyone know how much people we can accommodate (or jail) in total in all the holding facilities the police have?"

She goes on to ask;

"What is the government spending on the Jails? That is excluding the food they provide for the inmates."

Fathimath Thanzeela Naeem speaking on the history of torture in the Maldivian Jails, contnues;

"Are the people ready for the truth to be told about our history? If Maumoon's to be exposed for the torturer he was, then so should Nasir. So if we want the Dhoonidhoo jail closed down, and open to public, we have to also be ready to write our history books in truth - Why do we find comfort in telling our nation that a RANNAMAARI ( mythical beast that came from the sea) appeared and ate the virgin girls???"

The Maldivian history we-written according the wishes and whims of the preveous leaders of the country has been trying to prove to us that we have been a nation of peace towards each other. on the other hand the real Maldivian looking back at history tends to forget as a nation, our past very easily. NOOR on the other hand believes, in the words of Munadhi, another activist involved with NOOR;

"Let it be a reminder of the dark years in Maldives. . .

"We should keep the prison for the next generation to see . . . it should be close down as soon as possible, BUT also (shouldbe kept) as a reminder about how thing were ..... so as thing improve , we shud be able to look back on how things were in 5 years"

In my oipnion this is a noble cause and a cause worthy of pursuing.

The group acknoldges that closing down DDU is not going to be an easy talk. Jenny in her reserch on public opinion on about shutting DDU came accross some disturbing facts;

"Some people are puzzled as to the significance of closing Dhoonidhoo, and opening up for the public."

Her Response was;

"Doonidhoo has been a jail for longer than any other. It is a symbol of oppression and inhumanity. So the event is aimed for the newly elected president that the people has hoped for so much from, to show our people that he is not going to use the same fear methods. And we can hope for justice, equality and freedom from fear from this government. Hopefully, it will bring both the people who voted for Nasheed and Gayoom to FEEL the symbolic act of being non oppressive and a future we can hope for... it the beginning of a truth & reconciliation effort initiated by some really motivated youth. The truth will slowly set us free as a nation & we can also hope for our history to be written right... there are many other important issues, we hope to get enough people motivated to address issues they are passionate about... this is hopefully, just the beginning..."

I wish NOOR good luck in their endevour. I wll post my opinions on the matter as it further unfolds.

*** some quotes have been edited for clarity without looking the main point of the matter.

Back Again!

Its been a long time since I had written. Longtime not to be writing when writing has been a passion of mine for so long. Its not that I haven't written anything in the last year, its just that I have had my focus elsewhere and my involvement and commitment in the reform process has taken me on a journey that has been at times rewarding, disappointing, hopeless. The journey of the Maldivian reform process has also lead me down paths that have showed me different sides of the Maldivian political landscape that I would have not known otherwise.

Its not an excuse to not write. So I in the coming days I will try and fill in as much as possible about my thoughts on the democratization of our beloved country and the things that lay ahead of us.

But damn, its good to be back.

MDP Leadership lied to the Greater Majority of the Party!

When the Special Majlis had its Business Committee meeting without its original chair and was chaired by Dr. Hussain Rasheed, on the 9th of December, to decide whether the Majlis should go for recess, my sources confirm to me that the MDP and PA was going to boycott the meeting.

But the truth of the matter is that while PA kept its commitment to boycott the Businesses Committee meeting MDP or rather Anni, in the most dictatorial fashion allowed two of his members to attend the meeting, so that the quorum could be met, while the MDP parliamentary group was also kept in the dark on this matter. My disappointment of MDP increased 10 fold because of this action taken by Anni.

It is my belief he is also wanting to buy time much like Gayyoom (his agenda is always obvious - remain in power as long as possible), to push their own agenda's (that he has not made public yet), the agenda being that Anni is almost convinced that MDP should be backing Dr. Saeed presidential bid. This would in the end result in much greater infighiting between the true reformists and the grassroots activist and the leadership of the MDP. As for the so called "Maldivian Democratic Alliance Movement" is merely hanging by a thread and Gayyoom appears to get ready to slip through the chaos that he is engineering between all the political factions through this alliance.

The reasons for the recess was proposed by the government or DRP because President Gayyoom is going to be out of town for Haj and he does not want to loose control of the proceedings of the Majlis.

Anni's support for this recess without the consent of the majority of the party members is that he is busy gaining international support for Saeed's proposal for a transitional government ahead of the proposed multi party elections in 2008. the down side of this is that he constitution is not finished yet and the main focus right now should be on finishing a constitution that reflects the democratic aspirations of the people of this republic.

The Majlis has already missed 2 deadlines, one promised by the government the other voted and agreed on the floor of the Majlis by its members. The rushing of the Constitutional reform has already resulted in so many blunders being made that is not in the favor of the democratic aspirations of the freedom loving and democracy aspiring Maldivian population.

But now since the deadlines has been missed and the creation of a new deadline has been rejected in the floor of the Majlis on the night of th 30th December just before the deadline of midnight, the pulse of the Majlis is to continue as it is going as witnessed by the Pandemonium that took place after Gasim Ibrahim announced to the plenary of the Majlis on the 10th of December that the Business Committee has unanimously decided to go for a recess when the fact of the matter is the it could not have been a unanimous meeting when some members of the committee did not attend the meeting. Gasim "acting under the orders" of someone has broken the rules of the Majlis and lied to the greater population of this Nation.

The Majlis has been working non stop for more that 190 days now, and after all this work, the pulse of the most of the members is that we do not need a break of this long any more, but rather lets continue in this spirit of national unity and finish of this constitutional reform process as soon as possible so that we could hold a multi-party election in 2008 which Gayyoom appears to be adamant to not to allow it to happen.

Career politicians and Greedy politicans

Years of programing or conditioning of the minds of the public has lead to a society to believe that the only way ahead is my being corrupt. I call this corruption because I cannot call an apple an orange. But these so called politicians don't necessarily see them as corrupt politicians, but their actions are a means to end. Its more "doing friends favors" as they would like to call it and they see it as actions done for the greater good of this country that I strongly disagree and object.

My many conversations with the so called politicians in this country confirm this attitude as a prevalent problem among the whole order of the society and the political actors in this country. They would take more than give more to the people they are supposed to represent at different levels of parliament or government.

This has become a decease among the population. A decease so deep rooted that it is near impossible to uproot it and plant new seeds to grow a whole new crop of decent career politicians with the peoples best interest at heart. I am at a complete loss as to how this "truly democratic" movement would move towards building a generation of career politicians without their own agendas.

If my readers are having any ideas please share these with all of us so that we can try and build this country for the benefit of this nation. I refuse to believe that money dictates everything and that humanity can be so unreliable.

I have been able to make contacts with certain individuals that might possibly have no personal agenda other than try and build a nation on the likes of Dubai or Singapore and this is a better option than the ones that is being presented by MDP, DRP, PA or the New Maldives Movement.

For the record I would like to stress that, the other available options of Adaalath, IDP and currently now pushing for independence from the government, the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs are not going to be good political options for this country and we as forward thinking Maldivians should try and stop them in their tracks before they get out of hand. For this we need the support of all concerned Maldivian citizens to work together.

Let us try and put aside our differences and work together to build this nation that is slowly sliding into economic and social chaos at a rapid rate.

Maldivian Bloggers Community!

I would very much appreciate all Maldivian Bloggers sending me their links for me to include in "Maldivian Bloggers" section of this blog of mine. The idea is to create a one stop Maldivian Blog Center that we all bloggers could reach out to and exchange ideas.

Looking forward to support from you all Blog Heads out there!

Cheers!

Human Rights for Some!

Last nights show organized by some of the local NGO's and MDP was a success to some, because we did end up celebrating the World Human Rights Day without interference from the Government Authorities or the police being there. It was a much smoother affair than the previous year when the Maldives police and the Military cracked down on the crowd and ultimately shut down the celebrations.

Gayyoom has been one smart 'mofo' all these years. He has hidden the World Human Rights Day in the Maldives as the Fisherman's Day since he became president. But since the reform movement started and as it gained momentum the public in general had realized that there actually is a day for the celebration of our rights as humans that unites and brings us all together.

But it does leave the question of the poor fisherman who toil the seas for a living and is considered as one of the backbones of this society. Other than the 10th of December, they should still be given a day that we all celebrate our fisherman that makes the islands of this beautiful Nation ever so slightly livable under the oppressive rulers of all our leaders according to history and not just Gayyoom himself.

Back on the Blog!

After a long break from my blog, it feels good to be back. My sincere apologies for being away, but unavoidable circumstances lead me to not be able to post for a long time.

A few friends of mine asked me whether I ran out of things to say, but I assure you all my readers that, that is not the case. I have been simply very busy with work and also my health has been a factor for me to be unable to do any posting all this time. But now I am feeling much better and taking better care of myself.

So at this critical juncture in the political scenario of this country I am so excited to be back and posting my thoughts on the events that are unfolding all around us, directly and indirectly effecting our lives.

ITS GOOD TO BE BACK!

Congratulations to Dr. Munavvar & the MDP!

Its been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. Life just seems to find many ways to make a person so busy that one simply cannot do something as simple as post on a personal Blog.

Anyways, MDP elections are over. It wasn't the best of elections by any standards, but it was probably the best and most democratic election that was ever held in the Maldives. I hope the concerned people in power do take note and accept its time to be a lot more democratic (I guess its still wishful thinking -- but one can hope can't I?).

I have to say I was a bit surprised at the results of the election with Dr. Munavvar being elected as president of the only established democratic party in the country. I would have picked Zaki to have won, simply because he is the lesser of two evils. Why am I surprised? Its like this you see. A soldier cannot kill a child, woman or an unarmed civilian and say he was simply following orders. Much the same I don't think it excuses Dr. Munavvar for all the atrocities that he committed whilst the Attorney General of this country simply because he apologized. By his own admission he had sentenced or prosecuted more than 40,000 of our country men unjustly to later simply say he was sorry. I think there is something seriously messed up about the people of this country who gladly handed over the reigns of only democratic party when the people should in actual fact be holding him accountable for his crimes. Yes I do call it crimes.

Anyways, whats done is done, so lets wait and see how this new saga of our struggle for democracy will unfold. Only time will tell... adios!

MDP Presidential Elections; Democracy at Work!

So tomorrow is the big day, when MDP members all over the country will gather at the poll booths to elect its leadership. It is simply such an exciting thing to be able to witness for the first time in my life, a true democratic election. So far, the campaigning of the candidates has gone without much back-bitting or personal attacks on each other, which is also a first in this country. It would be good if all the other parties in this country was actually keeping their eyes on this election... maybe they can learn a few things about democracy.

I personally have not decided whether I will be voting for an MDP leadership for the presidential elections in 2008, but I have personal admiration for the true sense of democracy that the MDP is displaying. A friend of mine once said that whatever happens in the future, MDP is certainly going to turn out of to be one very strong democratic party. And I agree with that statement. It is a shame that there is no other alternative to the MDP. Certainly I do not consider DRP (with its dictatorial leanings), the Adhaalath Party (with its fundamental views on Islam), the IDP (with its support for capital punishment) and the MSDP (with a manifesto that's clearly been written after watching a marathon of American political movies) as an alternative political option to the MDP. It's still a very sorry situation given this reality. I really do hope that Ibra and his Liberal Party and Monaza Naeem and his National Congress do get the legal status that they need to function as political parties; because from the outset they really do appear to be proper democratic alternatives to MDP. If this does become a reality, then we would have at least 3 solid democratic parties for the people to choose from.

Meanwhile, bring on the MDP elections and show us democracy working. Good luck to the candidates and may the best win. Tomorrow would be a great day for Maldivian Democracy!