Special Enjoy invites Abdulla Shahid to join MDP’s web of corruption

Special Envoy of the President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki has invited the Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Shahid to join the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and serve the government. Shahid is an MP from the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

The acting president of the ruling party further called upon Speaker Abdullah Shahid to join the MDP and serve the people in the government, praising the former foreign minister as one of the most experienced and capable diplomats in the country.

Analysts say this is an invitation for Shahid to join the web of corruption Zaki is spinning now in the MDP government. Zaki and Shahid were allies in corrupt deals under the old regime of General Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, when Shahid was the Executive Secretary of the President. Zaki served Gayoom’s government as Tourism Minister for five years and then as Planning Minister for five years before he joined the MDP when Gayoom did not appoint him to the cabinet in 2003 November. Along with Dr Mohamed Munavvar, the Attorney General under Gayoom’s rule, Zaki and Shahid were notorious for receiving fat commissions from resort deals and mega-projects. Their corruption was exposed in an article published in Maldives Culture. The article was reproduced in a DO forum.

When Ibrahim Hussain Zaki was Tourism Minister, Sunland Travel proposed a single bid for Velaavaru, Kihaadhupparu and Dhunikolhu islands. Zaki knew about this and decided to manipulate things to his own advantage.

It is not clear whether Sunland Managing Director Shabeer Ahmed bid three separate proposals at Zaki’s instigation but he was successful. At the time, Shabeer only really wanted one resort. After some underhand deals with Shabeer, Zaki convinced him to give Kihaadhupparu island to Athamaa for resort development. Masooda, one of Zaki’s two wives, is from the Athamaa family.

Shabeer kept only Dhunikolhu island for himself, and he gave Velaavaru island to Zaki who in turn sold it to Champa Hussain Afeef. The case of Velaavaru island is unique. Maumoon Gayyoom knew that Zaki who was the head of the Tourism Ministry’s resort awarding committee, had manipulated the process to benefit from Sunland’s gaining of the three resorts. At one point, the case became very sensitive and Zaki had to seek the help of Gayyoom’s executive secretary Abdulla Shahid and the then Attorney General Dr. Mohamed Munavvar to ensure the case was laid to rest.

Champa Afeef paid US$500,000 each to Abdulla Shahid and Dr. Munavvar to ’settle things’, and Champa offered the same amount to Zaki. But Zaki wanted more than US$500,000 dollars and after some bickering, Champa who was desperate for Velaavaru island, promised to construct Zaki’s eight-storey house complete with a swimming pool on the terrace. Now Zaki was really happy.

However, Maumoon was not happy with Zaki siphoning off the three islands for himself, perhaps because Zaki had not shared the booty with his President. This case continued to haunt Zaki and may have been one of the reasons Maumoon deciding that Zaki was out of control and consequently removing him in November 2003.

While Ibrahim Hussain Zaki was the tourism minister, a total of 14 islands of the Maldives were put up to tender to be developed as tourist resorts. Zaki made substantial gains by receiving bribes from particular resort operators and he returned the favour by using his influence to award the resort islands to them.

Zaki and his family frequently spent vacations in Lohifushi Resort at the time. The owners of the resort entertained him well. In return, DIMMS shareholders Solih and Didi each received a resort. Long after the resorts were given, Zaki continued to receive cheques from DIMMS.

Zaki’s friend Dr Mohamed Munavvar, the Attorney General at the time, also visited resorts with Zaki and had drinking parties. Munavvar has family links with the Sunland group of resort operators. Out of the 14 islands, Sunland also received islands to develop as tourist resorts.

The corruption of Zaki was tolerated by Maumoon Gayyoom but the dictator was not happy with the way Zaki had awarded the island of Hudhufushi. Abdul Raoof who operates Giraavaru Resort, had bid for Hudhufushi island and Gayyoom wanted Raoof to receive the island. Gayyoom’s eldest son Farish is married to a daughter of Raoof. So the island of Hudhufushi was put up to tender again and Raoof won it. He has not, however, developed and opened the resort despite the passing of years. It is a clear violation of the contract but Gayyoom turns a blind eye to it. Hudhufushi island is a unique breeding ground for manta rays and many Maldivians believe that it should be protected as an ecological sanctuary rather than developed as a resort.

Environmental factors were not considered when the 14 islands were selected as tourist resorts. Officials like Ismail Firaq from the Tourism ministry, who is intoxicated most of the time, went to some islands and arbitrarily selected them for tourism development.

There is no doubt that Zaki was very popular as the tourism minister both within the tourism industry and also internationally. As the former Secretary General of SAARC, Zaki was known as an achiever. Other ministers were very envious of Zaki, and Information minister Ibrahim Manik (‘Samarey’, Gayyoom’s wife Nasreena’s brother-in-law) allowed him only minimal TV time.

Zaki’s popularity was seen as a threat to other ministers and to Gayyoom as well, and there were speculation that Zaki would be removed from the cabinet.

After 1998 presidential elections when Gayyoom chose his cabinet, Zaki was transferred to Ministry of Planning and National Development. Some people say Zaki was not removed from cabinet because he was one of the masterminds behind the biography of Gayyoom, ‘A Man for All Islands’ written by Royston Ellis. This biography was sponsored by wealthy tourist operators such as Champa Hussain Afeef. The book contributed to the development of Gayyoom’s personality cult.

As Planning minister, Zaki continued to show his skills as an administrator. It was also during this time that he and Munavvar became shareholders in one of the companies that started to develop Vilingili island in Addu Atoll as a tourist resort. The government also has shares in this resort, so it is obvious that Zaki and Munavvar’s participation in this venture was done with the blessing of Gayyoom.

When Gayyoom announced his cabinet after the election of 2003 Zaki was not included in it. Gayyoom and his brother Abdullah Hameed had for a long time wanted to give Hameed’s son Hamdoon Hameed a cabinet portfolio. Hamdoon who was the deputy planning minister, had always wanted to be the Planning minister.

Zaki could have been moved to another ministry but Gayyoom offered him the position of the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission that the president was planning to form. Zaki did not accept this offer because it did not have the status of a ministerial position.

When Zaki was Planning Minister, another incident he benefited from was by halting some developments on Reethi Rah resort owned by Minaa Kuday and also the father of Baa atoll Majlis Member Thasmeen Ali. Zaki got some two million dollars from Reethi Rah in order to use his contact with the President’s private secretary Abdulla Shahid to convince Gayyoom to let the controversial development on Reethi Rah continue.

It is not clear how much Zaki paid Shahid this time and Maumoon Gayyoom is likely to have been a beneficiary of this bribe.

Like the Reethi Rah case, there are also scandals concerning Farukolhu resort owned by Club Med. The government began investigations into this resort but Zaki immediately stopped these actions when Farukolhu offered him US$15,000 – not much when compared to Zaki’s extravagant bribes, but nevertheless enough to finance the maintenance of his cars.

As MDP is carrying out a massive privatization programme and investing on mega-projects on renewable energy, housing and transportation, corrupt politicians such as Zaki, and corrupt officials in Invest Maldives are reaping the benefits through fat commissions and bribes. Earlier this year, the Anti-Corruption Commission of Maldives was forced to probe the privatization project for Male’ International Airport when the President’s Office announced the project without adhering to international bidding standards. Zaki was the mastermind trying to award the project hastily to a party and receive some millions of dollars as commission. Meanwhile, President Nasheed turns a blind eye to the corruption involving MDP officials.

Dhiraagu to set up broadband network in FIVE years

After backdoor dealings and covered up negotiations the government of Maldives has announced what people have suspected all along. The world’s worst phone company is now the majority shareholder of Dhiraagu. Cable & Wireless has bought 7% of Dhiraagu shares for $40 million. As part of this underhand deal, the government has asked Dhiraagu to build a broadband network covering the whole Maldives within five years, the Finance Minister Ali Hashim told reporters. This is the same Ali Hashim who was arrested on 13 February 2004 during the General Gayoom’s crackdown on MDP leadership in the Maldives. Dhiraagu had helped the crackdown by cutting off sms services in Maldives.

It is laughable when the government asks Dhiraagu to build a nationwide broadband network in FIVE years. Minister Ali Hashim, who seems to live in 18th century, is unaware of status of Internet in the developed countries when he tells reporters the broadband network built in five years will benefit the people of islands immensely.

Hamdan Zaki and Bambukeyo Jaa incite violence near Majlis

MDP hooligans incited violence against police near the Majlis building on Monday when parliamentarians were voting for the infamous ‘Rekey’ bill. The ‘Rekey’ bill proposed by DRP MP Nihan gives immunity to the ex-dictator of Maldives General Maumoon Abdul Gayoom from prosecution. But the behaviour of MDP hooligans near the Majlis was shameful. Even the Television Maldives, which is very biased towards the MDP government now, showed videos of hooligans throwing stones at the police. This is shameful behaviour because in the past demonstrations, when MDP was in the opposition and General Gayoom as ruler, MDP showed restraint and did not use violence. In Black Friday demonstrations of 2004 and 2005 also it was DRP thugs who threw stones and incited violence to make room for police to crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. MDP hardcore supporters now accuse the police of using heavy-handed tactics on Monday. It is true that nothing has changed much inside Maldives Police Service and the Star Force is eager to beat up people in protests. But it was MDP hooligans who showed more shameful behaviour than the police on Monday. Hamdan Zaki and Bambukeyo Jaa were seen shouting at police and urging the protesters to “kill the policemen.” They were heavily drunk. Hamdan Zaki thinks just because his father is the Special Enjoy of the President he can get away with anything. Babmukeyo Jaa is the leader of MDP Youth. MDP leaders think he has control over a large segment of youth population.

The funny thing is police will not even investigate the cases of these two people because some people are above the law. Such people don’t even need a Rekey Bill to avoid prosecution. MDP has lost its vision and is unable to steer the party in this time of political tension. It is no surprise because even the party’s Chairperson used to be a Gayoom worshiper and we don’t know if she is ready for change even now.

Protest at Maldives net controls

A BBC article published in 2004 exposing the association of Cable & Wireless and Dhiraagu with the former regime of General Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Source: BBC News

Telecoms giant Cable & Wireless has been urged to use its influence in the Maldives to help free jailed net users.

The press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, has written to the company’s boss, asking him to put pressure on the Maldives authorities to end abusive internet censorship

Cable & Wireless has a big stake in the firm that runs the Maldives network.

But the British firm has said that foreign investors should not intervene in how a country is run.

‘Ethical consequences’

Reporters Without Borders says that the Maldives is one of the world’s most repressive in terms of freedom of expression on the internet.

It says that four internet users are currently in jail there for having posted articles critical of the government.

“Cable & Wireless has said it is very concerned about human rights issues,” said the group in a statement.

“We therefore hope that its top executive will appreciate the ethical consequences of running the network in a country like the Maldives.”

It has approached Cable & Wireless as it holds 45% of the stock in Dhiraagu, the company that runs the phone and internet network in the Maldives.

No to intervention

But the telecoms giant has rejected the call to intervene in how the internet is run in the tropical paradise.

“Cable & Wireless companies operate in compliance with local law in some 40 countries and territories and this includes the implementation of internet access policy as prescribed by the local authorities,” a spokesman told BBC News Online.

“As a partner with governments in many of the countries we operate, Cable & Wireless’s position is that the form of governance is a matter for the citizens of the country concerned and not a matter in which a foreign investor should intervene.”

According to the CIA factbook, the Maldives had some 15,000 net users in 2002, out of a population of 318,000.

Opponents of the government in the Maldives say it is responsible for arbitrary arrests, detention without trial and torture in prison.

The government says there is no repression and that it has no political prisoners in its jails.

Happy Birthday Dhiraagu

Today Dhiraagu, the telecom company owned jointly by the government of Maldives and Cable & Wireless of Great Britain, marks its 21st anniversary. But the fanfare and celebrations cannot hide its dark history of charging exorbitant prices from customers. Dhiraagu cannot also erase from history books its close association with the dictatorial regime of General Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who was voted out by people in an election in 2008.

On 13 February 2004, the National Security Services (NSS) cracked down on the political activists in Maldives trying to organise a political party in the Maldives. Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was formed in November 2003 in Colombo because the repressive dictator Gayoom was not allowing political parties in Maldives. Members of MDP in Maldives and abroad elected its first Governing Council in February 2004. The Council members in Male’ were trying to organise a march to deliver a letter to the dictator before they were arrested in a night time raid. Details of their arrest were published in MDP Newsletter 6 and MDP Newsletter 7. Among those who were arrested: Ali Hashim, the current Minister of Finance, Abdulla Saeed, the current Cabinet Secretary, Ahmed Nazim Abdul Sattar, the brother of current President Mohamed Nasheed.

To help this raid and to prevent communications among the activists, Dhiraagu cut off its sms service during that night. Dhiraagu resumed its sms service only in the morning next day.

Maldives has slapped a 24-hour ban on SMS service throughout the country to prevent a peaceful demonstration planned for Saturday by the opposition Maldives Democratic Party, local telecoms company Dhiraagu said. This is the first time that the Maldives government took such a measure to prevent a mass protest. The SMS ban has been in force since predawn to prevent MDP members from calling on the 70,000 Male residents to gather in front of the Presidential Palace on Saturday afternoon to peacefully protest President Gayoom’s systemic abuse of human rights, officials said.

(from MDP Newsletter 6)

In the afternoon of 13 August 2004 (Black Friday) also Dhiraagu cut off its Internet service to help the brutal regime of General Gayoom with its crackdown on opponents to make sure news of the crackdown did not leak to the outside world. This was reported by Maldives Culture and Dhivehi Observer, and in MDP Newsletter 18. Read this report and this report.

Dhiraagu SMS messaging and Internet services have been cut, dial-up and ADSL are no longer functioning, and the government seems to be preparing to shut down all private Internet servers.

President Gayyoom has placed Male’ and surrounding areas under Emergency rule, effective from 3.20pm 13 Friday 2004. NSS officers attacked people on the street with truncheons and tear gas before Radio Maldives broadcast the announcement. The NSS has also occupied the Ministry of Information building and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital where men and women injured by police violence are being treated.

Reporters without Borders reported on the support Dhiraagu and Cable & Wireless gave to General Gayoom in this crackdown by cutting off internet.

Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage today at Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s action in cutting the entire country off from the Internet in the wake of demonstrations against his regime over the past two days.

“This grave and irresponsible step is unprecedented anywhere in the world and President Gayoom has embarked on a spiral of repression that is extremely worrying,” it said, calling on the international community to urgently press for a halt to the crackdown and for the release of three detained journalists of the e-mailed newsletter Sandhaanu who have vanished since the protests.

The British-owned telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless, which handles local Internet access, confirmed the government had cut off all Internet connections. About 90 people, including members of parliament, are thought to have been arrested after the demonstration.

Now the question is why are the very people who were persecuted under General Gayoom’s regime and who hold positions of power in the current government, protecting the interests of a corrupt company? Why are they blind to the high prices Dhiraagu charges from customers? Are they not aware of the digital divide in this country? Why does President Nasheed feels it important to meet with Cable & Wireless officials when he visits UK? Is the current government trying to sell Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation to Cable & Wireless as rumours in Male’ say?

Let this post be a reminder to the greedy people at the top hierarchy of power in Maldives of the dirty past of Dhiraagu and Cable & Wireless. Let this be also a warning that we will not tolerate corruption and subjugation of citizens in the Maldives, whether it is perpetrated by those belonging to the previous regime or belonging to the current government.

A Personality Cult in the Making

Hero of the Environment. Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aahu/3962764547/

Father of the Environment.

Breaking duopolies of Dhiraagu and ROL

Source: /dev/null

In an earlier post, I wrote in support of the government’s decision to break the fish oligopoly in this country. The reason being that, such legislations are only in the interest of selected parties at the expense of the general public. Unfortunately, like everywhere in most of the world, Maldives fares no better at making sure that politicians are able to pick winners and losers.

Now its time to break the other duopolies in this country, ie the ISP and telecom providers. The two ISPs, namely Dhiraagu and ROL, provide poor and expensive packages (infact webhosting is 100 times more expensive as Dhivehi Observer noted). Everyone is well aware of the reduction in prices of Dhiraagu when Wataniya came into competition. We can still take a step further and allow complete competition in the marketplace for Internet and telecommunication service providers. Infact, this is how it should be in every industry. No artificial and restrictive barriers to entry should be placed (like some proposed in another industry). After all, we don’t legislate how many construction companies, design firms, clothing shops, computer sellers, web development companies should be there. So why should it be any different for these services? Competition will enhance consumer choice and also reduce prices.

Upcoming startups does not necessarily have to provide universal coverage. Some might infact do. Others might specialise in niche markets or provide speciality services such as VoIP. The technological barrier to entry is quite low with dropping prices of server and network gear, and the abundance of numerous open-source software stacks which are available for free. Plus, the established providers may not innovate or explore the new emerging technologies in the areas of wireless communications, let alone the established technologies of webhosting.

How long will MDP and Adhaalath’s orgy last?

How long will MDP and Adhaalath’s orgy last? Adhaalath, a party that failed to win a single seat in the last parliamentary election, seems unable to control the religious extremism in Maldives.

But while all officials interviewed by Minivan News today said they had received reports of concubinage, they added they had no solid information about the cases. Further, all said both the identities of the girls and the doctors who examined them were unknown.

An official working in the field of social protection, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said today that she had spoken to doctors at IGMH who had informed her of two cases where underage girls were brought to the hospital by older women.

The doctors examining the girls discovered they had been abused and confronted the women who admitted the girls were their husbands’ concubines, she said.

“I tried to find out who this doctor was and I called the ministry and the HRCM [Human Rights Commission Maldives], but none of them wanted to take it up,” she said. “But after the DRP speech, it’s become a priority for everybody.”

Speaking on behalf of the ministry of health and family, Deputy Minister Mariya Ali said the ministry had begun an investigation as soon as they heard of the case, but added she could not give further details at this stage. “We contacted IGMH but they were not cooperative,” she said.

Not only is Adhaalath unable to control the extremism but it at times encourages extremism too. After Mariyam Omidi, editor of Minivan News, published an article on the issue of flogging in Maldives, Sheikh Shaheem, the Minister of State for Islamic Affairs, threatened to deport foreign journalists who don’t respect Islamic values. Shaheem was indirectly responsible for the religious extremists’ threats against Omidi.

A health ministry that is handicapped, a human rights commission that is blind, and an IGMH (hospital) that is uncooperative. The justifications for allowing child abuse to go on in Maldives as MDP and Adhaalath reach a mind-blowing new orgasm fueled by power and greed.

Why isn’t Dhiraagu blocking Muraasil.com?

Dhiraagu has blocked many so-called religious sites because the ignorant Sheikhs from Adhaalath party asked them to do it. What is Dhiraagu’s policy in blocking websites? Does Dhiraagu find no problem when comments in a website openly calls for killing of a Maldivian blogger/journalist?

Muraasil. com is a publishing platform that allows anyone to write in Dhivehi (Maldivian language) and publish it on the website. It works in the same manner as Blogger and WordPress.com. This is a cool idea but it has a major flaw. The fuckers who developed and manage Muraasil.com don’t know what is hate speech and they have no policy to deal with hate speech when someone publishes hate speech.

This article was published in Muraasil.com on 12 September according to a time-stamp on the page. Since then comments have been coming from various people openly calling for killing of Hilath Rasheed, a local blogger and journalist.

Where are the fuckers at Dhiraagu who blocks websites so easily to please the ignorant Adhaalath Sheikhs?

Where are the fuckers at President’s Office who say this country is going to be a haven for dissident writers? This country is going to be a haven for killers and intolerant bastards. Meanwhile the fuckers from MDP and Adhaalath are having an orgy.

Three days have passed but the fuckers from Muraasil.com have not moderated the comments. So we can assume they endorse hate speech and encourage killing people.

Is Mariya ready for change?

The following interview by BBC’s Crossing Continents raises serious questions about the intellectual capacity of Mariya Ahmed Didi, the current chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party. Mariya was an appointed member to the parliament and shamelessly endorsed Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the parliament as the presidential candidate in 2003. She got elected to the parliament in 2005 as a member representing Male Atoll. Her campaign was heavily funded by Mohamed Waheedu Deen and Abdul Sathar Ali (Sato). Sato is Mariya’s ex-husband. If she was not sure Maldivians were ready for change in February 2005, it shows her level of ignorance. Didn’t she hear about Sangu and Hukuru in 1990 and the people’s struggle for change since then? Or did she pretend not to know because Hukuru exposed the FPID corruption involving her ex-husband Sato? Mariya’s leadership as MDP Chairperson is a disgrace and her failure is reflected in MDP’s defeat in the last parliamentary election. Is Mariya ready to resign?

An interview with Mariya Ahmed Didi on BBC’s Crossing Continents. Source: maldives.tumblr.com

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Current MDP Chairperson Maria Didi on BBC Crossing Continents – Maldives (Feb 2005)

BBC: Among the younger candidates is a british trained barrister Maria Didi. She’s a state prosecutor, heavily pregnant and one of the small but growing band of educated Maldivians who’s not seeking revolution but is seeking change. I put it to her that since the president’s reform programme was unveiled last June (2004), progress has been slow.

Maria: There has been so many events since then I don’t think it would have gone any faster. It needed time to settle down as well, you know. Talk of reforms for all of us to think about it. To see how well you know, how it will be best for our country because there has been as you know we are only 300,000 people so if we are talking about all the institutions being separate and everything we have not that much educated people also. Its idealistic to talk about everything being different.

BBC: Do you really feel the country, the nation is ready for the change and they are going to demand it?

Maria: I think the nation is becoming ready for change. This debate came up in June. Otherwise may be people have been thinking about change, haven’t been really talking about change, I don’t know whether you’ve been to the islands but the way they think is really different from what how we think, so in a sense like you know, I don’t know how ready they are for change.

Excerpt from BBC’s Crossing Continents (Feb 2005)
Presenter: Julian Pettifer
Producer: Simon Hardy