Philanthropy as a political exchange capital in Maldives

Politicians often involve in exchanges to enhance their power and influence over the people. Often the visionary and skillful politicians calculate the return of their exchanges with their clients or constituents and innovate ways of maximizing their returns. However such exchanges become corrupt practices and often undermines the rights of people and the democratic values. In a society like Maldives where democracy is at the fledgling stage, politicians use political exchange in alarming corrupt manners- often making it detrimental to the democratic values. For instance the basic rights granted under the constitution such as rights to safe drinking water and sewerage also has become a means of political exchange. Several parliamentarians attend ribbon cutting ceremonies of projects for safe drinking water, sewerage or road construction. The naive public were given the impression that this services given to them on their tax money is a big favor, which in turn begs for a return of favor in the form of votes in the next elections.

Philanthropy used by rich and powerful as an altruist duty has become a favorite political exchange capital for Maldivian parliamentarians. The extent of giving and providing to constituents in the name of philanthropy is so engraved within the system people have begun to portray politicians as messiahs or saviors. The image of politicians, especially legislators has completely transformed in to that of the Good Samaritan. The naive people continue to believe the responsibility of a legislator is to provide them financial support for their basic needs including medicals and food. This naivety of people is used to garner public support in return for the philanthropy.

The mass media of Maldives was recently flooded with the news of a well-known charismatic parliamentarian giving medical equipment to the health center of his constituency. He was also praised in the media for giving a financial allowance to all newborns in the constituency and providing welfare support for all his constituents. Another famous parliamentarian provided staple foods to his constituents for the fasting month of Ramadan. These are clearly forms of political exchange capitals provided to gain political returns. This form of political exchange is perfectly legitimized and publicly accepted. Some people even began believing it is their legal right to demand such favors from their representative in parliament. Ironically in a country which follows Islam, where bribes are prohibited - such practices becoming acceptable is alarming. In any functioning democratic society such political exchanges will be considered bribes or corrupt deals. If the issue is deeply analysed in a sociological context, the politician expects vote from his constituents in return for such favors. Any learned human can judge this as abuse of power to influence votes in the upcoming elections. In other words it binds the constituents to an invisible contract, of returning favor in the next election. Hence the politicians use political exchange capital of philanthropy skilfully to buy the votes in the upcoming elections.

Philanthropy as a political exchange capital undermines the basic tenets of democracy. It increases dependency of people and hence impedes their freedom and independence to make proper decisions. It also enslaves and entraps people in a social quagmire. Urgent actions must be taken to stop abuse of democracy by such political exchange of capitals. The dependent, naive and vulnerable people must be made aware that such practices are against the religion as they are bribed to return a political favor. The legislators of the country needs to learn their roles and responsibility embedded within the constitution. For becoming a fully democratic society people must be empowered to become independent of rich and powerful politicians. However in western democracies also political exchange capitals are used in manners detrimental to society. For instance different lobby groups influence legislators to pass bills by funding their political campaigns. Nonetheless a paradigm shift is required to enjoy the people power enshrined in democratic governance. 

Maldives judiciary and coup of 2012

The judiciary has its evil in the way it was formed in 2008 to compliment with the Green Constitution. The Judicial Service Commission at that time also was hijacked by the bench of interim Supreme Court. Furthermore they undermined the constitution by self reorganizing to become the permanent bench. Some from the bar and MDP activists immediately recognized the evil deeds of the then chief Justice and activists of MDP immediately went on strike and locked the Supreme Court. Even then, the current government which was in opposition at the time were sympathising with the bench. The ramifications of this lead to formation of a bench in a haste in an extra session of the Majilis. The bench formed was mainly of judges with strong sharia background with not much academic exposure to common laws practiced in most civilized democratic countries. In addition judge’s appointments had questionable integrity related issues. This was confirmed and well proven by the then JSC member Ms. Velizinee.

Major litmus test of judiciary came with the coup of 2012. The bench in particular was faced with a major test of integrity and of serving justice. The complacency shown by whole bench in the events before, during and after the coup really showed their partial nature and their romance with the old dictatorial regime elements. The grassroots ran havoc on streets with no sense or awareness of rule of law. Grassroots were blamed for several attacks on law enforcement infrastructure, while their agony and pain was overlooked. Also the grassroots with no sense of rule of law were lead in to a nostalgic dilemma by not providing guidance and legality of toppling of government. Instead the Chief Justice’s immediate action was to sworn in the incumbent vice president who was a major player of the coup. This response immediately legitimized the actions of uniformed bodies before, during and after the coup event. It also gave coup perpetrators and sympathizers powers which lead to more repercussions. Till this day the elements of uniformed bodies guilty of several crimes committed on day of coup, remains immune to justice. For the grassroots and the watchful minds a clear fraternity between the judiciary and coup perpetrators was obvious.

In essence the coup of 2012 became the saviour of the judiciary which was faced with heavy criticism, during the silence before the storm of coup. Soon after the coup the judiciary started enjoying their honeymoon, with overwhelming immunity and impunity. Their romance with dictatorial elements who perpetrated the coup, and coup sympathisers and collaborators continued leading to erosion of rule of law and justice. Justice in the country became a joke even to the layman. Any coup collaborators or sympathisers were proven innocent before going in to courts. Anyone who is against coup will be guilty before s/he appears in court.  Day by day grassroots became aware of the romancing of judiciary with a particular political party. The public lost their trust in the whole judiciary. This was compounded by the dictatorial nature of judicial watch dog which from day one was a puppet of the bench.

In 2013, the election became a war of coup perpetrators and their allies and the rest of the public. In a first round the public showed a relentless overwhelming support for coup antagonists, the MDP. Fear began looming within the bench and their allies enjoying the sweet honey moon. MDP became more vocal on reforming judiciary and gained overwhelming support.  The looming fear with in judiciary and bench became more obvious when they intervened to an internationally acclaimed transparent electoral process ongoing. Their allies in law enforcement and government by then cooked up a blatant litany of a report regarding elections. This became the catalyst for them to annul the elections jeopardising the hopes of coup antagonists. The grassroots later found the fallacies of this report which was heavily criticized by the Election Commission. This also provided the coup perpetrators and their allies to utilize all available resources to turn the election in their favour. They had just one focus on mind, which was winning the election by hook or crook. They pledged to deliver everything under the sky to a deprived public. In addition the uniformed bodies were politicised to a great extent. Some long serving loyal and capable officers were sacked or made voluntarily redundant. The election was won by the judiciary and the bench as it turned in their favour. In reality the election gave judiciary with the immunity they have been dreaming since beginning. Their immunity and impunity lead to a judicial dictatorship.

MDP garnered further support and strength from grass roots and kept their spirits alive by being consistent with their pledge to reform judiciary. Fear lurking within the bench again awakened.  Fear of MDP wining Maldives Majilis and the bench getting dissolved was not far from reality. Fear of bench lead to utilize new tactics by becoming the jury, the judge and the plaintiff in a case which even the layman and grass roots understands as injustice. Finally the verdict to jail president of the Elections Commission was given by the bench. The verdict was a clear abrogation of the Green Constitution. The bench once again laid down a path to remain immune.  

I believe the fraternity of coup perpetrators and collaborators with the bench and judiciary at large is the root cause of the mutilation of the fledgling democracy of the Maldives. The irony is the silence of the bar and lawyers, posing the grass roots in to a dilemma. Additionally the international community keeps giving a blind eye to the whole scenario. However the spring is not far as the grassroots day by day become aware of social justice and democracy. The reactions and actions of bench and JSC further convince the grassroots of their unjust and corrupt behaviours. One’s actions become a blessing for others in disguise. The response of the bench may garner further support to MDP. Their slogan to reform judiciary keeps gaining more support.

Where did all the tuna go!

The hullabaloo of the Male’ fish market and the sounds of the busy street filled with people of all works and ages continue to be the real face of the capital Male’. The scene also gives a glimpse of the human and environmental dimension of dwindling fish stocks. Most people enter rushing in to the fish market, often worried and unhappy about high prices. With increased heart beats, over active sweat pores and a tightened nose to shut out the stench of the different types and qualities of fish, people keep moving in and out of the market.

As a child growing in Male’, it was one of my routines to visit the market every evening, often twice or thrice a day. Fortunately there was more than enough of fish, most days and the basic economic principle of more supply reducing the price works perfectly. As the evening fades, price goes low enough for my landlord to buy 4 or five skip jacks of about 1-3 kg. In those years of the mid 90s only very rarely does the price of a tuna goes above Rf 50.

However a complete turnover has taken recently toppling the price of a tuna to Rf 100-150 on a daily average. This may not be shocking to a youngster who visits market these days, but it is something alarming for a person like me who has seen the old fish market in the vibrant years shifted to a new two story market and beyond. Throughout all these years what I have seen is a constant reduction of fish landings and a hike in price of our most preferred and accessible protein source, tuna. In the early 2000, for a University assignment I collected information from fishermen and found that they were able to catch 30 metric tons of tuna per day and this was the time a new fleet of modern fiberglass boats of larger capacity ventured in. They also claimed that they can often catch double this amount especially during high seasons, but had to sell under the price. This was also the period when yellow fin fishery for Japanese sashimi markets started booming. Sadly the average catch kept on dwindling down steeply. To make things worse our fishermen kept on practicing the traditional pole and line bringing super quality tuna, while lagging behind their purse seiner rivals who were scooping out the entire Indian Ocean.

With no doubt over fishing has led to depletion of stocks bringing us to the dilemma we have today. To make matters worse we are in no way near recovery for stocks and we may either loose stocks of certain species or may have to force ourselves more restrictions. This will then lead to a revolution which will not only affect our nutrition but also will torment our culture and traditions and way of life. We have lived as seafarers and our forefathers got stranded on these islands with nothing except the bounties of the seas. We have lived as fisher folks for centuries and sometimes we refer us as having blood of fish. It is hard to make a living from traditional tuna fishing these days, while also making it impossible to enrich our diet with the goodness of protein and omega-3 much sought after from the tuna. It has now become a collective struggle of the entire nation to harvest and live on the bounties of our seas. It is hard to even imagine the devastating consequences of dwindling fish stocks on the human and environmental dimension.

Boycotting the Israel and the Maldives Political ties

The recent saga going on to boycott Israel and the Maldives diplomatic ties is a serious blow to the democracy and international relationship. Some politicians are rejecting the intentions by the current government to strengthen diplomatic ties with Israel. The government’s decision to strengthen the political ties with Israel became the fuel for the ongoing political war between the ruling party and the opposition. Some parliamentarians and opposition activists have even vowed to oust the government on allegations of undermining the Islamic principles of the state. Of course both the Palestinians and Israelis have engorged in a war to gain secure statehood for both sides. Israelis on their part have infringed the international law by rejecting to hand over the occupied land. Palestinians on the other hand are fighting their way by ensuing terrifying acts, such as suicide bomb attacks against ordinary Israelis.

The harsh reality of the plight of the people of both sides is indisputable, that the ordinary lives are seriously affected by this war. As such, we cannot demonize the ordinary people of both Palestinians and Israelis. In fact the vast majority of Palestinians and Israelis want peace and some of the IDF; soldiers, who fought in the recent fighting’s, were the first people to publicize the heinous acts carried out against Palestinians. Moreover a large number of Israeli human rights activists protested against these acts and several academics also took their side. So the well learned Maldivian parliamentarians should seek knowledge before revolting a public uproar against a country and her people. The majority of people in Israel are peace loving and wants to end this war through a two state solution. Hence our people need to unite with the people of Israel and open up our country to them so that we can work together to achieve peace. I see a bright future for world peace through such diplomatic ties. Israelis have lost trust in most Arab states due to lack of democracy in most of these states. If we as a budding democracy can bring them to negotiation tables on the sunny side of Maldives with our Muslim brothers and international community, who knows Maldives may be the historic place where the fruits of peace ripen. We also need to look at how Prophet Mohamed (Peace be Up on Him) showed patience towards stubborn and brutal people. When he was attacked in Thoif and when he got the power to crush the whole city of Thoif he chose to give them a chance. This is the Muslims way of treating brutal and fierce people.

We can never achieve peace by demonizing a people and alienating them. In every nation the majority of people love peace and solidarity. We should not look at diplomatic relations from a single point of view. How many peace loving Israelis would love to enjoy a peaceful and quite holiday in the Maldives? There are many things we all can learn from sharing and caring. After all the real ties are between the people of nations, not with the politicians.

Where does all the dollars go?

The leakage of foreign currency from the country has never been addressed till now. The major sectors in the country employ foreign labor who take away much of the tourism dollar earned. The high leakage from the tourism sector itself worsens the staggering situation. A large percentage of the tourism dollar goes to the travel agents, while importing all major essentials including fruits, vegetables and meat for the tourist resorts also adds on to this. Moreover the large number of expatriates employed in resorts also adds on to this. Sadly there are also so many laborers employed, who can be easily replaced by Maldivians. The businessmen are more worried about the immediate profit they gain from employing cheap labor, rather than the long-term impacts of this on the country’s economy.
Another booming industry in the country is the construction industry which too employs foreign cheap labor. While this group of manual labor doesn’t cost much to the loss of foreign money, the heaviest burden is put on by professionals such as doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers, accountants etc.
As I have some experience from the education sector and lot of my friends work in this sector, I would share some of my thoughts. From my days of schooling till now the strangest thing in the Maldivian education system is the “disease” called “tuition” or in other words private tuition. It’s such an irony that even the most intelligent and capable students are either required to undergo private tuition or forced to do so by parents who want their children to do the very best. I believe the tuition culture was a creation from our beloved foreign teachers. Even though a large proportion of these teachers are genuine and working hard to enhance their students’ performance some teachers never make enough effort in their daily routine school teaching. Instead they priorities their tuitions and spend so much time on private tuitions they neglect their classroom teaching. The immense amount of money paid on tuitions is leaked out from the economy and hence will elevate the dollar shortage problems. Moreover these teachers are paid more allowances than local Maldivians doing the same jobs. My suggestion is that all teachers be paid on a packaged basis, which could be revised every 3 years. For instance based on the current situation all foreign secondary teachers can be given a package of ten thousand rufiyaa. Similarly higher secondary teachers can be given 12 thousand and principals can be given 15 thousand. Since there is no way to stop the tuition business of foreign teachers this kind of package pay will lessen the burden on the dwindling economy of the country. A similar package can be given to doctors and nurses and other professionals as well.
Foreign laborers also take on manual jobs which are considered dirty by locals such as garbage collection from households. In my opinion this can also be regulated if a proper municipal waste collection be setup. It will be worth investing a high amount to ensure that on a long run this dollar is not leaked out. For instance a company can do collection at certain times of the day. Male’ can be divided to small regions and collection can be set up. Also special collection vehicles can be designed instead of Lorries or pickups as they are too large to move around some small streets.
Every little effort is worth in a big crisis, like this.

Provinces are essential for good governance

The creation of provinces by the newly elected government turned futile due to the anticipated resistance from the Opposition. There is the talk of government expenditure and increase in government spending due to the larger number of political appointees. However a large proportion of these appointees were the councilors anticipated to bring a local level of governance by electing them through a local election. The intention of local level governance was based on good governance principles of empowerment of locals to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
The form of decentralization the government is advocating is called “devolution” where sub national units of governments or provincial level governments are created and strengthened financially and legally to manage a designated province. This is the very first of a long phase of good governance. The aim of this strategy is to create more open, responsive and effective local governance, resulting in a representational system of local Island level decision making. By making provisions for local island communities and provincial level of governance the local islanders can effectively manage their own affairs. Additionally closer contact between central and local authorities can also be achieved, enhancing effective systems of local governance enabling local people’s needs and aspirations to be heard where by making the government interventions more socially accepted.
Sadly the Parliament has a majority of very young but charismatic members with very little experience on governance and local livelihoods. Some of them are just fresh graduates and many others have not had good education and hence cannot comprehend the importance of this. President Nasheed’s efforts are immense to advocate on these issues, however the opposition twists and turns the story. We need provinces as providing all services to the highest standards are neither feasible nor financially sound at island or atoll level. As a matter of fact the population would be too small to provide any services on a user pay basis. Another argument from the opposition is that there will be issues of resource allocation as most of the fishery resources are common to all Maldivians regardless of the island or atoll. I believe that this is not an issue if we look at the broad context of provinces. If all land and water is state property it will all be equal to all citizens. The opposition however is confusing federalism and decentralized governance. Federalism as created in some countries like Australia is totally different from decentralized governance. In Australia the Commonwealth was created by states to run their international and other affairs and hence this system and the model of provinces we follow for good governance is totally different.
We need a parliament of highly efficient and experienced professionals unlike those who babble and waffle as the saying goes “empty vessels make more noise”.

Can we cut down government spending by reducing pay to civil servants

The decision to cut down the government spending by reducing the pay for civil servants has come as a shocking wave throughout the country. The instance the finance ministry decided to increase pay for government staff at the beginning of the year was the silence before the storm. While the whole world was facing an economic down turn the Civil Service Commission (CSC), revised the salary scale of the civil servants and urged the government to take action. The decision to increase the salary also came as a commitment of the current government during their campaigns.
The increase in pay also was influenced by the sudden increase in the pay of parliamentarians of the country. Due to the compounding effect of several factors the pay for civil servants was increased. This then lead to an increase in prices of the daily essentials, especially the rent. Increase in rent lead to the increase in the price of all the goods. While the prices of all goods and services have soared and inflation keeps rising, the government decides to cut down the pay of civil servants. This will further widen the gap between the rich and poor and lead to a financial disaster. Without taking any measures to cut down the costs of the daily essentials the government should not have taken this decision. Abolition of import duties of daily essentials also had not changed the price of these goods and the prices of vegetables and fruits are as high as countries like Australia. Additionally the rent paid by the poor islanders working so hard is leaking out of the economy as most land owners from Male’ has moved out of the country to live in livable cities like Colombo, Trivendrum and KL. Sadly the price of a two bed room apartment in Male is as high as that of prices in Singapore and Malaysia. However only those fortunate enough to hold a land in Male or are rich enough can fulfill this dream. This leakage is compounded with the widening of the gap between the rich and poor and hence the government needs to address these issues before reducing the pay of the civil servants. Even with post graduate education, there is no way to make ends meet in the current situation. The working hours for civil servants also makes it impossible to do any part time adding to the burden of bearing extra costs.
I strongly urge the government to consider these issues and I strongly feel people from other islands working in the civil service to go on a strike. We all should remain at home till we are served justice. There is no way for us to pay a rent more than our salary and survive this economic down turn. Since all properties rented are based on a legally binding agreement, the housing ministry should set up a committee of lawyers who can stamp these agreements based on a monetary scale set by government authorites. If the rental prices are not regulated the economic leakage will be so high that the country will fall in to a deeper economic recession.

the root cause of the socio-economic problems in the country are mainly due to the uncontrolled rental charges while by law most of the land and are state property.

If a person is renting a house build on state property the state have the authority to regulate the rental charges for that property. Hence enacting a proper proeprty law for the country is highly essential as people from islands other than Male are given an unfair disadvantage on the expense of others.