Dhivehi Qaumee Party - Media Brief

Ref. No 006/PR/2010/DQP
Date: 13 May, 2010

The government Restrictions on the rights to freedom of information in Maldives

The aim of this brief is to inform about various restrictions the government of Maldives is putting on the right to freedom of information. The right to information is recognized as a fundamental right under the article 29 of the constitution of the Maldives. However, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed’s government is putting all its efforts to limit this right of the Maldivians. Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), since its inception has advocated non violent reform and democracy in Maldives. As Mr. Armoogum Parsuramen, Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka emphasized in his opening speech during a recent conference “Freedom of Information: The Right to Know has a special significance in a globalized digital world. FOI laws are an important instrument in creating transparency and thus helping to make governments accountable". He pointed out the obligation on government agencies to publish, and the rights for citizens to have access to information of general public interest as a crucial tool in the struggle to prevent corruption and to increase accountability.

DQP has been playing a vital role in making the current government more accountable. However, our work has been hindered by a lack of accessibility to information and co‐operation by Mr. Nasheed’s regime. We are highlighting some of the few incidents where the government officials have attempted to violate the right to information which is a key to free media in a democratic environment.

1. The government sent a letter of notification to the Haveeru News paper to vacate their premises within 10 days from 16th April 2009. Haveeru is the biggest and one of the oldest functional print news paper in Maldives.

2. On 18th February 2009 the government of Maldives decided to stop advertising and publishing government announcements private media

3. On 18th February the government stopped giving subsidies to private media companies.

4. Ordered DhiTV (one of the 2 private telecasting media) to stop broadcasting an opposition protest

5. The government sent police personnel to DhiTV station in Male’ to force them to stop their live telecast of opposition protest

6. Deducted 5 points from the DhiFM broadcasting license

7. Requesting MDP parliamentarians to boycott DhiTV by MDP parliamentary group leader Mr. Moosa Manik.

8. Expelling DhiTV crews from Mr. Mohamed Nasheed’s party gathering held in Hulhumale

9. Harassing and threatening opposition members who attending TVM program by MDP activists

10. Attempting to influence media council by proposing representatives from non active media who allies with Mr. Mohamed Nasheed

DQP as an opposition party as an advocator of non violent reform and democracy in Maldives on many instances have requested in writing to government ministries and entities to provide with necessary information. However, many government ministries have tried to limit provision of information. Hence, in one instance DQP was forced to file a case at civil court in against Ministry of Finance and Treasury to obtain information. The civil court of Maldives on 9th May 2010 made a ruling which requires Ministry of Finance and Treasury to provide the information that DQP has requested in 7 days. The current government used media freedom and right to information as a tool to come to power. Once they are in power it is a disappointment that an opposition party who tireless works to make the current government accountable has to file a case against the government regarding the right to information.

End.

For further information please contact:

Abdul Raheem Hassan(Mr.)

Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP)

Male’, Maldives

Tele: +960 3304548

Fax: +960 3343844

e‐mail: sitee@qaumee.org.mv

website: www.qaumee.org.mv

A "BAD DECISION" is a lesson to be learned.

Have you ever thought about the importance bad decisions play in your life? I'm being deadly serious about this because whether you realize it or not, your decisions, especially the bad ones, play a very important role in our lives.

Although poor decisions play a critical role in people’s life, very few of us ever realize it or even think about it. Most people look to sweep their lousy decisions under the rug or pretend that they never even happened. They would soon forgive; which is good and an excellent way forward, and forget; which is very wrong and it’s a huge mistake.

Every decision we make is made with the best of our intensions. We voted MDP and President Nasheed, not merely to get rid of a thirty year old “benevolent” Dictatorship, but because we knew the promises Nasheed made, were possible and if happened they would enhance our lives.

Not recognizing a bad decision is to miss out on a huge opportunity for improvement. Every decision - whether it turns out to be good or bad - provides an outcome. Good outcomes result in good, positive feelings and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. The bad outcomes on the other hand provide us with something far more important.

We wanted a life without debts to the “Kanmathee fihaara” (neighborhood unit shop), we wanted the prices of all goods and services to be at “Aiy foraa fashala” (reachable limits of the average citizen).

Making hundreds of decisions throughout the day is a part of life. Most are small, seemingly insignificant decisions like what to have for lunch while others hold a great deal more importance. You've got to understand, everybody is the sum total of the decisions they make. The small decisions and the big ones; we are a reflection of our choices. What “we” as the Maldivian people are is the sum total of the decisions we as Maldivians make.

Let's look specifically at only the bad decisions we make. The truth of life is that learning how to live successfully in general would be impossible without the benefit of bad decisions. Making bad decisions provides us with experience that eventually leads us to live a successful life.

He pursued us wearing the graceful hat, He drew a picture of the “People’s Man” struggling for our rights. Whereas, his struggle was for his own benefit, an ancestral dream, a struggle at the cost of the Maldivian people. We now know that a once perceived savior may not necessarily be so, given a changed circumstance. Truth like oil will surface on the water.

He lied to us, he cheated us, and now he is playing with our sentiments. They are not Leaders, they are Misleaders. We made a bad decision, and it should provide us with the experience and eventually lead us to success by remembering not to repeat this decision.

So here is a bad decision we have made collectively, and it is effacing our lives, so many humble citizens who’s means of livelihood was the government job, were thrown out of job into a situation, where the prices of basic necessities such as water electricity and stable food were to be raised to pay for the new political appointees today totaling to over Rf. 9 million a month. The toll on electricity bill nationwide has bitten into the scanty income of the average family.

So now that you’ve made that inevitable bad decision, be easy on yourself. Understand that there was a good reason why you made the decisions you made so accept whatever the outcome. Most importantly you've got to learn your lessons. There is nothing wrong with making a bad decision and learning from it. On the other hand there is everything wrong with making a bad decision without taking a good lesson from the experience.

Do not let this bad decision go a waste.

Remember the child who learned heat by touching a hot stove? it was clearly a bad decision. But by so doing, the child learned a crucial lesson. That child learned that touching hot stoves was a bad decision, and that he should not do it ever again.

Of course, one should always look to make good decisions and I think that goes without say. Nobody ever wakes up in the morning eager to make poor decisions. But, as fallible human beings, it is absolutely impossible to avoid them.

Bad decisions make for good stories, agreed? something which appears to be a bad decision with a seemingly dire outcome today would be spoken and written about for many years to come. But the good decisions have little story value. You would sleep over it, only to forgotten when woken up to another day.