Lets be a little more impatient with incompetence

Workers in resorts generally work hard and have very little time to update their social networking things like fb, twitter or blogger. But the same cannot be said about tourism ministry or any government institution for that matter. These huge mammoth offices are staffed by exceptionally high paid workers with innumerable benefits and yet the results are often very unimpressive. For example the tourism ministry’s home website’s link to statistics page seems to show that it hasn’t been updated for quite some time (since 2011)! The same goes true with the database they maintain about the resort islands.

Some more examples:

The telephone number for this giant business does not connect anyone to anywhere! Instead, a soft music is on the loop for infinity and god knows how many millions of Rufiyaas would have been wasted by people trying to dial STO through this number. But this is of course in the STO home page.

Maldives Post is another notorious place to call if you really need to ask somebody there about anything. The standard advice would be not to bother! They do reply but never ever on the first ring, or the second ring or the third ring. Or for that matter on the tenth ring! But they do reply, so that number is not technically a dead number.

To get directory assistance try this:

Dial 110, that would be Dhiraagu, perhaps the worse of the two telecom providers in Maldives. But the operator would respond almost at the first ring most of the time.

Next dial 120, that would be Wataniyya and then get ready to grind your teeth and simmer in anger! For a full half minute to 1 minute (or more) , they will put you in a looping audio advertisement which will make anybody who needs a number in a hurry uncomfortable, sad, helpless, angry and desperate till he/she no longer remembers the person or place they need to ask about the number of, when ultimately somebody will answer. This is of course coming from a company that ‘prides’ in customer service!

If you have had a problem with any service Dhiraagu provides, or would like to question any figure on the billed amount, chances are you will have to swallow your complaints and pay up and move on. It seems like that Dhiraagu employs operators like a firewall to insulate the mangers from the customers so that they can work in the beautiful offices uninterrupted. This is also coming from another company that also ‘prides’ in exceptional customer service… Customers actually shall not matter because Dhiraagu is still a monopoly so all the pretence about customer care is a farce!

A few thoughts to show the level incompetence we are surrounded with. But this is the kind of irresponsibility that shall not be condoned. This shall start with the people. We, the people (the 99%) shall start noticing these things. Instead of 24 hour unprofitable politics, we shall take people to task for things like this. We shall be a little more impatient with incompetence.

Chess thoughts…

At the beginners level chess is a dull mechanical rule based game. However when the player gets a better insight into the game, it becomes like life itself. In life we do not normally become aggressive, unkind and violent for no reason. Same kind of thoughts sometimes prevents the advanced chess player from taking advantage of the opponents ineffectual game. They will want to be charitable, generous and courteous with the other player. There are many romantic thoughts about chess in this stream of thought and they are valid in that sense of the word. But ultimately it’s a game of intellect between two players and the goal is to win. So one player will win at the expense of another player’s weaker game. If it was a defeat then the defeated will take a hint from boxing; the person who can take the most blows has more endurance!

At the highest end of game the game takes on a whole new meaning. Its sort of again back to square one with mechanical rule based game. The stakes at the top are higher, the challenge, reward are all higher and that’s probably the attraction to beat the average. But life is a very adaptable system, life compensates for the loss by offering another perspective, congratulates the winner for the achievement.

New closing hours for business; in Maldives and in Egypt

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The new closing hours are actually older closing hours and Egypt and Maldives have different reasons for the time change. In the case of Maldives, the administration maintains this is a necessary measure to fight gang wars which has claimed several lives in the past few years. Reading by the comments in the Haveeru and Sun, it appears that the majority of the readers approve of the measure. It just goes on to show that people are willing to sacrifice some liberties to live in peace. Considering the size of Male’, the amount spent on armed forces, this shall not be an issue in Maldives. However urban development has not been matched by upgrades to criminal law etc which sees serious criminals getting away with ludicrous punishments. The issue MDP is raising about the current batch of judges who were secretly administered an oath of office and a life time job is also valid. It’s a big injustice to the profession and a disincentive to those who aspire to shine in that field.

  

 In the case of Egypt, this measure was to cut cost associated with state subsidized power. In all Middle Eastern countries power is subsidized by state and despite wealth of gas and oil, a substantial portion of the energy bill is consumed uneconomically. Its one reason all Middle Eastern countries want to upgrade to nuclear power. Another reason of course is development of nuclear weapons which is a good deterrent. A good examples is North Korea which will never be attacked whatever it does because they have proven nuclear weapons

Unemployment: The election non-issue

 

We are an amazing country. Our country has one of the biggest unemployment rates in the region and yet nobody seems to be worried about this!

 

Maldives	14.11
Srilanka	4.2
India	9.8
Bangladesh	5
Nepal	46 (maybe a statistical fluke?)
Pakistan	5.6
Bhutan	4

 

 

To add to the defects of our politicians, we shall add ignorance of this matter as well. Looking at the MDP political trial in Foa Mulah and Addu, its more like a boasting session than a political rally. Speaker after speaker spoke about the grandness of the SAARC convention building they built in their administration but it’s a much known fact that the convention building is a big white elephant which does nobody any good.

 

With all the under un-derservedness of Obama for the Nobel peace price {and the dark incoherent thoughts that goes on to award that shameful prize} Obama is taking credit for low unemployment figures in his campaign.  Dark incoherent thoughts were mentioned because very recently the EU was awarded the Nobel peace price for doing absolutely nothing against the underprivileged of the union. The 15 million Roma (gypsies) are still living in apartheid conditions in EU. Since our politicians see their enlarged images projected in Washington’s’ politicians, they aught to see this glaring defect in our nations economy as well!

 

The ruling coalition shall also not be spared of criticism. Since the murder of the Islamic scholar Dr. Afraasheem, they have made every opportunity they got to play with peoples emotions from the event and made pretty obvious injustices while honoring his memory. The only lesson we learned from this tragedy is that there is no logic in allowing anybody to decide his or her own salary and benefits. Currently only the MPs have this privilege, but to be fair, this privilege shall be extended to the president, the courts, the civil service, the resort workers and pretty much everyone who works or doesn’t!

 

Former President Nasheed (Anni) Arrested

Probably its going to be one of the biggest political blunders the current administration is going to take.

The arrest of Anni would galvanize MDP’s support and win sympathy for the party. Although the arrest might be legal in some form or fashion, the attitude of courts to show their prowess will ultimately backfire on them. It seems we are still in elementary stages of political thought. The idea of playing the political game with finesse has not been grasped. Anni already has made a good image of him abroad as a champion of freedom and democracy (which all politicians try do to some extent) and with this latest arrest he will win more sympathy and will be able to unite the party’s thought. More or less Anni was a good/bad president whose liberal thought was tested to the limit by various politicians which ultimately brought on his demise. However with obvious blunders like this it’s very likely he will reclaim the position of the president in the next election.