Absurd descisions..

Officially this is Not one, but three islands!

Geographically Maldives consists only of atolls and islands. While the majority of the islands fit in the coral reef ring that makes the atoll, some islands stand by themselves in the Indian ocean. Foa Mulah, Kaashidhoo, Thoddoo, Alifushi are lone islands like this. On the other hand we have perfect geographical atolls like the normally acknowledged atolls and Rasdhoo, Makunudhoo, Gaafaru, Fulhadhoo and Goidhoo.

However for administrative reasons successive governments have named, renamed and titled islands and atolls at will for quite some time. These naming and renaming does not follow geography and only follows what is practicable and sometimes what is convenient in politics. For example the big atoll Huvadhoo was made two atolls for administrative purposes back in the 80s because the communication equipment at the time did not have full coverage of the atoll from end to end. Ari atoll was cut in half in the 90s for purely political reasons. Similarly absurd titles were given after 2000 to Male atoll Villingili and the newly developed island at Hulhule as wards of Male’ despite the islands being separated by sea from Male’. However these naming and renaming serve the political purpose as no strong objections has been raised against such measures.

The latest absurd naming of the island happened quite recently at FoaMulah which is now officially 3 islands two of which are supposed to be uninhibited although in reality the island is still one indivisible island which couldn’t even add more territory to it by dredging because the island lacks the protective lagoons and beaches most islands have. FoaMulah has been an island by itself for centuries despite being quite close to Addu atoll. Although there were attempts to associate FoaMulah as an island belonging to Addu, it does not appear to have found any wider acceptance. The recently found two islands (imaginary ones!) is an honest attempt by current government to host two city hotels which could do for a resort possibly to provide more jobs and income to economy. Whatever the reasons, its unlikely to go unchallenged by political rivals as the plan is an obvious half thought idea! With many resort islands opening in Huvahdoo atoll and two in Addu, any hotelier who would open camp in these two islands would find it a stretch to compete for customers to their city hotel (in an imaginary island!). The idea that FoaMulah could be helped to develop by two city hotels and a domestic airport does not seem viable as Addu has had facilities for years and yet is lacking in so many ways.

Giving titles to islands and atolls maybe a tame political pastime but the implications of such changes cost the economy as each titled island is in effect a small administration with its requirements such as offices and officers who will manage the newly created narrative. If however the prevailing idea is to help an island by raising its title, what could be feasible for that island needs to be introduced. Everything does not have to be of or related to tourism. Diversifying industries which can help the economy would be better in the long run than to keep all the eggs in the same basket.

Stone walling the house

Traditions has it, that as soon as a person gets a plot of land to build a house, he or she will erect the ‘wall’ of his house which is like marking his official boundary to the outside world. So the first steps to build a house is directed at demarcation of boundary. This maybe because we are territorial creatures by nature, but also by the need to safeguard and secure the place we call home. Whatever the justifications, the fact of the matter is that building the inevitable stonewall is an unnecessary drain on the environment as well as the funds needed to build the house in the first place. This drain over the years ruined many a historical place we had as those places were destroyed and the stones removed to make walls for houses etc, and of course the all too evident effects on environment. The issue of walls has been neglected by the authorities even now because there is lack of awareness as to the detrimental effects of to the environment and alternative means to achieve what a stone wall might be used to achieve.

For a fraction of the cost to erect an unsightly, unnecessary, unwieldy stone wall, a better alternative which provides the same security and aesthetically and environmentally friendliness is a hedge. Plants can be used with little effort to construct a hedge which is an ideal solution for islands as the plots are bigger.

However for people to embrace the hedges and destroy their stone walls, there are steps the authorities will need to take which they do not seem to be aware at the moment.

Hedges are ideal places for mosquitoes to loiter around so the authorities should in theory propose a solution for the mosquitoes problem. Vandalism and burglary issues are also issues which left as it is a non-starter for the people to dismantle their beloved stone walls. Historically our armed forces were there to protect the president and the elite and currently they seem to be engaged in some war efforts with a phantom army of aliens few knows about, while the gangs thrive unchecked in the capital Male’ and other islands. Once our armed forces can take care of these gangs, the island planning committees can spring up and start promoting the idea of flowering hedges, and fences for gardens instead of ugly concrete and stone walls barricading every house.

Resort life: its all about pretence… lots of it.

In resort life everyone tries to be what he or she is not according to circumstances. Sometimes this behaviour is required as part of the profession and sometimes it happens out of inclination. For example:

The managers: they come in all shapes and sizes. Some comes with a perpetual frown on their faces whilst others hide their true expression behind an engaging smile. But they all share in the pretence.

The guests: Most guests are also notorious at deception. Its ingrained cultural habit to smile and make light of everything however annoying. However there are those who are exactly the opposite– the realists and the con-guests who will complain at the smallest inconvenience to get a free champagne bottle or a discount on their stay.

The HR: The HR used to think and play god till the arrival of the dreaded labour laws. Now that mantle of power to terminate staff indiscriminately for whims and wishes can at last be challenged in the labour tribunal which thankfully is a little bit even handed.

The reservations people: Together with ‘sales and marketing’ people, they will have everyone else believe that if not for them the resort will close down for business in a few days time. Nothing can be further from truth. The fact is that most tourists just choose to come to our resorts having come to hear of our beaches and small islands from internet mostly via tour operators. Tour operators do not necessarily depend on reservations but sometimes they have agreement with the resort to allocation of rooms which is ‘handled’ by these pompous people. In technical terms they are just clerks and data entry people making a big fuss of their work. Of course there are some sweet down to earth people who do not aggrandize their work but in resort life such humbleness is exception rather than the norm.

the maintenance people: The maintenance people will include generally the engineers and the usually unseen crowd. They will be the happiest when something really major breaks down like an engine or a water plant because that’s the only time they can shine (like a star…) and their work will be valued or respected by their superiors. Also they are prone to make the smallest issue as big as possible just to get the attention of the managers because that’s the only way up on the corporate ladder at that level.

The waiters and room boys and girls: Generally honest and hard-working these gentle people have a tendency to make a purely service task a technical one, which is comical at certain extents.

The launch section guys: perhaps the most realistic in appearance and attitude are found in the ‘launch section’ team. They have a reason for that too. Extended periods of time spent in monotonous journeys between islands and airports wear them down which makes them difficult to please or irritate.

The IT guys: The it guys are all smiles and kindness until a computer terminal is said to be terminally ill and the IT guys is called in. From that moment the IT guy is bossy, unfriendly, talks in jargon and will generally look down on the rest of humanity. However a by-law of Moore’s Law have it that advances in technology will soon make them redundant as networks, computers and devices become more and more user friendly and intelligent. They had their day in the days of windows 3.2 and dot matrix printer era at which time being an IT guy is not for the faint of heart. Nowadays the IT guy is pretty much alive thanks to Microsoft’s windows and the uncommonness of common sense.

The Chefs and the kitchen crowd: There is unending war between the restaurant guys and the kitchen folks because all the hard work is done at the kitchen but all tips are received at the restaurant. However as most resorts are mindful of this war, generally their salary is higher than the rest which is some solace to the animosity. The kitchen guys generally do not subscribe to false smiles and half-hearted greetings cos their life is hectic and hard.

Gardeners, labourers and the like: At the bottom of the ladder they are resigned to their fate or position , and they automatically have the rubbery smile and artificial greetings for all guests and superiors. No such smiles for their peers and others. There is no saying that ambition is lacking in this department, there is as gardeners are frequently fond of watering the plants around the Gms office etc hoping he or she will take notice of the effort….

There is so much hypocrisy to go around in resort life but its worth the fun it is. If resort folks including the guests all are expressionless die hard realists,life in resort will indeed be tough..

The untidy fish market..

Trading floors come in different shapes and sizes. Here in Maldives we have our own modest securities trading floor which sells a few shares once every few weeks and most of the employees of the exchange needless to say are adept at playing solitaire most of the time. Then we have the trading floor of our local fish market which is the second best place for guests as an ‘attraction’ in Male’, which is exactly the opposite of securities trading floor. Money (several thousands of them…) daily are exchanged here as prices for various types of fishes and yet the place is very dirty and neglected. The main floor of the market is extremely dirty and will fail any medical test for cleanliness. The place smells extremely foul and unhygienic. Tourists being tourists, they will not complain and think its part of their holiday to know and feel different cultures and places. But its culturally neither acceptable nor really representing dhivehin’s lifestyle to be untidy.. The place is in obvious neglect and somebody needs to take notice of state of the place for the benefit of everyone.

Gangsters rulez!

Less than 24 hours after the infamous gang leader (Chica) was released there were 2 incidents of violent crime directed against news paper workers just for covering the story. Now one wonders what is happening to this country? Are we in Mexico fighting the drug war? Despite our military spending which tops even the oil rich Kuwait and Nato member Turkey as a %age of GDP, why are our armed forces not capable of controlling this thuggery in the less than 2 square kilo meter island?

To answer these questions lets analyze the context.
The problem in Mexico is about money. Mexico is bordering USA which has a big affluent market for drugs which means money in billions. But here in Maldives that context is not there. Our ‘little drug barons’ are not dealing in billions. Compared to Mexican drug dealers the likes of Chika are pimps. But the problem is why they are so powerful. Why were some of them alleged to have been protected in the past? In the case of Chicka it was alleged he was the henchman of the then “brigadier general” (a comical title..) Adam Zahir. After the transfer of power from Maumoon to Anni that protection may not be there but still they are able to intimidate witnesses, take advantage of amendments to law which were made possible only after the transition to democracy, claim the right to remain silent and have the courts re-examine the whole investigation process to manipulate the charges etc..

In our Majlis debates frequent references are made to USA as a standard bearer of many things like process, protocols etc. But those who remark on those issues fails to acknowledge that USA has a very effective history of asserting their national interests over any other principle be it the judicial process, international relations or whatever. If the USA finds a person a threat to their ‘national interest’ anywhere in the world, they will not hesitate to snatch or kidnap, detain or even assassinate that person. That is all justified under their national interest. Coming back to Maldives such realization of threat to national interest does not seem to be evident. We have had our courts throw out cases against money launderers simply because a clause in the constitution did not explicitly spell out the word ‘counterfeit money”. We have also witnessed recently how a well known ‘drug dealer’ was let free after the court failed to find fault for lack of adequate evidences despite there being lots of questions on the case. The court in effect dismissed a high profile drug dealer on a technicality. If we are to do things the American way these drug dealers might not ever be sent to court if they knew courts will release them. They might even create a special court to convict such people. However the most effective way to deal with the drug dealers is the Chinese way.

The potential for violence lies in gangsterism as well as religious extremism. In the current situation in our country, we seems to have overlooked the first one which is proliferation of gangs and gang warfare. Many deaths were claimed (closer to 50) to the gang violence in the last 3 years and each time the public simply has to absorb the shock and grief of the event. Those in authority who are charged with keeping law and order simply are not doing their job and giving themselves medals and honors and fancy titles. The situation is so bad that many areas in Male’ are simply no-go areas during the night and when the gangsters are visible on the street corner. Many homes are simply virtual prisons for their inhabitants and the occupants of the house only venturing out after calling a taxi or maybe a group of friends.

The religious extremism issue is simply a trumped up issue by the authorities to divert the attention of their own culpability. The only real violence which can ever be attributed to religious intolerance in Maldives was the home made explosive device some dejected youths detonated in our “Sultan Park” injuring a few tourists. The incident happened because of the then government’s intransigence on a local issue which is the Himandhoo mosque issue. The locals only wanted not to worship in a government designated mosque, which the locals knew was constructed on a graveyard but the government sent the “military forces” for successive 3 years (Each time in the holy fasting month) to force the worshipers out from a modest small mosque they have constructed. In the last ensuing battle with the locals and the forces our country was injured big time when foreign media took up the issue and tarnished our country’s beautiful image as a peaceful country.

We got our priorities wrong on this.

Most advanced countries in the world spend tremendous amounts of money investing in the education sector which is a sure quick way to progress and prosperity. The most roguish country on earth Israel is known to spend many times more on education than their rival neighbours which maybe one reason why they have not the capacity to offer a credible to challenge to its roguishness. Here in our little country we also seems to have mixed the priorities in this issue. According to an enlightening article in muraasil, we are spending roughly 1200rf per student per year on education while we also spend 18000 per convicted criminal in detention annually. No wonder why there is no hesitation amongst hardened criminals to return to detention. This is clearly an issue we have to face with and bring about change. Crime and criminality is awarded and rewarded in our society while our schools and educational institutes are neglected. The classical modern idea of crime as a disease shall be challenged and we shall give it due regard. We shall not reward the criminals first, we shall reward the schools and the students first, and we shall tolerate criminals to the limits of our tolerance. However what we are seeing is that through successive years of neglect, the criminals have demanded and got more rights and facilities and amenities than they deserve. To lessen violent crime we shall make detention less of an appealing place than normal peaceful life.

free online courses

There are many freewares (free softwares) for Windows around for almost any type of application one wants. There are equally or more number of sharewares and non-freewares around that most of the time will do the same job much better. Same is happening in the academia in which universities are slowly opening up to the masses with online access to their websites to offer bits and pieces and crumbs of education for free. These free courseware are just free and can be used for the sake of education. There will be no credits and and no certificates, or access to professors or fellow students. Nevertheless with online books, videos and audio clips, there is indeed a lot of information out there to be put to good use all for free.

Where the resort provides wifi access and encourages staff to make better use of free time, this is indeed excellent opportunity for resort workers to catch up on the knowledge gap to continue studies in more opportune times. However its still saddening (no no, the correct word is MADDENING) that most resorts in the country grudge even basic services like wifi for staff. The problem lies with the old bad days mentality of most resort owners who have a lot to catch up to come up to the present day and times.

Here are some links:
* University of California at Berkeley
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Tufts University
* Stanford University
* Yale University
* University of Notre Dame
* Carnegie Mellon University
* University of Washington
* Johns Hopkins University
* New York University
* Berklee College of Music
* Vanderbilt University
* Gresham College
* Open University (United Kingdom)
* Utah Valley State College
* Utah State University
* Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (kutztownsbdc.org)
* University of Southern Queensland (usq.edu.au)
* University of California, Irvine (uci.edu)

Pension scheme coming in 2011 for resort workers

Its good news for the humble resort workers. The government is in the process of institutionalizing retirement and pension schemes for all workers and the draft of the legislation is said to have been finished. The government is trying to get the works rolling in as quickly as possible and with the ruling party as the new majority party in parliament, the works shall be easier done.

In a nutshell the scheme obliges employers to contribute to a pension scheme for workers a 7% of the monthly salary of any worker. In the case of civil servants and government employees, the government is willing to deposit that money on the employees behalf. We the resort workers will have to wait and see how the industry bosses interprets the legislation and see if we will have such better consideration as that of civil servants or for that matter weather that legislation has anything for us after all. Resort workers despite being the foremost breadwinners of the country are left to fend for themselves after the effective shelf life and up until now nobody realizes how unjust the system is. The civil servants although not productive in the sense of creating wealth for the country, receive all the benefits, perks and old age pensions etc. Nor was there any direction as to what to do with civil servants when their effective shelf life expires in the past, which creates a special class of pensioners who receive sometimes double, triple even quadruple pensions and are frequently considered nobility of the country.

The usual descent of a resort worker from his positions with respect to his age is like this:
@ his or her youth: a physically demanding job like a waiter, a roomboy, etc..
@ his or her middle age: if he/she didn’t get the long overdue promotion by whatever circumstances then its the time hit dirt.. relegate to island cleaner, shopkeeper, mosque imam etc.
@beyond that: he or she is a strict liability with no job guarantee whatsoever.

Why Anni Calls only for the release of Suu Kyi?

Just the other day our country hosted East Timorese President Dr Jose Ramos-Horta on some official trip and our president Anni and Dr Jose Ramos-Horta did call for the release of popular Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from her house arrest. But they should not have stopped at that name. There are many worthy prisoners held in caged prisons across the world and we need not be selective echoing only the trendy names while forgetting the rest in more precarious situations. If Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi were asked, she certainly would not ask world leaders to call for her own release from house arrest while being silent about 1.5 millions Gazans in virtual house arrest in Palestine.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular opposition leader of Burma has been living under house arrest and other various forms of detentions for the better part of the last two decades. So we call upon the The military dictatorship of General Than Shwe to set her free and allow her to live in dignity and peace.

Calling for the release of detained important people throughout the world is quite common and a commendable part of modern day diplomacy and its met with varying degrees of success. The case of Aung San Suu Kyi is the most poignant example of such calls. It can safely be said that few world leaders would not have made this call for Burma to release her and yet General Than Shwe doesn’t seem to take notice.

Further north up in middle east, an equally illustrious figure is also kept in detention but this time the accused was abducted tried and sentenced for 5 live sentences in a court case which is fraught with legal loopholes the size of … well, quite big holes. The illustrious figure is Marwan Barghouti, the Mandela of Palestine. With the close connections our newly elected democratic government has with Israel, the government is advised to say a few good words of Marwan Barghouti and hopefully ask for a presidential pardon for him at least as a gesture of goodwill to kick start the stalled peace process…

In the same lines it would be also advisable for Anni to call on the abductors of Gilad Shalit to release him as his capture has already cost the population of Gaza an unimaginable amount of destruction of property and thousands of innocent Gazan civilians.

Nor would it do much harm to call for the release of Dr. Afiya Siddiqui, the Americans have abducted from Pakistan and kept in detention without any charge up until quite recently and now being charged with attempted murder of American servicemen. Trumped up charges no doubt to cover for the more than 5 years of their abduction of her in the first place.

Happy National Day folks!

Today is another happy national day and to mark the day there was a small celebration in our “republican square” in Male’ attended by the VIPs of the government. The president gave a little speech in his usual halting and faltering way of speech which is a little symbolic of our country. According to the president we as a country has been alive and kicking for the past 2000 years with occasional challenges to independence. However we seems to be the least colonized country in this region. Continuous and long spells of freedom from colonization is one thing and the strides we have achieved over the long long history as a country is another. Not to sully the sombre occasion, the president didn’t bother to remind the nation that we have had long spell of time to have done lots more than we have for the betterment of our country and the people. 2000 years is long enough time to evolve out of feudalism type of thinking to just rule and it seems that we have not been able to get out of the inner circle for much of the time. Sure, there were sparks of optimism here and there in recorded history (which is scarce.. ) but the winds of change that blew across various corners of the globe at different epochs in history evaded us until quite recently. Its folly to attribute whole notions of a country’s success to particular human beings so it might not be fair to say that this president or that president brought us progress or development. Of the last 3 presidents we had in the country 2 are today openly discredited as dictators and the first one died in tragic circumstances by a mob and his remains are buried in Kurumba village Maldives. Before that we had kings who were ‘kings’ and no more. The type of kingship we read about in school books back than were about virtuous unselfish kings who cared about the pauper were not certainly those who gave themselves fancy long long names like ‘siri aduhaana katthiri bakari bavana mahaaradhun…” etc of which our history is full of.

but anyways…

long live the country
and happy national day everyone.

The salutation

Most resorts have a standard form of salutation the staff shall use to great guests and to answer telephone calls to the resort. These forms of greetings are chosen and determined by the management sometimes after extensive research and a good amount of thought. Sometimes decisions are taken even after consultation with linguists, historians and tourism ministry itself. However the forms of salutations appear terribly unwieldy and out of place in the local language or to the guests who are absolutely baffled by strange forms.

In common normal starred resorts, the greeting maybe the standard forms everyone accepts such as the English forms and Italian, German forms. However resorts who wants to be classed as classy and exclusive choose exotic forms which are quite hilarious at times. For example the word “dharuma huri” is an invented form of salutation used in Anantara resorts in Maldives. The words are local and yet has never been use for forms of greeting in Maldives or anywhere else. “Dharuma” means something like blessing and is associated with Hindhu concept of Dharuma and Karma. “Huri” simply means there is and conjoining the words to form an exotic form of greeting to be used as standard simply does not make much sense. An alternative form infrequently used in local language is “Baajeveri” +”Hendhune”, “Raegande”, “Haveere” etc. These words are simple translations of the words good + morning, evening, afternoon etc. These same forms are used in Arabic such as Sabaah al kahir, Masaa al kahair, etc which is in addition to standard Islamic salutation of Assalaam alaikum.

small resort-lets also to be monetized

Tourism Ministry and The government are in works to generate some more cash from the lease of small islands nearby resorts, which are frequently used for hosting dinners and free use for guests picnic. The government hopes that the decision will add a 60Million Rf to government revenues this year. Currently these small islands are just uninhabited islands given to some locals for a symbolic fee who in turn lease the island to bigger resort nearby, to use the island for undisclosed big sums. Such islands are many, are very small and unsuitable for building structures and frequently are bird sanctuaries.

However, there had been situations with the island’s landlord leasing the islet for a nearby resort and the resort clandestinely building guest rooms, prompting the authorities to dismantle the structures for lack of approval and permit. Hopefully this current decision will give some kind of status to those islands and monetize the islands for a fairer price, which would give a peace of mind to resorts eager to keep a remote outpost for guests enjoyment.

SOS…man overboard

Its happening quite often now- but nobody seems to be taking notice. The last two occurrences of Fishermen falling overboard resulted in two deaths and this is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Also in the last two instances, the fishermen were extremely capable sea-hardened people so there is clearly a need to address this issue.

The way to go about addressing this problem is legislation which would require fishermen and dhoni crews to wear protective jackets while on the job and enforcing the measure. It might not be a popular decision the fishermen or crews will automatically like but rules and regulations are there for a purpose. Also its quite common a sight when foreign navies visit Male’ in their warships, they are always found wearing such protective gear even in the calmest weather despite being extremely capable seamen. So its time our fisheries ministry shall do some awareness programs about the risk involved in commercial fishing without suitable protective gear and inform the ‘odi verin’ (owners of fishing vessels) to require their crews to don protective gear on the job. The same applies to resorts as each resort has a small navy of their own to ferry supplies and guests and staff to airport, Male’ etc. Its a small but necessary measure most have overlooked but it seems shall not be ignored now as needless fatalities increase.

Civil servant’s payroll dillema

A comical situation has developed with the Civil Service Commission raising up the salaries of the civil servants which was reduced to address the global recession and the finance ministry doing exactly the opposite. Both offices has issued circulars to stating their positions. ie. that those employees who are involved in the payroll shall do this and that.. Its quite funny how the govt works now. But at least its an improvement on the situation before where only one person makes the decision and nobody has any say. At least now there is some sort of drama to it.

Move to curb labour exploitation

construction workers

At last Immigration is going to do something about the human exploitation problem we have in the country. This is a long overdue measure belatedly taken but still a good one and a necessary means to curb labor exploitation in the country. The problem of labor exploitation like most of the woes facing the country started with the former regime’s unstructured and limitless immigration policy which swamped the country with laborers from nearby countries. At the height of this laborer-importing-frenzy anyone can just fill a form specifying how many human beings he or she want to import to the country and have approval in a matter of minutes and bring laborers to the country. Many “human trafficking” agencies were created and some of these agencies operated inside the Department of Immigration as well. That’s how bad the situation was and frequently we had riots over the imported laborers complaining about living conditions, pay and food. Some were simply left fend for themselves without pay and job in an unknown city the day they come to Maldives. Also its a common knowledge that most labourers spend phenomenal amounts of money to agents back at home to secure a job in Maldives in the first place. So by being abandoned in Maldives from their “bosses”, most of these unfortunates face a double loss and this happens quite frequently.

The new measures to combat abandoning workers after importing them are to charge a hefty deposit dependent on nationality of the imported worker. These are:

8000rf for a Bangladeshi
4000rf for a Sri Lankan
3000rf for an Indian

here is the story in Haveeru

Ghosts resorts

Kandholhu Island Resort?

Do you know a “Kandholhu Island Resort”? Not very likely, because even the tourism ministry doesn’t acknowledge a resort by that name. But the resort exists and is run by Universal Group of Hotels.

There are quite an unknown number of phantom resorts in Maldives lost to the helpless Tourism Ministry which keeps a highly inaccurate list of registered resorts at their website. These resorts would have been illegal under the law and yet money and influence are always used to cover-up these murky deals which only benefits the already corrupt. Despite Tourism industry being the biggest earner of revenues for the government its amazing how these priceless islands were given away to corruption.

The situation is quite like the ghost schools situation in Pakistan which the government did clampdown on but here in Maldives this is one issue our government does not seems to be aware of. Maybe its time the government takes an inventory of resorts islands we have in Maldives and ask for island rent and overdue taxes which would surely go a long way to address the financial woes of the country.

Despite Universal Group‘s silence on the existence of a “Kandholhu Island Resort” most tour operators advertise the island.
Here are some websites which sells tour package for the island:

www.mondomaldive.it

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

www.hellomaldives.com

www.my-maldives-resorts.com

malahidetravel.escape2.ie

www.villas-mauritius-seychelles-maldives-tdd.com

Now is a good time to pay Zakaath

Most of us are simply unaware of Zakaath and few (resortworkers?) with savings actually manage to pay Zakath. The problem is lack of awareness on the issue compounded by the fact that those who try to exhort and explain people to pay Zakaath frequently use Arabic technical terms which confounds the average person. So here is Zakaath made easy.

• Zakaath is obligatory on any Muslim with about 3700rf (current situation in Maldives) and above in bank as savings after one year and (if one has not yet paid up) its now is a good time to settle the debt with god because this is yet the beginning of new year both.
• If the bank adds interest to the savings account, make sure to deduct that amount from the total and then divide the savings by 40. That’s  the amount to pay to Zakaath.
• Remember also that Zakaath is applicable on savings, not earnings
• If bank interest was added to the savings, draw out that interest amount and write a cheque for a charity. A good place would be Thalassemia Fund.
• Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Islamic Center is the easiest place to find in Male and they are open to collect Zakaath every working day from 8 to 3 in the afternoon. A crossed check in favor of Islamic Ministry is the easiest and most hassle-free way of paying Zakaath.
• If however you do not wish to pay Zakaath then make sure you do not have savings above 3700rf saved in bank or at hand or anywhere.

Lots of Salaams.

Global warming proof.

The proof is on going on probably the biggest hoax of our time. Nature is providing the proof and it is about climate change. On the day Obama signed and wrapped up the deal at Copenhagen, Mother Nature started the works and have brought abundant snow in record breaking numbers on most world capitals. From Washington to most of European capitals and most recently to China, South Korea and even in India, many lives were lost to “Climate Change” [which used to be called Global Warming] mostly the homeless people living rough on the streets.

here are some interesting links on global warming scam from the skeptics camp:

12 Facts about Global Climate Change That You Won’t Read in the Popular Press

Scores of Peer-Reviewed Studies Contradict Global Warming Alarmism – by Compiled by Peter Risdon – Environment & Climate News

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Issues in the Current State of Climate Science – by Robert Ferguson

Cap And Trade: The Ultimate Fumble

flight shedule

flight shedule

Finding flight routes from individual airlines and their websites could be a headache sometimes especially in a country so small as ours. Some airline websites does not seem to know there is a country called Maldives. So here is a helpful link of flight schedules from  Male International Airports information page where each day’s flight schedule is available.

Global warming scam

• Our country is not in imminent danger of being sunk at any moment but media persistently presents this story. We have seasonal surges of waves which happen infrequently and up until the tsunami of 2004 we didn’t had much to fear from big waves. Every dhivehin knows all the big noises they make about Maldives sinking are rubbish but to get some more loans or assistance from foreign donors.
• Those who clamored for this issue got fame, money and clout. Al Gore got the Nobel and his film which should have been made free to download still earns money… 49 million $s. They got what they want and we shall not have to follow them just like unthinking robots. Remember the Y2K scam? Books were written about it and films were made about it and they made us think that airplanes will from sky. I remember that night exactly 0000 hours on 20001 January and several of my friends ran outside to see if they can see falling objects like satellites and aero planes from the sky. Nothing fell and I was watching TV. Nor did the TV station crash…
• Coming from politicians we have to be wary about it. These are the same people who said Saddam had weapons of mass destruction which he did not and they have still not apologized for 1 million killed in Iraq and ruining another already ruined country which is Afghanistan. They have an issue with oil which is almost drained and fast depleting in US and they want the infrastructures to change to other forms of energy before this happens. That’s exactly why the Iranians are keen to develop their own nuclear power stations. Because once the global demand for oil starts to wan the Arab Disney type kingdoms will come to face with reality after eons of supporting innumerable princes and princesses and forgetting the masses. Everybody knows that just because Iran has a missile they would not shoot at Israel. Politicians are a dumb lot but they also know that much. For Iran to develop one nuclear missile and send it to Israel is suicide. Iranians know that, so does Israel, EU as well as the US. They all know that but they never say that because everybody has a way to gain from their positions. For the already established nuclear states they cannot let others join their group because that would mean one customer is lost. Also historically Israel was created in the midst of oil rich Arab nations to have some leverage on global oil economy and they are not ashamed of saying this. Contrary to popular media line Israel was not created by a sympathy factor because of what Germans are alleged to have done. Now that the world is getting impatient with Israel for their human rights violations and the the creation of Israel has not had the leveraging affect they wanted on global oil markets they are thinking of switching over from oil to something else which is good but associated with fraud.
• People like George Soros who in his own words does not have a problem with exploiting the masses for legitimate gain are in this scam with multibillion dollar financial schemes to fleece the average American household 600$ per year. His vision is to be the intermediary between rich and poor governments and do some carbon trading which scam is all too known.
• Our last president played the environment card and our current one also is doing the same thing. What is lacking here is honesty and clear thinking. This global madness about impending environmental disaster is fiction and fad which in a few years will be exposed as another scam played on us by the shaithaan who makes us believe somehow we are controlling the elements