Maldives In brief : Maldives cabinet set to dive today, then to ride the city in bicycles

The Maldives cabinet is set to dive today to sign a key resolution underwater in a symbolic move, ahead of the Copenhagen summit on climate change.

President Nasheed along with his cabinet will take a dip in the Girifushi island today at 10 am following which a news conference will be held.

Then, at 1.30 pm today, cabinet members will ride around the capital Male’ in bicycles starting from the official jetty.

All these events are part of the country’s innovative effort to bring the world’s attention to the issue of climate change and to save the Maldives from going underwater due to rising temperatures.

“It’s crucial that the voice of Maldives’ politicians – or the cabinet – be heard throughout the world. This is because of the threat posed to the Maldives from climate change,” President Nasheed said yesterday in a radio address on the significance of today’s event.

The event indeed has drawn the global attention with media around the world already gathered to the capital Male’ for coverage.

The landmark resolution to be signed underwater will be presented to the Copenhagen summit in December.

The resolution reads: “We appeal to all people of the world, big and small, high and low, rich and poor to join hands together to bring down carbon emissions to the level of 350 ppm.” (Parts Per Million)

MJA faults parliamentary finance committee over closed-door meetings.

Two meetings of the Parliamentary finance committee have been conducted without access to media and the public, going against the spirit of the Constitution, the Maldives Journalist Association said.

“In fact, we believe that it is the Parliament’s duty to arrange a mechanism whereby the public will be informed beforehand of time and venue of meetings of Parliamentary committees,” the association said in a statement.

It called upon “Parliament to conducts its affairs in a transparent manner in line with good governance and the spirit of the Constitution.”

The Association led by Ahmed Zahir urged the Parliament Speaker to facilitate media and public access to committee meetings and to set up mechanisms whereby the public can easily access records and minutes of such meetings.

Many attorneys are of the opinion that Parliamentary committees can hold discreet meetings only if the matter up for discussion is directly to do with national security, the statement also noted.

Yet a meeting of any other kind can be conducted behind closed doors only if the majority of members, who turn up for the meeting, take a vote among themselves in favor of keeping the meeting confidential.

Media professional and general members of the public who come to view the proceedings of the meeting can be asked to leave only at the point where a consensus is reached by the committee to conduct the meeting behind closed doors, it added.

President hopes for a penal code without death penalty, amputation

The draft penal code now in Parliament will hopefully exclude the penalties of death and amputation, President Mohamed Nasheed has said.

The People’s Majlis (Parliament) sent the revised draft penal code to an ad hoc committee for further review, on Wednesday, after the debate.

“A fair, a very fair trial – in my view as fair as the justice delivered during the Prophetic era – must be ensured before taking human life” President Nasheed said yesterday on the death penalty.

“I don’t believe that the Maldives’ judicial system has the capacity to meet all requirements for such a fair trial. Ultimately, the burden of pardoning or the burden of implementing death penalty is upon the President.”

The President said, “it was unwise to make death penalty a codified punishment in law.”

“I’m hopeful the penal code would be passed without offences punishable by death,” president’s office said quoting Nasheed’s radio address.

He said amputation has never been a common practice in the Maldives, with only two instances of its implementation in the past which was followed by “negative and bad consequences.”

Parliament gathers momentum; Contentious Bill on former presidents passed

The bill on privileges and protection for former presidents was passed mid this week.

The contentious bill that saw rival parties in winding debates over its content was however passed with article 9, stipulating parliamentary approval before a former president is taken to court, scrapped.

The bill proposed by the main opposition DRP was heavily criticized by the ruling MDP as an attempt to protect its own party leader and ex-president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, an allegation denied strongly by the DRP.

The passage of this bill also comes after a long wait.

The first session of Maldives Parliament that went on for nearly 3 months failed to pass a single bill.

Meanwhile, the National Broadcasting Corporation bill too is now at committee stage.

The bill presented by former Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed will lay the groundwork for an independent state media, bringing both Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives under one company.

The Opposition DRP is accusing President Nasheed of running a heavily biased state media, using it for promoting his own party, the ruling MDP.

- Asian Tribune -