Thoughts

A news article on Haveeru Online caught my attention today ( http://www.haveeru.com.mv/?page=details&id=114841 ), not because of the fees mentioned in the article, but because they have a website online which publishes "official minutes of meetings" of the council. It achieves two things: 1. Transparency - the minutes of meeting show individual stances taken by councillors on specific issues. Their constituents can actually know what they said in the Council Meetings. It's a great thing to do and I salute Male' City Council for taking this initiative. 2. Accountability and disemmination of information about Council's Activities - this is agaisnt the trend of the current political climate and again, I commend for this initiative by the Male' City Council. The question now is, will they continue this in the future? I hope so, and urge them to do so. Even if only for the sake of instilling the "democratic values" in the rest of the councils. ...

The fundamental aim of any business can be expressed as “maximizing profit for the shareholders.” There are several ways of achieving that. However, those goals and targets should be reached through widely accepted moral norms within the society including adherence to Laws governing business conduct, and employ fair trading to achieve the goals of the business through legitimate and just means. It is also about doing what is right and refrain from doing what is wrong in carrying business activities. Although some aspects of business ethics differ from society to society due to different laws governing different societies, the broader aspects of Business Ethics are still the same across all the societies in general. Some examples of Business ethics are conflicts of interest issues, corrupted and fraudulent procurement practices, abuse of confidential and critical business intelligence information, deliberate ignorance of applicable laws, ignoring responsibilities towards the emplo...

‎ Not Sustainable Development. Definitely NOT. July 17, 2011 “1,658,266 cubic feet of marshy soil will be removed from the Maakilhi wetland area to build the Convention Center for the SAARC Summit, according to the EIA report. And for backfilling the area, 4,145,665 cubic feet of sand had to be mined from Hithadhoo lagoon. A reliable source has confirmed that the sand is being extracted from an area already planned for future reclamation...” And someone asked me today if this is sustainable development. That question came from Ahmed Nizam—Maavahi NGO founding member and the current President of the Maldives NGO Federation—during a Facebook thread. That question brought back a lot of memories. I remember the night well—not because it was an ordinary public consultation, but because it revealed just how flawed the entire process was. What was meant to be a space for open dialogue ended up showing exactly why public participation in decision-making still has a long way to go. It wasn’t co...

My ranking of Apple products lie somewhere between utter rubbish and expensive toys, but I have to admit, Steve Jobs is a great visionary and a genius at his trade... and inspiring too. Steve Jobs Lays It Down For Playboy http://gizmodo.com/5821429/that-time-in-1987-when-playboy-interviewed-steve-jobs iPlayboy — In 1987, a young, brash Steve Jobs sat down with the world's preeminent gentleman's magazine. With yesterday's launch of the Playboy Commission , an editorialized guide to Heff's archives, we can take a look inside the mind of Mr. Apple. Depending on whom one talks to, Jobs is a visionary who changed the world for the better or an opportunist whose marketing skills made for an incredible commercial success. In jeans and worn sneakers, running a company that prides itself on having a mixture of Sixties idealism and Eighties business savvy, Jobs is both admired and feared. "He's the reason I'll work 20 hours a day," says one engineer. O...

We’ve all seen it—during election season, our social media feeds light up with posts, reels, livestreams, and hashtags. Candidates are suddenly everywhere. From parliamentary hopefuls to council candidates and even presidential contenders, everyone seems eager to connect, engage, and "listen" to the people. But here's the real question:  where do they all disappear to once they’re elected? I find it incredibly frustrating that the same people who flood Facebook timelines and TikTok feeds to ask for our votes go completely silent when it’s time to answer real questions or provide updates about their work. Let me be clear—this isn’t just an abstract complaint. I’ve personally tagged several elected officials on issues that fall directly under their mandate.  Addu City Council members , including the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and Councillor Hussain Hilmy, have been completely unresponsive. Not even a simple acknowledgement. And it’s not just at the local level. Take  Mohamed ...

This was a comment I made to a friend's status, regarding the contentious issue of Addu City.  Ahmed Nadeem   I am really pissed-off when people don't think about consequences of the ruling by civil court yesterday. I am really pissed-off when I see people, otherwise so blunt and indifferent about the rule of law and upholding the constitution, sud denly finds this as something to be proud of and how this one decision is going to make the judiciary so free and fair in all its actions. I am pissed-off when I find people talking about services or the lack of it as the sole basis for making Addu a city, bloody ignorant on the decentralization act and the authorities vested in the city council and the people through the act. I am pissed because none of the people who talks so proudly about city council with "ma ves city akah addu hadhan beynun, but ganoonai ehgothah" tagline have not read the act itself; have not understood why the people actually NEEDS a city council....

Today’s Civil Court ruling reminded me of a conversation I had with a staunch DQP supporter some years ago—someone who tried hard to convince me to vote for Hassan Saeed, not because of policies or ideology, but because  he was from Addu . His argument was simple (and I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday):  “If we want to expedite the development of Addu, we need a president who is from Addu—someone who loves this place enough to make it the second Malé.” Their campaign was thick with nationalism— “Vathanee”  was the theme. The undertone? Electing someone from Malé (like Mohamed Nasheed) would only repeat the neglect Addu suffered under Maumoon. They even went so far as to brand Anni with labels and religious slanders, using fear as a campaign tool. But fast forward to today, and that same individual could not offer a consistent argument when I raised the contradictions between what they believed then and the political realities now. He ended the conversation a...

In the Maldives, we’ve developed a dangerous habit—everyone wants to speak, but the people who should be talking the most remain silent. Experts, professionals, and those with insight into complex issues often choose to stay behind dollar curtains, away from public scrutiny and uncomfortable debates. Meanwhile, the loudest voices in the room are rarely the most informed. To make matters worse, what's left of the media landscape acts more like a tabloid factory than a fourth estate. Instead of investigating, contextualising, and educating the public, they amplify noise. The news is often a string of unverified opinions packaged as reporting—designed not to inform but to sell. It’s not journalism; it’s curated gossip with a byline. A glaring example is the article published on Haveeru Daily ( link ). It reads more like a Facebook comment thread than an actual news report. No in-depth research, no evidence-based argumentation—just a few cherry-picked quotes presented as if they reflec...

If you're expecting an emotional rollercoaster or gripping storytelling from  Hereafter , brace yourself—for disappointment. Despite the big names attached (Matt Damon and director Clint Eastwood), the film drifts aimlessly through a series of loosely connected storylines about death and the afterlife, never quite landing with purpose or clarity. A few of us watched it at Bukit Batok West Mall, spending nearly MVR 600, including a Burger King meal—only to feel like we’d paid for a nap in a dark room. The film moves at the pace of a sleepy afternoon, with the emotional pull of a Danielle Steel novel on autopilot. The dialogue is flat, the pacing glacial, and the payoff nonexistent. If you're planning to watch it, do yourself a favour—pack an eye mask and catch up on some sleep instead.

Is there any country in the world where you can call the President a  terrorist  in public—and get away with it? Yes. That place is the Maldives. A friend of mine wrote a comment on Facebook calling President Nasheed a terrorist. He said,  "Inform the terrorist Nasheed that we are going to start something like this,”  referring to the Egyptian protests. I tried to talk some sense into him. Not to argue, but to remind him of what that word really means. Thankfully, he deleted the comment. But it made me think. In most countries, saying something like that could get you in serious trouble. Here, it’s just another comment online. Is that freedom—or just a sign that we no longer take responsibility for our words? http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=267733&id=693226722 For the record, let me just quote part of the comment thread here. Ahmed Nadeem nimal u seem to go over board with emotions by labeling people terrorists. did u know that saying things like...