The President of the Maldives Dr Abdul Gayoom met with a British media group, currently visiting the Maldives to study the tsunami effects and the recovery work, the effects of global warming on the environment of the Maldives and the ongoing democratic reform agenda in the country.
Speaking during the meeting, the President briefed the journalists on the current activities of the post-tsunami recovery programme. He also spoke on the environmental challenges facing the Maldives and the ongoing work to usher in a modern democracy to the country.
The meeting was followed by a private meeting with group leader Nic Careem, founder of the Blue Sky Network and organiser of the trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to discuss the future of the Islands which literally disapeared for five minutes from satellite images during the Tsunami.
Nic Careem said: "The Maldives is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We all found Dr Gayoom to be an impressive man who has made some genuine steps towards democratic reform. We were able to go wherever we wanted, without any restrictions, and speak to anyone we wanted to. Dr Gayoom spoke of his concerns on global warming nearly two decades before Al Gore and has even written a book about it. We were all impressed with the healthcare and prison system. In fact health care is as good as anything you find in the NHS. As no one pays tax on the Maldives this level of care is remarkable. We were also allowed to visit one of the few Islands prisons in the world. We were impressed with the humanity shown to prisoners. All cells had fans, showers and toilets. One of our party, a retired judge and QC, was heard to jokingley ask one of the offficals whether he could book two weeks on the island for his family in July."
Earlier in the week the group visited Sri Lanka, where they met with the Defence Minister and Tourist Minister to discuss ways Blue Sky could help with the peace process.
"The truth is a tourist dying from a knife or gun attack is far greater in London than it is anywhere in Sri Lanka or the Maldives. Nevertheless, unless the country sorts out its political problems it is in danger of destroying itself. There must be a sensible resolution to this crisis and Blue Sky is planning a "live aid" style concert on the island with international stars" said a spokesperson for the group.
The retired Judge Dr John Roberts said: "it's so important that people visit these wonderful islands with such kind and generous people - tourism is the lifeblood of these countries and it is important that people experience the beauty and not get put off by scare stories in the media. London is a far more dangerous place then Sri Lanka or the Maldives"
The trip was part of Blue Sky Network's mission to bring a new kind of thinking to address world issues from global poverty to ethnic conflicts.
Blue Sky is in discussion with major music impresarios about holding an international concert for peace on Sri Lanka - a sort of "Live Aid for peace" on the Island with major artists from the US, UK and Asia performing on the Bill.
Source: Clickwalla
3 comments:
To anonymous-
Even foreigners know more about the Maldives than you my friend! You have labeled Gayyoom a blood sukin tyrant because MDP cronies say so, and you have decided to hand over Maldives to sikka, voluntarily...
No health care is not as good as it is in the west..u wanna kbow why? becos we are among the ten poorest countries in the world! tats why..and despite this fact and despite the fact that no tax is levied on the people, each atoll is having a regional hospital in addition to health centers which do provide basic health services! the problem is not with the service, but with you people, who want to live like gayoom in a presidential palace, with no education and without going to any jobs! you have grown arrogent and ignorant while you have grown fat on what little wealth tourism and the stability of maumoons regime has provided to the maldives! you have lived in relative comfort on a small patch of sand ur whole life, knowin notin of the shit that the outside world really is, while all u do is watch espn and squander ur salary on cigarettes and gucci products!...u refuse to make use of the free education that was provided to u and then u refuse to do any work fr more than 3months, u dilly dally aound male' jobless and u live off the relative seclusion from the hellish reality of living in nearby countries who know too well the effort needed to put food on one's table! despite our dire situation in terms of almost zero natural resources and nil infrastructure and nil sillked workforce when gayoom assumed office, only now we are barely getting up on our own feet...we choose to remain oblivios to ths facts, and wile we listen to eminem on our latest SE walkman phone , we have the nerve to complain gayoom has done nothin fr us! we are goin to neighbourin countries not for basic treatment but in situations whr specialised care is not available! our population is so small and is scattered over the indian ocean in tiny communities, mean providing services is a challenge without comparision in any part of the world! u fokin idiots think u kno it all, wen u choose to make havoc on the streets wen sikka's minnion and his corrupt alliances tell u to do so..u are stupid beyond imagination wen u tell urself MDP will live in "tin huts" fr ur sake once they take over power!! ur stupid beyond imagination wen u beliv the maldives will becom super-developed once mdp comes!...we need to come to terms with certain realities here- mdp is far more corrupt than drp, maumoon has done much for the country;he is an honourable man, but he has ben around long enuff, n since u drug adicts n homos n athiest and self-educated raonu-edhurun want him to step down, he should leav! his biggest hinderence to takin maldives even further down the road to development has ben the lack of necessary skilledman power to followed thru on gov policies n in policy makin- this had led him to kep close to him a cabinet as old as him and playin musical chairs with them...plus the brutal suppression of opposition views by his gov was not a right thing to do..ths are facts
now with the fruits of 20yrs of labor, namely u fokheads hu wr sent abroad to study, arent comin bak home n ths of u hu come are arrogent little pricks hu hv forgotten which regimes free scholarships sent u abroad in the first place...a gureilla traitor,aka sikka hu has ben after the wealth of maldives fr decades finally manages to moblise rich treacherous maldivan businessmen to go fr the kill on maumoons gov, u also think its cool n hip to go out on the streets n call names on a man hu has done more good than harm to the country, callin fr a democracy while u dnt even kno wot it means, beside "the right to get laid,drink till u piss turns to rum etc"...its sickenin beyond anything that u peple fail to use ur heads evn fr a second n than proclaim nic careem knws nothin abt the maldives wen u all infact donno shit!...the only reason u want him to leav is coz u'v gottem bored with him talkin over n over again abt islam n u dearly want to see inside theemuge master-bedroom...iwill happily wait fr the day wen u elect the mdp bufofons n u fondly recall the peace n relativ prosperity u enjoyed fr 30yrs under a man hu provided fr u all the requirements of comfort n living above n beyond wot our natural resources n means allow fr us....he may have been heavy handed against political opposition, but u wait n see what munnavar or zaki does to people hu voice thr opinion against them..proof enough , even now, is the fact that today we are scared, more scared to voice opinion against MDP, than we are at the gov..if we dnt call maumoon 'golhaboo' then we are ostracised and given to 'havaru' and branded a traitor!!!..if u mdp fokers hv any better ideas on how to provide better services to maldivians all over the country, handful of peple living on small patches of sand miles n miles apart, then plssss by all means let us know!...n plz dnt flash ur ignorance n narrow mindedness n ur lack of perpesctive on the bigger picture of running a nation by sayin services arent adequate becos maumoon lives in a palace!...shessh! idiots, im surrounded by fokin idiots! blind deaf and dumb...
I have been to the prisons, the ex-judge wanted to take a holiday at... i bid u to leave the promotion of gayoom as a humanitarian alone. Torture is systematic in these prisons. And that's only part of the dictators games. You can do what you want to do, to get ur precious money, gayoom is very good at paying people to say nice things about him. but what a joke for a group promoting such a noble cause to promote a dictator in power for 29 years & say that he is bringing democracy..please!! Sir, do u know the meaning of democracy or does it change as u see dollar signs. From all those who has suffered at the hands of Gayoom... u r a two faced liar!!
its suprising to hear such atrociteis form a foriegner.How can you say we are idling and fattening our selves with tourism dollar.Im a graduate and what I earn from my government job sucks.Do you know the amount we pay for rent and the prices of the basic items.Please dont talk like this.How would you ever know the suferings we undergo.Ask any graduate working in the government whether he or she could survivie on the pay from government.We are ripping our asses on parttime jobs and working so hard we have no time to think about our life.Please come to reality.You cannot say this as the majority of our youngsters are on jobs.
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