Reported jihadi threats forcing the down-grading of a New Year Eve entertainment programme and those regarding seven more Maldivians joining the civil war in Syria have revived the on-again-off-again national discourse on religious radicalism in Maldives.
Analysis
Reported jihadi threats forcing the down-grading of a New Year Eve entertainment programme and those regarding seven more Maldivians joining the civil war in Syria have revived the on-again-off-again national discourse on religious radicalism in Maldives. Indicating the Government’s resolve to curb those tendencies nearer home, President Abdulla Yameen strongly condemned the jihadi terror-attacks in distant France and at the same time said that the nation cannot accept ’insults to Islam’ of the Charlie Hebdomagazine’s kind.
Jamaican star Seal Paul was to have inaugurated the ’Tourist Arrival Countdown’ with his show, but cried off almost at the last-minute following social media threats, reportedly by local jihadi groups. Caught unawares, the Tourism Ministry, organising the Countdown, quickly resorted to damage-control by having the Salim & Suleiman Indian duo perform instead – and at the same time followed it up with a bigger show involving American singer Akon and Bollywood-fame Priyanka Chopra.
Independent of the Tourism Count-down and the subsequent threat, local media reported that seven more Maldivians, belonging to a local gang, had joined the ’Islamic State’ (IS) civil war in Syria. The group was led by an ex-soldier, who was also the main suspect in the 2012 murder of moderate Islamic scholar and PPM parliamentarian, Dr Afrasheem Ali, and a few other known criminals. His wife and child escaped being taken to Syria after her family intervened.
The group included two employees of the Immigration Department, and some of them were radicalised while in prison, the local media reported. With their ’gang’ background it is not known if there were mercenaries among them. There is however no evidence that they had weapons-training of any kind. Such a surmise, if it came to that, would have raised further questions on arms-procurement, training venue, recruitment patterns, etc, causing the Government to enhance its anti-terror vigil and consequent migration more than at present.
Evidentiary standards
After a group comprising a man, his wife, child, mother and sister have gone to Syria, Home Minister Umar Naseer told Parliament that not more than seven Maldivians were fighting the civil war in that country. He felt relieved that fewer Maldivians were involved in such overseas incidents, compared to Europeans.
In between, a website of Maldivian jihadis in Syria counted reported that four from the country had lost their lives in the civil war. After the recent Paris killings, London’s Daily Mail claimed that a Maldivian jihadi had tweeted a day earlier about the impending terror-attack in the French capital. In the light of the current escapade, the nation’s police chief, Commissioner Hussein Waheed, admitted that nearly 50 Maldivians were in Syria, fighting the war there.
The Government, particularly the Islamic Ministry, using religious scholars, has repeatedly sought to educate Maldivians that fighting somebody else’s civil war was not Islamic ’jihad’. The Ministry, working closely with the police and the Immigration Department, has also been trying to dissuade Maldivians from going to Syria. As courts would not issue detention order on police request or order passport-withdrawal, citing lack of evidence, Minister Naseer said that ways have to be found to lower ’evidentiary standards’ in terrorism-related cases. Translated, it could mean a new and strong anti-terror law, particularly in regard to police investigation, prosecution and trial of suspects and accused.
According to officials, there was no way to find out if someone was flying out of the country for legitimate reasons, or was headed for proceeding to Syria. In one such case, Immigration officials in neighbouring Sri Lanka detained a group of Maldivians at the Colombo airport after their versions did not tally. Minister Naseer said that they were thus working with other governments, to try and bring back prospective fighters from other countries, but they have not been able to succeed only in the case of those who had already reached Syria.
Delineating the distinction
A new element has since been added – or, revived – after the religion-centric Adhaalath Party (AP), or ’Justice’ Party, described the Tourism Count-down show as a ’conspiracy against Islam’. Inviting a man like Akon to perform in a country with a hundred percent Muslim population was unacceptable, party chief, Sheikh Imran Abdulla, said.
The Adhaalath Party has had sympathy, if not outright support from Islamic Affairs Minister, Mohammed Shaeem Ali Saeed, who has been coming down heavily on Maldivians going to Syria for joining the civil war there. Clearly, the likes of Minister Shaheem and AP’s Sheikh Imran are seeking to delineate Islamic traditions from ’jihadi terrorism’.
Founded as a tradition-bound moderate force to protest President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30-year-long regime’s alleged lack of enthusiasm to maintain the Islamic character of the country, the AP later joined the successor Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Government of President Mohammed Nasheed. However, it quit the ruling coalition – the party failed to win a single parliamentary seat at the time – citing the ’anti-Islamic’ ways of the Government.
The Adhaalath Party came into greater limelight not very long after by lending visible leadership to the anti-Nasheed ’December 23’ movement, and also in the ’quit GMR’ protest against the Indian infrastructure conglomerate. The party reiterated its resolve not to do anything that would affect the tourism industry, the nation’s economic mainstay. Quickly replaced at the helm by bigger political players like Gayoom-led Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), of which President Yameen is now a leading-light, the AP now also seems to be facing survival-threat from more radicalised groups and individuals.
"The intention is not to defy Islam," Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb said in response to AP’s protest against the Akon programme. Such events are "simply a means to promote Maldives as a brand". He pointed out that Maldives "does not belong" to the ’Islamic State’ and indicated that such events had become necessary to tell the world that the nation was not promoting or participating religious terrorism – which in turn kept foreign tourists, off.
"While the entire world has started to see Malé City as a lair that harbours members of the ’Islamic State’ or extremist militants, foreign artists performing here will show the world what the situation here is truly like". After the Akon-Priyanka show, the Minister said that both artistes had expressed an interest in ’investing in Maldives’, again indicating that such initiatives could go a long way in infusing greater confidence in foreign tourists.
Minister Adeeb also said that they should be looking at what he called ’development happiness’. As he said in this regard, "Where else are such famous artists seen performing for free? We should not just focus on GDP but on ’growth development happiness’ as well." To him, "I’m not looking to challenge anyone…I’m looking to promote this country and by God’s will, that’s happening", possibly indicating strains within the Establishment.
Fall in Chinese arrivals
Minister Adeeb may have a point. In the recent years, Chinese tourist arrivals had come to replace western arrivals in terms of numbers – and in a very big way – though not necessarily in terms of spending. It helped to tied over the industry crisis in Maldives, caused by the 2008 global meltdown, which saw many westerners cutting down on their travel plans. However, recent studies have shown that Maldives might have lost its charm for Chinese, with lower figures recorded in 2014, and predicted even more for 2015.
Quoting ’Travelzoo Asia Pacific’ survey, Haveeru Online said that Maldives would be the seventh most preferred destination for Chinese tourists in 2015. This is 21.30 percent of the 4,300 tourists that took the survey. Maldives was the sixth most preferred destination in 2014, 23.70 percent of the tourists that took the survey in the previous year, the report said.
According to the study, Japan now came out on top for Chinese tourists, with the US in second place. The Japanese yen had fallen approximately 10 percent against the Chinese yuan in 2014, and this made the travel costs cheaper. "As the yen keeps weakening, Chinese are not only going to Japan to shop but also buy properties in some cases," according to the Travelzoo study.
National consensus
It’s time that Maldives as a nation replaced ’denial complacence’ with national consensus in facing off radicalisation and terror-threats, even if of the overseas kind, squarely. Before the current series of Maldivians fighting the civil war in Syria, the US-NATO forces had arrested nine along the Af-Pak border a few years ago. Maldivians were mentioned in last year’s investigations into a Sri Lanka-based Pakistani ISI-run terror-plot targeting US and Israeli chanceries in south Indian capitals.
Soon after the Paris attacks, President Yameen said that the episode demonstrated "yet again, the profound need to counter radicalism and to promote tolerance and moderation, which are the true values of Islam". The President called upon Muslim leaders around the world to unite in protecting Islam and promoting its true values of peace and tolerance.
In a tweet after the Paris terror, Opposition MDP’s former President Mohamed Nasheed strongly condemned the attack and extended his condolence to the families and friends of the victims. In late August, Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon issued a Press statement condemning "the crimes committed against innocent civilians by the organisation which identifies itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria".
In a statement only days later, President Yameen added that Maldives could not Charlie Hebdokind of ’insult to Islam’ and said, "Freedom of expression is not a license to creating hatred, and promoting anti-Islamic sentiments. Instead, such criminal activities should be stopped and a culture of respect and tolerance should be developed, as a means of countering ’Islamophobia’ and radicalism at the same time.
Condemnation of ’Islamic radicalisation’ by political parties is however not without underlying overtones. Some parties like the AP, and the third largest Jumhooree Party (JP) are not known to have express any views – leave alone strong views – either against Maldivians laying down their lives in someone else’s war, or increasing radicalisation of the local youth.
This trend needs to be halted and reversed, if they all are serious about saving Maldivian youth from taking the path. The initiative still lies with the Government of the day. Other parties and leaders too cannot escape their share of responsibility – including a halt to their irresponsible behaviour at times!
(The writer is Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter)
Myanmar: Human Rights gatekeeper?
Mihir Bhonsale
Human rights situation in Myanmar has been reduced to a position, whether deteriorating or improving depends on the position one is seeing from, U.S. has criticized systemic violence and cautioned against the backsliding of democratic reforms undertaken by the Junta-led Thein Sen’s government.
The government of Myanmar in a recent development has called for scrapping the position of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. The call coincided with the UN Special Rapporteur’s visit to the country. This position taken by the government has muddled the human rights discourse.
There is no denying that human rights violations continue unabated in Myanmar. Thein Sein government is a government of contradictions when it comes to human rights. The might Thein Sein government since assuming power has release of political prisoners, signed cease-fire agreements and has released child soldiers.
But, these top-bottom reforms have failed to improve human rights situation in Myanmar and problems of ethnic strife and prosecution of minorities are far from being resolved. With U.S. pushing the Burmese government for stopping human rights abuses, who would be the gatekeeper of human rights in Myanmar is a question, has become the bone of contention.
American position
U.S’s position on Myanmar has been most consistent when it comes to human rights situation in Myanmar. President, Barack Obama has clearly spelled out the concerns the Congress has regarding the situation in Myanmar, especially the treatment of minorities and ethnic groups. The country has already extended the sanctions on the country for a year.
The E.U. has both endorsed U.S.’s position on Myanmar, while some of its member nations have prioritised trade and investment opportunities continued over human rights. U.S.’s snub to the Junta regime has posted an Asia-Pacific Challenge for Obama, as of now the U.S. has been steadfast on its human rights position on Myanmar.
The U.S. has however had a loss of face in Afghanistan and Iraq and with violence becoming the order of the day in these countries, with an added threat of ISIS, military interventions seem a distant possibility. The Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is the chair engaged with the South China Sea problem, the ASEAN’s limitations are imminent of performing the role of gatekeepers.
The United Nations Security Council Amendment of Responsibility to Protect has already given some teeth to intervene in countries where human rights are endangered. However, whether the Obama administration is keen on neutralising the Junta is a question.
Sovereignty alibi
Deep-rooted in Myanmar’s denial is the Myanmar government’s alibi of sovereignty has been used as an alibi for long, at the cost of deteriorating minorities and ethnic groups condition. With Myanmar opening itself to the globalized world with its brand of economic reforms, a new discontented citizenry is emerging in Myanmar.
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