Island Chic’s Babble

I grew up on a tiny island in Northern Maldives. My island though small was very beautiful. I also had the perfect family. My mom, dad & I lived in a lovely house on the beach. My dad was a teacher on the Island School and earns Mrf 2500. My mother was an expert dress maker who earned about 2/3 of what dad makes. Together, we lead a comfortable life.

When I was 10, my mom got so hopelessly ill with a painful right arm. It was too painful for her to even lift a pencil and she needed urgent medical care. Unfortunately, the island has no health facilities besides the lady who lives next door who was the Community Health Worker. She has a drawer full of panadol syrup, paracetamol tablets, few bundles of band-aid and some cough syrup. She has neither the means nor the capacity to deal with mom’s condition and we were forced to travel to the closest Health Centre which was on the capital island of our atoll.

This island was 30 minutes away by boat and a round trip costs Mrf. 200. My dad, my aunt & I accompanied mom to the island. The Health centre had one doctor and a nurse. Mom was kept overnight in the hospital for the doctor to monitor her and figure out what was wrong. He couldn’t help her at all, save for the few pain killers she was given. The doctor advised my father to take my mom to the Regional Hospital.

We had to hire another boat and travel further. It cost us Mrf. 500. The Regional Hospital was much bigger with better facilities. Mom was immediately admitted as she was in pretty bad shape partly due to her pain and also from the unstable sea travel.

We had to rent a room close to the hospital for us although mom was admitted in the hospital. Also, we could eat from a small café nearby. Hospital fees, medicine, tests, accommodation for us and food expenses became an overwhelming affair for my dad. Still, it gets worse! The doctor informed my dad that mom needs urgent care and has to be taken to the capital Male’ as soon as possible.

We hired a speed boat to get us to the airport island. Being a speed boat, it charged us double and having to buy air tickets for us to Male’ dad was running really low.

On arrival in Male’ mom was immediately hospitalized in IGM Hospital. This hospital was nothing like the Health Centre or the Regional hospital. It was big with better facilities, many doctors and even more nurses! I was immediately relieved and mentally assured myself that my mom was now in good hands.

We stayed at the hospital for 48 hours straight. Finally dad had to rent a tiny room close to the hospital which cost him half of his monthly salary, only for 3 days! We had no savings plan, no bank accounts (as there are no banks on the islands) and no insurance (almost non-existent in the whole country)! Dad was forced to borrow money from an old friend.

After an agonizing 5 days in the hospital, with endless amounts of tests, treatments and medication my mom felt almost no relief. Finally the doctor gave us letter stating that she has to be sent abroad for further treatment, which is not provided in the country! We had no money, no means to pay for a place to live, buy her medicine, let alone take my mom abroad!

Next 6 days was hell. My dad ran from one government office to the other, from one hospital to the other. He sent letters to the wealthiest people in the country and practically begged for financial help. After 15 letters, 2 interviews, 7 personal meetings, 21 visits to various government/private institutions, two personal loans to my dad’s name, mom and dad left to India. They returned after a week and back-tracked to our island.

It took my mom 26 days to fully recover from the pain. However, it took my dad 5 years and 2 months to repay the money it cost him. Ironically, all my mom suffered from was a pinched nerve, which had to be fixed with a small surgery of 45 minutes, by one doctor!

Mark Zuckerberg, from the United States is only 23 years and is a self-made billionaire with stakes worth US$ 1.5 billion! According to Forbes, he is the youngest billionaire on earth and possibly the youngest self-made billionaire ever.

How did he get there? For those of us who doesn’t know, he is the founder of Facebook! Zuckerberg founded Facebook in February 2004 from his Harvard dorm room and that’s what lead to his ultimate wealth.

He is a Harvard dropout and left school for Silicon Valley in 2004. Later that year he scored initial $500,000 investment from PayPal cofounder and later other venture firms like Accel Partners and Greylock Partners followed.

Accoridng to Forbes, “Facebook boasts 66 million active users today and has estimated annual sales: $150 million. Expanding beyond being a college-only message system and photo album; now courting users to 55,000 different high school, business and city networks”.

Zuckerberg definitely is an inspirational success story unlike the many billionaires whose wealth was handed over to them with no effort whatsoever by themselves!

Since English News Paper, The Guardian reported on November 10, an interview with the Maldives President saying that Maldives will begin to divert a portion of the our annual tourist revenue into buying a new homeland – as an insurance policy against climate change, it has been one of the most read news items on the web.

Major news papers all over the world, internet magazines, forums and bloggers have covered this piece of news extensively and expressed a variety of ideas, opinions and sentiments related to it.

Till today, I have conveniently ignored this piece of news and refused to blog about it, in an unsuccessful attempt to assure myself that Maldives still has a chance and our children will hopefully have a home 50 or so years down the road. However it seems that we have convinced ourselves that Maldives is disappearing and even more unfortunate, we have convinced the world that we are truly going to vanish under the sea in the near future.

At first glance, we may not realize the repercussions of such a step. However, contemplate a little deeper into the issue and we’ll realize that we have successfully shoo-ed away most of our potential investors.

Without rich natural resources, Maldives is heavily dependent on tourism for our bread and butter. Tourism contributes to more than one-third of the country’s GDP and any adverse effects on investment trends and tourist arrivals may threaten our well being extensively.

Looking at short term consequences, convincing international markets that Maldives will sink in the next few decades may boom our tourist arrivals in the short run as a result of what we call ‘disaster tourism’. This is to say that there will be thousands of people who may want to come and see the Maldives before it disappear. However such a short-sighted outlook on our progress isn’t a wise approach to the prosperity of our people.

On a long term basis, we need to keep investors interested in our tourism industry. Considering that it is easy to do business in the Maldives and it offers great return to investment, Maldives seems like a gold mine for potential investors. However, convincing investors that any long term investments may result in huge loss due to investments literally ‘disappearing under water’ maybe not be a smart idea!

One might think that all this international coverage of Maldives and consequences of climate change on Maldives is good for us. I say otherwise! All publicity isn’t necessarily good publicity! The negative consequences of this may outweigh the positive. I think it is time that we do damage control.

November 19th is the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse, and this day is being marked in the Maldives throughout the week by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HCRM) in association with NGOs and various government agencies.

According to HCRM, the slogan for this awareness campaign “Prevention of Child abuse – My responsibility” highlights the spirit of this annual event and emphasizes the role of every individual in protecting the future of the nation.

There will be a symbolic hand-holding event in all the islands of the Maldives on 19 November 2008 at 4:30pm. Maldives Police Service would be leading the event which is planned to be held on Boduthakurufaanu Magu which encircles the capital, Male’. The official ceremony would take place at the Artificial Beach in Male’ after the hand-holding event.

All are invited for this event and it’s highly encouraged to let your commitment to the cause be seen. You can join the event at anywhere along the Boduthakurufaanu Magu or in any of the inhabited islands of Maldives and join in the stand against child abuse. Get more information on the event from HCRM and also join the Facebook group advocating against child abuse in Maldives.

In the Maldives an alarming issue related to child abuse is the fact that majority of the incidents go unreported and therefore a major change in the attitude towards the matter has to occur. According to Ministry of Health and Family, 316 child abuse cases were reported last in the Maldives and Child Pornography and social networking on the internet is a threatening matter that parents and guardians need to pay a special attention to in our society.

In addition to reducing child abuse in the society, the Maldives is in serious needs of protection of the rights of the victims, putting in place appropriate laws and regulations to ensure the safety and integrity of the child. As the issue is widespread and increasing at an alarming rate, there needs to be stricter regulations to bring perpetrators to justice. Moreover, we need strong institutions to protect and rehabilitate the victims physically as well as psychologically.

One of the key obstacles to the development of Maldives, without debate, is the housing issues and urban congestion in the capital, Male’. It is also a major contributor towards unequal distribution of wealth and the income disparity in the country. Let me elaborate.

Majority of the resources in the Maldives, whether it is health services, education, financing or entertainment, are all available in the capital island Male’. The island itself is 2 sq km in size and yet, holds more than one third of our population (34.68%) which is 103,693 out of the total population of 298,968 people. This has officially counted Male’ among the world’s most densely populated cities.

The unfortunate reality is that the people on the islands are left with little choice. If they want to educate their children, provide health services for the elderly and sick, they must migrate to the capital or the capital region. This has increased the demand for housing tremendously, resulting physically and socially unhealthy living conditions for a huge section of the population in the city. Islanders who can’t afford to migrate to Male’, spend their life savings on routine travel to the capital to pay for health matters and end up spending fortunes on rent. This has had a huge impact on the less affluent island communities, pushing them deeper into ‘poverty’.

Now, the government has populated an island 5 – 10 minutes away from the capital as an extension of the capital. Also, the government has spent billions of dollars (even to the extent of pushing the government budget into a deficit) to create an artificial island by reclaiming land from the neighbouring Hulhule’ (airport island) which is 3 – 5 minutes away from the capital. Both these so called solutions has so far not shown any positive impacts on the over congestion on the capital. Not surprising, considering that demand for land in the capital region is shooting up, rather than going down. This is pushing more island communities to migrate to the capital region.

Maldivian government must realise the root cause of this issue and try to dilute demand in the capital region rather than take a piecemeal approach to address supply. This is best possible by for example; decentralising development, mainly developing regional hubs for health services and education. We can build commercial harbours away from the capital and diversify resort development away from the capital region. We can develop regional international airports both in the north and the south rather than increasing the pressure on the capital due to tourist arrivals through a SINGLE international airport. There’s many more which I plan to post in a different article.

In any case, government must seriously look at the root causes of the issue before deciding on a solution, instead of the current approach, which is not only showing any positive results, but also creating more problems for the society, financially as well as socially.

Great news for Google lovers! Gmail Chat has now enabled voice and video capabilities. How cool is that? From within Gmail, i.e. your web browser, you can have an actual conversation with and chat face to face over video! Yes, I love Google for a reason!

As usual simple steps you need to get started with:

• Download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install the plug-in.
• Sign in to Gmail.
• In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.

If your friend doesn’t have a camera next to their name in your chat list, you can invite them to download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in from the Video & more menu in a chat window. Even if your friend doesn’t have a video camera, you can still make a voice call or a 1-way video call.

Voice and video in Gmail only works with the newer version of Gmail in supported browsers: FF 2.0+, IE 6.0+, Safari 3.0+, and Google Chrome.

Without installing an instant messenger, now you can have an actual video chat. For all those who work in organizations where instant messengers are not allowed during work hours, here’s your chance. Find out more on Gmail Blog and sneak in some fun!

Cronyism, nepotism and favoritism are buzz words (literally or otherwise) within various forums involving Maldivian government employees. We have long suffered a system which has somewhat ignored the elements of meritocracy as determinants of a public servant’s path towards success.

In an ideal democracy backed with an efficient bureaucracy (a perfect example is the Singapore public service), meritocracy is the key factor which determines the progress of a government employee.

“Meritocracy is a system of a government or another organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability (merit), rather than by wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), class privilege (oligarchy), cronyism, popularity (as in democracy) or other historical determinants of social position and political power. In a meritocracy, society rewards (by wealth, position, and social status) those who demonstrated talent and competence, demonstrated through past actions or by competition”.

Anyone who has seen anything within the Maldivian administration must have noticed the lack of attention to meritocracy and the excessive abuse of all else mentioned above. We have long seen a system where appointments and promotions are based on connections, relationship with people on the top, mere presence within the system (years of service whether productive or otherwise), flattery and ‘sucking up’ to the big bosses. This I’d say is the root cause of an inefficacious civil service today.

Maldivians on average are relatively bright, enthusiastic and meticulous in their work. We have a pretty young civil service with sufficient education to back it up. Yet, we suffer from the inadequacies and friction within the system which de-motivate the very talented within the system due to factors mentioned in the beginning.

We now have a new government, a new constitution, a new civil service, a new administration and a new structure. It is time that we adopt a new policy to recognise and reward talent and nurture them. It is time that we motivate the enthusiasts and penalise or revitalise the inefficient and unproductive.

The first step towards the adoption of a system of meritocracy is to overhaul the long established methods for recruitment, appointment and promotions. We need an effective performance appraisal system within each government organisation which periodically reviews the performance of staff in each department. We need a mission and a vision for each department which must align with the main goal of the organisation. We need to eliminate inefficient staff and reinforce support for the ‘dragging feet’ to push them forward. We need to put aside the selfish use of one’s position and power to push forward an agenda which is does not have the best interest of the citizenry at heart. We need to make that painful switch to a system of meritocracy.

Here are 50 amazing but useless facts that everyone must know. You’d never have guessed them!

1. The word “queue” is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

2. Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

3. Of all the words in the English language, the word ’set’ has the most definitions!

4. What is called a “French kiss” in the English speaking world is known as an “English kiss” in France.

5. “Almost” is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

6. “Rhythm” is the longest English word without a vowel.

7. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child

8. A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!

9. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

10. You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath

11. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

12. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!

13. Buckingham Palace in England has over six hundred rooms.

14. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London

15. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

16. Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!

17. The elephant is the only mammal that can’t jump!

18. One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!

19. Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different!

20. The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man

21. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

22. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!

23. The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.

24. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

25. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.

26. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.

27. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a “Friday the 13th.”

28. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.

29. There was once an undersea post office in the Bahamas.

30. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

31. More people are allergic to cow’s milk than any other food.

32. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

33. The placement of a donkey’s eyes in its heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!

34. The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

35. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

36. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

37. Someone paid $14,000 for the bra worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film ‘Some Like It Hot’.

38. You’re born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.

39. Some worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food!

40. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

41. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

42. The world’s oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!

43. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds

44. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not

45. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

46. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.

47. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!

48. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

49. The average person laughs 10 times a day!

50. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain

Even though Maldives enjoys a robust tourism industry and its revenue contributes to roughly one third of the country’s GDP, the wealth from the tourism sector lies with the top 10% of the country’s rich and affluent. The poorer Maldivians, especially those who live in the small i
slands far away from the capital are almost totally deprived of the benefits of the Tourism sector, whether as employment or tourism related businesses. Hence there is a need to address this disparity in the distribution of wealth by formulating robust and realistic policies.

There have been a few policies introduced in the past, which have worked to some extent but back fired in other instances due to circumstances. I will try to look at four important policy alternatives including two policies already in effect, to address the problem of unequal distribution of wealth from the tourism sector.

1. “Public Shareholding”

Provided that corruption and inefficiencies within the administration are eliminated, this policy will ensure the distribution of wealth from the tourism industry through the public company, MTDC. This company is the biggest public holding company in the Maldives and 45 percent of its shares are owned by the state and 55 percent by the public. It has licenses to develop more than a dozen new tourist resorts, some of which will be wholly developed by the company and others through joint ventures. The profit generated through the development of these resorts will be transferred to the general public through its shares. However, looking at the current situation, this seems far from effective as mentioned in my previous post, due to problems within the bureaucracy.

2. “Bringing tourism to the atolls”: This policy is already underway to a limited extent. This involves the introduction of tourism within the atolls further away from the capital by spreading resort development and hence generating employment on the resorts in terms of construction and development and once completed, as staff on the resorts. Moreover, this will provide numerous opportunities for private businesses for the islanders closer to the resorts such as provision of food items, sale of souvenirs, numerous construction and maintenance jobs etc.

3. “Tax to the grants”: This alternative requires an increase in the current Tourist Bed Tax of flat 8% to be increased through a progressive tax and using the additional revenue for provision of subsidies and grants to the island communities, to stimulate agricultural, fishing or tourism related businesses. In addition to this, revenue could also be used for direct provision and development of services such as health, education and transport within the atolls where such services are lacking or insufficient. This will ensure transfer of wealth from the rich elites to the poorer island communities.

4. “Earmarking for atolls development”: This alternative does not require an increase in the Tourist Bed Tax rate as it could be highly controversial due to elite opposition. Rather it requires earmarking 2% of the total revenue from Tourist Bed Tax for the development of atolls as mentioned in the previous “Tax to Grants” alternative.

These are four of the many options and alternative policies our government can implement to ensure transfer of wealth in order to reduce income inequality and foster more productive economic activities within the less affluent areas in the country.