University of Western Sydney and Maldives Police Service

It was with horror that I heard that the University of Western Sydney, Australia had gone into partnership with the Maldives Police Service to offer some kind of courses at the Police College or whatever name that institute goes by.
I can understand very well why MPS might seek such an affiliation. In addition to police officers being trained by a reputed University, it would put a feather in Abdulla Riyaz's cap by being able to claim that reputed academic institutions have no problems in associating with the MPS, which is an indication that the international community does not have a problem with assisting the current coup government. However, what made me flinch was that an Autralian University, funded by the Australian people could turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by the organization they were getting into bed with. The fact that an academic institution in a country like Australia, whose people have such a strong conviction in fairness and justice, could just turn a blind eye to those values they hold so dear.
Anyway, I got so upset that I called the contact officer listed on their website to lodge my protest, and she very kindly directed me to her email. I then proceeded to write to the University in an attempt to appeal to their ethical standards and ask them to review their decision.
I have copied below my email to the University, and the contact details of the University for the reference of readers.

Dear Ms Danielle Roddick

Let me please apologise for the long delay in getting back to you. I did not see your mail until today.

As I said when I spoke to you on the telephone, I am deeply concerned that the University of Western Sydney is in partnership with the Maldives Police Service.

 My concern rests mainly on ethical grounds, and as an Australian graduate, and as the Chairman of an Academic Institution in the Maldives, I am appalled that an Australian University could go into partnership with an organization like the Maldives Police Service at the current moment. Let me outline the reasons for my concerns.

1.       On the 7^th  of February 2012, the Maldives Police Service and the Maldives National Defense Force, in partnership with certain political elements in the country executed a coup d’etat and overthrew the government which was elected by the people.

2.       On the 8^th of February, the Maldives Police Service attacked peaceful protestors, severing limbs and causing great injury to a number of peacefully protesting men and women.

3.       To this day, the Maldives Police Service continue to act with impunity, disregarding the Constitution and Law, and continuously violating fundamental rights such as the Right for Peaceful Assembly and the Right for the Freedom of Expression

4.       Never has the Maldives witnessed an era of such impunity and lawlessness.

5.       The MPS is currently headed by one of the Chief perpetrators of the Coup, and he holds the post of Commissioner of Police in violation of the Law. In fact his appointment is totally outside the Law, and any decision he makes in that capacity does not have any legitimacy.

6.       The Commonwealth, the British Government, the Australian Government and the Canadaian Government, The Indian Government along with the European Union and Amnesty International and the United Nations have been continuously expressing concern in varying degrees about the situation in Maldives, and have been demanding elections.

7.       The Maldives Police Service keep continuously harassing, and arbitrarily arresting opposition Members of Parliament and key Leaders in the Opposition.

8.       The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group has Maldives on their Agenda and is considering suspension due to the lack of rule of law in the country.

9.       The Commissioner of Police has publicly stated that the MPS will NOT investigate any of the police officers who perpetrated any of these crimes, including brutality against people.

10.   The British Parliament has taken up the issue of Scotland Yard having ties with the Maldives Police Service.

 With this backdrop, it is unthinkable that an Australian University would go into partnership with this organization and give them the tools to portray to the public and the international community at large that they are an organization which conducts business with normalcy with academic institutions in Democratic Countries.

 Hence, I would like to urge th[e] ethics committee (or equivalent body) of the University to review this decision, and express solidarity with the Maldivian People.

 I await your reply before proceeding to act on this matter any further.

Thank you.

Ibrahim Ismail

Chairman of the College Council

Mandhu College, Maldives

Contact Details of UWS

Danielle Roddick  | Senior Media Officer

Office of Marketing and Communication | University of Western Sydney

Building AF Room 1.03, Penrith Campus (Werrington North) 

P: 9678 7086 | F: 9678 7089 | M: 0414 308 701 | E: d.roddick@uws.edu.au

Catch up on the latest UWS news: http://www.uws.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre

Thoughts on the Judiciary

 Since 2005, I have thought that the major hurdle for the establishment of a democratic system of government in the Maldives was the Judiciary. Three main characteristics of the Maldivian Judiciary inhibited the promotion of democratic ideals: The utter incompetence and ignorance of judges, particularly as relates to the basic principles and norms of a democratic society; the ubiquitous corruption among judges and the rampant desire of judges to please a ruthless tyrant in return for their positions so that they could continue their corrupt practices.

The rewriting of the Constitution was an opportunity for the country to change this around. It was generally felt that if judges were given full independence, they would maintain justice in the country. I never subscribed to this notion, as I could see that most of the judges in the system would not survive in a meritocratic system based on integrity and competence. Nevertheless, in any democratic forum, majority prevails.

It must be noted that the chapter on the Judiciary was drafted and redrafted 7 times, and every time it was DRP who objected to the draft. Eventually it was passed with compromise. You may ask why. The simple answer is DRP (essentially Qayyoom) controlled all but 27 of the 113 seats in the Special Majlis, and had those compromises not been made, the Constitution would never have seen the light of day.

The JSC was put in as the oversight body of the Judiciary and the composition was made up so that all three branches of the state were equally represented in it, making it the pivotal point of the Constitution.

The composition of the JSC has since become the centre of much debate. Many do a very shallow analysis of events and come to the conclusion that the whole problem within the Judiciary lies in two MPs sitting in the JSC. But that is only 2 out of 10! In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Three major factors contribute to the problem.

Firstly, the Judicature Act and the Judges Act, which were passed by the Majlis in 2010, violates the Constitution and democratic norms by a large margin. The Supreme Court has taken maximum advantage of this and abused the system to undermine the Constitution.

Secondly, the Majlis, which is the oversight body of the JSC and the ultimate oversight body for the entire Judiciary is full of compromised MPs. So many MPs have cases before the courts, and their personal stakes in the courts are so high that MPs in general simply turn a blind eye to the misdeeds within the Judiciary. The Supreme Court was constituted to ensure that these corrupt politicians and those MPs who had committed serious crimes or had colluded in criminal activity would be protected through cronies on the Bench.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the battle for the political survival of Qayyoom and his loyalists started in the Majlis and spilled into the Judiciary and the JSC. The final battleground will be the Supreme Court, and controlling the JSC to protect the Supreme Court and the Qayyoom brothers is essential.

Thus, the real problem is not the composition of the JSC. The real problem is the battle between Good and Evil. Justice and Injustice. You can change the JSC. You can change all the Independent Institutions. But as long as the Qayyoom brothers remain in a position to call shots in the political arena, you will not see justice prevail in this country.

The reader is referred to my previous writings on the Judiciary in this blog for some details of events as they happened.

The status quo today is that with yesterday’s two rulings by the Supreme Court against the Majlis, the Supreme Court has effectively declared Supremacy over the people, nullifying article 4 of the Constitution.

There is no Constitution in the country any more.

Question is, what will the Majlis do? Will they understand their folly and act? I call on Speaker Shahid to uphold the Power of the People by defying the Supreme Court rulings on both accounts. He should call the secret ballot for the impeachment motions, and he should call for nominations to fill the vacancy in the Civil Service Commission.

If any state official or body challenges the Speaker’s decision and action on these two issues, the Majlis must move a motion to freeze the remuneration/budget of such official or body.