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.
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 7th 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 8th 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
Dear Mr Ibra,
ReplyDeleteGoverments are for people and which comes from the people. I am a citizen who voted for our loving party MDP to come to power in 2008. I supported former president Mohamed Nasheed in the past but not anymore, on 7th february i was an eye vitness of what happen, your loving Nasheed sent gang members to fight against the oposition supporters. Only to see Maldives police service(MPS) officers were the only thing that was stopping them from doing so. MPS were ordered to get out from there but MPS officers did not. So then the Maldives National Defence Force(MNDF) came. then MPS went from there. What happened next was the fall of NASHEED, who is still arguing to be the father of democracy in Maldives. MNDF officers was just standing there grounds on order by Nasheed, while the thugs of his rainned stones on the opposition supporters and the rest is history.
RULE OF LAW, MPS up held the law in the darkest hrs, Of Maldives had seen recently.
Why do you feel the need to start off by saying you support MDP or supported Nasheed in a previous life.....and suddenly you had a flash on 7th February. It seems to me that it is an acknowledgement that MDP has the unreserved support of the people, and that Nasheed will win the September elections is a foregone conclusion.
DeleteYou know, our main worry now is not how to win the election, but how to bring this country out of the hell hole you have put it into....and what to do with guys like you. You know, you have completely destroyed the faith people had in the organization you work for. Reforming that institution and winning people's trust for that institution is going to be our biggest challenge.
Ibra, Can you digest please. UN consultant has just trained 11 Policemen on "Training on Trainers of Human Rights & Election Training" also UN Consultant Dr. Arie Bloed mentioned that Police organisation is very professional and he has noticed that in this training also. The International Community has already accepted the change and why would they believe people like you who has a foul mouth in public.
ReplyDeleteAaah! Asoa. That is not what the reply from University of western Sydney to me says. Call your friends in Blue to find out how it is progressing.....that is if you can trust them to tell you the truth....
DeleteWhile I agree with what you said about your concerns, unfortunately i dont see this australian university or others or western governments really standing up for what they claim to believe in.... for me i see western governments/instituitions as being complicit in the opression of freedoms in maldives...i will mention a basic right here "the right to freedom of conscience and religion" you ask any person on the street in the west and they would agree there is no ifs and buts and its an absolute right...however it is shameful for me any ways to see western governments including my own not asserting the fundementalness of this basic right in ongoing conversations/dialogue/assistance/relations/interactions with maldives .... shameful.... so for me it dosent really suprise me to see western instituitions training MPS it is rife with hypocracy... unfortunate but reality....
ReplyDeleteDidn't an independent commission, supported by the Commonwealth, rule out that what happened in the Maldives, as unfortunate as it was, wasn't a coup d'état? This report has been accepted by all countries/organisations concerned, apart from Nasheed's own political party. If I'm not mistaken, the author of this article belongs to this party.
ReplyDeleteThe election is not too far away. Whoever comes into power next week, Maldivians should stand by him and support him and not repeat another 7th Feb.