I was mildly surprised when Anni during his first press conference, when asked about the climate change issue, responded by saying that there is nothing much we could do about it. Thinking about it further, there is an element of reality in it although being a small state, the least we could do is lobby for the cause.
Then came the Guardian interview.
[available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/10/maldives-climate-change : for those who may not have read it yet]
It is an understatement to say that the idea to buy land as a 'climate change doomsday insurance policy' is radical and i doubt the practicality of such a measure. However, even keeping aside the viability of such a plan, another element of it concerns me as much.
For a 'soon to be' head of the state to openly suggest that 'we are going under' and that there's nothing we can do about it and that we plan to buy land elsewhere to move, would not really give potential foreign investors a lot of confidence. For our economy to develop, we need to do a lot to attract foreign investors and if we are seen to have lost hope on our existence per se, then why should they come and invest their millions here?
On another note, I also noticed that he made a very 'politically incorrect' comment about Israel when he said that "After all, the Israelis [began by buying] land in Palestine,". I doubt whether his Foreign Minister (to be) Shaheed and spokesperson Zaki are best pleased with that comment as it is bound to raise a few eyebrows in the diplomatic circles.
I wonder who handles the media side at the MDP-alliance...
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Yes, Anni has a long way to go. He's a novice in all this and we have to admit the fact that we knew this much.
But then even gayoom was a novice of sorts. His admission of being armed while taking oath was a mistake that he would never have thought then would be brought against him.
per se i agree with you :)
and simon, oh pleeaze, he did not hav a gun with him "per se", he had the keys to the armory and this did have something to do with the fact that feared a violent clash with nasir and his loyalists
you'v ben goin around repeating this white-lie all over the blogosphere havnt you?.... him havin a gun on his person, and having the keys to an armory- while potato-potado, it's still not the same thing !
as for anni and his political blunders in international circles, i think its goin to be the death of me
i mean, who in gods name is advising him on thes matters??... the problem is he dsnt warm upto counsel at all!!... he is an autocrat in the making
him being a novice, and suddenly maumoon being used as an example is kinda hillarious... i hope its not us who pay the price for it this time!
buyin land, and quoting israel lik this is jus too fokin hillarious
Glad you highlighted this issue Shahdy.. I was really puzzled by Anni´s interview with the Guardian.. I hope in the coming days we´ll hear more from the new President, and what he actually has in mind for the country... first he talks about granting land ownership in a country where land hardly exists.. second comes the annoucement he´s establishing a fund for us to move abroad.. while the idea itself might be a good years and years down the line.. the way its been announced & handled is very poor.. anyways.. lets give him the benefit of the doubt.. its too early to start bashing him I guess.. Lets wait and see...
It's the kind of visionary idea that gets booed in its time but will be warmly welcomed when the time comes when reality bites hard. Generations from now on, when most of our islands are under water, our children will be complaining: "Why didn't our great- grandparents didn't consider emigration when they had the chance? Why are we made to suffer?" It's better to emigrate now and settle somewhere else. I am with Anni in this all the way.
I'm excited about the prospects of getting land in a real country.
Simon: Yes, the 'being armed' comment whether it was literally or not was a mistake as it was open to all kinds of interpretations.
Perhaps as Hilath says, its one of those ideas which is so radical and visionary that we cannot comprehend it as this time. In that case, only time will tell.
Hilath, no body is questioning the idea itself.. but I think how Anni handled the idea is poor.. and to begin with this idea has been around for a while and is no copyright of Anni... I have seen how people struggle in moving from island to island even within Maldives, and it is an emotional issue to many people.. He should have first at least have had a national live address with the Public, announce his vision & plan to the people, before he announce it to the world..
The practicality of such a policy is rather untenable - at least for now ; and yes , he should have opened a dialogue within the country first.
There are more pressing matters on hand and Shahdy is right - the last thing we want is to repel the foreign investors or stir up the diplomatic circles.
Novice or not , he is the President and it's time for him to wise up - I am optimistic that he will !
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/11/maldives.president/index.html
news of "sinking island nation" did pick up alot of steam in international media. It was the second MOST READ article in CNN for a while yesterday and CNN ran an opinion poll on their website whether "the islanders of Maldives should relocate"
Mind you, alot of people wants us to move to Australia, 31% of about 3000 people at the time i checked. 40% wanted us to stay put! very few wanted us to go to Sri lanka or India. good ey!
but thinking of how this all started. i agree with mr.shahdy... publicly disclosing that there is a "plan" as such is admitting the fact that we are indeed going down under (not to australia) but down under the sea!!
And that by itself, raises unnecessary doubt! doubt for business people equates to risk. UNNCESSARY RISK!
Many of us may believe that the reality of it is highly remote, but why say such a think if thats the case. totally unncessary
I can imagine the many maldivian business folk explaining the whole thing to foreign investors during those casual dinners and lunches they have with them...
Anni spoke too soon about a very popular theme "global warming" and he gave a sensational solution! its a sensational topic over a good steak but at the back of the investor's mind, im sure they'll be a small but reasonable doubt, BECAUSE, the PRESIDENT OF MALDIVES SAID IT!
I hope the news will die away within the next couple of days and it will not be something that will haunt anni for the rest of his presidency, but i have to say, it was a silly mistake...
hey shahdy, an idea that we cannot comprehend at this time you say??!
introducing a multi party system, maumoon getting less than 90%, unseating the "monarch" after 30 years of absolute rule...
...YES, impossible feats 6 years ago..makes me think, anni is the only one who took the majeedhiya school motto into heart...
BUT
takin a portion of tourism revenue, from profit tax (in the future) and then reinvesting that in buying land.. like the israeli's did in palestine??...
is political gibberish...
i think we hav more worse case scenarios as it is than to worry about the the 59cm sea level rise by 2100...
even if Anni is to sell freehold, who will put a valuation on a plot of land, let alone finance a loan for a property thats gonna be a beautiful pool in 100 years?
talkin about this before his first day in office, is not the best of things...i think worse case scenarios are best kept for the 4th year in term when presidents need to come up with fantasitc claims to get re-elected...
I agree with Shahdy that we need a proper PR agency to handle what comes out of the mouth of our leaders. I personally don't care what the former regime said because they weren't elected by us in any real shape or form. But this current one WAS elected by us and he speaks on our behalf more than anything else. We certainly don't want to have 'Annisms' in the same way that we have 'Bushisms'.
But from my viewpoint what was most annoying about all this buying land in another country business is that it foreshadowed a pretty unique set of events - even by historical standards - and this was the removal of power of a 30 year dictatorship without much bloodshed.
So instead of the international media talking about this very significant achievement, it seems EVERY TOM, DICK and HARRIET at every bloody international news agency was going on and on about how our country is disappearing and how we need a new place to live...
The way I see it, the reason why we need a proper PR unit (and perhaps even pay proper professionals to do so) is because I'm sure Anni MUST have also talked about the other issues that the Maldives faces - drugs,overdependence on tourism...etc, but the Guardian Newspaper is not interested in any of that because it is only interested in the spin that it can generate on its British readership. So we Maldives now need advisors to point out to the President exactly what are the agendas (hidden or otherwise) of the international media before he opens his mouth.
This is not to denigrate Anni at all or to take swipes at his intelligence. Even the most intelligent leaders, say Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair - they are flanked left, right and center by highly experienced PR specialists. In a country that relies its entire livelihood on foreigners (tourism or aid flows), this is an area we badly need.
So lets hope its a mistake that the current administration learns from.
Yes Zal. One of the unfortunate things about the interview was that as you said it shadowed more important things. The historical significance of this moment was downplayed when international media including the likes of CNN started running polls on where we should buy land from.
That said, its better than this happened now than later. Surely more important messages are yet to come and issues yet to be highlighted. Learning from this, I am hoping that the new government will take measures to utilize media to push their agenda.
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