Full Circle

Almost two months ago, I sat in the same chair at roughly the same time of day writing the first post on this blog. I vividly remember, how excited and how nervous I was at the outset of this trek to the Muslim world. I embarked on this adventure not knowing what I would find, and left not wanting to leave.
Sitting here in suburban Los Angeles it is hard to believe that I was there less than a week ago. However, I obviously was and am much the better for it. The seven weeks I spent in Maldives were a whirlwhind. During that time I experienced the life of the people, and became familiar with how another country views the world. Through covering the many economic problems in the country I learned that the rising cost of living around the globe is having a much bigger effect on this tiny country than it is on my own.
My time in Maldives also showed me a glimpse of what it must have been like in the U.S. more than 200 years ago, getting to see the events like the ratification of the constitiution, and observing the problems the country faces on the road to democracy.
Being in this country proved to me that the right to vote, something many Americans take for granted, is indeed important. It showed me that despite cultural diffrences, people arround the world are still people.
Still, there is no one thing that I can put my finger on as the most important experence I had in Maldives. I enjoyed life in the counry as a whole, and those are the most important memories that I will carry with me., as I go in with my regular day-to-day life

On the Return to the US

Upon my arrival back in the United States, I realized that I had grown used to things that are different in Maldives. It took me a few days to get used to non-military time, cars that drive on the "wrong" side of the road and English units of measurement again. When I first arrived in Maldives I found all of these things to be very diffrent. It wasn't until I got home that I realized how much I had come to take these aspects of life in Maldives (and other countries) for granted.
I also missed going to the office and reporting stories every day, and the time spent with my new friends on the other side of the world.

Singapore Birthday

We left Maldives on my birthday and had to spend another day long layover in Singapore. So we went into town and had lunch at Raffles Hotel to celebrate. Also at the table was our boss, Terry Anzur, and Gary Ponticiello, the programming producer on our team. His birthday was two days before.

Last Day

Today is our last day in Maldives. We came into the station to say good bye to everyone. At first it seemed like business as usuial, but as the time for us to leave drew near it became more and more apparent that it was not. The news staff invited us to a traditional Maldivian meal of masuni (a tuna, chili and coconut mixture) and roshi, which are similar to tortillas. Afterwards I was presented with a DVD of all the reports I had done and a letter of recommendation from the news director. Shortly thereafter it was time to leave. We said our good byes.Close friends hugged the breath out of me! Then we had to go to our hotel room to pack. It was sort of sad. I really don’t want to leave Maldives. But if my life must move on, this was a good way to end my time in the news room. Thanks to all helped me on the job, and gave me this send off. I shall return!

Cultural Conduct

One cultural facet that I think deserves its fifteen minutes of fame. In Western culture it is customary for men to shake hands with other men and hug women that you know. However in Maldives it is exactly the opposite. The men hug the other men and shake hands with the women! Needless to say this took some getting used to. I am told that really devout Muslim men don’t touch women (other than their wives) at all and kiss other men on the cheeks by way of greeting.

Vilingili trip

It has become rather evident that I will not be able to visit any inhabited islands outside of Male while I am here. So I called JD, one of my friends from the news room, and we went to the suburb island of Vilingili. The island is supposed to be the closest thing to an inhabited island near Male, except that it has some paved streets and one or two three-story buldings. Old dhonis (traditional boats) litter the beaches . The lifestyle is supposed to mirror that of the other inhabited islands, in that it is really slow and laid back. Traditional Maldivan rope chairs seem to be strewn all over the island for anyone who wants to take a nap. After about an hour there, we felt ready to fall asleep so we came back to the city.

Recognition

I was eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant when the chef came out to speak to me. She wanted to talk to me about the reports I had been doing. The chef watches the English news every night, and wanted to commend me on my work. Also in recent days many school groups have been coming through the news room. The boys and girls are brought in in separate groups. While the girls are very quiet, the boys seem to enjoy running arroud getting everyone's autographs, inculding mine.

House Cleaning for the Ramazan

During the month of Ramazan, Muslims must fast and remodel their houses. Because of this, many furniture and appliance stores have sales on their goods to take advantage of the holy month, which falls during September.

Of course, because of inflation, and the skyrocketing cost of living in Maldives, the sale prices are higher than they were last year. Many sales have also been going on since the 1st of August. I interviewed store owners who say that there also has been less demand for furniture this year. They hope that demand will pick up, as Ramazan gets closer. However, for the time being it would appear that people will not be able to afford their yearly home makeover, and aren't buying even at sale prices.

No Debate

The other major event the voter education branch was going to have was a debate. That did not happen either. It was to be held in one of the studios at TVM, but the management of the state run TV station ultimately answers to the government and, while they say they are being objective, there appears to be some pressure from officials.

President Gayoom's party issued a press release saying he does not need to debate because he has been the head of state for 30 years. At almost the same time as this press release was sent out , the manager of TVM informed us that he was not going to let debate organizers use the studio because only two or three of the candidates were planning to attend.

Although others may feel differently, I believe this experience shows that the government TV station, while trying to give the appearance of objectivity, still caves to pressure from the government, and sees no problem with this.

Voter Education in the Maldives

Another branch of our group was brought here to focus on voter education for the upcoming presidential election. One of the things they did was to set up a voter education themed street party at the artificial beach. Since this is one of the places that Maldivians usually spend their free time it seemed like a good idea. However this was not the case. on the afternoon and night of the party there were less people in the venue that usual, and most of them were not Maldivians.

When I talked about the fact that only a small crowd turned out for the street party, my Maldivian friends said they weren't surprised at all, saying something like, "That kind of thing doesn't work here." Maldivians like to blend in with the crowd, and don't want to be seen at a political rally. This mentality has some reason to it. Not far from the beach party and concert, someone was stabbed.

Those who came got free buttons, wristbands and t-shirts, all reminding people of how important it is to choose a candidate and cast their secret vote. Unfortunately, we are hearing that vote-selling is common here.

New Party

About a week ago a 9th party was formed. There were already so many other parties in the country that I did not think about it too much when the Republican (Jumhoree) party appeared on the Maldivian political scene.
Last night, however, I realized that this party is no minor deal. Their ranks have grown to the point at which they now have the largest number of members in the Majlis. There are many that think that this party could oust the DRP and President Gayoom from office.
An interesting note, four of the founding and leading members of the Maldivian Republican party are Gasim and the three other MP's that we had lunch with. I now have a rather good idea what they were at the resort to talk about- preparing to form the new party. Gasim also has thrown his hat into the political arena and is vying to become the Republican candidate. Many think that he may be the man who can beat Gayoom. President Gayoom, meanwhile, kicked off his election campaign last night to take advantage of the lucky date 8-8-08. However, this was during the same time as the Olympics and after the 8 pm newscast was over, so the big announcement wasn't on TV until the next day.

Watching the Olympics from Asia

We had to come to Maldives to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics live. We were one of the few Americans who got to do this because back at home only NBC has the rights and they air it on tape delay. However getting to see it was not easy. The Olympic committee requires that the national broadcaster( in this case TVM) get the live feed of the Olympics. The problem with this is that we did not get TVM in our hotel, because the cable provider wouldn't put it on. In Maldives it is illegal to not have TVM, so we had to go down to the lobby and threaten to get the hotel's cable license revoked by the ministry of information, unless we got TVM in our room. By the time we took the elevator back up it was on.

Despite the fact that Maldives was about the 5th nation to enter into the stadium, they are a non qualifying member and are only allowed to send four athletes. Two of them compete in track and field and the others in swimming. The problem is that there are no places for them to train. The swimmers were training in the ocean, and had to be taken to the airport island hotel pool so they would know what to do when they got in one at the Olympics. Suffice it to say I am not expecting them to win anything, but am happy that they are represented.

Business Intrigue

A subcommittee of the chamber of commerce, held a press conference accusing the executive board of the chamber of fraudulently appointing members to other boards in order to advance their personal agendas. At the press conference they showed proof that the members had been fraudulently appointed, including Papers proving that non enough chamber members had voted for them to be appointed. This is made more interesting by the fact that the 4 people on the executive council are all members of Parliament. The executive board will have a press conference this Sunday responding to the whistle-blowing sub-committee. This is important business news, but because of the aforementioned problems it has not been aired at all yet.
Perhaps on Sunday it will get the air time it deserves.

No English No Tapes, No Report

I have written on this blog many times that I have almost missed my slot on the news because the editors wouldn't edit my package early enough and because Dhivehi speaking reporters forget to ingest the English interview clip into the editing computer.

It finally happened yesterday when I was covering what is very possibly the most important story I have or will cover here. The editing machines crashed because they were too full which meant that the editors barely got the 8:00 show on. It wasn't until 8:20 that I was even able to begin editing my piece. The ingestion problems also reached a new low, whoever ingested the interviews didn't ingest the EEnglish and then lost the tapes. so I spent practically the whole time looking for them. I was finally about to locate only two of the four that were supposed to go in my stand up. Even working fast, by the time the package was edited the 9:00 English news was practically over.

This is going to happen again unless there are some changes. There needs to be a newsroom policy that who ever ingests the video will ingest the English. In general their needs to be more accountability at TVM. Passing the buck seems to be a favorite passtime there. No one would admit to losing the tapes last night. I haven't aired a story in the past two days because of this problem, but I have learned something about different cultures with different work ethics.

Another example: on Wednesday I was going to do a VO/SOT on accusations of corruption in the chamber of commerce. However, the story didn't air because we couldn't get a response from the accused. Why? Because the person who was doing the story with me promised to call them, but told some one else to do it and then both of them went for a snack! I personally couldn't make the call as when I try they hang up on me when they hear me speaking English. However, from the Maldivian point of view this is just the normal way of doing business.

Covering the Constitution

After the ceremony it was time to work. My job was to find dignitaries and politicians leaving the ceremony and get interviews with them. At first we didn't have a camera assigned to that, so I thought that it wasn't going to go well. But finally some of the new batch (many of whom still haven't left yet) showed up with a camera and I was able to get a total of four interviews , from international delegates, as well as opposing sides of the Maldivian political arena. Other interviews included the high commissioner of India, the attorney general of Maldives. I also spoke with one of the opposition Parliament members, and, pictured below, a one on one English interview with one of the main opposition presidential candidate, Anni. These four interviews provided a balanced perspective both from local and international points of view. The dignitaries spoke of the ratification itself, the major concerns they still have and whether or not they think the election will happen on the October 10th deadline. I also did a stand up next to the desk where the signing took place. it was a great start to one of the most important days in Maldivian history.

History is Made

President Gayoom signed the constitution on Thursday, as I was covering the event I got to watch in person as he signed the document, making it into the governmental law of the country. I found this to be an amazing experience. For many years I have learned about the Constitution and American history. our Constitution was ratified over 200 years ago, but in Maldives the adoption of a democratic system happened only yesterday. it gave me a glimpse of what it must have been like in our own country centuries ago.

The ceremony was in of course different in some ways. Before the signing, onlookers were treated to a recitation of the Koran, and afterwords, there was a prayer. They also played the national anthem three times during the ceremony.

Police Power

Right after the police bill was passed the country technically had no sworn police officers. The police force was ready to fix this problem. Less than an hour after the bill was signed, all of the police officers in Male assembled at the convention center to get sworn in under the new bill. Officers in the atolls were sworn in at the same time. It was an impressive sight to see hundreds of police officers get sworn in simultaneously. The new bill will also give the police more power. Police can now ask for anyone's ID at any time, and can search your personal property for any reason; no warrant necessary. While the country at least still has police, is is also possible that they could abuse their newfound authority.

Seeing the President

The country is now a large step closer to getting the constitution ratified and having the election. The president signed two pieces of landmark legislation today: the police bill and the umbrella bill. These bills will specify exactly what is illegal in the country, and make sure the police have power. Before this bill there was no specific piece of legislation creating a government sanctioned police force, or laws specifically forbidding things like murder (although strict Muslim law is enforced). Passing these pieces of supporting legislation was an absolute prerequisite to the ratification of the constitution which is supposed to take place at the end of this week. This was the first event where I saw President Gayoom in person. He often shakes everyone's hand afterwards, but unfortunately didn't this time. At least I got to see the president and witness his news conference.

Coming and Going

When the new batch graduated I thought that I would not see them again, but on Sunday when I walked into the news room they were all there. The news room wants them to be sent out but decided that it was up to the transportation division of the government to actually get them to the atoll bureaus. Many of them are still in the newsroom wating to ship out. On the other hand, reporters who have spent time in the atolls have begun to arrive in the news room.
In other news room happenings one of the reporters got kicked out of the news department got kicked out if the news room got kicked out for leaking information to the competiton. She is apparently working in "another department " but no one has seem her.

Editing Problems Persist

Even though the English news now gets priority after 8 o'clock, editing is still difficult. The editors are still not ingesting any of the English interviews, despite being told to do so countless times by me and others.
Many times this week I have had to go through the exercise of searching for the tape and then ingesting the English portion of it into the editing machine less then an hour before my story was due to air, just so i could begin to get it edited. A few times I thought that I was going to miss my slot. The editing process would go much more smoothly for everyone if the English was ingested in the early afternoon, right after the press conference, along with the Dhivehi.

The Night Market

After work one night I went to the annual night market in Male. It is a large bazaar that occurs just before the feasting month of Ramazan. As part of Ramazan, Muslims are supposed to clean out their houses and shops and get rid of old things. The market is organized to give shop owners an opportunity to get rid of their old merchandise at very low prices. For this reason mops and brooms are also vary popular items.

Not only clothiers are at the night market. Music shops, restaurants, plant nurseries, and even pet shops have stalls. The market it very large, going almost the entire length of the island on a road next to the sea.

The bazaar is also very, very crowded. Bargain shopping is not the only reason people go to the night market. It is so crowed that people end up bumping into each other. Many go there just for this reason, it's the most physical contact they're allowed to have in public. Needless to say you have to keep your wits about you.

Fly to Bangladesh!

The first direct flight from Bangladesh flew into Male International Airport this week. This is important news because Bangladeshis comprise the largest expatriate community in Maldives. Most Bangladeshis are part of the class of manual laborers, or otherwise do jobs that the Maldivians don't want to do. Best Air, the Bangladeshi company offering the flight is offering a lower fare hoping that the workers will be able to afford it and will fly home more often on their airlines.
However this may not happen. There is a large problem with illegal immigration in Maldives. many foreign workers come to Maldives on a work visa and disappear when it's time for them to leave.

Dinner with MDP Supporters

A couple on nights ago we had dinner with a group of reporters from Minivan News. Despite the fact that the name means freedom in dhivehi, the news service is rather biased toward the main opposition party and its candidate, Anni. Because of this much of the discussion revolved arround how crazy President Gayoom is.

While they may not be following the best practices of journalism, I would have to say that the president made some crazy statements this week. First of all he has declared all of his political opponents official liars, and has published an official list. Apparently he does not realize that in politics you respond to you opponents accusations instead of just calling them immoral.

The president did take the historic action of setting a date for constitutional ratification. He will ratify the constitiution on August 7th... after he sends it back to parliment to correct the grammar. This statement comes afther the government of the EU threatened to withdraw aid if the government didn't move toward the election with more speed. The president responded basically by telling the EU that he dosn't need them and, to stay out of his business.

Another interesting fact: in recent press conferences the president's eyes have looked glazed and unfocsed. It is possible that he may be in bad health, and on heavy medication.

the voter lists are out!

Unlike in the United States, every citizen of the Maldives who is over the age of 18 is automatically registered to vote. In order to show who can vote, the country has published a book with a list of all eligible Maldivian citizens. The problem with this is that since no one actually has made an affort to be on or off the list. there may be dead people on it, or living people missing from it.

To combat this accuracy problem, the government has released the list to the public for the next two weeks so they can look at it, and report any problems on a hotline. The lists are at the district offices. The offices do not make it easy to check. Some of them don't even know if they have it or not, and you have to make a point of asking for it at those that do. Here is a reporter doing a standup at one of the district offices in Male.

The other problem with this system is that a person's name is posted only in the the book of the atoll where he or she was born, but they can vote anywhere in the in country.
Maldivians living outside the country will not be able to vote in this election unless they physically travel to the Maldives. The country is simply not organized enough to have an absentee ballot system. I get the feeling that the majority of expatriates are against President Gayoom , so despite the level of disorganization, I wonder if the there are no absentee ballots, in part because the sitting government has not made it a priority.

New Batch Graduation

The new batch of reporters that had been in training first in Addu atoll in the south and later in the news room in the capital, graduated last night. They leave today for the atoll bureaus. The graduation of this batch will allow TVM to open all 20 of it's atoll bureaus,only 6 of which were functioning before. Their graduation also allows many reporters who have spent years in the atolls to return to Male.
The ceremony was held at Voice of Maldives, the state radio station. Afterwards there were refreshment served, and everyone discussed where they were being sent. They seemed to enjoy teasing me that I would be going to the U.S. Atoll... go figure.
Most of them seem to make good reporters and I wish them the best of luck.

Continuing Money Problems

The new finance minister gave a press conference yesterday, along with the education minister and the head of the pay advisory board. The finance minister announced that in order to keep already bad inflation problems from worsening the government would have to cut its expenses by at least 20 percent over the next five months. He says that the government really needs to cut more than that to actually spend within its means. Because of this, the teachers, who have been threatening to strike for more pay, would not be getting a raise. The education minister at this point called on teachers not to strike, but then said that it is likely that they will. The teachers union is going to meet today to determine if they will walk out.
The press conference was held around noon and stopped for ten minutes during prayer time. The education minister stopped talking in the middle of a sentence to pray.
One of the reporters is looking into the facts of teacher pay. She learned that the union leaders make much more money than average workers in the Maldives for working relatively few hours. The teachers union did not consent to an interview with TVM.

Burning Drugs

Today I covered a drug burning on one of the prison islands. The police invite the media to these burnings to prove that they were not using or selling the drugs themselves. The police burned almost a kilo and a half of drugs, that came from 56 separate cases. This is part of the effort to combat the large drug addiction in Maldives. Almost one third of the country is addicted to some type of illegal substance.

Tsunami survivors

While on Hulhumale we visited an encampment of tsunami survivors. They are currently living in tin shacks while they are waiting for the government to build their new homes. There is no transportation except the school bus. One family of thirteen lives in one such two room shack, with no air-conditioning and no running water. There is a tank in one corner of the encampment; it collects rain that is to be used as drinking water. Despite their situation they invited us into their dwelling for a cold drink of soda. The government says that their new home, on a safe island, will be ready within the year. But the family after four years on Hulhumale has made a life there and wants to get a larger apartment on that island.

Relocation problems

Last Thursday I went to Hulhumale, the man-made island that is about a 40 minute boat ride from Male. President Gayoom commissioned the building of the island as a safe haven for the people of Male if the sea levels rise. The island is 6 feet above sea level which probably makes it one of the highest points in the entire country. The only problem is that practically no one has moved there. This is partly because the Hulhumale development corporation it not that good about providing basic utilities such as running water, or about charging affordable prices for plots of land, which then have to be built on. The result is a lot of wide open spaces and dirt. The flow of foodstuffs and other goods to the island is also not constant. I talked with the daughter of a shopkeeper who says they do a good business when they have something to sell.

Richest Man in Maldives

Here's a look at some of the water bungalows at Paradise resort.
I was eating lunch on Sunday at the main resort restaurant when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to discover that it was Gasim Ibrahim, owner of the resort, former finance minister, speaker of the special Majlis, and the richest man in the Maldives. I recognized him from news conferences I had covered. He was dining at his table with three MP's or members of parliament. He invited the TVM team to his table for coffee. Discussion ranged from the new constitution, to the quality of the TV station that he is starting. One interesting piece of information that came out of the discussion was that Anni, the main opposition candidate, may have his name taken off the ballot because he was formerly arrested for criminal activity. Gassim did not comment on the many rumors that he is running for president, although he is clearly working on something important. At the end of our coffee, he nicely but firmly dismissed us, so that he and his colleagues from the Majlis could talk business. An interesting note: we knew we were receiving a discount on our stay because we are working in Maldives, but when we checked out all of our extras, such as diving, had been completely paid for. We don't know by whom, but now we are wondering if someone will ask us to return the favor.

Underwater Sights

This past Saturday was Maldivian Independence Day. We took the opportunity to go to a resort, during the three-day holiday weekend. The Paradise Island resort was about a fifty minute speedboat ride form Male. Almost immediately after arrival we headed for the dive boat. The first day we went on a normal reef dive. While the reef itself was not spectacular, there were dense schools of fish as well as large numbers of eels, some of which were completely out of their holes. We also saw a rather large nurse shark sleeping under a rock shelf. The resort itself was huge and I enjoyed kayaking and sailing as well.
The best dive I went on during my time at the resort was the wreck of the Maldives Victory, a large cargo ship that sits about 95ft underwater. The ship still has cargo in its hold, mostly cement bags and photo albums. It is also possible to see the wheel house and adjacent head. We almost didn't get to dive on it because a recent storm moved the wreck and the dive boat had trouble finding it. Later that day we also dove on a manta ray "cleaning station." We saw at least seven of the large and majestic animals. The dive gear was on the metric system, with the air pressure in bars and the depth in meters.

Opposition Protest

The opposition has been making threats to take to the streets in protest for about a week now. Last night it happened. A crowd of about 2000 people began having a protest in front of the president's house. It turned into a quasi-riot as 13 people were arrested. A TVM cameraman was also beat up by the mob. He was taken to the hospital with bloody gash in the side of his head. Today the opposition parties actually banded together, and held a press conference, despite the fact that the government is saying it's illegal. The meeting was held at MDP headquarters. That is to say a shed down a dirt alley in someone's backyard. All of the candidates agreed that they want the constitution ratified yesterday, and blame the government for not passing the supporting legislation beforehand. There was no talk of picking an opposition candidate from among them at the conference. However, they were clear about the fact that they would continue to "protest" until the constitution is ratified.
We are waiting to see if they will take to the streets again tonight.

The New Batch

The new batch of journalists is here from the training center in Adu , the southernmost atoll. They are very eager to get their stories. They also recognize the importance of getting natural sound and doing stand ups in their packages. For this reason it is a pleasure to work with them.

Call to Prayer

I walked to the news room about an hour later than I usually do today. I took my normal route along the main street of male, and then turned right by the National Library onto the road where the TV station is. Normally it is interesting to just see the teeming life of Male. Today, however, just after I started walking the call to prayer sounded. It was a surreal experience. Because there are so many mosques on the island the call seems to emanate from all around you wherever you are. There were fewer people on the streets, but many just continued going about their business.

Man on the Street Interviews

There are two main suburb islands off of Male. Vilingili, which somewhat resembles an average inhabited island with dirt streets, and Hulhumale, a man-made island. Hulhumale is having problems. First of all the development company responsible for the new island only allows people from Male to buy land and build there. Because people who live in Male already have homes, most of the people who buy land are rich investors. Furthermore, the Hulhumale development corporation is not that good about providing things such as sewers and running water. Furthermore, the ferry service is overcrowded and the ferry company is insisting everything is fine. The upshot of this is that people from Hulhumale are angry and thus are willing to give interviews on camera. In a country where the vast majority of people shy away from the camera, being able to get an actual "man on the street" interview (even it if was in Dhivehi) was a refreshing change.

A Cultural Problem

In Muslim culture the left hand is considered "unclean." The problem with this for me is that I am left handed.

During a lunch time meeting, I was sitting next to Shifla, a devout Muslim and a news anchor at TVM. She noticed that I was eating with my left hand. Although she tried to hide it, one could tell that she was somewhat disgusted.

It's not like I can help it, I have done almost everything with my left hand all of my life, and don't even notice it. I just hope that this is not too much of a problem; I mean, they must have left handed people in Maldives.

By the way, Shifla was fasting that day to make up for a day that she did not fast during the last Ramadan.

Editing Improvments

Up until recently editing a package has been the hardest part of doing a story. The editing booths were broken or all in constant use. The problem was made worse by the fact that the English news was always bumped in favor of diary programs that should have been editied at another time. Sometimes my packages would barely get on the air.

Recently this situation has imporoved. After a meeting of the english desk, about how to improve the program, it was decided that we need a place to actually edit the show. Life is much easier now that from 8 to 9 PM the English bulletin has a booth dedicated to it.

Election Chaos

Despite the earlier assertion that the election will be in August, that probably won't be happening. The opposition apprarnetly wants to drag out the reform process beoynd the end of Gayoom's term in October. So MDP represntataves are not showing up in majlis and denying it a quorum. Because of this, few of the bills that need to get passed before the president ratifies the new constitution have been voted upon. If the constitution goes into effect before these bills are passed there will besically be no valid code governing criminal law, and there will basically be anarchy in the streets. so the president cannot ratify the constitution yet.

At the same time the opposition is threatening to riot to get the president to sign the constitution now, thinking that the worst case scenario will gain them votes.

While Anni, the MDP's candidate, may brand the president's policy towards China as "cheap politics," I think that intentionally attempting to plunge the country into anarchy is more than just cheap- it is inexcusable, to put it mildly.

The economic problems are also not helping Gayoom. Inflation is still out of control. Food is becomming harder to find. There is less and less on the shelves every time we go to the grocery store and some of the food we buy turns out to be spoiled or out of date.

Hiring Relatives

One of the odd things about Maldives is that everyone seems to be related to someone else who you know or who is famous. For example the niece of the Minister of Legal Reform used to work in the newsroom as a translator. Like her uncle she is being groomed to be a lawyer, and is currently in the the A levels or 11th grade, and sick of being defined by her relation to Nasheed.

TVM falls nunder the jusristiction of Nasheed's ministry. hiring your relatives is considered normal, partially because at some point it would be hard not to.

Another example: JD, another English translator, is somehow related to the news director!

The Wrong Dhoni

On Thursday we went to the hotel on the airport island for a team meeting and some dinner. On the way back we got caught in a monsoon, and couldn't find the ferry to take us back to Male. Eventually, we saw a dhoni, we were tired of standing in the rain, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. We got on the boat , only to find that this was not the airport ferry, but was the local boat that took the passport control workers back to the city. It was slightly bizarre, but it was also free.

Three Ministers Resign

In the past week, three of President Gayoom's closest advisors have resigned without warning. They are not talking about why they quit their powerful jobs. The finance and tourism ministers quit earlier this week and the economic minsiter resigned yesterday. Because tourism is the biggest source of government revenue in Maldives, all of these ministers have something to do with the failing economy. The government budget is also missing one third of its funds. The president's solution to the problem is to pretend it dosn't exist, and say that he doesn't believe his ministers. Mabye they just don't want to take the heat, or they may be planning to run for president themselves. At any rate, something is going on.

Submarine Ride

The good part about doing feature stories is that you somtimes get to do fun things when covering them. On Wednesday, I got to take a trip on the only submarine in Maldives. It is a passenger submarine that takes tourists down to look at reefs. There is really a lot of marine life under the water. Being a certified diver I really want to actually dive now. Some of the time the sub dive was a bit touristy. such as the captive sea turtle that the companies divers bring by. The submarine company was celebrating its 4000th dive. The best part of covering this story was getting to have cake at 140 feet. The "reception" on the dock afterwards featured traditional Maldivian music, which consisted of drums and people shouting. All in all this was a fun story to cover. Another interesting fact: the owner of the sub also happens to be a presidential candidate, and the head of the Islamic Democratic party, although he was not talking about politics at this event.

The problem with doing feature stories, is that there is actually no story. so you are basically reduced to using a show and tell format. Covering this story was great. But I like writing hard news business packages better.

The race is on!

Campaign season is officially on! The Majlis recently waived the requirement to ban campaigning until the official start of campaign time. Above, you see the president signing the bill to remove the ban. Now everyone is campaigning. The country is going to try to have elections on August 23 before the fasting month of Ramadan in September. The two major parties are the DRP, led by President Gayoom, and the MDP, the largest opposition party. It is interesting to try and determine the platforms of these parties. The president denies that there are any problems in the country, and basically all the opposition will say is that they hate Gayoom. Other stories, such as where the parties get their money from, are hard to do, because disclosure of campaign finance information is optional until after the election. The press simply has to muddle through with what it has. There also has been some unrest in the president's cabinet. In the past week two of his ministers have resigned. One of them, the finance minister, is the richest man in Maldives, and is infamous for his attitude. He went so far as to disassociate him self from Gayoom's party. The other is the tourism minister. He was under investigation for something- we think- but he isn't talking and the government isn't either. TVM is giving the political parties free airtime. Above is one of the messages from the Islamic Democratic Party.

Making History

On my way back from a story I ran into one of the managers at the station. He stopped and gave me an interesting bit of news. Apparently, I am the first foreigner ever to report for TVM.

A Quick tour through Male

Friday is the holy day in the Muslim world, and our boss, the Minister of Information, has insisted that we take the day off. I decided to make use of the time by seeing a few of the sights around Male. Most of them are concentrated in the old Muslim center. I am standing in front of the former Sultan's Palace. It was built in 1908 for a Sultan who was deposed. It became the presidential palace in 1953 but later President Gayoom built a much nicer one a short distance away and this one is no longer used for that purpose. The Islamic center also includes the 16th century mosque and cemetery. Maldives has applied to make it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I also walked by the the Grand Friday Mosque. I couldn't go in any of them because they are only to be used for purposes of prayer. They were all definitely in use at the time. I also passed by the entrance to Sultan Park on my walk, where a bomb was set off last September. The bombers were caught and convicted after a police raid on an island that is said to be a haven for extremists.

During my travels in news vans I have seen the president's palace and office as well as the tsunami memorial.

On TV

When I go to press conferences I am often shown in the cut away shots. This is apparently because Maldives likes to show that foreign visitors are interested in the political change going on in the country. Sometimes I am the only foreigner there, but most of the time there are others from, the Commonweath, the EC, the UN and other international organizations monitoring the election. This shot is from a news conference by the labor minister. He was announcing the sweeping changes in the labor law that, among other things, guarantee 30 days of vacation per year for all workers.

Editing problems

I went to the local produce market with Hamda to do a story on the traffic problems caused by unlicensed vendors setting up shop in the street along the waterfront. I came back from the market, and wrote my script. then I went to go get my sound bite... and found a big problem, the editing computer had no space. Shortly thereafter I was informed that due to the problems, my story would not air. I had been working on the story all afternoon and was not about to give up. So after the 8 o'clock news was in the can, and there was some free space in the machine I took the tape to the editing room, and got the bite. There was barely enough time to edit it together. The story aired! In this newsroom you can't just accept road blocks.

Local Market

The current produce market in Male is having problems. There are too many sellers, and many of them have camped out along the street near the official market place. The government has even provided indoor space but there is not one seller there because the location is apparently bad for busness. The government has issued a statement saying that any sellers on the street will be arrested by next Wednesday if they do not move. Going to the market, it's easy to see why. The vegetables are sold in triple digit weather on a street that is caked with dirt and littered with trash. It is definitely a health risk. The "market" is also blocking traffic in an already conjested city. I would not want to eat the food sold here.

The Language Problem

I realize that this is another country and that not everyone here is going to speak English. However, this still presents a problem when I am trying to get a news report. English is the second official language of the country. Theoretically 80% of Maldivians speak English. It is even a high school graduation requirement. Most people on the street, however, seem to only know Dhivehi, the native language. Above is a picture of the local produce market where we couldn't find a single person who spoke English.
Understandably, many officials who speak English choose to speak the native tongue. On occasion I have been asket to voice over Dhivehi quotes from officials. Normally the lack of English would not bother me. However, it is a large problem when I am trying to get a package for the English news and have no sound bites!

The Competition

Until this year, TVM was the only TV station in Maldives. One competing station is already on the air and another one is about to launch. Both stations will have competing newscasts. In order to compete TVM will have to start doing more packages about more relevant stories that are interesting to the viewers. One Problem: Maldivians do not like to appear on camera, getting an interview with anyone other then a government official ( or even with a government official) can be like pulling teeth. Worse, the reporters themselves to do not want to appear on camera. So their packages have no stand ups, they simply refuse to do them, and act as if in mortal terror when suggested they might be made mandatory. Mine was the only standup on the English language news last night , or the few nights since I’ve been here. That said, Maldives has no tradition of broadcast journalism and the people may need some time to get used to the idea of being on camera.

Religion and Banking

Another sign of the role of religion in Maldivian society: Many Maldivians are opposed to making use of western-style banking as it is against their religion to collect interest. So it was big news when a Muslim bank decided to open its doors in the Maldives. This bank uses money only as a means of transaction investing in various products that they expect to make money. The government is a major shareholder.

Economic Problems

Here is a picture of an editing room where I am working on my first report for TVM. It's about price increases in Male restaurants.

One of the things I was quick to realize after arriving here was that it is not only the U.S. that is experiencing hard economic times. The Maldives as well is experiencing a recession. The government is also running a substantial deficit, and is having trouble trying to bail itself out. In stores there has been almost 4 precent food inflation, and some restaurants have had to raise prices by as much as 8 percent in just the past week. The effects of the world food shortage are more pronounced here. Some restaurants are having trouble finding the ingredients they need. “We don’t have that” is a phrase heard all too commonly in Male restaurants these days. Some of the food in stores is stale or rotten. It doesn’t take long to realize that the economy could use a boost as everyone copes with higher prices for food and oil.

No Trek

One of my friends found a website in which I could watch Star Trek, my favorite television show, for free. When I tried to go to the site, I got a taste of what it is like to live in the Muslim world. The site was blocked by the goverment, apparently for un-islamic content!

Fling the Fish!

On the way to the resort we saw Maldivian fishermen offloading their fish in what is apparently considered a normal manner... throwing the tuna on the filthy street. The apparent lack of refrigeration in the 100 degree steamy weather can't be good either. If you ask for fish in the Maldives, make sure it's cooked!

Celebrating July 4th in Maldives

The minister decided to send us to one of the Maldives' famous resorts, specifically Chaaya Island Dhonveli, to celebrate our Independence Day. I had seen pictures of the tropical islands, turquoise water and endless blue sky but they do not do justice to the real thing. The view from our over-the-water bungalow was fantastic. However, the current made actually swimming off of the deck rather treacherous. This was a problem until I figured out that I if held on to the ladder and flattened my body in the water I could admire the view unobstructed by the wooden railing on the deck. Other activities included snorkeling and swimming by the beach where the current was not so strong.

It was not possible to go scuba diving because of Maldivian regulations requiring that everyone must do a checkout dive and then wait for a day before going to an actual dive site. While I would like to go diving at some point while I am here. I was prefectly content to snorkel swim and relax for one day before getting to work in the newsroom.

Many of the Maldivians working at the resort, upon learning about our work here, were eager to share their opinions about the elections, including the fact that one of the opposition canidates is gaining suprising amounts of support.

Unfortunately we could only spend the day at the resort. this one definitely lived up to all of the hearsay in the US. Now it is back to the newsroom, and reality...

In the Newsroom

Shortly after our meeting with Nasheed, I arrived at the newsroom where I will be spending most of my time. We met with the news director, Abdullah Rameez. The rest of the day was spent getting my bearings, and meeting the other journalists.
I will be worlking on the business desk doing reports regarding the inflation and economic problems that are facing the country at this time. I also will be helping the reporters with their English. The picture shows me in the control room with Hamda, the business desk editor, who was producing the English newscast.

Meeting with the Minister

While we were eating breakfast, we received a phone call from the minister of legal reform, information and arts. Mohammed Nasheed wanted to meet with us. Our team quickly got ready to go and headed to the Ministry. Shortly after our arrival we were ushered into his office. The discussion lasted for roughly one hour, covering such topics as ratification of the new constitution, the election coverage fairness code, other reforms that will have to be made in the country's news media and possible dates for the presidential election. He even decided to send us to a resort for the weekend before we begin our serious work! This was a good introduction to the problems that Maldives will face in making the transition into a free democracy.

First Impressions of Male

The two best words that can be used to be describe the capital of Maldives are "sensory overload." Male is the fifth densest city in the world consisting of 130,000 people packed into a one square mile airea. While being shuttled to my hotel, located along the Mageedi Magu, the main street of the city, I was amazed at the teeming life that is Male. We passed through typical streets no wider than the average sidewalk. Even at eleven o'clock at night the city was absolutly full of people. Despite the many things going on in the city I was glad to get a good night's sleep.

Seeing Singapore

Singapore was a good transition form the western/christian to the eastern/muslim world. Its status as a former British colony and geographical location offers a good deal of western culture, including the British custom of driving on the right side of the road. However, there are also a lot of veiled Muslim women. The city is also surprisingly green. There are flowers and trees everywhere. The small island of Singapore was also a good transition to the even smaller capital of Maldives. One can drive around the entire island of Singapore in less than two hours.
The tour of Singapore's downtown area showed the modernity. allthough some of its attractions were under construction, the cleanliness of the city, like the airport, impressed me. I'm standing next to the Fountain of Wealth, the world's largest fountain, which is supposed to be a feng shui method of bringing money into the city.
Later on I took a walking tour of the city. Despite the heat, I managered to see such sights as the Raffles Hotel, and the oldest church in the city. It took only a day but I felt like I have seen the highlights of the entire country.

Stopover in Singapore

On my way to Male I am spending a daylong layover in Singapore. Since Singapore Airlines offers a free transportation intothe city, I plan to make use of the time by exploring this small country. The airport has already impressed me with it's size and modernity, so I am eager to see more. This opportunity after a 17 hour plane flight. More details will follow.

Off to Maldives!

This is going to be a completely new experience for me. I am very excited about discovering the life and culture of this country, but also somewhat nervous about what I am going to find in a world that is practically alien to me.

Last summer I spent a month living in China and studying the economy. Upon my arrival there, I was completely unprepared for how different the culture was from what I knew in the Western world. This summer I am taking this exploration a step further- to the Muslim world, and the strict reality of Muslim law.

In less then 24 hours I will leave on a flight flight to singapore, and then take a connecting flight to Male, the capital city, where my work and adventure will begin.