Random Reflexions

If there was ever a sign that MDP has its head in its own ass it is summarized in this amusing Minivan News headline: Adaalath Party joins forces with MDP.

Let me briefly quote this article by Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed of MN (the italics are mine):

“The religious conservative Adaalath Party signed a coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic party (MDP) on Tuesday, to join forces in the upcoming local council elections.”

Ooh, I am already trembling with excitement.

Now, let us examine what these “forces” from Adaalath’s side really are. Are they the powerful forces that won Adaalath a blitzing zero seats in the last parliamentary elections? Or are they the nothing-but-hot-air (probably of gastric origins) forces that seem to be struggling to gain any clout in our political arena? I am totally baffled at what this force constitutes.

Adaalath, it seems to me, is on a perpetual high of inflated sense of self-importance with nothing to show for it. So MDP, now feeling the brunt of losing the parliamentary majority and diminishing popularity, is so desperate that it is ready to make bedfellows out of toothless pussy-cats. Perhaps for MDP, now almost entirely on its own, anything, and I mean anything, even the local congregation of illegal immigrants is game to associate with. Just imagine this headline: Illegal immigrants join forces with MDP.

Come to think of it, it probably has more zing and substance than the headline in question. At the very least I’d be trembling with confusion if nothing else.

For a failed political party as Adaalath MDP’s weakened state presents an opportunity they simply can not ignore.

As for MDP, if they have a strategy in forming this alliance, then they are probably searching for it in the aforementioned orifice. And we all know what they’ll find there.

Have a good weekend – all things considered.

I remember. Way back when I was about 8 or 9 years old all the kids in our house used to play together creating our imaginery world of invisible animals and role-playing as adults – as kids everywhere do. And I distinctly remember imitating spoken English by mouthing complete gibberish. That was the best we could do given that we could not form a coherent sentence in English at that age.

How situations can be changed by mere effort! Today my son is able to speak and read English fluently. He’s able to understand documentaries, movies and news. He’s able to have a coherent and imaginative conversation in English and able to read just about any book and read the big words whose meaning he’s glad to ask about. And via books he’s able to delve into the wonders of the world, of imagination and space. What’s more, he’s able put his thoughts to pen and read them later. And he is just 5 years old.

A remarkable achievement compared to when I was a child.

It is said that the first 6 years of a child’s brain development is the most important. These are the years that simply cannot be wasted. Taking the time and making the effort to nurture the child’s brain from year 1 is the secret to a brilliant and happy child who is able to communicate his or her thoughts, frustrations and emotions clearly. Not all children are born geniuses – and they don’t have to be. My son isn’t. But every able child can learn to read and speak English. And being able to read English is the most important gift that one give their children.

Why do I stress so much on English? I think the answer is self-evident. The vaste amount of knowledge of this world is written and preserved in English. This is the most important factor to consider when educating our children.

My children are fortunate to have access to books, other resources, an environment conducive to learning and, more importantly, to have parent’s who are educated and who have the time and patience to educated and bring out the creativity in them. This has enabled them to progress beyond what the current pre-school education system is able to achieve (and make short work of it). Many other kids are less fortunate. Many children grow up in unhappy environments where learning is the last thing on the mind of their parents. In any case, it all comes down to the effort put by the parents – regardless of how well educated they are themselves or how fortunate their life.  About 20 minutes a day, a simple blank sheet of paper and an interest in teaching and a little patience is enough to teach a child volumes.

It is foolish of many parents to think that the school is all that is required to educate children. With sometimes 1 teacher for over 25 students at pre-school levels – one can imagine the kind of attention he or she can give individual pupils. I am a strong advocate of home-schooling mixed in with regular school attendance. Regular school is important, in my opinion, for social reasons more than educational reasons. The kind of attention that just 20 minutes a day we give to our children’s education is far more potent than the hours spent in school.

So for those parents or parents-to-be I’m listing some ideas that can be used to develop and nurture your child’s brain at home. Please understand that these are our own opinions as mum and dad – the preeminent experts in our own children. These are in no particular order.

1. Start reading early. Possibly before 1st year.
   Spend about 10 minutes with your baby on your lap, with a board-picture book (these can be purchased for about Rf30 from Asrafee Bookshop), and go through the book pointing at the pictures and words and mouthing them in clear intonations. Use high and low tones to make it even more fun for the baby. This will develop their interest in books and identify them as leaning tools. We read a bedtime story every night. Also we make sure they see us reading books on our own.
2. Watch educational TV programs together
   Via Nat Geo or Discovery (avoid the paranormal stuff). Even the poorest household seems to have a Sat-TV combo. Make use of this. Make this time your own relaxing time too. Don’t watch Hindi or English soaps with kids. While watching discuss the program and talk about other related ideas. For example, while watching a documentary on volcanoes talk about how our own islands sit on top of mountains that could have been volcanic ages ago. The sat-TV at our home has parental controls on the cartoon channels which get “magically” unlocked depending on how our kids did that day. This is good from age 3 onwards.
3. Have paper, pencils, pencil colours and crayons accessible
   Keep these where kids can always find them so that they don’t need to find you first to gain access.  This will allow them to freely express their creativity no matter what time of day it is. We usually keep a bundle of A4 size printing paper where it is reachable.
4. Converse with your kids
   It can be a lot of fun. Make sure you are ready to talk about anything they want to talk about. If you don’t know anything then be honest and say so. Don’t lie. We usually show a great interest in their drawings or paintings and ask them questions about their work. It is important to let them know that they and their work is important and meaningful to you. Paste them on the wall and point them out months later and talk about them.
5. Make a study time
   Children are born to play and this is how they will learn best. But we found that making a study time (about 20 to 30 minutes for our 5 year old and about 15 for our 3 year old) is beneficial. During this time they can practice writing the alphabet, numeral or doing a simple word of counting exercise on paper. We make use of the vast amount of educational sites on the Internet and worksheets downloaded from there. The study time usually comes with conditions. If they study well, they get a reward – such as watching a TV program or playing the PSP. Also, prepare the worksheets BEFORE sitting down to study.
6. Have a music and painting time and play music (on stereo) all the time
   I usually sit with my kids at a music keyboard that we’ve had for many years and spend about 10 minutes just letting them play with the keys making sounds. This is good from 8 months onwards. All my kids were delighted at being able to hit something and making beautiful sounds. We always have music on in their bedrooms – classical or soft music and sometimes dance and rock. Both my eldest kids love Black Sabbath (because of Ironman). Every other day my kids will make a mess in their painting time where they are free to do whatever they wish – I’ve found my eldest has a thing for pointillism.
7. Encourage, encourage and encourage
   Our daughter likes to dance and she has perfected some beautiful moves all by herself (we’re not very good dancers). We always encourage her to dance – clapping and praising her whenever she dances.  We tried football for our eldest and after a month realized it was not his thing at all so we stopped that. We know he’s not the sporty type but likes to run around playing “ice / water” and loves bike riding. So basically, whatever the child is into we encourage them. But do reality checks too. My daughter loves to be a fairy and is disappointed that she cannot fly despite the fairy wings we bought her.
8. Travel (if you can afford it) or Travel virtually
   We are fortunate to be able to travel abroad. Travelling to other countries or even islands is important for children because it will help them develop a broader understanding of the world and enhance their worldview.  I have installed Google Earth for them to explore the world and it has helped my eldest (who is keenest about it) to learn about other countries by becoming an armchair traveller. If at all possible, I’d suggest visiting a foreign country with your child at least once before they are 6 (possibly after they are 3). While abroad take them to places like the zoo and talk about the wonderful animals in great detail – and not the shopping malls.
9. Speak in English and Dhivehi
   Children have a huge capacity to learn more languages before the age of 6 and this has been proven in scientific studies. Make use of those years!
10. Have access to computer
    I know not everyone can afford a computer but if you can afford one make sure the kids have their own computer with access to the Internet. Be careful how they use the Internet though and make sure you monitor their activities. This can be done by allocating a time for them to use the Internet. Both our daughter and son likes to surf Youtube videos. Our daughter likes dance and music videos while our son likes to watch Transformers and science videos. But occasionally filth gets through the filters, so be watchful. We also have a number of educational software titles installed for them to play and they can play this any time of the day.

I hope the list was beneficial to you. What I cannot stress enough is the need to teach children how to read and understand English.

Have a good weekend.

I listened with absolute shock and sadness, tears welling in my eyes, as the newscaster read the story about the 8 month old baby that died after being comatose as a result of violent abuse by his own mother in collusion with 2 other men. Whenever a child dies at the hands of abusive parents humanity becomes less human.

Such barbarity can only come from a society that is on the brink of collapse from decadence and social depravity and drug use. How could have we sunk so low? So low that this year, to my knowledge, there has not been a single sentence for paedophilia, child-rape and sexual offenders so far. And half the year is gone. And yet, every month, like clockwork, there is a case involving sexual or violent abuse of children from around the country.

The police reported that the perpetrators in this case tested positive for morphine. Heroin is metabolized into morphine inside the body thus the presense of morphine indicates heroin use. I keep wondering why the police didn’t enlighten the public on this tiny bit of information.

Drugs have become the great cancer of our tiny society. Drugs and lack of awareness to be precise. I demand to know why there have not been concrete steps taken to prevent the smuggling of drugs into this country so far.

And I demand from Mr. Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed, the president, where the drug lords are and why they are not behind bars! This injustice to children, the utter failure of the law in protecting them and the paralysed state of the police and judiciary is despicable and sickening! Why are the people at Human Rights Commission issueing statements sitting in comfy chairs in air-conditioned rooms?

I think we can guage the state of a society by how it treats its children how it protects them. And I think we have failed miserably.

There has to be a dramatic change in the terrible conditions of our lives before it becomes the norm by which we identify ourselves with: the discarded Maldivians living among the luxury hotel resorts. And with the economy in tatters and worsening by the day, one wonders how many little children will fall victim to drugs, hopelessness and depravity.

If you are the parent of a child, a baby or toddler, may I suggest that you take them in your arms right this very moment, hold them close to your heart and promise that you will always protect them and give them all the love that you could possibly give. That you will do your very best to be vigilant in providing them this protection from a society that is increasingly apathetic and terribly hostile towards children.

Remember the baby that died. Think about him for a moment. Just 8 tiny months of age. How he would have longed to see his mum’s smiling eyes and listen to her singing voice – warming him with that cosy feeling he would have felt in the protection of her womb all those months. How he would have longed for her loving embrace as he was savagely abused and violated. How he must have cried and cried until his little body simply gave way and became limp, unable to keep up with the pain and hurt. Oh my dear, dear child! How I would have loved to hold you and tell you how precious you were.

I hurt inside and weep for you little one.

All this Cognitive Dissonance crap may actually be making us a nation of Cognitive Dissonance experts. That will be the day, wouldn’t it? Then we will all be like MP for Kulhudhuffushi Mr. Mohamed Nasheed who in an inflamed uproar of orgasmic proportions that was sustained for, not a few seconds, but a whole 43 minutes failed to actually point out that it is possible his old master Mr. Gayoom’s colossal ego actually destroyed his own mental-faculty responsible for Cognitive Dissonance.

Mr. Nasheed’s post, entitled Cognitive Dissonance, starts off well enough with what appears to be an understanding of the social  psychology term in question. In fact, it appears that until he came to know about the expression he was pretty much puzzled by what appears to be a fundamental human trait. Anyway, reading the next two paragraphs I was shell-shocked that Mr. Nasheed was about to grill his old master because, lo and behold, here he was outlining a caricature of Gayoom hitherto unheard of (as far as description went). Did Cognitive Dissonance finally awaken Mr. Nasheed?, I asked myself. I mean who else has charismatic persona of a demonic, I mean democratic, liberal and accommodating leader in public domain and something else in private but Gayoom himself? 

But I was wrong. 

Mr. Nasheed was about to grill incumbent president – who, it must be noted, probably still has critical faculties responsible for Cognitive Dissonance intact and functioning. I certainly hope so. So in a feat that is sure to astound even the most hardcore critics of president Nasheed, Mr. Nasheed then goes on to outline 22 points in which he thinks the incumbent president was guilty of Cognitive Dissonance – in just 43 amazing minutes. A point every 2 minutes! Such is the kind of tabs he keeps on the president. Not a bad thing, not at all.

And so I started reading, “Today, we have a president who, in fact, is the first to take office on nothing else but a rock solid platform of inclusive democracy…“. Wait! What in the world is Inclusive Democracy? I thought we were having Representative Democracy in which the likes of MP for Kulhudhuffushi Mr. Nasheed was representing his constituency. Perhaps Mr. Nasheed has far fetched, almost utopian dreams on his mind. Who knows? Or maybe he should have used a few more minutes in writing the piece.

In any case the rest of the post is quite entertaining. I am not dismissing some of the criticisms levelled against president Nasheed but one thing is very clear to me and has always been.

That is, it is a shame that there was loss of Dhivehi life at the hands of and under the watch of ex-president Gayoom. Nothing, no amount of money or property could ever be equaled to a person’s life. No amount of excuses can justify killing a person. No, the loss of a life, by torture and by weapon fire in captivity, absolutely goes beyond any amount of instances of petty abuses of power that Mr. Nasheed can accuse president Nasheed.

In 2003 there was not 1 but 4 lives erased off of this world by the armed militia NSS in a state detention center. An armed militia whose commander-in-chief was non-other than ex-president Gayoom.

Now then, who wants to wipe clean the Cognitive Dissonance from their own rear-ends first?

As the dust settles after a long and turbulent parliamentary election it is time to do some reality checks and reflect on the past and think about the future. No, I will not question the validity of the outcome of this election. I am quite happy with the results as they are.

What I realized most importantly was that we are just waking up to real democracy and we are doing so with suspicion, distrust and much malice towards our compatriots. Partisan politics seems to have polarized our nation. But who’s to blame?

A New Kind of Election

What the majority of the public and the media did not realize was that this election was unique in many ways. It was the first such election with so many more constituencies and also the first to allow anyone from any of the constituencies to vote from any location in the country (and 3 countries abroad).

I feel the responsibility for the crude and utterly ridiculous speed of processing of the ballots must be shared between the EC, the media, the voting public and the parties involved.

The EC totally underestimated the complexity and size of the task. Which is why, according to EC, they failed to release the results sooner raising suspicions in public and party circles. But I did not realize the level of their ignorance of secure, high-tech tools available today until I saw the arrays of fax machines lined up at the EC headquarters. Fax machines and faxes are old and unreliable technology. A member of the advisory committee for the EC even admitted that some faxes were not clear. What did they expect from faxes?

The failure of the media – especially how (for the lack of a better word) retarded their knowledge of technology is even more astounding. When the EC website was hacked a prominent journalist inquired several times from the EC members whether the data can then be trusted. And each time the EC member gave him the same answer: that the data and website were completely different entities. It just failed to penetrate the thickened heads of our journos. And this is just one of the completely ridiculous issues raised.

Smarter people know the media is totally and utterly incompetent but the vast majority believe every crackpot reporter.

The League of Political Parties

What was most striking about this election is the lack of any kind of support for the majority of political parties. Yes, MDP, DRP and PA did very well. But Ibra’s SLP and Umar Naseer’s IDP, both bottom scrapers in last year’s presidential elections have completely lost out on a seat in this election as well.

Ibra should have stayed out of politics this time considering that he was not able to beat the total “Invalid votes” in the presidential elections. That fact alone has become a popular joke and that is in no way a good thing for an aspiring politician. Yes, Ibra is a good orator as most would agree but he is definitely not a good tactician.

And many have said that the fact that Adhaalathu did not win any seats is a sign that Dhivehin have mentalities that are far more secular than everyone thought. Could it really be that we Dhivehin don’t want to mix politics and religion? I certainly hope so. Whatever it is now is a good time to demote MoIA to where it belongs: as a council for handling date shipments.

A Confused Public

For me this election has revealed the effects the reform movement has had on us Dhivehin. The reform movement that lead to the drafting of a new constitution and the election of a new president has also created a sense of distrust as a result of many waking up from what was certainly a long slumber in darkness. Misappropriation of funds, corruption, torture and death under the old regime was brought to light by the reform movement creating a shock disbelief effect that has lead to a growing sense of distrust towards the government by the governed.

Take the case of the DRP lead violent protest over the delay in announcing the election results. Whether this was orchestrated by DRP masterminds to stir-up people’s anger or not is out of the question. Many more ordinary people, some here on the blogosphere, shared the thought that the delays came about because the EC was manipulating the results. This distrust is not because of the current government, but ironically, because of the previous government lead by Gayoom which manipulated and rigged the ballot right under witness’s noses over many elections.

And just 7 months into the current government’s 5 year term people have started labeling it a failure. Some otherwise (somewhat) intelligent people are at it too exhibiting an almost wanton desire to see Gayoom in power and put everyone to sleep once again.

Perhaps these people cannot digest the fact that we are still going through the birth pains of democracy – so to speak. And the fact that they cannot stomach the new government just 7 months after coming into power is evidence for that.

The Reality

So now we have a public suffering from the effects of withdrawal from Gayoom’s tranquilizing lies. We are edgy, chronically impatient and distrusting of those in high office. Skepticism and critical and constructive analysis of a government is always beneficial but what about outright paranoia?

The truth of the matter is that we have a new government and to say that the democratically elected president Nasheed is a joker or a failure is not chastising him but the voting public. We have given change a chance and to say that the change we experienced in just 7 months is somehow inferior to the 30 year old corrupt regime is absurd and childish to say the least. This change requires a completely new way of thinking and 7 months is not long enough to bring about that change in our mentality. But this does not mean we have to lose patience.

Let me tell you though, if Gayoom truly desires what is best for this country and its people he would step down from active politics and let the incumbent government do their best. But his ego and narcissistic personality disorder will not let him sleep without taking a stab at a return to power and limelight. What a selfish, selfish old man he is.

And there’s the thing about keeping his image pristine. He does not want to be made to pay compensation for something he had done in the past or even worse, serve time for it. So, with many skeletons in his closet, Gayoom must try to thwart any attempt to try him in court. And president Nasheed’s government should not let that happen.

What president Nasheed must do is try to find channels via which he can bring the rival parties closer. And he cannot do that unless Gayoom, the root cause of all our problems even today, is eliminated from the political landscape completely.

Thank you and have a good weekend.