Creation of a Think Tank
I do not think it is necessary to reiterate the magnitude of the changes that we are going through. Simply put we are not the Maldives of 5 years ago. It is certainly not a new Maldives so much as it is a different Maldives that we're building.
We've got many political parties to represent the myriad interests of the public and some NGOs established to further the values of democracy and civil society. But in all this (un)planned chaos and constitutional, political and policy changes we are in desperate need of an independent think tank.
This think tank would consist of a coalition of independent experts in various fields and its purpose and mandate would be to analyze policies, provide intellectual structure and input to public forums, do research and evaluation into high-impact domestic and international projects, be the independent expert opinion-former and adviser to government departments and NGOs, be the foremost analyst of local and global economics and politics, be the independent political strategy analyst, provide analysis of science and technology issues, study education and skills requirements of the country and more importantly be the media-mouthpiece for independent and unbiased expert opinion on all of the above.
If such a think tank is in the pipeline, then well and good. If not, we need it now and I and many others are ready to contribute. I feel it should be established by an act of the parliament and given enough authority and full autonomy as to have the its advice heard and where possible acted upon. The think tank's credibility as the leading promulgator of expert knowledge and opinion will have to be earned over time.
I feel there must be a lot of experts and knowledgeable people out there that are not aligned to any political party or social group. The think tank will be their forum - the place where the scientists, the comms expert, the economist, the statistician, the financial expert, the public relations expert, the political analyst, the law expert, the medical expert and the social sciences expert will be able to positively contribute to the country with full autonomy under the prestigious roof of the think tank's institute.
What do you think? Are we ready for The Maldives Institute?
nonspirit | August 28, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply
on the off chance that they create such an institute, surely it would be yet another joke just like the Human Rights Commission.
a | August 28, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply
Research groups are necessary. Government subsidies and funding are important for their existence. (Here again we must be cautious I think. How about the claim for funding for a religious organization for their research on creationism?) Such think tanks exist in many countries, certainly in all advanced democracies. I don't think the idea of their existence by legislation as you suggested is desirable. The inputs to the legislative process should come after public opinion formation is completed in the informal public sphere. The public sphere should not be by-passed. Think tanks (or for that matter religious organizations) should first have their 'input' processed in this sphere. Otherwise, it would not be a democracy, but some kind of paternalism, or elitism, or what have you.
Maldiveshealth | August 29, 2008 12:47 AM | Reply
I feel that such a think tank will evolve with time. Not on the scale u r dreaming though. But definitely the more free thinking people starts expressing themselves, this evolutionary process will be quicker.
M | August 29, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply
What good is a think tank if its suggestions are going to be disregarded anyway?
As Deep Thought once said, "42"! (answer to the ultimate question, life and everything; including how many years maumoon will rule maldives)
mondae | August 29, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply
I agree with the think tank idea. I think it is necessary to have a body to give out unbiased opinions about policies and decisions taken by the government. Currently, all the decisions are too political and biased.
cheers
Abdulla | August 29, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply
Guess what, they'd tank the thoughts and the people that get their brainsto churn out such nonsense.
Most Think Tanks are civil society organisations funded by industries, in the developed world. We do have individuals with the kind of vision, enthusiasm and expertise to start a basic process. The rest is upto how fruitful the process is and its efficacy in delivering the necessary changes on the ground.
Frankly, I don't see it coming anytime soon.
mohamed | August 30, 2008 12:55 AM | Reply
A sane person from every social sector to not just represent but to contribute and create ideas, that would be wonderful. We don't have to wait till the mass population becomes geniuses to create such. At any given time such a Think Tank is useful.
kess | August 30, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply
Much like the Royal Society ?
subcorpus | September 13, 2008 10:39 AM | Reply
if this think tank ever happened, may be their first job should be to go through the menifestos and tell the public what can and cannot be done ...
just a thought ... with so many menifestos flying around these days ... hehe ...
Aimee | September 22, 2008 7:01 PM | Reply
Such a Think Take already exists by the name MaldivesResearch founded in UK by a group of Maldivians studying and working there.
Checkout http://www.maldivesresearch.org