Talking Point

Drafting a freedom of expression bill has been a fascinating experience. In the absence of any credible sample legislation or model bill, we had to start from scratch depending largely on literature created by various international organizations and agencies.

Media reports have alerted us to the fact that resort employees are totally exempt from the application of chapter four of the Employment Act.

Moves to scrap the current Presidential Elections Act were scuttled today due to political nitpicking by parliamentarians.

Keeping pace with the mood of the nation on the need to embrace change, cabinet ministers met on Sunday to assess the impact the revised constitution would have on the way the country is governed.

When parliament meets Tuesday, Ahmed Nashid, a member of parliament for Dhaalu Atoll, will ask me a parliamentary question as to who had allowed Dr. Afrasheem Ali to appear on Television Maldives programs that educate people on religious matters. Parliamentarian Nashid will also ask me for my reasons to allow Dr. Ali to take part in those programs.

I have come under the spotlight for allowing some warring street gangs to use the state-run Fansavees press conference facility to announce their truce.

Congratulations Maldives. Congratulations Maldives Football Team.

Live web streaming of the SAFF final encounter on 14th June between Maldives and India will happen on Dhiraagu and ROL websites, TVM News has reported.

WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS

TO THE MALDIVES NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM.

WARMEST GREETINGS

TO ALL MALDIVIANS.

TODAY WE MAKE HISTORY.

TODAY HAS BEEN OUR DAY.

''Football is hugely popular in the Maldives and cuts through political divides and religious beliefs. Maldives' win at the SAFF finals last weekend has raised hopes of a peace dividend on an island nation united by football but otherwise divided by deep cutting politics and razor sharp religious views, even if no one is showing long-term optimism." That is how I would reflect on the current euphoria in the country.

Bill on Registration and Publication of Newspapers was thwarted from becoming law today, for want of a single vote.

Finance Ministry has proposed a business profit tax bill and a tax administration bill. The two bills have been completed by the National Law Reform Commission in consultation with stakeholder input and consultations with the Finance Ministry.

An 'ad hominem' argument may sound unfamiliar. It simply means a response given to a person's claim. The response is, however, not directed at refuting or disproving the claim itself, but to attack a person's character. It is done with the intention of torpedoing a person's character, so that his claim may be doubted as shallow.

Along with Aneesa Ahmed and Azima Shakoor, I took part in a meeting organized by the President's Office today to acclimatize a cross section of government agencies on the impact the upcoming constitution would have on our governing structures with specific emphasis on the magnitude of that impact on rules in force in the country.

The debate on defamation bill has begun to confuse me. The parliamentary debate now in its third day has quietly derailed into a discussion of virtues of Islam and the elements of a liberal democracy.

It has been a day of excitement and achievement.

Amid the usual commotion and typical confusion, the revised constitution has been adopted today as a book in final form. The whole process took less than forty minutes.

The one question that was most asked during the last 36 hours or so by almost every media in the country was if a businessman could become president of this country.

One of the seminal benefits of the upcoming constitution is its emphasis on civil liberties, human rights and fundamental freedoms.