Happy to see the “Two Zahirs” go! Now let’s look forward to even more developments and changes!

Of the many things that we proposed to the new government, two things have been done today. That is the retiring of the Commissioner of Police Adam Zahir and transferring of the Chief of Defense Force, Mohamed Zahir to another post. As of now we have new Chiefs at the Police and the Defense Force. This is good news to the people of this country.

We are glad to see the back of the Chief Torturer Adam Zahir. Some people may feel sorry for the guy. He was my teacher a long time ago but I say to Adam Zahir: you got your chance to take the side of the people, but you took the side of the dictator. Now we do not feel any sympathy for you. Maybe you have amassed millions of dollars, but Insha Allah you will not find any happiness from those millions if you used any illegal means to amass those millions.

As for Two-Two Mohamed Zahir; I have to say that he is perhaps not as corrupt as Adam Zahir, but nevertheless he too was responsible to some extent for the longevity of Gayyoom’s brutal regime over a period of three decades. So, even though you are now the “National Security Advisor’” we hope that you will ask for forgiveness from the Maldivian people for any role you may have played in the brutal regime of Gayyoom! Allah knows best.

After hearing the good news of Adam Zahir and Two-Two Zahir’s resignations we now hope that the new government will soon carry out the following:

1. Retire some of the leading officers of the Coast Guard (such as Zakariyya) and appoint new officers to head the Coast Guard.

4. Abolish or restructure the Sifainge Ekuveri Kunfuni (SEK) which is a free license for some officers in the MNDF to abuse powers and practice corrupt activities. Also revise the regulation that governs the retirement of MNDF staff which currently favours officers and is plainly unfair to low-rank service people in the MNDF.

5. At the dawn of this new era of democratic governance, it will be most appropriate to close the jail at Dhoonidhoo and convert the island as a resort for Maldivians. The island could then be renamed as “Dhoonidhoo Dhivehi Fushi”!

6. Put up Aarah for international bid and lease it as a luxury resort for mega-rich billionaires such as Abrahamovich, Prince Al Walid and other billionaires from China, India, United States, United Kingdom, Middle East, etc. The Luxury yacht that Gayyoom used could also be leased along with Aarah. This will bring huge revenue for our tourism industry and provide a new form of tourism as well. Also, find a good use for Theemuge (eg: use it for the first university or use it as the Supreme Court)

7. A large Council of Islamic Scholars should be formed. This Council will work in collaboration with the new Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

8. An Islamic Centre to be setup in each capital island of each atoll. Such a center should have a qualified sheikh as Imam. It would have a capacity for at least one thousand people to congregate for prayer and it would have a conference hall, an Islamic Library, a set of classrooms to teach the Holy Koran and other Islamic teachings, an Audio Visual room, a computer lab and some recreational or sports facilities.

9. The Foreign Minister should make sure that full-fledged embassies are operated only at the most important locations and that the rest of the missions are converted to Trade Offices. Costs should be cut and efficiency should be increased.

10. Establish a "Maldives Trust Fund" for the future. A certain percentage of our revenue should be saved in this fund. Foreign donors should be invited to donate to this fund.

11. HA, HD atolls should be combined as one atoll; GA, GD atolls should be combined similarly and AA and AD atolls should be combined as one atoll too. This will allow us to reduce the number of atolls to at most 17.

12. Change the constitution to make the position of the “Atoll Chief” to be elected instead of being appointed. Also change the title of the atoll chief as “Governor”.

13. Include Huvadhoo Atoll in the southern developmental zone which was announced recently.

14. Hold a national debate to find out if the national anthem and the national flag need to be revised.

15. A South African style “Truth and Reconciliation Council” to be formed and headed by an independent Judge.

16. Ban smoking in all public areas.

17. Make regulations that will require all shops to be closed at 9pm and all restaurants to close at 12 mid night.

18. All wards in all islands (including Male) need to be abolished. We would then have no need for ward offices which is an unnecessary bureaucracy and wasteful expenditure. Instead of having wards, the people in each island should unite as one people. The same should be done in all other islands as well.

19. (Request to Moosa Jaleel, the new Chief of Defense Force): Restructure MNDF to orient it more as a civil defense force. Strengthen Coast Guard and include an “Air force” component with light aircraft for patrolling the seas and fishing zones.

20. (Request to Faseeh, the new Chief of Police): Change the uniform of the “Star Force”! This uniform now brings fear and paranoia to our hearts.

21. Change the title of “Minister” as “Secretary”. This is the case in many developed countries such as the United Sates and the United Kingdom. For example, instead of having a Home Minister we could have a Home Secretary.

22. Death penalty to be imposed for drugs traffickers. Death penalty is practiced in Singapore too.

23. Build the proposed transshipment harbour at HA Atoll.

24. Build a large hotel at Addu Atoll Gan, and the runway there should be extended and the possibility of a parallel runway there should be explored. A new layer of Iranian tar should be laid on the Gan runway to enable international flights to land there without the risk of slipping. A seaplane harbour should be built at Gan too.

25. Change the national policy on population control. In a way we have limitless land, so if we let our population grow freely, that could help our development instead of controlling population growth.

26. Combine all utility service providers such as STELCO and MWSC and make that a public company.

27. Introduce new concepts of tourism such as educational tourism, medical tourism, sports tourism (cricket, surfing, etc.). Also allow high-rise hotels in some resorts instead of making all resorts as low-rise resorts. (Also stop Sri Lankans controlling our tourism industry through their companies such as the Aitkin Spence and John Keels).

28. Make us dollar a floating exchange but hold the current rate for at least 6 to 12 months.

29. Increase the use of vocational education in the schools and also establish vocational educational schools.

30. Establish sports academies / schools where the normal curriculum of schooling is taught but it the school will be oriented for only those who wish to excel in a certain sport or art. For example their could be a football academy / school where normal O’level subjects are taught but the school will focus on developing young footballers to feed to the clubs and the national team.

31. Sports Tourism could be promoted by establishing an international level cricket stadium and hosting international cricket matches. We could take advantage of the popularity of the sport in the region – in countries such as India, Sri lanka.

32. Open the first University of Maldives and invest in promoting educational tourism by attracting foreign lecturers and foreign students to this university.