Dhoonidhoo Island was used by former presidents (Nasir and Gayyoom) as torture chambers for Maldivians. 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”!
At a press conference after being elected as President, Mohamed Nasheed said that he hasn’t yet decided what the new government’s policy would be regarding the existing presidential retreat (Aarah). I wonder if his answer would have been the same if he were questioned about Aarah during the election campaign! If he were asked about Aarah during the campaign, I’m sure he would not have hesitated for even one second before saying that he would not use Aarah as a presidential retreat and that his government would find a better use for the island. Now President Nasheed is saying that he needs more time to decide what he would do with Aarah.
In an earlier post on this blog I suggested that Aarah could be changed as a holiday resort for Maldivians. But now I suggest that Dhoonidhoo-Jail-Island would be a better choice for conversion as a holiday resort for Maldivians. Aarah could be put up for international bid and leased 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.
Prison island is not good for a resort island for anyone. Be it Maldivians or europeans or africans. IF you have to suggest a resort for Maldivians then has to be with same beauty of nature and luxury. After all its our land, our island and we deserve the best from it.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean that Dhoonidhoo should be left as it is when we open it as a resort for Maldivians! What I meant was that Dhoonidhoo should be developed with standard rooms and other facilities such as a swimming pool and public restaurants and coffess shops and basic accomodation facilities and water sports facilities, etc. and then rented out to the best bidder for development and management as a toursit resort for Maldivians. Normally our resorts do not welcome Maldivians even if we are willing to pay the "dollars"! We are discriminated. Most operators of resorts prefer to keep the rooms empty rather than renting those to locals! So why not convert our ex-torture-chamber (Dhoonidhoo) into a place where we can pay an affordable fee and enjoy our weekends and holidays? Please!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Bushree! Completely on this idea and like you said, i personally had experienced the bitter rejection from the resort while i'm ready to pay the "dollars". i also read your article earlier on the srilankan investments and domination and i completely agree. My point here is that dhoonidhoo is not good enough for Maldivians while we have more beutiful islands. the beach is crap and there as you can see. My point is if we had to make a resort for Maldivians it can not be any different than the islands we used for tourists. Even if you built nice rooms, cafe's the island itslef is not good. its a "gaamathee" island as we say in dhivehi. Otherwise, call on to all resort operators and HRCM to stop the discrimation and offer the equal right for Maldivians to book their own islands and let Maldivians also enjoy the beauty of their islands. Iam completely and utterly in agreement with you on this.
ReplyDeleteDhoonidhoo should be made into a museum of torture.. We could take tourists there on tour.
ReplyDeleteBala Kokko,kaleah neyngunas haadha kameh veyey!Aarashuge vaahaka thi dhakkanee ennu anaga furaafa.Maadhan aa Raees Anni bafaabege launchgai ethanah aailaa aai rahumaiytherin govaigen vadaiganeyoa.Vaki las vejje.Eyruves aharumennah engey mihen kan vaane!Dhenves thibey kaley men emeehun jahaa berakah nashaala nashaala...
ReplyDeleteKon revenue ekey kiyaakah!Thihurihaa kamegge fonikan boaneeves vaki bayaru!Aamu rayyithun hama thiben jeheynee hama anga boala boala.Keeh kuraanee-muskulhin bune ulhunennu feyhuey ilhoshi gandu hereyneyey amilla lolah.
ReplyDeleteDhen la la la
Bushry, I think readers will enjoy with you write something about five things Nasheed's Government must not do. Here are few that I think that would qualify for such a list.
ReplyDelete1. Not to extend the lease period of resorts in favour of resort owners. This would be against public good and it would violate the lease contracts signed by resort owners and Government. But Nasheed I think will end up doing this because Gasim's influence on him is too much now.
2. Give Kudaavillingli to Jabir. Bad, Bad idea.
3. Let Rauf run away with Hudhufushi, please terminate it Nasheed.
4. Not to let Universal continue to use picnic islands as resorts
5. Not to become a servant of Koli clan and Villa Group as Maumoon did
Personally, I think we don't need so many "Minsiter of State" positions. If we have a Permananet Secretary for each specific area under the minsitry, then we can have just a Minister and a Deputy. For example if there is a Minsitry called "Minister of Civil Aviations, Toursim and Culture", we could have three Permanent Secretaries for the three areas (1. Tourism, 2. Cuture, 3. Civil Aviations). Then if we have a Minsiter and a Deputy Minister that's enough. Too many State Minsiter appointments seem like "political gifts". This makes the government too top-heavy. Sad to see this happening.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe that it will be against the spirit of Nasheed's camapign promises if he were to use Aarah as a retreat for the president. I don't believe that Presidnet Nasheed will do that. He is too humble for such a thing. Let's give him some time to decide what his government will do with Aarah. I believe it will be along the line of leasing the island for soem commercially profitable investment.
ReplyDeleteOne reader asked what I suggest to do with the inmates in Dhoonidhoo if the island were to be converted to a resort for locals! Well those inmates could be moved to Maafushi or we could build a large, multi-purpose jail at Thilafushi or Hulhumale that will be safe enough and big enough to accomodate all inmates at all jails.
ReplyDeleteBushry., I m not exactly sure what you mean by "a new form of tourism" here. One of the best USP of Maldives can be the safety one can get from here (which is not widely spoken of) and I don't know why you are so much into these crazy ideas of yours – to have a hospitality service with MNDF and maybe couple of CCTV cameras.
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify one thing for you - Aarah is not such an appealing place that could make "Mega Rich Billionaires" want to come. The island itself is not that beautiful, it doesn’t have a nice beach area and a house reef as well which are the key factors one will look before deciding (if you don’t believe have a boat ride near the island).
Talking about the privacy I think Aarah could be one of the worst islands to develop as a luxury retreat because of the location. The island is very much exposed to the area mainly because of the immense boat movements over the area by nearby resorts – the airport is very close and all the nearby islands have boats going back and forth while seaplanes take off towards Aarah as well. (now don’t give another crazy idea saying that we can ask all the boats to take another route to go to the airport which can make a 15 minute ride maybe to 30 minutes and also seaplanes can take off towards another direction)
Further more to the Aarah idea of yours, I really think you are promoting this crazy idea only because the island was used by the ex-president and you believe that can make “Mega Rich Billionaires” want to JUST come over. Well, then what about the likes of One & Only, Taj Hotels, W Resort, Soneva Resorts, Four Seasons Resorts and etc who are doing multi-million dollar marketing campaigns across the globe.?? (also it is interesting that these are some of the most famous luxury brands among the “Mega Rich Billionaires” when they go for vacations and on the other hand I really doubt that these brands will invest or get affiliated with anyone to develop Aarah as a top luxury retreat when the Maldives has so many other extremely beautiful islands)
Since we are having world’s top luxury hotel brands I also wonder how anyone will convince the guests that Aarah is the better place to visit..?? I really don’t think you can keep on advertising the place saying 24 hr security service will be provided by MNDF with applied “charges”..!! By now I think you should also know that the “Mega Rich Billionaires” will demand for the utmost privacy during their vacations and extra security for Aarah will just ruin their needs. (I really think Coast Guard should be in very close range to the island in order to make sure some gunmen don’t get into the island and spoil the holidaymakers’ mood.., what you think Bush??)
PS: I think Aarah will be a better place for the locals because it is very close to Male’, Hulhu-Male’ and Villingili and it can be developed as one of the holiday destination near Male’. We can also develop more such islands in other areas, targeting for the locals :-)