New Laws Old Habits..

(raagu: Old McDonald had a farm... again loosely based)

Old McMaldives had a chance

Ee ai ee ai oooh

And with that chance she made a Constitution

Ee ai ee ai oooh

With some human rights here, and equality there

Here a right there a right everywhere rights rights

Old McMaldives had a chance

Ee ai ee ai oooh

Old McMaldives changed her Government

Ee ai ee ai oooh

But then again saw the same old story

Ee ai ee ai oooh

No consultations here and sudden decisions there

Here a project there a plan everywhere lags lags

Old McMaldives changed her Government

Ee ai ee ai oooh

Old McMaldives got a new Majlis

Ee ai ee ai oooh

But in that Majlis she put some clowns

Ee ai ee ai oooh

With a walkout here and party politics there

Here a thug there a quack everywhere chaos chaos

Old McMaldives got a new Majlis

Ee ai ee ai oooh

Old McMaldives kept her judiciary

Ee ai ee ai oooh

But that old judiciary kept the same old systems

Ee ai ee ai oooh

With bad judgments here and lack of procedures there

Here a bribe there a release, everywhere crooks crooks

Old McMaldives kept her judiciary

Ee ai ee ai oooh

But Old McMaldives (still) has a chance,

Ee ai ee ai oooh

And with that chance she can still get it right

Ee ai ee ai ooooo

With a free voice here and a wise vote there

Here a voice there a vote, everywhere a choice choice

Old McMaldives (still) has a chance

Eee aiiii eeeee aiiiii ooooooooooh

Violence is not in!

Yes, we have been a little slack. All right all right we have been practically comatose ok!!! But then there was the world cup and Paul, remember that pesky crustacean? no? Anyway, and then the Holy Month came and we were busy following the Maldivian age old tradition of being Ramazan Muslims... and then... and then...

Anyhoo, last night we were watching tv as people tend to do, and then we saw this glorious sight of an honourable Sheikh lending his highly esteemed and masculine voice to speak out against domestic violence. We had a teensy bit of a moment of dazed, stupefied confusion but the sight was enough to galvanise our sleepy, apathetic, out to lunch grey cells into a quickstart mode and spring us into action!

So apparently there is a new Bill in town, a Bill against Domestic Violence. Since our collective middle names spell out the phrase "recongnising the good in society" (yes, its uncanny!) we immediately sought to yell out a collective whoop of jubilation that such an initiative has been taken up by our squabbly political persons. We send out a special appreciative sigh to Ms. Rozaina and team for their efforts. We also lent an enthusiastic ear to the deliberations that was going on in the Majlis yesterday on the Bill, and was quite chuffed by the support it was getting, including from the opposing factions. In fact there were no opposing factions in the Majlis yesterday, and appreciating the work of the other guys were articulated often and we were forced to check and recheck at intervals if we had, somewhere along the way, switched to Bizzaro World.

Of course, just as George Orwell explains some animals are more equal than others, all MPs make sense but some MPs make more sense than others. And what would we do without these sharp and passionate MPs of the sense making variety who always point out quite helpfully the doomsday scenarios Bills like this pose.

Leading the Sense Making MP Brigade is our very own MP Muthhalib. He was quite concerned that the passing of the Bill will prevent himself and other men of his sentiments from taking a second wife. Of course this makes perfect sense to us so we call on MP Muthalib’s right to have second wife secured while legislating protection for victims of domestic violence. And then the honourable MP Musthafa warned us that the Bill will create hordes of women banging the door down of the Family Court demanding divorces, and this is a serious issue, as before this Bill and the resulting power to women we have been a country of such an abysmally low divorce rate! He also said that this Bill will legalise abortion, and there was also something about a cleric in Casablanca! We hear you MP Musthafa! Even though we don’t understand a word of your reasoning we call on the intelligencia to interpret his pearls of wisdom and prevent the catastrophic future he predicts! Yes and there were those who said that the sentencing was too high for such a small crime. A small crime.. yes. Now sentencing in accordance to the crime committed is a valid point, which normally in this case constitutes a person causing physical or sexual harm to an intimate partner, child or family member that causes them injuries and sometimes critical enough to be hospitalised for treatment or causing psychological harm leading to low self worth, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders.

Now in a rare moment of all seriousness, domestic violence is a grave and important issue with critical social, psychological, health and economic impact for the country, and the quickly we do away with it the better. Women are especially vulnerable since they are more often than not financially and emotionally dependent on the perpetrator and unable to escape the violent environment. So lets hope for a genuinely comprehensive Bill being passed by our Majlis.

More power and justice to the victims we say!