Hulhumeedhoo Community yet again proved their adherence and commitment to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in the second consecutive election, this time in Local Council. History was rewritten yesterday where as similar land slide victory was made during Maldives first ever parliamentary election during 2009.
Both victories are similar in its nature. During parliamentary election Mr. Ilyas Labeeb was sworn in by the most votes in the Maldives for one constituency. Mr. Hassan Shahid became the his successor to gain the same number of votes for the same constituency, but for the city council. Right now one thing is very straight and clear. Hulhumeedhoo has barred entry of any political party other than MDP, and so is the mood of entire Addu City.
Another main lessons learnt over the last two elections were that Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP), less in number though, are strictly behind their leader who were ousted by people's referendum in the presidential election in 2008.
Hulhumeedhoo community is foreseeing a bright and prosperous future, being the forerunner in brining MDP and democracy to the Maldives.
Herthera Island Resort has begun supplying safe drinking water to Hulhumeedhoo last week. Safe drinking water shortage has started to create lots of problem in the two stranded islands of Addu City recently, as there has been no considerable rain fall for the past three months.
Anyone who wants water can simply get to the water dispenser provided near the channel detween Hulhudhoo and Herathera Island Resort.
Herathera with the help of Maldives Police Service had undertaken supplying of safe water to Hulhudhoo Meedhoo comunity during 2009.
Five of nine pilot whales, that washed ashore on the eve of this years Fisherman's day (December 9,2010), were rescued by Hulhumeedhoo youth near the beach of Stelco. During the past two weeks similar whales were found dead on the beach of Maafushi and were buried by the authorities.
"We saw these dolphins stranded near the beach at around 9:30 this morning, two were found dead" Ameer, the first witness said. They undertook the rescue operation immediately and managed to hauled the five live mammals back into water. Later today another two dead were found, one near Stelco and the other on the beach of Ismehela Hera.
Reason for the continued washing ashore of these underwater giants are unknown so far, but many suspect it as a result of human disturbances and changes in marine ecological system.
Countdown for this year’s parliamentary election slated for May 9, 2009 has begun with the release of eligible candidates names by Maldives Election Commission on Saturday. As per the list published at election commission website, 465 people are contesting for various constituencies through out the country, where as twelve of them are contesting for Hulhumeedhoo.
75% of candidates are contesting on their own for Hulhumeedhoo constituency while three dared to compete with their respective party tickets. Ms. Fathimath Badhoora, only female candidate for Hulhumeedhoo, is the contender of Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP) while Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Didi is challenging from Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Ilyas Labeeb from the ruling party, MDP. Individual contenders are Mr. Ibarahim Zahid, Mr. Mohamed Shibath, Mr. Ibrahim Hameed, Mr. Moosa Fathuhy, Dr. Abdulla Afeef, Mr. Sadurudheen Rasheed, Mr. Ali Rasheed, Mr. Abdul Haadhee Fahumee and Mr. Mohamed Rasheed.
Hulhumeedhoo is the only constituency where most number of candidates is contesting and it is believed that the islands would blow with the waves of campaign activities by twelve candidates. Pressure on Hulhumeedhoo public have been unpredictable had two of the contestants did not drop their names from running the contest. However a segment of the community believes that more candidates mean more choices for people.
Ilyas Labeeb promised creations of hundreds of jobs under his long term plans to develop ‘Hera’ as a tourist resort. “Opening of a tourist resort at Hera is a long lasting dream of our beloved Meedhoo people and it’s my mission” said Ilyas while meeting with his supporters in Meedhoo on last Friday. He also highlighted the business opportunities that would be opened for Hulhumeedhoo people when the said project gets realized.
As part of Ilyas Labeeb’s campaign promotion he met with his supporters in Meedhoo on last Friday near Shamsudheen School. Hundreds of people visited to listen to his speech in which he urged people to attend to all the gathering conducted by all candidates. “You must listen to all candidates, analyze each ones proposal for the development of Hulhumeedhoo and country, and vote based on your judgments” advised Ilyas. He strongly emphasized on ‘voter education’ as the basis of his campaign strategy. According to him, voters must know why he or she votes a particular candidate.
He addressed on various socio economic concerns faced by our community today. “There are too many loop holes in the system and I promise to help you curb them” vowed Ilyas. He drew attention on deteriorating situation of drug abuse and its illegal smuggling into our community. He promised he would help rehabilitate the addicts and put an end to illegal smuggling.
Ilyas shared his notion to specialize Health Center in one particular field or two. “We have all the required facilities to provide quality dental services within Health Center and preparations from the side of Health Center remain incomplete”, delighted Ilyas said. He also indicated that efforts to bring a gynecologist and a pediatric are underway as Hulhumeedhoo people faces lot of difficulties travelling Hithadhoo to see these special doctors.
As emphasized by Ilyas, everyone must listen to the promises made by all the candidates and evaluate the credibility of them before clinging on to vote a particular candidate.
Maldives Disaster Management Center (MDMC) has started to provide drinking water to Hulhumeedhoo people today. Safe drinking water shortage has started to create lots of problem in the two stranded islands in Addu since last month, as there has been no rain fall for the past five months. MDMC is seeking help from Herathera Island Resort to provide water to meet the immediate demand for them.
“We sought help from MDMC for water and they replied very quickly”, a Meedhooan said. MDMC then sought help from Herathera who has the capacity to desalinate water for almost 5000 people residing in Hulhumeedhoo. Public works unit of Hulhumeedhoo are using their trucks to carry water from Hearthera-Hulhudhoo channel to water tanks located in various public areas.
“Herathera with the help of Maldives Police Service will start filling up the water tanks in Hulhumeedhoo public areas today”, Island Chief Mr. Ahmed Shafeeu stated today, after the Friday Prayer. According to him this process will continue till people are able to fill up their water tanks. He also advised people not to waste water as the drought still continues. “I advice owners of fishing vessels to avoid taking water in huge volumes temporarily as they are provided as two liters per head” said Shafeeu.
“It’s a part of their (Herathera) corporate social responsibility to provide these sorts of help to the neighbouring communities” referred a Hulhudhooan. Further he said “We are happy that we have started to receive water thought later and on notification by MDMC”. As for now people are worried that drought may persist for a long time and that many water-borne diseases may start to surface up.
Hulhudhoo youth, in a special gathering held at Hulhumale’ International School last Friday, endorsed Ilyas Labeeb as their candidate for the upcoming parliamentary election slated for May 9, 2009. The gathering was called for introducing the candidate to Hulhumeedhoo people living in Hulhumale’ and launching Ilyas Labeeb’s campaign T-Shirts.
Mr. Ali Manik (Kalhi Ali), a prominent figure in bringing change in last year’s presidential election in Hulhudhoo, honored the launching of T-Shirts. Another new campaign song by the famous vocalist Mr. Mohamed Azleen (Azky) and Lajuna was then introduced by Mr. Ahmed Zahid, the president of Hulhudhoo Sports Club.
Introducing the meeting at Hulhumale’ International School Mr. Ahmed Zahid highlighted the commitment from Hulhudhoo youth to Ilyas Labeeb’s constituency. He thanked Mohamed Azleen in particular for composing such beautiful songs to boost campaign.
On Sunday Mr. Ibrahim Zareer introduced the same T-Shirts to Hulhudhoo people at Dimish Kara campaign ‘Harage’. Many youth participated in the event that was arranged without any prior notice or announcement. “We would provide this special campaign T-Shirts to everyone who is engaged in the campaign, it would spread our message” said a member of campaign team.
Campaigns for various candidates are expected to take its culmination latter next month, however every candidate believes that this year’s parliamentary election wouldn’t be as easy as they had anticipated.
A ten day workshop conducted by Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture to educate and train famers about various diseases of crops and steps toward diseases-resist crops ended last night. “This workshop is organized by the ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture in association with Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo Offices on request by Hulhumeedhoo farmers during the minister’s visit to meet with them last December” said Mr. Mohamed Aslam, the course coordinator.
Speaking about the farmer’s participation in such a workshop, Mr. Mohamed Aslam said that it was ‘satisfactory’. “Initially 38 farmers turned up for the first day of the workshop, 28 of them got registered and only 18 of them completed the workshop”, said Aslam. According to Aslam lot of people, irresponsible of their field, attend these sorts of workshops.
However farmers who completed the workshop were very optimistic. “The workshop was essential for us, we came to know many things we would otherwise had no idea about”, said Mohamed Shareef. Shareef further said, “I gained more knowledge and techniques in this workshop than the previous course I had attended last year”.
Meedhoo is an agricultural island for decades however Hulhudhoo people started engaging in agriculture recently. A number of vegetables and fruits are grown in these two islands alone. Most of the locally grown products are Cucumber, Cabbage, Tomato, Chili, Watermelon, Banana etc. There is a greater scope for Hulhumeedhoo farmers to sell their products to the rest of Addu. Today Fuvahmula farmers are using the opportunity to keep up the supply of vegetable products to meet ever growing demand for them in Addu.
The opportunity to enter into this market is still open for the Hulhumeedhoo farmers, but only if they work as a group and go for specialization. When one farm cultivates Tomato the other must grow Cucumber and so on. This cartel would benefit all the members within it and each one would contribute tones of vegetables collectively to the market weekly. If this practice is followed there is opportunity for them to stay in market.
