An acquaintance asked me, 'Why are people so flustered over the government of Maldives? What is the government doing wrong?"

The government of Maldives is responsible for running a country. As such, I believe the most abstract highlights of its responsibilities are the following:

• Investing the domestic earnings in the country's best interests (in areas of researching, developing and running the nation) and achieving the maximum yield from these investments.
• Developing, optimizing and maintaining the country's law with intentions of delivering maximum benefit to the country and its people.
• Enforcing law.

In my belief, the government of Maldives is not putting enough of an effort (one that I would deem ambitious) into their responsibilities. If the government pushed the 'pedal to the metal' the Maldives will achieve more milestones in a single year than was achieved in the past ten.

In the area of investment the Maldives has the capacity to undertake all of the following:

• Open at least one university in the span of a year
• Develop at least one additional industry (how about IC fabrication?) in the span of two years
• Open the leading hospital in the SAARC region within one and a half years
• Win the gold medal in the Olympic 100-meter freestyle swimming within ten years
• Win the world cup within 15 years
• Increase the GDP to compete with the likes of Malaysia, within five years
• Within one and a half years, decrease corruption to below 0.5% loss of gross earnings, thereby facilitating the above

The above are milestones that have come to my mind at the spur of the moment. I am sure there are many more that you can think of (were you Maldivian), dear reader...

1983-1989:
Aspired to become a policeman or a doctor when i grew up.
1990-1995:
Had dreams of getting drafted to the NBA and at the same time become a software enigneer.
1996-2005:
Just another IT slob.
2006:
No clue...

Simon mentions in his comment to my last post that Qasim has built a 'vast empire' and that he is a 'tycoon', whereas I am blowing a horn for vanity's sake. Why don't we ask ourselves the paramount question then? (before you throw in your comments, dear reader, I would like you to go through this.)

Here's the question which truly beckons answers:

• What does Qasim have that we don't which has propelled him to his present-day stature as a successful businessman (was it his intellect, his ethics, his exuberant personality, his philanthropy or something else)?

And Simon, I have known you to be one of the most learned intellects in IT in the Maldives (and that's something that I have never failed to give you credit for). Given that, why were you not able to bring any of your IT business ventures to fruition?

A fellow asked me:

• "After reading The Chronicles of Qasim, I gather you are campaigning against Qasim's potential chances for presidency of Maldives, right?"

I did not answer quite as thoroughly as would have liked to. Here is what my answer would have been had I had time to think about the question:

• "The Chronicles of Qasim is about the dealings between Qasim and myself, and does not by any means implicate policitics of any nature and/or magnitude. However, in retrospect, Qasim did not retaliate against me when I published the chronicles. Perhaps that means he finally understands the true meaning of accountability (in the very least it shows a certain amount of tolerance). In that respect he should be regarded as an inspiration to all those in the running. Perhaps in the future everyone with political power will be as willing to accept their faults without rebuttal as Qasim is turning out to be."

That the institution of governance of the Maldives is undergoing a considerable metamorphosis at this time is undeniable. That the awareness of the nation's people is ever-increasing is evident. However, should we believe that our awareness has reached the epitome of understanding our choices without question? This question dawned upon me while pondering over the promise of an open referendum to be enacted in order to ascertain Maldivians' choice of governance: whether parliamentary or presidential.

I thought I would try and squeeze a bit of sense out of my dilapidated brain to scrutinize this unprecedented task. As is the norm for me nowadays, I also thought I would let my pondering be read by everyone interested enough – that's you, dear reader, and it's a beck for you to rebuff my rantings.

As per my self-afflicted habit of oversimplifying, the proponents of a governing institution comprises two components: the executive and the legislative. Some might demand the inclusion of the defensive component, but I believe defense is a tool for survival. Does that not make it an important component for comprehensive governance? That question is only partially true given the need for the autonomy of the defensive component in order to ensure that, 1) the executive or the legislative components do not hold sway upon it and 2) to ensure unwavering reaction to all threats against the nation. Command of the defensive component should be retained by non-government personnel while only the control (the check and balance mechanisms) of it should be exercised by the government.

So, my government of choice shall comprise of the following:

• the executive component, which is responsible for the daily operations of the government and its governance

• the legislative component, which makes the law

You might ask, 'what about policing the people?' To answer that question one has to scrutinize the parties responsible for curbing the crimes of the society. Crimes are a result of weak ethics and morals, thus it is a social factor. Managing social factors should be the responsibility of the respective departments within the executive component. These departments are often referred to as law-enforcement bodies, and are sometimes categorized into specialties and/or levels of responsibilities in order to manage various types/levels of crimes. That law-enforcement bodies often mandate special uniforms is inconsequential (it holds no more significance than the jerseys of the referees of a football match, worn in order to signify their purpose in the game). These bodies should be no more important than customs, planning, human resource development, financial, etc bodies of a nation.

The poignant question at hand is 'do I choose a parliamentary system or a presidential system?' To answer this I will now have to use the above reflections to define the two systems, thus enabling the differentiation between them which will hopefully lead to a coherent choice.

In a parliamentary system, the parliament holds sway over various/all aspects of the empowerments endorsed upon the executive component. You might ask why this is a case for concern if the parliament comprises representatives of the people. The answer to that would be that when the representatives of the people are responsible for the composition of a governing coalition there are two degrees of separation between the executive component and the people. In such a case, the executive component becomes irreproachable by the people.

An additional cause for quandary that a parliamentary system provides is that in most institutions the parliament, or a portion/portions of it, is also responsible for or part of the legislative component. One might wonder that the intermingling of the executive and legislative components will provide for a more efficient government. That possibility can hold true, but no more truer the possibilities of corruption.

Given my unfavourable definition of parliamentary systems, why is there still a debate to promote it? That is because there are ways of implementing such a system with the people's interests in mind. The two prerequisites for a benevolent parliamentary system are, 1) empowering the people for the direct ratification (through elections) of the final coalition which shall comprise the executive component and 2) electing a separate body of representatives of the people which will become the legislative body.

With a presidential system, the executive component and the legislative component is segregated as either body is elected by independent elections. Once certain key offices of the executive body are elected, either these electorates select the coalition members, the parliament/parties nominate coalition members, or the people predetermine the number of representatives each party or the various constituencies represented in the parliament shall contribute to the coalition (through means of confidence/popularity votes).

The issues to be faced with regards to a presidential system are, 1) the executive component and the legislative component will need clear segregation between them especially in the case of smaller countries where constituencies are easily misled and 2) the executive component (and indeed the other two components too) may take advantage of its executive powers if powers beyond law are bestowed.

Now I can finally answer the question of which system would be best suited for my nation (only my reckonings here, mind you). The short answer is, ANY system! The long-winded descriptive conditions upon which that answer titillates on are:

• The defensive component of the nation should be an autonomous body under a command uninfluenced either by the executive component (except in enforcing adherence to law) or the legislative component, but held in check by law and prohibited from partaking in civil affairs

• Lack of any relationships between the executive component and the legislative component, unless under the direct scrutiny of all the people of the nation

• Only one degree of separation between the people and either the executive component or the legislative component

• No individual of the nation, whether a part of the executive, legislative or defensive component shall be exempt from the law

Someone ('you' know who you are) asked me today:

• 'What does it mean to be Maldivian?'

I replied (per my narrow-minded reckoning):

• 'To be responsible for the future of the people of Maldives... That is to be responsible for every aspect of their lives: the environment they live in, the economy they thrive in, their health, their beliefs, their offspring, their culture, etc'

What does it mean to be a Maldivian to you, dear reader?

Dear reader,

I have recently been accused of certain 'indiscretions' by one of the most powerful (and popular, esp. in Ari Atoll) ministers and, despite lack of proof to the effect, is out to publicly crucify my integrity. Since disovering this, without the slightest hesitation I gave the fellow two days to settle accounts with me. Should this not happen I have vowed to go public with his own indiscretions.

War!
Huh-yeah!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing (yeah right!)

I write this to hold you as a witness should the worst befall upon me.

Am I not born to your nation?
Are we not brethren?
Is mine not your constitution?
Do you live beyond repercussion?
Are we not judged even?
Or wield you contracts from heaven?
Be you minister or minor, friend or foe
You're still Maldivian
Your contract surpasses not mine
Read beyond the headline

• Total number of students in Malaysia: 5.7 million.
• Total number of students in Maldives: ~50,000.

• Malaysia spends 17.5% of their annual budget on education resulting in an annual per capita (students only) budget of about 450 dollars for 2006.
• If the Maldives were to spend 17.5% of their annual budget on education, the per capita budget amongst students will be well over 2,000 dollars for 2006.

• Why then does Malaysia have more than 60 colleges (of which 6 are state universities)?
• Why does Malaysia have their own primary, secondary and higher-secondary level accredition systems?
• Wait! Why do Maldivians go to Malaysia at all for their studies?

Were Maldives spending 17.5% of their budget on education, the problem with the education system of the country should be surmised as one of lackadaisical engineering and limitation of experience on the part of the people in charge. However, the discretional funds budgeted for education through 2006 is only 5% of the annual budget, which amounts to about 33 million dollars. Is this enough?

5% of the annual budget results in more than 650 dollars per capita amongst the students of the Maldives. This is still 200 dollars more than the per capita budget apportioned for the students of Malaysia. Why then are the Maldivian schools suffering from the lack of budgets and mismanagement? Why is the education system deteriorating year by year?

If more money is needed the Maldives can contribute another 12.5% from its budget before it exceeds the education budget of Malaysia in proporation.

I say there is enough money! I say the government apportioned more than enough of a budget for education in 2006! I say the Ministry of Education (is that what it's called now? - I can never tell) is sleeping on the job!

When it comes to commodities Maldivians have very little restraint as to how much they are willing to spend - regardless of the quality of the merchandise. Businesses know this all too well, and they are ready to exploit the hottest commodity coming to town: the FIFA World Cup.

I have learned that the World Cup is so hot that the nation's only TV channel is able to sell the advertising rights to each game at a price of nearly USD 7000. That's almost a total of half a million dollars for the whole tournament. The only return for enterprises investing this money is the potential growth of their respective businesses. Yes, my eager reader; USD 500,000 blown on a football competition for no monetary benefits whatsoever.

What can half a million dollars do, you ask?

• Half a million dollars can set up a decent school for teaching a (single) bachelor's programme in computing with the capacity of 20 classes of 10 students each, AND cover all overheads incurred through a period of one year
• It can cover the current overheads of any secondary school in Male' (Maldives) through a period of 2 years
• It can account for a month's payroll for all government staff of the Maldives along with a 50% increase in all salaries
• It can buy two Porsche Carrera GTs (one of the fastest, most expensive cars in the world)
• It can buy two 3-bedroom suburban properties in Australia

I just wonder what percentage of people of the World buy Porsche Carrera GTs. From when two (or was it three?) Jaguar R Types (what about the Corvette, BMWs, Mercedes, etc?) were brought into this country, the indigenous buying-power ratios went topsy turvy.

When will Maldivians learn to prioritise (ie. education before Porsches)?

From what little I know of my country, it has implemented the following approximate annual budgets over a five-year term starting 2002:

• Year 1 - 800 mil
• Year 2 - 1.5 bil
• Year 3 - 2 bil
• Year 4 - 4 bil
• Year 5 - 8 bil

Thankfully the figures are in the local currency. The trend is an average annual increment of about 100%. Consequently, the following questions come to mind:

• Has the economic welfare improved doubly?
• Has the destructive political distention decreased doubly?
• Is health care doubly effective?
• Has education been fortified doubly?
• Is social welfare faring doubly as well?

I am only asking these questions in general. What if we put to scrutiny every two consecutive years with regards to these questions?

Everyone wants to have their piece of the pie
Everyone's obsessed about how they'll survive
But do you pause to wonder
'Bout people grieving
Do you pause to think
You can have a piece of heaven

I believed that I could never tell a lie
But I deceive no one else when I deny
There are people in need
Crying, hurting, starving
Do you have to feel
Superhuman to help the dying?

If I were a leader
If I could be stronger
If I only were a li'l bit wiser
But I am not
And all I've got
Is this song and a drying clot

You chose to hide the people who've been deprived
They're cursed by God's will let them subside
The world will see no lepper
Nor retarded weaklings
This nation's blessed
God's bestowed gladdest tidings

Their pain I had never let it inside
I'd never dwelled upon the causes the why
I will give no quarter
To myself or others
Till I find myself
Helped make a better future

If I were a winner
And my dreams were richer
If I only glowed a li'l bit brighter
But I'm not
Still I've got
This will o' mine and an anecdote

Smart people of the world, you're cursed
Hey, people in the know, your lives only get worse
You know more than you were meant to
And you wish for dreams beyond you

You do your very best, for people you love
You weave your sad tale, of all that hurt
The world turned it's back on you
They only took what they wanted to

Smart people, you're cursed
Smart people, mercy on your souls
Smart people, you're cursed
You're cursed
Cursed

Smart people of the world you're chosen
You're the soulful seeds, the inspiration
But they drained your souls dry
Watched you break down and die

What you left unspoken will be revived
The legacies you left, they will survive
The old will feel your loss
And the young will remember 'cos

Smart people, you inspire
Smart people, you left the world afire
Smart people, you're cursed
You're cursed
Cursed

It is a subject that everyone fears breaching, and yet a lot of us quietly acknowledge. I have been wondering who would speak of it, or when. My hope was for those staking their careers on psychology and childcare to come forth and breach the subject, but it never happened. So, I am going to say something about it, to the extent of my limited knowledge.

Maldives has an inherent history of incest! Of the total number of Maldivian girls I know, more than half have been sexually abused by a family member. How many legal prosecutions have I heard of concerning incest? Not a single one.

I ask you welfare associations, childcare institutes and other relevant bodies, 'What have you done about it?'

I ask you readers, 'Do you have anything to say?'

This is the Internet, this is where anonymity will be assured and expositions are safe. Please voice out your concerns.

I have but a lowly blog to write this memo in and so it shall be posted here. This memo is about how Linux can be promoted and why it is prudent to take on such an endeavour.

To date, Linux has been one of two things for the Maldivian community: 1. an alternative to expensive proprietary options and 2. an amusement tool which is often used to boister one's ego. What our community has failed to grasp are the possibilities Linux - and various other open source software - offers beyond implementation cost cutdowns and bemusement. Two of the most important purposes that Linux fulfills in the general world of information technology are, long-term cost optimization and education.

Why promote Linux?

Long-term cost optimization

The difference between implementation cost cutdowns and long-term cost optimization is the former provides a temporary cashflow benefit while the latter provides a continuous one. Cost optimization is the process of streamlining the business processes and reducing the various cost-of-productions to generate higher periodic returns.

Linux helps in long-term cost optimization mainly due to the following reasons:

• Being a product of the community for the community, the knowledge-base for Linux is widely distributed and readily available.
• Software products for Linux are plentiful and mostly open-sourced.
• Linux, and its components, are almost always developed based on open and readily-available industry standards, which provides for an attractive learning curve.
• Today, there exist numerous support groups which can be contracted for reasonable prices, eliminating the need for in-house specialists and thus ensuring lower costs of ownership.
• SCO's case proves to the world that whilst Linux has infringed virtually no license whatsoever, their unthreatened open licenses will cater to the most customization-oriented of businesses.

Linux as an education tool

It is sad to see that computer science is being replaced with the more hyped-about 'information technology' in the world of academia. Operating systems and the software which run on them are becoming more and more end-user friendly and less challenging to use, which, in concurrently increasing general computing awareness, has greatly reduced the opportunities for the specialization in their development and implementation. The fact that these operating systems are immensely closed and often proprietary has further detrimental effects.

Linux has a solution for the potential computer scientist: an open platform which readily shows the operating system anatomy to the curious. It is a platform that you can take apart and put together in any way you like, without consideration for any licensing. For the professionals concerned about their apprentices, or even the society in general, Linux holds the key to a more hands-on education in computer systems.

On top of being an educational platform, Linux can also become the tool for changing the society's outlook on matters of intellectual property rights. I believe Maldivians' insane lack of regard for intellectual property rights stems from their abuse of licenses. The prolonged practice of pirating software, movies, music and so many other intellectual properties has virtually eliminated the knowledge of the very meaning of 'intellectual property' - could even be a new Teletubbies sidekick as far as the typical Maldivian is concerned. Developing the habit of using Linux - and open source software - may eventually provide our community with their own sense of proprietorship.

How to promote Linux

The Maldivian Linux User Group (MLUG) has tried to introduce the novelty of Linux to the Maldivian community for some time, and they held a rather successful Linux Demo Day in the February of 2000. The highlight of the project was the introduction of clustering technology which, in my point of view, is too extravagant when it comes to the introduction of an already misunderstood and feared solution that was Linux. Then again, I do recognize that it did generate a lot of hype which in turn yielded a few die-hard fans who have persevered even till today. However, at the end of the day, Linux was not here to stay; not as an integral part of the Maldivian computing community.

What has to change?

What needs to change within the MLUG leadership is quite simply their perception of Linux, its uses and its promotion. MLUG has to understand that their success lies in the ultimate goal of the massive adoption of Linux within the Maldivian community. To this end, MLUG needs to fully appreciate the possibilities Linux offers and work on implementing these possibilities from the very basics.

Firstly, MLUG should define its mandate as far as Linux is concerned. My suggestion would be the following:

• Continuing documentation of Linux, its development, its implementations and various news it generates, and provide these documentations to the Maldivian community
• Implement a perpetual marketing campaign which actually reaches the Maldivian community with the tidings of Linux on a daily basis
• Document the possible adoptions of Linux with regards to the various compartmentalizations found within the Maldivian community - in terms of societies and businesses
• Approach the potential adopters with solutions
• Monitor the Linux users and adopters, gather their feedback and provide them with contiuning support and optimizations

If the above mandate is too expansive to be fulfilled by the limited amount of Linux enthusiasts, then opt to reduce it by eliminating certain apects, but not streamlining them. For instance, MLUG can opt to undertake only the documentation and marketing aspects of Linux within Maldives.

Once a mandate has been ratified, the next step is to ensure the comprehensive division of labour. The only way MLUG will successfully accomplish any aspect of its mandate is by ensuring that enough people are involved in that particular venture. At the same time, there has to be uncompromising leadership spearheading these efforts.

What advice can I offer MLUG?

• Do away with preconceptions
• Start with the basics
• Create a mandate before the scope of possibilities overwhelms MLUG
• Follow the trends, especially those of the various Linux communities out their
• Linux is just another operating system, it is not a revelation

We have said it a million times
And regressed more often
We made a million promises
But only noticed unkept ones
And I am sorry for those
For not being the one
I long for you to find
Someone who makes you smile
I hope that you will smile someday
And this I say with a smile
Lets set ourselves free
Give each other freedom
I hope you will understand
I hope I am forgiven
For now I will pray
Wishing your ascension
And when you will find
Someone who makes you smile
I will be the first to say
'I'm glad to see you smile'

package THE_ANGER;

if ($they = <>) {
$misbehave = 'consult them';
$they =~ /(need guidance)/s;
my $opinion = 'they are human';
$in_their = $opinion.", you need to ".$misbehave;
$in_the_end = join ($1, "they will ", " and");
}

print "your message: ".$in_their.": ".times."\n";
print $in_the_end." your love\n";

You're the one who knew me
The one who truly knew
You saw me for who I am
With undeniable tolerance
You gave me your reckoning
Got me over self-doubt
You refused to accept weakness
Even though I was weak
You gave me back confidence
Slapped me back to life
You were kind to praise me
Praise I barely deserved
You've my undying gratitude
And my prayers go with
you, no matter where you are
I miss the dialogues
You and I had ages back
I will miss you

Simon and I have had a chat about instating a programming competition amongst Maldivian developers. We are thinking of holding an open competition amongst all types of coders, involved in scripting to firmware development (if there are any of those in this country).

The current intention is to make entrants compete in developing the most optimal solution for a problem (not restricting the tools for developing the solution). It is the type of problem that has to as yet be scoped.

What we would like from you is to leave a comment here indicating your interest, should you like to participate or offer your expertise. Also, we would like feedback from you about what sort of problem you'd like to ponder over.

After-thought: we should use the same hardware and software platform for all test-runs. Thus, I think we should get an idea of what the generally desired platforms are (processor, memory, OS, etc) from all you interested parties. From these reflections we will decide on the most aggregate platform combo.

After-after-thought: as Simon mentioned in one of the comments to this post, Simon, Shiyaz, Sofwath and myself (did I leave anyone out?) did hold a competition of this sort some years back on a smaller scale. The problem then was sorting a million random numbers. The outcome was that, by the official deadline, Simon won by a hairline with his Delphi-based solution. His was sub-.20 seconds, Shiyaz's and mine were sub-.40 seconds and Sofwath's VB-based solution was way over 1 second (all tests being done on two 600 MHz platforms, one with Windows and the other Linux). Shiyaz is the one who's been bugging us (Simon mostly) to get another contest organized.

Last night, a couple of mates and I were in a dialogue, the subject of which was 'how does one start tackling a programming problem?' This is a question plenty of beginners start off with and never really get a good answer for.

So what does bring about the great inspiration for solving problems? Why, preparation of course. The best solution to fixing unsureness is to 'train' the mind to get used to thinking about the most awkward and flabbergasting of problems - fantastic ones at that. If you ask me, some such problems could be:

• How would a conversation with your mate's flip-flops go?
• How would you live life as a fish?
• What would a journey through your cat's alimentary canal reveal?
• What would life be like as a hair follicle on Jenna Jameson's thigh?
• What would aliens look like, or say when we meet them?

Once you come up with that earth-shatteringly bothersome problem, go about solving it in the most creative way you can think of. The trick is to make up as many projections as possible. In fact, you can even make this a game between a bunch of fellow-accomplices - coming up with the most number of creative solutions in a given period of time for instance.

Once one gets acquainted with using plain english to describe solutions, one should start using the tools of the trade. Start off with a pseudo-language, such as a heavily mutilated english dialect which is just sufficient to convey the bare logic of one's musings. For instance, in the case of Jenna's hair follicle:

• Light creeps in
• Bright light hits
• Black hair greeting
• Is Jenna blond?
• If yes, barf!

The next step is the gradual use of standardized designing tools such as flowcharts, booch notations, UML, etc. The trick in using the tools is to break up the problem/scenario into as many basic components as possible and fitting together these components with the fewest interconnections. Once one gets familiar with solving unearthly problems using these modeling tools, one will find dealing with more realistic ones less taxing.

The real purpose of teaching yourself to be creative is to increase the ability of approaching a problem with more conviction. It is confidence that will really trigger those creative fluids, not just knowledge alone.