The Bangladeshi queue
About 30 Bangladeshi workers were made to wait in a line at Hulhumale ferry terminal by MTCC staff on Friday afternoon, while Maldivian passengers were ushered into the pre-departure chairs. Bangladeshis had to watch helplessly while Maldivians, many of who came much later than them, got on the ferry to Male. According to many people, this discrimination is not uncommon at weekends.
When I phoned the MTCC a woman at the counter admitted to holding Bangladeshis in a different queue but said they only did it because, "there's too many of them." I reported this to a friend in the Maldives Human Rights Commission, who checked with MTCC and got back to me. Apparently they told him Bangladeshis were in the habit of turning up in large numbers and pushing their way through other passengers to get on the ferry. I don't buy it.
Even if some Bangladeshis have in the past been over-zealous to catch the ferry, the MTCC have no right to punish all their compatriots for it. In fact I've seen more pushing against each other in the mad rush to the ferry. I have yet to see MTCC do anything to encourage orderly queueing or, indeed, run enough dhonis between Male and Hulhumale to meet the demand.
What happened on Friday seems to me to be a clear instance of discrimination based on nationality. But the MTCC staff I spoke to didn't share my view, nor did she seem to be aware that the Maldives in 1984 had signed the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. I have to confess I wasn't aware of this either until a human rights activist friend of mine told me. So much for human rights awareness work.
Concerned Maldivians need to send a clear signal that such discrimination is not what they want to see in their vision for a 'new' Maldives .
When I phoned the MTCC a woman at the counter admitted to holding Bangladeshis in a different queue but said they only did it because, "there's too many of them." I reported this to a friend in the Maldives Human Rights Commission, who checked with MTCC and got back to me. Apparently they told him Bangladeshis were in the habit of turning up in large numbers and pushing their way through other passengers to get on the ferry. I don't buy it.
Even if some Bangladeshis have in the past been over-zealous to catch the ferry, the MTCC have no right to punish all their compatriots for it. In fact I've seen more pushing against each other in the mad rush to the ferry. I have yet to see MTCC do anything to encourage orderly queueing or, indeed, run enough dhonis between Male and Hulhumale to meet the demand.
What happened on Friday seems to me to be a clear instance of discrimination based on nationality. But the MTCC staff I spoke to didn't share my view, nor did she seem to be aware that the Maldives in 1984 had signed the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. I have to confess I wasn't aware of this either until a human rights activist friend of mine told me. So much for human rights awareness work.
Concerned Maldivians need to send a clear signal that such discrimination is not what they want to see in their vision for a 'new' Maldives .
posted by Al at 11:20 AM
9 comments
