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:
Well lets hope the Commission does something about it.
i doubt they'll do anything at all...
I'd like to remind Maldivians that their "own" Bank was started with the help of a Bangladeshi bank (40% shares owned)
I thank all Indians/Bangladeshis/SriLankans/Nepalis who are building this nation while Maldivians sleep and keep busy talking about Nationalism on TV.
the plight of Bangladeshi workers in Male (and non-skilled laborers from many others countries from the region) in the Maldives is very sad. Their living and eating conditions, the lack of any infrastructure for them to socialize of entertain themselves on weekends, etc. And of course Fridays are when all this is becomes most visible to us; the throngs at public spaces, the crowds on the streets, etc. The most alarming this is that no institution from the government seems to be concerned over this. They too have every tight as human beings, to live a happy and fulfilled life. Or is it that the basic rights of Maldivians themselves are not yet met that they cannot afford to think about the rights of the workers they employ? And if we are not in a position to think about the rights of those whom we employ, how can we employ so many in the first place?
One thing else I noticed is the increasing number of expatriate workers in the islands; often to do jobs that n requires little skill and even less labor; like shop keeping in little stores, a job done almost exclusively by Maldivian in previous times. I have often heard that why we need to employ so many expatriates is because we are lazy; and yet this does not seem to be the case, for clearly most Maldivian are hardworking people.But I cannot ignore the fact that some Maldivians are very snobbish when it comes to their attitudes about work; they seem to have look down upon certain types of work, even if it paid a lot more than jobs that they held in higher esteem. And I wonder where this bias comes from... is it just the lack of exposure diverse forms of work and more complex societies?
But whatever it is, I also think there should be an urgent response to any discrimination against foreign workers in the country.
Rather than discrimination, I think it is more of giving priority to the residence of Hulhumale' wanting to travel their.
A solution to this can be sought with a card being issued to the residents. And further, with so many illegal immigrants, the work permit card can be asked for when issuing ticket. This would help the genuine workers get easy access and discourage illegal workers.
Furthermore, I think a lot of foreign workers (not all) have bad manners and is disrespectful for the women and children at public places. We see this from the way they bump in and walk in their own path at public gatherings like street night carnival and so forth.
I do think the workers rights needs to be addressed and I used to feel very sympathetic.. but once uv been at the receiving end of their lewd comments/stares/ gropes its hard to be honestly sympathetic towards them..
u know they stink, y bother???
Maldivians tend to be more racist than others. Shame on us! They are humans as well so treat them like humans. The expat workers are doing more work than Maldivians. Most Maldivians are too lazy to do anything. But they want the best in life!
I have begun to notice that haveeru newspaper (and probably others too) have started referring to bangladeshis as bangalhees in their articles. They are institutionalising an offensive racist term and they dont even know it!
Ironically the writers uses bangaalhee to refer to the bangladeshi worker who was beaten with a wooden plank by a local!
Of course we are more concerned whether to shake or not to shake the pointy finger during athhahiyyathu....
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