MoIA to export content filtering technology

Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MoIA) of Maldives has decided to develop and market Internet content filters for countries world wide. This initiative is taken to save the economy and cater to the growing demands by countries like China and Pakistan.

Presently the ministry is actively testing the product in Maldives and are happy with the results. The devices are also embeded with special technology to improve peoples faith (not much details of this is available as of now, as it's in the process of being submitted to the patent office in Maldives).

It is also expected that MoIA will very soon take over the local telecom authority under it's wing along with education ministry.

Dr. Majeed, Please bless my blog.

More Transparency needed?

Obviously we all talk about transparency in governance and we all support the idea but do we really understand what transparency all about?. Maybe the definitions may differ, however there is a major difference between outreach and transparency.

We have seen a major flood of outreach during the last presidential elections in 2008 and this continues on. Outreach means governments and other political parties telling us what it wants us to hear. Media plays a major role in this, this is one reason why politicians take so much interest in owning the media. We have seen the media being used and abused too. I don't need to go into details here.

Transparency means giving us the information that we, the citizens, want to get. An ideal government provides both outreach and transparency. Outreach lets officials share their knowledge about what is happening, and it lets them argue for particular policy choices -- both of which are good. Transparency keeps government honest and responsive by helping us know what government is doing.

We have seen a major form of outreach from the government and the opposition during the last 4 years. Technology played a major role here. This is where my interest is. We have seen forms of outreach like Minivan radio, the famous Dhivehi Observer run by Sappe', Fact Maldives, The Maldivian, moving on the YouTube videos and finally even twitter/blogs and mass SMS via GSM networks. These obviously worked and we expect to see more of this in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Obama administration named Vivek Kundra as the Chief Information Officer of the U.S. President Nasheed 2 days back appointed Mr Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa (DO Sappe'/Kuda Sappe') as the Envoy for Science and Technology. Maybe Sappe' is more like the Chief Technology Officer for the government (the job scope I don't know, never published). I have no clue, but I feel part of the responsibility should be facilitate more transparency in governance via technology. Today technology has become a daily part of our lives. Not everyone carries a TV with them, or a news paper but almost everyone carries a mobile. These are things that the government need to understand and utilize. We need to move away from traditional forms of governance and evolve with the life style and demands of the citizens.

The use of technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. It is very important that when decisions on technology are taken, to ensure that we go with the right technologies. We need to break away from vendor driven models and shape our government to be technically competent. It's a shame that for simple things we advertise for consultations and RFP's. This for me shows that the government is not capable of supporting and developing the basic infrastructures when we have heavily invested on them.

Today the world is moving toward a Internet-enabled government transparency model. Presenting important government information to citizens is one area. This is done via simple web sites with content management systems but today we need to move beyond this. We need to evolve to models like where government needs to provide reusable data, rather than providing websites, as the core of its online publishing responsibility. The focus should be on creating a simple, reliable and publicly accessible infrastructure that exposes the underlying data. Private actors, either nonprofit or commercial, are better suited to deliver government information to citizens and can constantly create and reshape the tools individuals use to find and leverage public data. The best way to ensure that the government allows private parties to compete on equal terms in the provision of government data is to require that ministry websites themselves use the same open systems for accessing the underlying data as they make available to the public at large.

Maybe my definition of transparency is very different or more on the technical side then political. I think it's practically right to conclude that in some areas like ICT many things are inherently more difficult to do inside of government. The best approach would be for the government to open/enable a marketplace for ideas in the private sector and from individuals.

Test Post!

According to CIA 5.5% of our (Maldivian) GDP is the Military expenditure. We rank 15th in the world. Yeah! Something to be proud of? Sure I am.

It's a dream job we all should be proud of, being maybe an officer in the MNDF. You get to enjoy a motorbike , a car with a driver and value adds like the best food. This is on top of all the other benefits you'd get to enjoy. Why should they not?. After all they will be the people who will be saving our asses WHEN/IF AND WHEN someone will come and bomb us or shoot at us (even in the islands).

Even though on Nov 3rd 1988, the NSS was locked inside the base; that won't be the case next time. Hell yes!. Even on that day if they were not locked in, they would have kicked the asses of those terrorists/Baagee's and we did not had to ask the Indian Army to come help us. Even on days like DEC 26th 2004, when the tsunami hit us, if the weather was good they would have left the same day to help the islanders.

No one can even beat MNDF when it comes to entertainment too. There is so much that the Maldivian movie industry can learn from MNDF (even Hollywood). They always make us happy and give us a good time. These are services that we should always admire and appreciate. So all that money that is spend is well worth it all. God yes! I am really proud of them.

My next request for them is to invest on R&D into such a system like in minority report. "Huh bul" .. "Watan"!

National Center for Information Technology

Times have changed, world have changed, technology has evolved. MCST/NCC/NCIT never changed, or progressed. Many of you may not even know about NCIT (National Center for Information Technology); don't be surprised. Many of the existing government top level official also have no idea. Maybe it was one of the best kept secrets in the government of Maldives.

Prior to being called NCIT, it was called NCC (National Computer Center) which was under Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology. If I recall it was established in the mid 1990's. The e-government project has been active since early 2000 or 2002. The first major project was the establishment of the fiber network which was first awarded to CET Technologies Pte Ltd in early 2005. It was also projected that Installation and Commissioning of the network and selected applications will be completed by 2006. The project at the time was almost 100% driven by NCIT. Hardly advise of the privet sector or other government Ministries was considered, I was told that there were meetings held to get views but it was never practical. This is the feedback I have from friends who attended some of these meetings, including government employees from presidents office, other government owned originations and National registration.

The scope at the time was

(i)networking of government agencies in Male by installation of a fiber optic cable, and connecting 20 atolls by carrier service for government agencies to share their information and for the public to get access to government information electronically

(ii)enabling electronic delivery of public services including the provision of applications for national citizen identification; public health services; and registration for vessels, vehicles, and aircraft

(iii) establishment of the National Computer Center, which will centrally coordinate ICT policies, standards, and practices for government work;

(iv) building of Internet kiosks, which will provide the public with better access to government information and services; and

(v) implementation of telecommunications sector reform, which will eventually enable the public to get access to the Internet at an affordable price.

I must agree if the responsible parties did deliver this would have been great. However if you think today in 2009 how much of this was delivered. Ultimately this became the biggest among other “BIG IT Projects" in this country. Funded by ADB (It is estimated that the ADB loan is worth US $9.50 million or more). Now the way I see it NCIT is under pressure to deliver what they started a few years back. All they achieved was a big building with a nice lift, big meeting room and an expensive data center. Which services no purpose. Today they are talking on TV about a portal (kind of like web site) which will have a lot of content from all of the Ministries that say what you should do, etc. This is much like the travel web sites, where you get all the information about the resorts. Maybe a few services included. The point to note here is after almost 5 years or so, this is what we get?. Surely somethings have gone wrong, or need to be reevaluated.

There was also a committee established under the name of Information Technology Advisory Committee. I am not sure who were in this committee or if it ever existed, but according to the published documents the mandate of this committee was as follows.

1. To review policies, procedures, guidelines and strategies with respect to issues concerning information technology deployment in the Maldives and make recommendations on these issues

2. To periodically review and advise the NCC on the implementation of Information Technology policies and plans

3. To ensure that IT policies are in line with the nation's development objectives, mission and goals.

4. To review the strategic IT planning processes and to make recommendations to ensure that the Government's policies on IT are fully realized.

5. To review, assess and make recommendations on the IT programs, initiatives and projects

6. Advise on the changes including (but not necessarily limited to) process changes, innovative ways of deploying IT that will result in bringing about the full benefits of information technology to the government and citizens of Maldives.

7. To assess and advise on the mechanisms that is in place to evaluate the success of IT policies and strategies.

8. To review, assess and make recommendations on the IT standards and guidelines

9. To advise on human resource and training requirements for Information Technology

10. To advise on any legal changes that may need to be taken into consideration for the deployment and use of Information Technology in the Maldives.

I am not sure how much of this was completed. For sure I don't see any policies, standards and guidelines. Maybe we have them as top secret documents. Maybe we just don't know are are not well informed.

However I must agree that at the foundation level we had good visions or a plan. If this materialized at that stage and if the people who were given the responsibility did a good job, it must have be something to be proud of. Sadly this is not so.

I think we don't have people with the visions, the interest and the know how. Even today if you look at the NCIT web site you see them requesting for the so called “IT Experts” to help them with the e-government deployment. I don't know how many guys came with Masters and PHD's in computer science yet we are seeking outside help to implement our projects. What have we been doing?. I think they are now procurement officers. They release PO's to the vendors and sign contracts. At least if they don't wanna do the dirty jobs, least the policies and standards document could have been some contribution. Which too we don't have.

Next NCIT will tell no one is willing to help or no good staff is willing to work for NCIT. Maybe so, but if that is the case, for sure there must be something wrong about NCIT or the way they operate. You can't blame all the potential staff and other IT staff in public sector. I've been told by people who left the center that there is no room for them. None of their views are heard or will be heard. Simply the place has outdated philosophies and sticking to out dated methods or depends too much on the vendors. There is no internal developments or R&D work.

Today we need to analyze and think or rather rethink the whole model of e-government and the role of NCIT. NCIT was a hope when it came in to existence. One of the stated objectives of the NCIT was to help diversify the economic base by attracting IT companies and IT enabled service companies to be established in Maldives, and provide job opportunities for Maldivians in this sector.

Furthermore it was stated the following.

• ICT Infrastructure: ICT Precinct; assist in providing key infrastructure necessary in seeding joint ventures with offshore firms.
• ICT Infrastructure: Applications Development Centre; act as the catalyst required to establish necessary capabilities in application development expertise.
• ICT Infrastructure: Technology Incubator; provide a vibrant environment for young people to establish IT ventures and to learn valuable business and technical skills.
• ICT Usage: Project Loan Support; ready access to development funds and financing.
• ICT Usage; Mobile Commerce and Payments Trial; provide a new base line of activity and facilitate a real working demonstration of the broader benefits and efficiency of electronic based commerce to the Maldives.
• ICT Facilitation: Strategic Alliance Program; creating the right environment for skill, knowledge and technology transfer and promote partnerships between local enterprises and offshore companies.
• ICT Facilitation: ICT Cadets; provide the opportunity for young individuals to explore career and entrepreneurial opportunities in the IT sector.
• ICT Facilitation: Skills Certification; aims to raise the level of professionalism and commercial orientation of the Maldives local industry capability.

How much of this was archived?. Where is the IT industry in the Maldives. Just cos we have a few shops selling computers does not mean we have an IT industry. This is not what is called an IT industry. Today India is a leading country in this industry, Sri Lanka is catching up. Malaysia is another example. Where are we?. The government never saw this, or does see this. Economically speaking this could have been a potential industry. Which would have been highly profitable but no we were blinded and still are blinded ONLY by tourism and fishing. Selling our land and seas and making money is all we think of. Maybe again there is so much I don't know or maybe I have a different view. Then they tell me IT guys are lazy and can't depend on them. At the same time they proudly tell you we have the best telecommunications infrastructures banking facilities and hospitality solutions. Who implemented them the fishermen?, the finance guys?. There have been a lot of projected implemented by local Maldivians which we should be proud of even in the IT industry. However they come with proper funding and project management. So who ever says IT guys are lazy can fu*k off! Most of us work 7 days a week and work more then 12 hours a day just to earn for the bread and butter or rather for the peanuts that you guys pay and to meet with the sky high demands of yours. On top of that we love what we do and most of all we enjoy what we do. Very often contributions done by the guys in this industry is taken for granted. Things we have done, for no money, unlike the lawyers and the doctors in this country. Simple things like when someone's PC is broken you just call the next IT guy you know and fix it for FREE. Maybe pay the guy with a coffee. Where when you take a lawyer even for a coffee they charge you minimum Mrf 1,000 per hour.

Today NCIT it on TV talking about the e-government after almost 10 years and blaming the rest of the Ministries for no cooperation. I don't get it or understand it. I still feel the foundations are wrong, the method that we are going is not the way it should be in 2009 and we can build a better e-governance system just by looking at how others in the world are deploying e-government projects and the present trends in the industry. You don't need to listen to a few of us in the public. However I am personally totally against things like vendor-lock in the government where we go on closed technologies and pay royalties.

I think NCIT is making simple things complex and taking us all for a ride. I think what we are trying to do is since ADB paid us and will demand some results, we are just trying to meet that. Get rid of this, and say “we done it”. Not looking at how we done it.

Standardization of IT in GOM

Recently the cabinet of the present government decided that they will ensure that within 3 years all government offices will use licensed software. This was a good start, maybe technology was not the main reason behind the decision but it was a good move in the right direction.

Furthermore I was told that there were discussions on “Developing standards and guidelines for system procurement based on need, OS to be installed, basic criteria for websites – to enable easy procurement and significant savings, as well as harmonization” and “Full assessment of ICT capacity, capability and competency (equipment, systems, software and liveware) of all GOM”

We must again welcome this. I feel having standards for procurement purposes is good but based on what? I feel what is lacking is some kind of government IT Interoperability Standards which very clearly defines and supports the fundamentals of e-governance and general IT standards to be deployed government wide. Such standard should be recommended in all public sector procurements and major upgrades to other legacy systems.

Some of the focus of the technical policies which are essential for such standards/policies should be Interconnectivity, Data Interoperability, and Information Access. However again considering the evolution of technology the main thrust of the specification should be to adopt Internet and World Wide Web standards for all Government systems. While we are going ahead and deploying the present “e-government” systems we should also be discussing and looking at data coherence across Government. The ministries along with NCIT need to agree upon data schemas for use throughout the public sector. Maybe as of now these are dictated by the NCIT (In reality the vendor(s) from Singapore), but I feel these should be open for discussions and views outside the vendors and NCIT should be considered. As discussed in a previous post the e-government project should not be limited to NCIT alone. Successful deployment of e-government is the responsibility of all government ministries, state owned organizations and citizens (stakeholders); should not be limited to one or few departments/Ministries. This is a complex task and an on-going process. The technical standards must not only support and enhance government’s business processes, but must also ensure that new technological advances and innovations are leveraged to their full advantage. Maybe the best approach should be to review and update such standards on an annual basis.

While formulating such standards we should also consider Interoperability, Market support, Scalability, Security and Open Standards. Key emphasis should be put on open standards. Definition of open standards may vary, however most commonly standards maintained by a non-commercial organization are considered to be open which are possible for everyone to copy, distribute and use the standard free of cost. It is also important to consider standards which have multiple implementations and are irrevocably available, without any royalties attached. Maybe the best approach is to follow standards set by standards development organizations (SDOs) like ISO, IETF, OASIS, W3C, ITU, IEC, ECMA, IEEE, ANSI, OGC, FIPS, ITU-T and ETSI.

After such standards are set then funding and purchasing of IT products and solutions should dependent on compliance to these standards. Making sure the compliance of these standards are met should be the responsibility of the Finance/IT departments in the individual Ministries/Departments and the Auditor General.

Finally standards for what and where might be the question. The answer is simple. It’s for everything from Security, Network, e-Mail , Directory , Domain Naming, FTP, Terminal Emulation, Data Interoperability, Content Delivery, Web-Services, Enterprise Architecture, Digital Signatures, Encryption algorithms, Document formats, Character sets and alphabets are a just few examples.

OpenDocument

OpenDocument is a file format (ODF) created by Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) consortium based on the XML format originally created and implemented by the OpenOffice.org office suite by Sun Microsystems.

ODF is a file format for electronic office documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents.

Might not sound big, but if you look at the adoption of ODF in governments and other organizations around the world it's become huge. These are some of the "small things" that governments like Maldives chooses to ignore but will have a major impact financially and technically.

Among the governments who have adopted ODF include India.

Chandershekhar, India's secretary of Ministry of Information and Technology, said, "We are glad to note that with formation of a National ODF alliance, India too would be playing a pivotal role in spearheading the ODF revolution. Further, considering the huge potential of eGovernance in the nation as well as the need to adopt open standards to make our data systems more inter-operable and independent of any limiting proprietary tools, we feel that ODF is a great technological leap and a big boon to further propel IT right to India's grass root levels. I congratulate this initiative of leading private & public organisations and wish them all the best in this endeavor."

The Allahabad High Court of India has decided, as policy, to use OpenDocument format for its documents.

- from Wikipedia

Other countries in Asia include Japan and Malaysia who have made the use of ODF mandatory within the public sector from April 2008.

In Europe countries like Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and United Kingdom.

NATO with its 26 members (Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the USA) uses ODF as a mandatory standard for all members.

Other nations include Australia, Argentina and Brazil.

Why ODF?

One objective of open formats like OpenDocument is to guarantee long-term access to data without legal or technical barriers, and some governments have come to view open formats as a public policy issue. OpenDocument is intended to be an alternative to proprietary formats, including the commonly used DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office and other applications. Up until Feb 15th 2008, the specification for the Microsoft Office binary formats were only obtainable by writing directly to Microsoft Corporation signing a license to use the formats. As of Feb 15th 2008, the specifications for the Microsoft Office binary documents are available for download. Microsoft will support the use of OpenDocument in Microsoft Office 2007 starting with Service Pack 2. Several plugins allow use of Opendocument in earlier Microsoft Office versions. - From Wikipedia

Another Male' Road Project ?

I am not sure how many of you remember the Male' Road Project (cement roads) which paved the roads with concrete then destroyed and replaced with bricks. I am not sure how much money we did spend on this project. Maybe Millions?

Did we not learn from those experiences?. I don't know we are still doing things the same old way. That road project was a big joke, paving the roads was nothing new to the world. We did not have to reinvent the wheel, but we did.

I think the same concept is being applied for the existing e-government project. Where it's obvious that we know that this is not the best approach or the right way. Still we have to do it, the way it's documented 10 years back, since we have invested and have committed.

The sad part is there is no concerns over this. We don't have any proper standards or policies, rather now it's a massive IT project. In my view this is not the ideal approach. It should be more about establishing common standards across government, delivering services more effectively, and providing ways for Ministries to work together using technology.

It is obvious that the public money need to be spent efficiently to improve the service continuously, and e-government is the key. The government should give more priority to this project which I feel is lacking right now. The actual delivery of e-government should be the responsibility of all government Ministries. NCIT should work with government Ministries to achieve the Government's vision for e-government. The NCIT should lead, facilitate and coordinate e-government activities. However I don't know how many individuals know what is this vision or if we really have any; or is it just an idea?.

To transform Maldives towards e-governance there needs to be goals set for the government. These goals should reflect judgments about the key things that need to change at a system-wide level if we are to advance to the overall goal of establishing an e-government in the Maldives. Some of the key dependencies include : Content, Confidence and Connection. These needs to be addressed before we can move on technically. I feel before we move on with the technical implementations of the existing e-government model, we need to revise our visions and objectives of e-governance. Better understand and plan the so called "e-government project". To do so we need to start with the basic fundamentals, like setting up government wide IT standards, etc.

E-government should not be a fashion item; it should be a major step forward in communications that has been accepted internationally. It's not an option. It's important the government helps minimize the time the public and business community spend on transactions with government.

Work in progress

It's been a long time since I have been trying to establish a company based on the open source software business model. I guess there is no better time to do it then now, so along with a close friend of mine we started it off.

Our philosophy is to follow open standards and open architecture and be open minded. We feel the success of such a start up is based on a few key factors. I see good potential if we can keep up with the demands. At some areas we have to create demand and confidence. I know it's a challenge but I am confident that we can make it.

Obviously financing such a start up is one of the hardest things. Presently we are trying to keep our expenses to a minimum. A work space, a motivated team and some level of funding is what we have now. I am sure this is more then enough, though it's tight we can see a good future.

Personally for me I can't quit my day job as of now, but I am really looking forward to being full time involved with the teams on the projects. I feel exciting times are ahead.

A cyber law?

I was watching news on the local TV and came to know that the communication minister thinks that a cyber law is the most needed for the IT industry. I can understand this coming out of a lawyer. This kind of gave me the impression that we are all criminals. Is this the most important thing? What about the crimes committed by the government. Why does he not address that?

Yes CRIMES. Using pirated software and no respect to intellectual property rights in this nation. Who will address them or are they covered in this so called 'cyber law'?. What are we doing to contribute to this industry, who is taking responsibility in building this?

Selling computers, mouse, and couple of servers does not create an IT industry in the Maldives. Keep aside the job of building a proper IT industry which is creative, responsible and most importantly profitable we don't even have the basics covered. Simple IT policies and procedures in the government. Over spending on "Big IT projects" is famous in Maldives. Hardly anyone gives a rats ass on these issues and here we are talking about a cyber law. This was frustrating to me, specially this coming out of the communication minister. I feel the cyber laws and all is important but it should not be the priority right now. If the law enforcement sector like the police and AG took this up I can understand. Now I don't, specially having an idea on where we are on the IT sector.

I feel the ministry of economical development, ministry of finance along with the communication ministry should give more importance to building a better IT industry. Maybe they do not have a clue on the potential of this industry. Maybe people think fixing the computers, setting up a printer, etc is the only IT. They are dead wrong. IT/technology industry can be made a real profitable industry if planned well and supported. We could be exporting technology and making good fortune out of this, which can compete with the tourism industry and the fishing industry. Yes! I believe this can be achieved. Sri Lanka is already doing it, India is a big player, why can't we. We don't need oil wells, and diamond mines to achieve this. So why is no one bothered. Why don't our leaders have this vision and the faith in our people.

Presently we have no respect for technology. None of the audit reports shows that the government is steeling from software vendors. We don't budget for software and we take them for granted. This leads to a lot of problem and people take technology for granted, they don't see the potential in it. On top of all it's ethically wrong. Good governance means we should also respect things like this, and a proper IT infrastructure which is well planed is important for good governance. Which is totally ignored now!

Happy New Year?

I would like to think it will be a good year 2009. Definitely 2008 has been a great year, we ended 30 years of dictatorship in the Maldives and welcomed a new government. Even though things so far don't look so good, there might be hope for the future. One thing for sure is Dr. Majeed will work really hard to make our way of life really hard one , like banning the new year parties in Maldives stating they are against Muslim ways. No politician will be able to stand up against this, for the fear of being labeled as anti Muslim. I am sure this guy must be enjoying all this. Blocking Internet, banning disco's, maybe allowing sick vahhaabee guys to marry 9 year old girls?. Come on who knows.

The new government is too busy with the elections for the parliament of 2009, we the people are still waiting in"hope" for a better future. Cost of living in Male' is going high, rich seem to get richer while the youth still don't have much hopes for a better tomorrow. The struggle for power seem to be endless, while NOTHING practically is being improved. "Time" maybe the keyword, but with that I guess a lot of us are loosing confidence in our leaders and "the system" we all thought would change our lives. News don't seem to be good in the media, while the world is heading for the "great depression II", I guess we already have a clue on what holds for 2009. However 2009 is a critical year for Maldives, as it will be the year when we get to lay down a new foundation for the political change that we accomplished in 2008. The political choices that will be made in 2009 will reflect into the future. Our future.

I don't know if Dr. Majeed will approve of me saying "Happy New Year 2009 to everyone", or if he will order TAM to block a few more sites soon. Like the blogs and maybe "Google". Well you again never know. This guy seem to be crazy and radical enough to do it.

A bank account in MMA

May sound funny to have a bank account of yours in MMA. Maybe it does not make sense. If so why does it make sense for MMA to be involved actively in the Mobile Banking project. All the while I thought they were the regulators. For me it's the same as TAM providing telecom services.

I have been told the project is about $7.7 million. MMA is going to invest on the infrastructure and run this operation. I assume that is the case. In my point of view this should be the responsibility of the Banks and the Mobile Network Operators. Now we maybe replicating the same infrastructures that is already existing on the both sides. I feel it's a waste of money for MMA to do this and going beyond what they really should be doing.

Maybe MMA has a good justification for this, but at this point I don't understand. Maybe someone would want to enlighten me on this.

"As part of the project, CGAP will offer a parallel funding of $1.5 million to establish a regulatory framework for mobile banking." - tmcnet

Read more on the Maldives Interoperable Payments System (MIPS)

The project has good objective, however I don't fully agree with the deployment method where MMA controls the infrastructures for this. MMA should be the regulator not the implementer or the investor.

The NCIT of Maldives is outdated and wasting our money.

The National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) is about to start a project which will install and setup (suppose to) Internet Service Kiosks in 24 islands across Maldives. I see this as a waste of money and a stupid idea at this stage in time. Maybe the Internet kiosks were a "cool" idea 5 years back, but not today. I feel there are better things we can do with that money and take better approaches (future proof). This whole thing about Internet kiosks needs to be re evaluated.

Firstly we don't have the basic infrastructure or the applications to cater to these kiosks (or maybe MS Share Point is what they call e-government) . We need to first look into the basics before we start to roll out services like these kiosks. NCIT does not have a proper plan for the e-government and the studies on which they are basing these projects are out dated and costly.

The politicians and the current government lacks the interest or the know how to make sound judgements on these kinds of projects. They seriously need to reconsider these type of projects and open them up for comments and re evaluation. The so called "Big IT Projects" are common in Maldives and never produce the results. We spend (WASTE is the word) money on these kinds of projects and never achieve anything productive.

We always bring down a few consultants who have worked in some African countries and copy some ideas from maybe Singapore and base our projects on them. Most of these projects are never practical. I feel the present leadership in NCIT needs to be changed and we need to think more broadly into this e-government projects.

Nation for Sale! Sold?

I just was reading haveeru. What I realize was for 30% share of the nation (Maldives) the cost is 5 million 400,000 MRf. Maybe my interpretation was wrong.

Gasim seems to be demanding for his share and Zaki said they (Gasim and Jumhooree party) did not make the full payment as per agreement.

Welcome to Maldives Pvt. Ltd.

Weak Opposition

One of the biggest disadvantage I see today in the Maldives is a weak opposition. The so called "Wataneydhey goteh" alliance composes of all the previous major oppositions. It is true that this alliance was the key to over throw of the previous dictatorship. However almost all of the key members of these opposition parties are in the current government (they are the government). I think this is a major disadvantage for the people. True democracy is not complete without a proper opposition.

DRP who was practically the previous ruling party is almost unheard of now. I think I do understand why too. I guess the answer is Law number 42 of "The 48 Laws of Power", book by Robert Greene

Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

The shepherd was ex president Maumoon. Now the sheep's are no where to be seen. This was very much expected too, as DRP was revolving around him only.

I still think it's too early to make a sound judgment of the new government. Having said that, at the same time I am not very happy with how things are moving too. We all have different expectations and demands. I know all will not be entertained too. I do understand that, but I feel things like the present housing crisis we have in Male' is a must to be addressed. We need to know about the plans and when we would have an affordable life. The promised "އަތް ފޯރާފަތް" stuff. Other issues like Ministry of Islamic affairs trying to take basic rights away from us in the name of religion concerns me.

The way I see it still the election is not over. I feel MDP and others concentration is totally on the up coming parliamentary elections. I thought we got over the issue of what kind of governance, we the people decided on a presidential system. I don't think many people get this or have come to accept this including the present government.

What ever it is I feel there is a strong need for a good opposition. This needs to come now, before it's too late. If there are responsible political leaders they need to act now not when the 5 year term is about to end. At the same time the opposition needs to be serious and responsible too, not just talking about useless stuff and fighting against meaningless things.

'Will Kutti Nasheed take over DRP or form another party?' This is one question that is often asked at coffee tables but never 'will Maumoon come back'. I think I am happy with that, I for one don't want to see Maumoon back. I need to see a New Maldives with fresh ideas and fresh blood in politics. I don't even like the idea of people like Zaki in the present government. They can be as advisers but I feel they had their chance and blew it.

Maybe some may see an opposition to be damaging to the present government, I see it the other way. A good opposition is who will save this government from making major mistakes and will act as a watch dog. That's very logical and I don't think need to be explained.

Recommendations to Dr. Majeed of Min. of Islamic Affairs.

Dear Hon. Dr. Majeed,

Please consider the following actions to be submitted to the Parliament of the Maldives and to be brought to immediate action.

1. Block all Internet use.

If anyone want to browse they have to submit a form indicating the URL and the reason to visit the web site. After this (form) is submitted with a MRf 500 Revenue stamp this will be evaluated within 60 days.

After the approval (if approved) (s)he will be granted access to that specified URL (strictly only that URL ONLY! again ONLY).

No direct emails from outside the country without screening of the emails from the Ministry. No web mail will be granted access. Mail usage should be pre approved by the Ministry too.

All other protocols to be block! only HTTP via firewall/proxy will be allowed. This will be monitored 24/7. Access only will be granted to approved URL's.

Anyone found not following this policy will be shot dead! Before that he will be taken off his rights for being a citizen of Maldives.

... These are some of my initial recommendations. Further to this I also propose the following which need to be more detailed.

2. Block all Cable TV access. Only Arabic speaking and Ministry approved Channels will be allowed. Please note that for the approval Arabic channels is a MUST!

3. Hold all passports of all Maldivians. People needing to travel should state where they are traveling and the purpose of travel. A faith test needs to be conducted before they depart / approved for traveling. The score needs to be above 98%. On return they will again have to take a test and if results are below 98% they will be shot dead.

Thank you and I fully support your ideas and remain loyal to you and your party.

عزيزي هون. الدكتور مجيد ،

يرجى النظر في الإجراءات التالية لتقديمه إلى البرلمان للوجزر المالديف والتي ستعرض على اتخاذ إجراءات فورية.

1. منع كل استعمال الإنترنت.

وإذا كان أي شخص يريد تصفح لديهم لتقديم شكل يدل على عنوان الموقع وسبب لزيارة موقع على شبكة الإنترنت. بعد هذا (شكل) ويقدم مع MRf 500 الإيرادات الطوابع وسيتم تقييم هذا في غضون 60 يوما.

بعد الموافقة على (إذا وافقت) (ق) انه سيكون من الوصول إلى أن العنوان المحدد (بدقة إلا أن العنوان فقط! مرة أخرى فقط).

لا رسائل البريد الإلكتروني مباشرة من خارج البلاد من دون فحص رسائل البريد الإلكتروني من وزارة. لا البريد الإلكتروني وسيتم منح الوصول. وينبغي استخدام البريد قبل وافقت عليه وزارة للغاية.

جميع بروتوكولات أخرى لعرقلة! HTTP فقط عن طريق الجدار الناري / بالوكالة لن يسمح. هذا وسيتم رصد 24 / 7. وصول فقط سيكون لمنح الموافقة على عنوان 's.

العثور على أي شخص ليس بعد هذه السياسة سيكون بالرصاص! قبل انه سيتم اتخاذ قبالة حقوقه لكونه مواطن من جزر المالديف.

هذه هي بعض التوصيات الأولية بلدي. وبالإضافة إلى ذلك أقترح أيضا التالية التي ينبغي أن تكون أكثر تفصيلا.

2. عرقلة وصول جميع المحطات التلفزيونية. فقط تكلم العربية وافقت وزارة القنوات سوف يسمح. يرجى ملاحظة أن للموافقة على القنوات العربية أمر لا بد منه!

3. عقد جميع جوازات السفر للجميع الملديفيين. الناس يحتاجون إلى السفر إلى حيث ينبغي أن الدولة هي السفر والغرض من السفر. وهناك نية لاختبار احتياجات تجرى قبل سفرهن / وافقت لسفره. النتيجة تحتاج إلى فوق 98 ٪. على العودة مرة أخرى أنها سوف تتخذ لاختبار النتائج وإذا كان أقل من 98 ٪ أنها ستكون بالرصاص.

شكرا لكم وأؤيد تأييدا كاملا أفكاركم وتبقى موالية لديك ولدى الطرف.

Alternative OS's in Maldives

10 years back people joked when you talked about Linux. 98% of the IT guys in Maldives and alike would not have thought of a world with out Microsoft Windows. Today things have changed.

Linux is no longer an alien OS in Maldives. It's run on many of the major companies in Maldives as application servers, DB servers, web servers and network servers (relating networking operations like firewalls, etc). While Windows is still dominant at most office environments that may change too. Examples like Resorts / Hotels might be moving to Linux too. There is many advantages to it, which I don't need to state here. The government is still reluctant to move to Linux, one major reason being lack of expertise and fear factors. I am certain that this will change soon too, once fresh blood comes in to places like NCIT.

On the desktop slowly people have started to use Linux as well. Application like Open Office can be credited for the adaptations. While the adaptation of Linux is slow Mac OS have gained a big popularity. While we still have some people who still run Windows on Mac's many use Mac OS X as the primary OS on their Mac's. I think more people are switching to Mac's these days.

While we still have those people who want to try each and every application designed for Windows in the world, who always have the excuse of CorelDRAW not running on other OS's (latest versions), etc. I guess a lot of us are looking into alternatives and sticking with them. Like we now know the sun will still rise without Maumoon, we know we can do without Windows too.

The application development methods have changed too. Mostly today we are moving to web based appliactions. Most of these applications are build on open standards and do not restrict to certain web browsers too. This is also a factor which has contributed to the change. Not everyone is a graphics designer, music composer or a gamer. For those people it's easy to switch on the desktop level. I still agree if you are a gamer Windows is the best choice.

People do often select alternatives not the defaults. One good example is firefox. If anyone has access to web server logs, or alike do look into the version of browses who hit your web space. I guess 90% and more is firefox. Which really proves a point.

Breaking News!

Min. of Islamic Affairs proposes to block www.youtube.com and www.google.com

.... I mean why not?

It's funny them instructing to block certain web site(s); cos they are in Dhivehi. Do they think we can only read Dhivehi?. What about all the web sites in English?.

Anyway I think it's plan stupid to think that today in Dec 2008 people can be stopped from access to information. For me blocking web sites is just stupid. I think Islamic extremism is more a threat then fearing Maldivians will convert to Christianity (just by reading a web site written in Dhivehi). Maybe the people who made those decisions can only read Dhivehi?. If anyone wants to convert I don't think the choice will be just only based on a stupid web site. Come on. Is this is kind of thinking we voted for?

The next funny part is the people whom we expect to raise this (the so called politicans) won't talk about these things in public. Reason being they fear to be labled as pro christian. It's not about religion here; it's about basic human rights and standing up against plan stupid things in this political areana.

Software Piracy a Crime ??

It's no big deal in Maldives, everyone uses pirated software. Starting from the games that the kids play to the OS and software's used in the government. It is not considered to be "THEFT". There is no respect for Intellectual Property rights here in Maldives. Simply this does not exist and no one is concerned. It's a damn shame ; ethically this is totally wrong. I know 98% of the people in this country either would not give a jacks ass about it or would be against this idea of intellectual property rights. However my thoughts are very different on this subject to most.

Among the disadvantages we face today include that some technology providers simply refuse to come into Maldives. I have had cases where the legal department of such companies has raised concerns over lack of adequate Intellectual Property, copyright and patent protection laws in the Maldives.

Here we are talking about the financial problems we face today. We can't provide proper housing and other development due to the lack of funds, etc. We fully depend our economy on tourism and fishing. There is no thoughts on other means like technology. Look at India, they export technology and generate high revenues which we all know. Today some of the leading companies in the world are technology companies, like Microsoft, Oracle, Google and so many others. This is enough to conclude that investing on technology has major returns financially. I am in no way saying here in Maldives we can create another Google. I've seen and worked with companies in Sri Lanka who are exporting technology, and I always ask myself why not we?. Why is that our investors don't see such things or our governments encourage this. We don't need oil wells, or other natural resources to generate revenues. All it takes is dedicated and creative people, and investing on these people with a broader vision for the future. The starting point is the education system. Today it's a shame. Our parents are happy to know they teach computers in the school. What do they know? Teaching kids to use MS Paint and MS Word is not the type of education that we should be looking at. What are all the knowing and great minds of our nation thinking. Someone needs to kick them in the ass and tell them they are f**king us up?.

To start off; I feel it's important to make the people realize that software has a value, it's just like any other goods that you buy from any other shop. People should respect that and stop being thieves. That realization helps the people to understand and accept the importance of this industry. It can't be achieved by a few "keyna bahlha" like me or just one person. We have such potential kids in this nation, who really could make things a lot better for the future of this small country. People just need to help these kids and provide them with opportunities. They need to be managed and marketed. Most of all they need to be trusted and valued.

e-voting in present Maldives

I've seen some news on www.haveeru.com.mv indicating that the elections commission is considering e-voting. My view is this will be a very stupid move at this stage in time and holds too many unknown risks. To start off we all know there is obvious problems with national registration, while these issues still exist moving to e-voting simply makes things worse. From the last round of presidential elections I am not very confident with the IT capabilities and the reliability of the databases hosted by elections commission. They still remain to be addressed.

I am also against any voting (electronic voting) system which does not have a paper trail. Meaning if anything goes wrong, or any disputes come up; there should be a paper trail to verify the votes. Just only depending on an electronic vote is not good enough at this stage, especially when that is done over the Internet.

Also there was indication about users having a user id and a password. If so would the commission hold any records on who I voted for?. In other words will those id's be linked to the votes they caste in anyway like stored in a database, etc. If so such a system cannot be accepted.

Lastly, any such system should be fully open source. The full source code of such a system should be published to the public. This is to make the system fully transparent.

Before even considering all of the above, we need to verify that the identity information of the Maldivians are accurate and have no flows. I have seen many repeated records of same individual during the last round. This is totally not acceptable, no excuses to this. If the elections commission so much looking to automate and have an e-voting system, they should move step by step. Trying to take the people for a rise using technology as a means is not the right way. Just cos most people are not aware of technology, using it for such sensitive tasks is purely taking advantage of them. That's my view. Now views may differ.