Moomina Haleem | |
|---|---|
 Haleem in 2011 | |
| Minister of Health | |
| In office 1977–1978 | |
| Member of the People's Majlis | |
| In office 1975–1980 | |
| Constituency | Malé |
Moomina Haleem Ahmed Ismail is a Maldivian former politician. In 1974 she became the first woman to be elected to the People's Majlis. Three years later she also became the first woman appointed as a cabinet minister.
Haleem trained to be a nurse,including a one-year fellowship at the Australian College of Nursing in Melbourne, [1] becoming the first Maldivian woman to complete higher studies in nursing. [2] She became a matron in the government hospital in Malé in 1963 and a member of the Royal College of Nursing. [3] In 1970 she married Kandi Ahmed Ismail Maniku, [4] a businessman in the tourism trade. [5]
In the 1974 parliamentary elections she was a candidate in Maléand became the first woman elected to the People's Majlis. In January 1977 she was appointed Minister of Health by President Ibrahim Nasir,becoming the first female minister in the country. [6] When the Majlis was due to elect a new president in 1978,it was widely believed that Haleem would have won if the constitution had not prevented women holding the post. [4] She was elected for a second term in parliament in 1979,but turned down the position of Director of Social Affairs under new president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. [4]
After Gayoom's election,Haleem was regularly detained by the police. She eventually went into exile in 1980;having visited Sri Lanka where her younger sister was receiving medical treatment,she was advised not to return as the government began arresting members of her family. [3] On 1 April she was formally banished for four years on a charge of sedition. [7] Her husband and children remained in the Maldives, [3] and were banished to an outlying island. [4] After the Maldivian government requested she be put under surveillance,she was asked to leave Sri Lanka and moved to London,where she stayed with a friend of her sister. [3]
Haleem was unable to work in the United Kingdom unless she requested political asylum,which she did not want to do,in case it impacted her family in the Maldives. [3] Instead she relocated to Kuwait to work at a hospital. Shortly after her move,the Iran–Iraq War started and she returned to London for five months,before going back to Kuwait. [3] After discovering that the Maldivian government's only aim was to stop her returning home,she was able to move to Colombo in Sri Lanka,where she was joined by her children and mother. [3]
She eventually returned to the Maldives in 2008 after newly elected president Mohamed Nasheed (who succeeded Gayoom) called her and told her she could come home. [3]
The history of the Maldives is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions,comprising the areas of South Asia and Indian Ocean;and the modern nation consisting of 26 natural atolls,comprising 1194 islands. Historically,the Maldives had a strategic importance because of its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives' nearest neighbours are Sri Lanka and India,both of which have had cultural and economic ties with Maldives for centuries. The Maldives provided the main source of cowrie shells,then used as a currency throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast. Most probably Maldives were influenced by Kalingas of ancient India who were earliest sea traders to Sri Lanka and Maldives from India and were responsible for the spread of Buddhism. Hence ancient Hindu culture has an indelible impact on Maldives' local culture.
The politics of the Maldives,as per the reports,take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic,whereby the President is the Head of Government. Executive power is exercised by the government. The President heads the executive branch and appoints the Cabinet;like many presidential democracies,each member of the cabinet need to be approved by the Parliament. The President,along with their pick for Vice President,is directly elected by the denizens to a five-year term by a secret ballot. Once in office,they could be re-elected to a second 5-year term,which is the limit allowed by the Constitution. The current President of the Maldives is Ibrahim Mohamed Solih,who was sworn into office on July 13,2018,when his predecessor,Abdulla Yameen,lost the 2018 presidential election. Yameen followed his own predecessor Mohamed Nasheed's forced resignation in a coup led by the police. Nasheed reportedly resigned involuntarily to forestall an escalation of violence,and was placed in jail,before being forced into exile,from which he eventually returned.
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