The Independent Institutions Committee passed its report on the review of a contentious media bill that seeks to replace the existing self-regulatory system with a government-controlled commission on Tuesday, amid pleas from the sole opposition lawmaker who sits in the committee for time to read through the recommendations by the Parliament’s Counsel General Fathimath Filza that the report includes.
On August 18, Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakr, an independent lawmaker aligned with the government, submitted a bill that seeks to dissolve the Maldives Media Council (MMC) and the BroadCom, replacing them with a single regulatory body — a seven-member Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission (MMBC), composed of four members elected by the media and three appointed by the President of the Maldives with parliamentary approval, with the President also given the authority to appoint the commission’s head. It also empowers the MMBC to impose major penalties against media outlets as well as individual journalists, including during the investigative stage.
The bill, widely panned both local and international journalism groups, is openly backed by the People’s National Congress (PNC) administration. The Parliament went into recess on August 19, but has been holding extraordinary sittings and committee meetings to work on the bill.
Protestors, most of them journalists, have been gathered outside the Parliament Building since 08:30 am in protest of the expected passage of the bill during an extraordinary sitting scheduled for Tuesday, which has now been postponed to 05:00 pm.
The Attorney General’s Office submitted 14 amendments that it says addresses the concerns of the media regarding the bill. The bill, with the AGO’s amendments and more amendments proposed by the Independent Committee’s deputy chair, Kelaa MP Abdulla Shareef, were passed by the committee on Monday afternoon as journalists and opposition lawmakers broke out in protest.
The committee convened again on Tuesday afternoon to pass the report on its review of the bill.
At the meeting, Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau proposed passing the report with Filza’s recommendations. His motion was seconded by Shareef.
This prompted protest from South Galolhu MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem, a lawmaker from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who is also the sole opposition lawmaker who sits in the PNC-controlled committee.
He said that the committee members should be given time to at least read through Filza’s recommendations and the final report, warning that passing it without time for review constitutes to violation of due process and casts doubt over the integrity of the report.
But despite his protests, the committee called a vote on the report.
Meekail repeated declared that the vote was being conducted in blatant violation of rules.
The report passed with the majority vote of the PNC members who hold a supermajority in the committee, with Meekail casting the sole dissenting vote.
Filza reportedly ruled the bill did not have any provisions that violate the Constitution, but also made several recommendations, the details of which are unclear at this point.
The PNC is expected to use its supermajority to ensure the easy passage of the bill during an extraordinary sitting that is scheduled to begin at 05:00 pm.
A crowd of protestors, most of them journalists, have been gathered outside the Parliament Building since the morning in protest of the expected passage of the bill, amid heavy police presence.
There have been several incidents of confrontations between the police and protestors during the ongoing demonstration, as riot police pushed back protestors and dragged others from the sit-in demonstration, resulting in injuries.