Pay Cut Protests

When a friend told to me that he has a letter for me to sign, I did sense that it was something related to the recent protests around Maldives on pay cuts. There was a cut in government official’s salaries up to 5-20% to deal with the current economic crises and budget deficit. The pay cut came months after it was raised without allowances by new government. The increased in salary however, was not enough for a person with family and lives in a rented place in Male’. The prices of goods and properties also rose during this time where the increased salaries had a zero impact as a result. But surprisingly, the decrease in civil servants salary while some independent commissions and members of parliament got away without any reduction caused many civil servants to protest against this discrimination. The people who are representing the sentiments of the citizens are enjoying their full high salary and benefits while people who have more responsibilities suffered a reduction in their salary. Additionally, it seems the forecast budget with 4.7 billion deficits does not have a reserve to accommodate increase in salary if any is to happen next year. This contradicts with the president’s promise that a three month survey would be conducted and if economy is recovering then they would increase the salary of civil servants. But so far the action of government does not seem that they have any intention of increasing the salary in near future. As a result of these broken promises, a group of Maldivians are trying to get as many sign as possible to bring the attention of members of parliaments. They are hoping that their elected members may debate the issue in the parliament and willingly accept the reduction in their heavy salary. Moreover, the letters does not specifically say to increase civil servants salary but it says to cut salary of members of parliament so that there will not be differential treatment. Some are reluctant to sign these letters because they know that thing would not change anything as benefits will remain in the hands or powerful. The group argue that if their MP’s did not take action, then people will think twice before they cast their vote in next term. I am not sure if it is going to happen. The votes of people are usually bought by powerful MP’s so whether you like it or not you cast your vote for the MP who you knew once withheld your compliant. One thing I did not like is when people bring the excuse of previous government’s resistance to justify the reluctance of today. But in reality people are not sure what they want now. They wanted change and they brought it, now that they brought the change they regret it. But it is also true ‘we will never know the outcome unless we try’- so here we go again another protest against pay cuts.

The Summer Vacation in The Gold Coast

I was looking forward to a chance to escape from the Melbourne since my vacation began. My wish came true when a friend asked me to join them on a trip to the Gold Coast. We stayed for 3 nights in a mesmerizingly beautiful service apartment, Chevron towers. We left Melbourne in the morning in Tiger airways and arrived the Gold Coast at 830 am. We checked into our apartments at around 11am. We had fish and chips for lunch and for the first time I saw calamari dish. The day was hot and sunny but we roamed around aspendale beach. We also roamed around Q-Deck and took a ride in one of the fastest lift in the world to 77th floor of Q-Deck tower. Q-Deck tower is designed in a way that you can get a 360 degree view of the Gold Coast. We headed to home from the Q-Deck and freshen up and went out for dinner. The night view was nice and peaceful. The roads were not crowded and shops were opened till 9pm I suppose unlike Melbourne where shops closed at 4 or 5pm. We had dinner at Chinese restaurant. The rice bowl which looked tiny was more than enough to fill our stomach. I do not know what make me like the meal so much but the food was very tasty. We roamed around a bit and headed to home and slept. I was surprised to see my friends up the next morning when I got up. I grabbed my breakfast and we all went to Wild and Wet World, where it is full of water rides. I choose to stay behind as I felt it is not ethical to go into water with lots of clothes. It was again steamy and hot day. We then left the place to Movie World at around 230pm. Movie World was a place everyone wanted to go. We took few pictures before we all went into the Walt Disney’s shop. We got stuck there and missed the Disney character parade. However, manage to have glimpse at few characters. We also took a Soopy Doo ride which was surprisingly scared. We went home in the evening and had dinner outside again in Thai restaurant but did not enjoy their foods. The next day we went to Sea World where I enjoyed seal show and dolphin show and also sesame tree show. We headed to movie world again but got stuck in the bus stop because the next available bus was after 30 mins hence, we might miss ‘Hollywood Stunt Driver’. Then I thought hit me that if we take taxi we can reach on time. So we manage to hire taxi van from the other side of road and reached to Movie World on time. I love the show although it was very hot in there. I manage to see some fantastic stunts by various professionals. We all seemed enjoyed it coz no one stop talking about it. We then had our lunch at Gotham Cafe’ where you get a huge drink in Bet man stamped plastic glass. We also manage to see Scoopy Doo characters and afterwards the Disney character parade. Additionally I and another friend decided not take rides so we roamed a bit in the kid’s area and wild and west areas. We again went to have dinner outside but the place was about to close so we ordered take away. I went with another two friends to Hard Rock Cafe’ which was one of the most talked place among my friends from Indonesia. It was my first time to see this place. But my friends seems know this place and they did buy some stuff from there although the prices were not cheap. The next day we headed to the train station, thanks to Danny . We all got tickets which cost 19.50 AUD and everyone was giving 50 AUD and when my turn came I gave AUD 20 and the service lady gave me also a change I quickly said that I gave only 20 AUD. . It was my lucky day. Then we boarded to train but we did not get a good seat from a same place so we divided. I stayed behind but my friend did not want to leave me alone so she came and sat next to me. We had a good talk about family and country till we reached Brisbane. It did not seem very long journey. It was less than 2 hours I suppose. It was good my friends got friends over in Brisbane who took us around. But when I was waiting to board ferry transport, the wind blew away my ticket. I did not know what to do. I do not know the procedure so I was very uncomfortable although my friend’s friend helped me out to get ticket from ferry. I had to buy another ticket for second journey because I took off-peak one which expired when we get down. We manage to go to University of Queensland (QU) and took a few pictures as we were running out of time. But fortunately the friends in Brisbane provided transport and we manage to reach to airport before time. On the other hand, the flight got delayed for 30 minutes. We all freshen up at the airport and ate the rest of cookies left. We reached Melbourne at 9pm and reached home at 11pm. I was dead tired but manage to upload some pictures to the face book. I was also still in a shock of losing my ferry ticket and confused with my attempt to shake hands with my friends friend’s in Brisbane. I was not aware of their culture. But as far as I know if a person (lady) initiates to shake hands then there is no problem for the man to shake her hand. But to my surprise one of a guy was just holding his two hands tight when he said goodbye although, I took my hand to shake. I later realised that I put myself in embarrassing situation. His wife was also there and she was indeed wearing fully covered dress with a long veil. She also does not seem she likes me. Anyways, overall I find the trip very interesting although it was a sunny and bits of embarrassing and weird situations occurred. Moreover, I often find myself in a situation called ‘alien’. But it is a worth to escape to the Gold Coast in this summer.