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Jewish
Sabbath
 With
the introduction of English medium schooling in Male's government
schools in 1961 a need arose for a 2-day weekend in schools. Friday
was the traditional day of rest in the Maldives and the additional
day was meant for extracurricular activities. Saturday was chosen
for this purpose. From then on until 1983 Friday and Saturday was
the school weekend. Businesses and the government continued to observe
only Friday as the day of rest.
In the early 1980s several "reforms"
were introduced.
One of the most ridiculous "reforms"
was to change the academic weekend from Friday and Saturday to Thursday
and Friday because Friday and Saturday was the Israeli weekend.
Over a decade later, when a 2-day weekend was
given to government employees, globalisation had made it necessary
to revert back to Friday and Saturday. The weekend on Thursday and
Friday would have meant that the Maldives would be in touch with
the civilised world only 3 days in the week.
The Maldive regime swallowed its pride and risked
the wrath of brotherly Arabs to rest on the same days as the "Zionist
invading oppressor" Jews.
Offensive
calligraphy
 Here
on the left was the crest adopted in 1970 for a prominent Maldive
state-run English-medium boys' school in Malé, called Majeediya
School.
Originally there was a squiggly calligraphic brush stroke across
the middle of the letter M in the crest. That was part of the Gothic-style
font face. The crest had been widely in use as a blazer-badge since
1972. In 1983 it was suddenly determined that the letter M in the
crest was a Western conspiracy and that the offending brush stroke
was in fact a concealed crucifix.  The
mullahs issued a fetwah to say that the letter M was part of a grand
design to Christianise the Maldives. Orders were promptly issued
to remove the brush stroke immediately. The crest now looks like
what is shown here on the right.
Thanks to Allah, Islam
is now more secure because of a missing brush stroke!
 One
has to wonder what the fate would be of the letter X and the Thaana
(Maldive script) letter  ,
when they are discovered lurking inside the closet.
The
constellation depicted in the New Zealand and Australian flags is
called the Southern Cross (Dhekunu Kaali in Maldivian, which
literally means southern cross). It is hoped that orders won't be
suddenly given by the Maldive regime to rearrange the heavens.
No
crucifix was discovered in the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael
and St. George awarded by Her Majesty the Queen to a prominent individual
in the Maldive regime.
Grand
Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
Divehi
translation of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and
St. George (G.C.M.G.)
The
Pontiff
censored
 It
was quite common to see the picture of the Roman Catholic Primate
in the Maldive media since newspapers began publishing pictures
in the early 1960s. An unwritten protocol was established in the
mid-1980s by order of the Maldive regime, banning any illustration
of the Supreme Pontiff in case Maldivians are attracted to him
Pope
John Paul II shown here is not exactly the epitome of an everyday
sex symbol.
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