News DeskPresident Mohamed Muizzu established a 12-member Advisory Council of National Honourees on Wednesday. It brings together retired ministers, a broadcaster, a footballer, a writer journalist, a poet and a general to advise him on running the state.
The President’s Office said President Muizzu will chair the council. It will advise him on strengthening state administration, improving how the government works and on matters that need consultation. Every member holds a state honour. The announcement did not say how often it will meet or whether its advice will be made public.
President Muizzu first proposed the idea in his Independence Day address on 26 July, which critics said had taken a political tone as he compared his government with earlier MDP administrations. Days later, on a Public Service Media programme, he said there would be two bodies. One would be a smaller council of people who had served the country in senior positions for many years, who would advise when asked and could also offer recommendations unprompted.
The other would be a National Advisory Council of 100 to 150 experts, expected by November. Wednesday’s announcement concerned the smaller body. Reports of it did not mention the larger one.
The members span four presidencies.
Abdulla Kamaludheen was home affairs minister in Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s last cabinet and received the Order of Izzuddin from him in 2008. He stayed loyal to President Gayoom through a series of parties and was named chief executive of the Maumoon Foundation early this year.
Abdul Rasheed Hussain, from Dhiggaru, became President Gayoom’s atolls minister in 1993 and later held the fisheries, planning and employment portfolios. His poetry was the subject of a National Poets’ Day.
Aneesa Ahmed, the only woman on the council, began as a nurse in 1973 and went on to run the women’s and social security ministry. Aneesa moved from frontline clinical care in the early 1970s to the highest levels of executive and legislative decision-making, often serving as the sole woman in rooms dominated by men. She received a US International Women of Courage award in 2012 and chaired the National Awards Committee until she resigned for health reasons in early 2024.
Abbas Ibrahim worked as a journalist for more than 50 years and won the Diamond Pen of Journalism. He is also a writer and served as a minister under President Gayoom, who is his brother-in-law. Additionally, he was the proprietor of Aafathis, a broadsheet print daily, until the Nasheed-led MDP administration’s withdrawal of state subsidies effectively killed print media.
The last three received the Order of Izzuddin from President Mohamed Waheed Hassan in July 2013.
Three were honoured under Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Ahmed Naseem, widely known as Kerafa Naseem, is one of the founding pioneers of Maldivian tourism and a veteran diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Mohamed Nasheed. He later served as Minister of Health in President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration from 2020 until the end of the term in November 2023 (though he spent the final months on medical leave abroad before President Mohamed Muizzu took office). President Muizzu’s last interaction with Naseem took place in Colombo during his state visit to Sri Lanka. He received the Order of the Dignified Rule of the Muleege Dynasty in 2022.
Ibrahim Ismail Ali was the first captain of the national football team, a FIFA referee and a member of the Maldives Olympic Committee. He received the same honour in 2020 and has been Minister of State for Social and Family Development since December 2023.
Badru Naseer joined Radio Maldives in 1967, later ran it and wrote a memoir of the station. He chaired the Maldives Broadcasting Commission until 2013 and was given the Dhiyamigili Dynasty order in 2020.
Five were honoured by President Muizzu himself, the largest group.
Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel, a retired army officer, joined the defence force as a lance corporal in 1980, was one of the first officers to fight the 1988 coup attempt, and served as chief of defence force from 2008 to 2012. He later became defence minister and high commissioner to Pakistan, and received the Grand Order of Military Honour from President Muizzu in November 2024.
In April he lost the Malé mayoral race as the governing party’s candidate, with about 30 per cent of the vote against 45 per cent for Adam Azim of the main opposition party.
Dr Mohamed Latheef, an education minister who helped found the Maldives College of Higher Education in 1998, served as the Maldives’ permanent representative to the United Nations and as chancellor of the Maldives National University.
Ibrahim Rasheed Moosa is a religious scholar honoured for his work in religious education and awareness; President Muizzu’s predecessor Abdulla Yameen gave him the National Award of Honour in 2015.
Dr Latheef and Ibrahim Rasheed Moosa received the Order of Izzuddin at this year’s Independence Day ceremony.
Adam Abdul Rahman, known as Utheemu Adambe, became island chief of Utheemu in 1965 and later served three terms as chief of Haa Alif Atoll. He is also a writer and poet. President Muizzu honoured him at last year’s National Day ceremony in Utheemu.
Ahmed Shakir, known as Kashima Shakir, is a historian, stage actor and author who earned a master’s degree in sharia at 69. He has chaired the National Awards Committee since early 2024 and received his honour on 15 August.
The membership shows how closely the council overlaps with the awards system. Shakir chairs the committee that selects national award winners, Aneesa chaired it before him, and Ibrahim Ismail and Badru have both served on it.
