NSS attacks women and children on Huvadhu atoll Maldives Culture editorial by Michael O'Shea 6 January 2006 The attack by President Gayyoom's National Security Service militia on Fares-Maathodaa islanders in southern Huvadhu atoll, is designed to promote unrest in the southern atolls, and to deflect attention from the Male' presidential loans scandal which has engulfed senior Gayyoom supporters, including the chief of police Adam Zahir, chief justice Rasheed Ibrahim, Haveeru editor/owner Zahir Hussein, and other majlis members and presidential officials. Both majlis members for southern Huvadhu have taken loans from Gayyoom. Maathodaa and Fares islands, recently joined by reclamation and now known as Fares-Maathodaa, were two of the most peaceful islands in Maldives until President Gayyoom's personal National Security Service militia attacked the inhabitants with electric shock truncheons, tear gas and 'rubber' bullets on 5 January 2006. Maathodaa village is hundreds of years old. The island has good water and lies within sailing distance of the Fiyoari and Vaadhoo channels, providing access to the tuna-filled seas off southern Huvadhu atoll. Maathodaa had close links with nearby Vaadhoo island, an ancient Buddhist and later Islamic teaching centre. The long green profile of Vaadhoo with its giant Banyan tree in the centre, can be seen from the Maathodaa beach, stretched along the horizon to the east. Seconds before attacking peaceful protesters - Maldives National Security Service militia about to land on Fares-Maathodaa in southern Huvadhu atoll. 5 January 2006 For decades, many of the islands' people have moved to Male' for education and their careers. Fares-Maathodaa functions as a retirement village for the elderly, and a nursery for young families with many of the fathers and uncles absent and working hundreds of kilometres away in Male' or resorts. Teachers live on the islands during the school year, and there are adequate areas for sport, but the islands have no libraries and little intellectual life. The old traditions of story-telling and extended evening meetings with discussions and entertainments, have been suppressed by the Gayyoom regime's prohibition on all unlicensed meetings and public political discussions. The fishermen and boatbuilders and their families who form the core of the Fares-Maathodaa economy, have to struggle for a living. There are no freezer facilties apart from inadequate collection vessels, anchored in the atoll lagoon, that often reject fish due to lack of space. Thousands of top quality tuna are dumped each year, and the fishermen sometimes make nothing after twelve hours work beneath the tropical sun. Even when the fish are accepted and loaded, there have been problems with payments. The Fares-Maathodaa harbour has been slowly constructed over the last eight years, but the Male' government, which has absolute control over infrastructure in Fares-Maathodaa, refused to remove a dangerous section of reef just outside the harbour entrance. It is a thin fin of hard coral that rises almost to sea level at low tide and often damages the hulls of fishing and trading vessels. Despite constant requests from the people of Fares-Maathodaa, and the obvious need for removal of this tiny section of dangerous reef, no real action has been taken by the Male' administration to resolve the issue for eight years. In part, the refusal to clear the harbour entrance was wilful neglect of an area which has historically been treated with indifference and disdain by its Male' rulers. It is also retribution for the islands' independent voting in elections and referendums. The dictator is an ignorant and petty man who loves to punish anyone who refuses to kowtow and beg for assistance. In his mind, even the men and women and children of Fares-Maathodaa on Huvadhu atoll can become a threat worthy of punishment and military action. Amazingly, Gayyoom appeared on Maldives government radio and television several times on Thurday 5 January, denying reports of NSS activity in Fares-Maathodaa that were appearing on the Dhivehi Observer website. By late afternoon, Gayyoom finally admitted violence had occurred. Gayyoom bribes the NSS with state funds and commands his militia by mobile phone. Everything happening on Fares-Maathodaa is a result of his direct orders. The NSS is not a legal organisation in Maldives, and exists outside the sharia, penal code, and constitution of the country. The NSS swear their loyalty to the president, not to Maldives, and Gayyoom has cultivated this allegiance into a cult. Much of the wealth of Maldives goes to the NSS and their associates, and little wealth reaches the hands of the people of Fares-Maathodaa. They are drained by Male's taxes, high rents, and education and health costs for their children and families. Now they are being beaten for demanding a decent harbour. With this violence in Fares-Maathodaa, similar to NSS campaigns in many other isolated and harmless islands, Gayyoom is inciting hatred, revenge and revolt. If he is successful, the dictator would be able to declare a state of emergency and suspension of all democratic reform, and press bogus treason and terrorism charges against members of the Maldivian Democratic party. top

Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldive cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
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