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Maumoonabad and Gayoomdeebiya Do we need a Saddam City? Definitely not in Maldives you might think, but I was reading the Dhevana Visnevvun, Second Thought column in Haveeru (30 August 2003) and I could barely control myself. The column is written by 'Alifu', who is actually Maldives' Justice minister Ahmed Zahir. 'Alifu' seriously expressed the view of that one of our cities, namely the capital Malé, should be renamed Maumoonabad. This idea may be acceptable to the President's cronies, but a lot of Maldivians would be very critical of the proposal, as 'Alifu' himself admitted in his article. Especially while Gayyoom is alive and still in power. It resembles Saddam naming part of Baghdad after himself as Saddam City and changing Baghdad Airport to 'Saddam International Airport'. Any dictator can do this; it's easy because disagreeing is dangerous, but I hope Gayyoom will think twice before naming any of the Maldive islands after himself while he is president.  Graphic source: Sandeep Adhwaryu In his column, 'Alifu' wrote that Gayyoom started the reclamation project in Malé. This is a misleading statement. Before Gayyoom came to power in 1978, the former president and one of the real masterminds of Maldives development, Ibrahim Nasir, had already started the project. He reclaimed Hulhulé to make the first Maldives airport. Ibrahim Nasir introduced tourism to the country, and it should be remembered at that time Maumoon Gayyoom gathered political support for himself, in part by opposing the introduction of tourism. Modern Maldives official documents refuse to give Ibrahim Nasir the credit he deserves for the good he has done for the whole country. Instead we are required to praise Gayyoom's vision and capabilities, while keeping a blind eye and closed mind to blatant corruption and mismanaged projects such as the reclamation of 'Hulhumalé'. 'Alifu' tried to mislead the people of our country by comparing Malé's situation with Singapore. He wrote that after reclaiming Malé, Gayyoom did not sell or rent land but instead gave it freely to the people. 'Alifu' may be trying to prove that Gayyoom's generosity is like that of a person in a hot desert who has only one sip of water yet still shares it with others; but the reality is very different. People who received land from the reclaimed area were those who had connections with the Gayyoom family or with people from Gayyoom's police force. People who really deserved land are still without shelter and living a hard life. This life hasn't changed much for them, even after 25 years of Gayyoom's corrupt government. These people who may have high hopes for Hulhumalé, have discovered Gayyoom is not that generous. Instead of giving plots for free, as is done throughout the rest of Maldives, he has decided to sell land. There is nothing wrong in doing that, if it is the best sustainable way of housing the Maldive population, but the prices of these plots are too high for most people, including most government employees. Their average salary (if they don't take bribes) is around MRf18000 (US$ 1500) per year. The cheapest plot of land, 900 square feet, is priced at MRf 50,000 upfront, in addition to MRf 3000 paid monthly for 10 to 12 years. This means the land in Hulhumalé is beyond the financial reach of honest government employees.  Hulhumalé project model Photo: Haveeru Let's consider the Hulhumalé project as a whole. Has any one in the civil service or decision-making circle considered the possible alternatives to this development? Some probably have. Hulhumalé is a very expensive project and its social cost is high. Instead of reclaiming the land, it would have been much wiser to develop a city in an atoll where land is available. For example, Gan island on Laamu Atoll would be an ideal place to develop a small city. The land is already there! The estimated cost of reclamation in Hulhumalé is US$32 million. This is a huge amount of money which the government would have saved if an existing island had been chosen. The money could have been spent on infrastructure, schools and affordable housing. Anybody can understand this. The Hulhumalé project contravenes the policy of decentralisation which the government pretends to pursue. Developing an island next to Malé doesn't help decentralisation. It is bringing more people to an area which is already ridiculously congested. People implementing the project suggest that 'sheet piling' of the shoreline will protect Hulhumalé from big waves and erosion. Has anyone thought about the affect of 'tsunami' which could wash across the whole island from one shore to the other. Maldives has been lucky that we haven't experienced this lately. The cost of protecting Hulhumalé is high. Adjacent to the airport, the development is a possible plane crash disaster zone. Apart from that terrible possibility, has anyone considered the constant noise and air pollution from the jet engines?  Hulhulé reclamation area and international airport Photo: Haveeru 2003 In many ways it seems Hulhumalé is not a particularly smart idea. It has all ingredients of an idea promoted by a paranoid power-hungry dictator who wants to centralise everything so he can make sure his people behave, while he watches them from an armchair in his waterfront office. Gayyoom is watching everybody like a devil from hell. There is no escape. Little wonder that our minister of justice should suggest renaming Malé or Hulhumalé after his master. Maybe we should broaden our horizons and consider naming the whole country after him. After all, people like 'Alifu' and Gayyoom's other cronies believe their leader is the father of the country. So why not call our country Gayoomland or something more Arabic like 'Gayoomdeebiya'? The map of our new country might look something like this:  In liberal societies, people celebrate the life of other individuals by naming places, cities, roads, and buildings after legendary charismatic individuals who have done much good for society. Sure Gayyoom, like a lot of other Maldivians, has done a lot of good for the country. Nobody can reject that claim, but we need to remind his followers that he is paid to lead our people and country, and he uses government money to provide what is spent on building roads, offices, hospitals and Hulhumalé. Gayyoom did not inherit a fortune from his family. Where does the money come from? It is your money and your debt. Every Maldivian is entitled to a fair share of the country's wealth. If an unpaid person charitably donates money for projects, then that person may be entitled to have a place named after them. Gayyoom already receives a fat salary, full expenses and government-funded luxury for himself and his family. If his personal salary (about US$ 20,000 or MRf 240,000, excluding his expense claims) was used to donate computers or generators to islands, he would not have a penny left for a decent meal. Computers and generators and other public goods provided through the government's budget, are now heralded to have come from Gayyoom's personal funds. Every time the atolls ministry announces the grant of a generator to an island, the minister (Gayyoom's brother) says Gayyoom donated the engine. All this may sound a bit bizarre to other people but somehow it does not surprise the peace-loving, carefree citizens of the Maldives. Malé and Hulhulé already have beautiful Dhivehi names, but there are a few places in Maldives where many would agree the Gayyoom name should be considered. Maafushi island and its notorious torture prison, for example. |
Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldive cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
We invite contributions from Maldivians and others interested in Maldives.
Contributions and comments - mc_editors@hotmail.com