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Gayyoom's rule threatens economy 4 Sept 2004 Modified photos from President's office website of Gayyoom and Chief Justice Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim being welcomed on arrival in Saudi Arabia (17 Sept 2004) for the Inaugural Session of the General Council of the Muslim World League in Mecca.
Maldives has a population of around 300,000, and 70,000 people live in the capital, Male'. More than 5,000 people participated in the Black Friday demonstration, which is about 10% of the people in Male’. Gayyoom’s government has a problem labelling the people who participated in the gathering. At first he identified them as illegal demolishers of reform. Then, in a bid to perhaps get the world’s sympathy, he labelled them as his opponents trying to remove his power. Later on, he called them Islamic fundamentalists! We know that the people gathered there on Black Friday were not trying to remove Gayyoom from power, nor were they reform demolishers or fundamentalists. They demanded the release of innocent political prisoners and the resignation of some of the most influential and corrupt ministers of Gayyoom's government. The president thinks he can fool a few hundred thousand Maldivians, but he cannot fool the whole world. In his BBC interview, Gayyoom mentioned that nobody is above the law in Maldives. It reminded us of a comment made by a foreign journalist a few years ago, who said that Gayyoom is a small man with a big mouth. The president has proven the truth of those words once again. If nobody is above the law, why has he insisted that the constitution prohibit the president from being charged? Have his friends or family members appeared in court in Maldives during his 26 years of power? When Ilyas Ibrahim (Gayyoom's wealthy brother-in-law, and currently Minister of Transport and Communication) was caught thieving public money, Gayyoom sent him to Singapore where Ilyas lived at government cost until his recall. During the recent burning of government buildings, Abbas Ibrahim’s son was a leader. First, the NSS tried to remove his image from all their videos. Later on, they decided to send his case to court but during the hearing, the lawyer asked to delay his case because his client was abroad for unexplained medical treatment. How can these suspects fly abroad so easily when the NSS directly checks all travelling Maldivians at the airport? For an ordinary Maldivian, if there is a court case pending, the NSS forbids travel and the person will be held in custody (either house arrest or jail). So far, we have not witnessed the law being applied equally and fairly among the people of Maldives. Only ordinary people get caught under the law, and people with the government's blessing always avoid it somehow. The Maldive government has said that the call by the 'illegal' overseas opposition, to boycott travel to Maldives, is an attempt to destroy the economy. We strongly object to this call by the opposition, but we believe that the economy is also threatened by Gayyoom's attitude to reform. All this started when the government was not happy about political meetings and began to crackdown. There is not a single reason why Gayyoom should challenge his opponents, if he is serious about reform. If a government does not allow free expression of opinions, then the country cannot claim to be a democracy. The current generation is not as naive as older Maldivians. We are well-educated and aware of our basic human rights. The government should face up to this, politely and humanely.
The arrest of popularly-elected Majlis members is another setback to Maldive democracy. Gayyoom has arrested all his opponents in the parliament and elsewhere in the country. This is the first time a president has declared an emergency because a person stabbed a NSS officer. Eyewitnesses say this person was hired by an influential minister in the government. The NSS waited calmly as it witnessed the attack! The reason why we elected those Special Majlis members was to amend the current constitution. Now those MPs are being arrested under the same constitution! We cannot accept a constitution being passed without the presence of our elected opposition. Gayyoom and his government should learn the lessons of the past year, and from the history of Maldives, and release all political prisoners. Gayyoom is a clone of Saddam Hussain, but Maumoon co-operates with the international community whereas Saddam failed to do so. Saddam's local support was officially 90 percent only a few months before he lost power and a large number of Iraqi people celebrated his fall. We urge the international community not to listen to what Gayyoom’s government is saying. Send your special envoys to talk to the ordinary people and the prisoners. Help us to get our basic human rights. It is the duty of the world’s biggest powers to spread democracy all over the world and to provide human rights to each and every human being. We believe Great Britain has to play a leading role for two reasons. Firstly, the Royal Air Force of UK had an air base in Maldives and we still have the graveyards of your martyrs on our land. Secondly, Maldives is now one of the best holidaying destinations for the British. Thirdly, it was the British who first introduced a constitutional reform to Maldives in the early 1930s when we were a British protectorate. We believe that responsible parties should take necessary actions to alleviate the situation in Maldives and to bring real democracy to the nation. |
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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
