Lonely night for Maldives finance boss in Maamigili by Michael O'Shea 10 January 2006 with assistance from Dhivehi Observer Maldives finance minister Gasim Ibrahim waits alone on stage at the first Dhivehi Rayithunge party meeting held in Maamigili island social centre on Alifu (south Ari) atoll. (droplet effect on original image file) Maldives President Maumoon Gayyoom has achieved the seemingly impossible and made himself even more unpopular by ordering his NSS militia to beat and abuse women and children in Fares-Maathodaa, Huvadhu atoll, on 5 January 2006 because they dared to complain about an eight year delay in clearing a tiny section of reef blocking their harbour entrance. Gayyoom is hated throughout the country. Nine days before the president's criminal actions on Huvadhu, attempts to establish branches of his Dhivehi Rayithunge party (DRP) ended in farce on Maamigili and Mahibadhoo islands in Alifu (south Ari) atoll. Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim, the owner of the Villa tourism company, visited the islands on 28 December 2005, hoping to quickly organise two branches of Gayyoom's party. An eyewitness reports that at 2.45 pm, there was an announcement through the PA system at the Maamigili social centre inviting DRP members and people interested in joining the party, to meet at the social centre at 8.45 pm that night to elect branch officials. Less than an hour later, people were walking around the main streets of the island holding Dhivehi banners that read: 'Maumoon Resign' and 'No More Chances for the Dictator'. They left the banners outside several houses and at 4 pm, Gasim visited these residences and asked for the banners to be taken down. Some were removed out of respect for Gasim, others remained. At the same time, two workers at the Villa airport construction site on the island were disciplined for taking part in the earlier protest and sent home. At five pm, a ten foot high banner, 'Maumoon Resign', was erected at the DRP venue in the Maamigili social centre, and at 5.30, Sun Island resort staff were told to attend the meeting and to bring video equipment. At 5.45, Gasim arrived back in Maamigili from Mahibadhoo with two men. He ordered the large banner removed. At 8.45 pm, only ten people, including the eyewitness, were present at the social centre so the island chief, Mahumood Ali, issued an announcement: 'Gasim requests all those over 21 years of age to attend the meeting immediately.' Gasim Ibrahim, centre, touting on the street in Maamigili for people to attend the first branch meeting of the president's Dhivehi Rayithunge party. At 9 pm, Gasim ventured out of the centre looking for people and at 9.15, the few people at the venue were told to go off and find others and bring them to the meeting. Later, some of these men said the only ones they could find would have come to the meeting and chanted: 'Maumoon Resign'. Small attendance in Maamigili social centre on Alifu atoll, Maldives, after over an hour of pressure on the island people to attend the first branch meeting of President Gayyoom's party. By 10 pm, 130 reluctant people had been gathered for the meeting, and the chief of construction at Villa airport was made DRP branch chairman. Another man was told he was the new DRP secretary but he declined saying he was already a member of the Maldivian Democratic Party. The crowd went outside and found a man on the street called Mohamed 'Guest' Rasheed – a person well-known for his opinion that the Gayyoom regime is run by a 'bunch of thieves'. He was told that he was now the secretary of Gayyoom's DRP Maamigili branch. Earlier, at Mahibadhoo island to the north that same evening, Gasim had walked into a meeting organised on his behalf, and most of the assembled people left when he began talking about Gayyoom's DRP. Maamigili once a Gasim stronghold Unlike the impoverished and depressed Fares-Maathodaa people who have no resorts on their atoll, the inhabitants of Alifu atoll live and work among a number of well-known tourist destinations including the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. Maldivians on Alifu atoll have experienced many of the limited benefits that Gayyoom's regime offers to selected areas outside Male', but their response to their president's new party on 28 December 2005 was one of utter rejection. Maamigili was considered a stronghold of finance minister Gasim Ibrahim. Gasim is a respected philanthropist and one of the wealthiest men in Maldives. As a young boy, he was a servant in the Endherimaage household, the home of Gayyoom's wife, Nasreena and her brothers Ilyas Ibrahim and Abbas Ibrahim. There is no doubt Gasim owes part of his business success to his relationship with this notorious and powerful family, but he has gained a reputation among Maldivians and foreigners as a hard-working and ethical man. Gasim was a senior member of the Maldivian Democratic party when he surprised everyone and joined Gayyoom's cabinet as finance minister in 2005. A public critic of the dictatorship for several years, Gasim had been arrested and tortured by the president in August 2004. The finance minister personally operates and funds the largest philanthropic welfare system in Maldives, and his decision to join cabinet ensured the preservation of this welfare network which is vital for the health and education of many low-income families. Before the appointment, Gayyoom was threatening to destroy Gasim's Villa business empire. Due to international financiers' concerns over the president's management of the Maldives finance ministry, Gayyoom needed Gasim Ibrahim in his cabinet to take the portfolio and regain the confidence of the bankers. Maldivians understand the delicate relationship between their generous finance minister and vindictive president, so Gasim was not despised for his decision. The people of Maamigili and Mahibadhoo were polite enough to their benefactor on 28 December 2005... but they demanded the resignation of President Maumoon Gayyoom. 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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