Corruption, discrimination, nepotism, prejudices, political victimization are characteristics of an ailing dictatorship. Malicious misinterpretation of the constitution to fill in the voids and inadequacies of Political Parties and the Executive is corruption. These are the first steps towards a fully fledged dictatorship.
Dictatorships and the consequence of concentrating power in the hands of a single person are quite familiar to Maldivians. We have witnessed Kings and Presidents who exercised this prerogative and ruled over us. Generations of us still lives this nightmare of the chilling effects and consequences of their imperious abuse of power and justice, and do not wish a repetition of the past.
Mohamed Nashid was elected labeled a “Democratic Leader”. Just two years in office, he has begun to show resemblance to leaders of an era Maldivians dread and do not wish for. Even with a modern constitution protecting the rights of the citizens, clearly identifying the separated powers of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, he has evaded democratic checks and balances, and come out with his dictatorial instincts, with summary arrests, enforcing police brutality and spreading uncertainty and fear among the people.
Maldivian thinking largely still comes from their strong faith in Islam and is truly Islamic (submissive). Kings, Presidents and Religious Scholars have exploited this in the past and have successfully shaped our society to accept their Leaders, Religion and State as synonymous; they achieved the heights of subjugation. Few Maldivians had a basic education then; education for the mass was just knowing to read and write in Dhivehi and reading the Quran.
President Nasheed would like to think that his weekly radio address to the nation is a successful tool to penetrate the public and deceive them into believing in whatsoever he as the President, “Ruler” says is true even today, much as it was in the days of the Aristocrats and the Cleptocrats. He obviously believes that the mass of the citizens are still oblivious to democracy.
Little be it or much, today, many have had a fair education, and more people are well educated and this process is continuing. The “Dictatorships” of Mr. Gayoom and Nasir witnessed graduation of world class Maldivians both in Asia, Europe and the America’s. This responsibility is now undertaken by Maldivian Parents. I am grateful Gayoom and Nasir for not abusing the parents and their time to mob the streets of Male, when their political resolve needed strengthening, like many are forced-called upon to do now.
The little grace that filtered into the hands of the Maldivian people throughout the fifty year Cleptocratic and Nepotistic rule is sapped by the MDP. Nasheed’s Administration has planted the seed of decay in our society. He has to grow up; he has been elected President of the Maldives. He must adhere to the rules and regulations, respect our customs and traditions, and above all work within the framework of the Constitution. There is no such thing as “working outside the Chart”.
We have a legitimate Judiciary and a Legislature in place. If the Executive is dysfunctional for any reason, or if the President needs assistance in managing the affairs of his Administration, it is incumbent on the Him to do the repairs and apply the patches required in “collaboration” with the Judiciary and the Legislature. Mr. President and successive Presidents must cohabit with the Parliament (Majlis) as the only “The Representative body of the People” in this country.
The use the mob to threaten Judges and Parliamentarians are plunging the country into anarchy and lawlessness. By doing so it only strengthens the resolve of those who believe that Mr. Nasheed little befits to be the President of this country.
Dictatorships and the consequence of concentrating power in the hands of a single person are quite familiar to Maldivians. We have witnessed Kings and Presidents who exercised this prerogative and ruled over us. Generations of us still lives this nightmare of the chilling effects and consequences of their imperious abuse of power and justice, and do not wish a repetition of the past.
Mohamed Nashid was elected labeled a “Democratic Leader”. Just two years in office, he has begun to show resemblance to leaders of an era Maldivians dread and do not wish for. Even with a modern constitution protecting the rights of the citizens, clearly identifying the separated powers of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, he has evaded democratic checks and balances, and come out with his dictatorial instincts, with summary arrests, enforcing police brutality and spreading uncertainty and fear among the people.
Maldivian thinking largely still comes from their strong faith in Islam and is truly Islamic (submissive). Kings, Presidents and Religious Scholars have exploited this in the past and have successfully shaped our society to accept their Leaders, Religion and State as synonymous; they achieved the heights of subjugation. Few Maldivians had a basic education then; education for the mass was just knowing to read and write in Dhivehi and reading the Quran.
President Nasheed would like to think that his weekly radio address to the nation is a successful tool to penetrate the public and deceive them into believing in whatsoever he as the President, “Ruler” says is true even today, much as it was in the days of the Aristocrats and the Cleptocrats. He obviously believes that the mass of the citizens are still oblivious to democracy.
Little be it or much, today, many have had a fair education, and more people are well educated and this process is continuing. The “Dictatorships” of Mr. Gayoom and Nasir witnessed graduation of world class Maldivians both in Asia, Europe and the America’s. This responsibility is now undertaken by Maldivian Parents. I am grateful Gayoom and Nasir for not abusing the parents and their time to mob the streets of Male, when their political resolve needed strengthening, like many are forced-called upon to do now.
The little grace that filtered into the hands of the Maldivian people throughout the fifty year Cleptocratic and Nepotistic rule is sapped by the MDP. Nasheed’s Administration has planted the seed of decay in our society. He has to grow up; he has been elected President of the Maldives. He must adhere to the rules and regulations, respect our customs and traditions, and above all work within the framework of the Constitution. There is no such thing as “working outside the Chart”.
We have a legitimate Judiciary and a Legislature in place. If the Executive is dysfunctional for any reason, or if the President needs assistance in managing the affairs of his Administration, it is incumbent on the Him to do the repairs and apply the patches required in “collaboration” with the Judiciary and the Legislature. Mr. President and successive Presidents must cohabit with the Parliament (Majlis) as the only “The Representative body of the People” in this country.
The use the mob to threaten Judges and Parliamentarians are plunging the country into anarchy and lawlessness. By doing so it only strengthens the resolve of those who believe that Mr. Nasheed little befits to be the President of this country.
What you have written is so true. The ignorant masses who still believe the Anni's tales don't want to open their eyes and see what is happening right now. How can we trust someone to be responsible with an entire NATION when he couldn't even hold down a job?!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your very correct and frank unbias analysis of the situation
ReplyDeleteThank you for the straight talk.
ReplyDeleteMaumoon came to power as a saintly Islamic Scholar. Mugaabe came to power as a war hero. Saddam was once the darling of the west.
Lesson: Absolute power corruption even the most well intentioned. This is why we fought for a new constitution. However imperfect it may be, no one should be above it.
BismillahirahmaniRaheem
ReplyDeleteAssalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmathullahiwa Barakhatu.
My name is Ben Abdul-Rahman Plewright. I am a graduate of political sciences from the University of Western Australia. Though I am not a Maldivian, I feel compelled to refute the claim that the MDP are the ones who have suspended the newly founded Maldivian constitution. The truth of the matter, I here assert, is that it is the other way around.
Oh, and, what is my business interfering in your internal affairs, you may ask? Well, first of all, I am a Muslim, and I take seriously the Hadith that the Ummah is as one body, and the pain of one Muslim should be felt and alleviated by all other Muslims. Second of all, I believe in what Martin Luther King said, “Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere…” We are all profoundly interconnected. This is especially demonstrated in my situation since I am married to a beautiful Maldivian Woman and I have two half Maldivian children and perhaps a third one on the way.
It was the since arrested parliamentarians and the corrupt judges who suspended the constitution initially by ignoring the separation of powers which must exist between the parliament and the judiciary. The opposition broke the constitution down, Anni (President Mohammed Nasheed), the MNDF and the MDP Cabinet are struggling to mend the constitution within whatever means they can. He cannot do so strictly within the constitutional framwork as the opposition broke the constitutional framework down.
This move by the MDP and MNDF to eradicate those who disregard the constitution is necessary for the salvation of the long term effectiveness and sovereignty of the constitution. It is the salvation of liberal democracy in the Maldives.
One of the main aspects of the constitution is the independance of the judiciary. When a parliamentarian (Yamin or Nazim or any power-brokers within the parliament) control the judiciary, it is absolutely necessary that the judiciary and that any controlling parliamentarian be removed from power to preserve and restore the separation of power between the parliament and the judiciary (the legislature and the judiciary.)
MDP are fighting for the integrity of the constitution, they are not suspending or violating the constitution, the constitution was already destroyed by the parliamentarians and judges who violated it, Anni is fixing it!
This move by MDP and MNDF is necessary for the salvation of the constition and for the long term realization of democracy in the Maldives.
Please, Dr. Shaheed, and anyonelse who can, please deliver this truth to the international community so that they will support your struggle to save liberal democracy in the Maldives.
Long live the Constitution, thankyou MDP for fighting to save the constitution!
Ben Abdul-Rahman Plewright
Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmathullahiwa Barakhatu
ReplyDeleteDear Brother BEN Abdul-Rahman in Islam
I have just only a pray to the Almighty, to shed light on you Br. Ben Abdul-Rahman. You have indeed been blinded by the talks and works of the same folks who blinded our people and caused so much concern, chaos and commotion in our society.
In a democracy, be it Islamic or Christianic, No one above the Constitution of the Nation. President, Parliamentarian and Judge are all limited to within the Constitution. This applies to us the normal folk, the rank and file and even more so to the Military and the Police. Why? Because Maldives now is a listed Democracy and we have moved out from the Maumoonic Dictatorship to a Peoples Democracy not to be an Annimoon's Demoncracy.
Dear Br. Ben, I am happy and thankful to Allah Almighty, that you don’t undergo the slightest of the fear, frustration and desperation we go through living here in Maldives. Br. Anni came to power as a democrat he has since turned to be Maumoonic like his predecessor, and he is slowly but surely eating into the freedom and rights we fought so hard for and finally got. Isn’t it a shame?
I would love to agree with you Br. Ben, but only if Anni had acted SMART instead of Maumoonic. No one is (I repeat it a thousand time) “No one is above the law”. Dear Islamic Brother Mr. Ben let me put it to you in capitals "NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, EXCEPT ALLAH" Anni is not Allah he is Anni, he is human, and we the people of Maldives (most people of Maldives) will not make a demigod of him. He must be limited to the Quran and the Constitution. He cannot victimize and terrorize people guided by and limited to his conscience, because the corrupt people are smart. His must undertake the noble task of ridding our country of the nuisance of corruption and corrupt people, working within the confines and the framework of the Constitution.
Much as I do, most reasonable and sensible Maldivians deplore corruption, we all do. If Mr. Yameen or Gasim or Abdulla or Moosa or anyone for that matter is corrupt, we condemn them and surely expect the government (Anni) to take action as prescribed in the Constitution. Not step outside of it in discharging his duties. By stepping outside the framework of the constitution, he is setting precedence a bad one, for the DRP or Mr. Hassan autocratic Party to when they get into power, to twist and bend the rules to their personal advantage. For this reason, and the fact that there is a constitution to which we all Maldivians must adhere to, I disapprove of Mr. Anni's stepping outside the limits of the constitution. No one must.
Whilst I absolutely agree with you that Mr. Anni must bring to justice (not eradicate) those who disregard the constitution for the salvation of the long term effectiveness and sovereignty of the constitution, and the salvation of liberal democracy in the Maldives, he must do it with prudence and not with vengeance and absolutism even Maumoonism.
You may never see the true picture from down under. You’ve got to be where the happening is. Dr. Shaheed may read your plea, but will never answer it God fearing. He has an agenda. MDP played a plausible role in setting the platform for liberal democracy in Maldives. Now that they are in power, the government’s unpreparedness and inability to cope with the pressures of running the country is surely bring out the little Devil sitting between the M and the P.