Breaking News Update
Breaking News
Colombo - MDP regional President for South Huvadhoo Atoll, Saleem Ali passed away very suddenly this morning after suffering a heart attack. He has been in Lanka for the past couple of months settling his family there. Mr. Saleem is one of the most prominent activists of MDP and has been under pressure from the Dictator as he is constantly called to appear in court and was jailed a few times in the last couple of year. Mr. Saleem is also a close relative of DO Editor in Chief, Sappe'. Saleem will be greatly missed. On behalf of DO readers and members of MDP, we send our deepest condolences to Saleem's family and pray to Almighty Allah to grant him eternal bliss.
Editorial
Dhivehi Observer, 16 December 2007
"Violence! Violence! Violence!" When those three lethal words left Dictator Gayoom's lips during that now infamous interview, there were some among our people who did wonder if the protest was all about violence. Now, two years later, the realization of those words have come to fruition. Now, we are wiser as to why those words oozed so smoothly out of the Dictator's lips. Violence is what he knows. Violence is what he practices. Violence is what he will resort to in the future.
To be fair on our own leader, it is not unusual that in dictatorships, the criminal fraternity is utilized to further a Dictator's cause. In this regard, Dictator Gayoom is no pioneer. Quite often violent gangs, juvenile delinquents and drug dealers are used to promote an undesirable agenda while the regime turns a blind eye. This way the regime maintains its "innocence" in front of its citizens and the international community at large, while all their dirty work is continued by these elements. 
In the run-up to the referendum last August, several such deals were done with Male's criminal fraternity by this regime. Dictator Gayoom promised them police protection and to release those members of these gangs serving time in prison in return for harassing the Parliamentary campaign. One such member of a gang who do not wish to be named stated that, "we were informed by the police that if we removed the Parliamentary campaign posters and replaced them with the Presidential campaign posters, they will provide us protection in our drug dealings. They will also release three of our members who were serving time in prison". So that is what we did and we had our brothers back with us within a few weeks.
The Dictator also uses these criminal elements to harass all his opponents. When Dr. Hassan Saeed and Ahmed Jameel resigned as the Attorney-General and the Justice Minister respectively, he used one such gang to throw oil on to the houses of the former Ministers. Apparently the Dictator later laughed about it and said, "a small incident happened last night", referring to the unsavoury attack.
While all this continues the people of Male are living in total trepidation about the spiralling violence. They are not safe inside their homes. They are not safe outside their homes. One does not know when one would be mugged, knifed, or even killed. Male' has indeed become the gang capital of South Asia.
However, the Dictator's "contribution" to our society as the patron of these gangs goes much deeper. The question is why have our youth fallen into such bottomless pits? The answer is fairly obvious. Poverty. While we claim that the Maldives is one of the newly developing countries with a per capita income over $2500, our most vulnerable stakeholders, our youth, are growing up in disillusionment. With poor education, lack of decent housing, and very little chance of a respectable job with a reasonable pay in the 21st century Maldives, and almost zilch chance of reaching the higher echelons of society, our youth are easily driven into drug abuse and crime. And who is there to exploit their vulnerabilities? Our very own Dictator Gayoom.
It is all very well to blame Chikaa and Rabarey (and the numerous others) who partake in these violent activities terrorizing our society. While not condoning their criminal actions, we also need to look beyond these misguided youth. Deliberate lack of social policies has left our young people extremely exposed. It is not rocket science to know that children growing up in hardship and from deprived backgrounds could internalize their problems and release them later in a violent form. However, this regime is turning a blind eye to these problems because the Dictator can later use these young people for his own benefit. He entices them with lucrative offers of money or to turn a blind eye to their undesirable actions in society in return for them to do his dirty work.
It might have been a gang of young people who murdered Ali Ishar. However, it is Dictator Gayoom who is the real Grim Reaper.
