How to choose your leader?

Editorial

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A.S.I. Moosa (Sappe'), Editor-in-Chief, Dhivehi Observer, 3 March 2008

 

There is no doubt that the politics in the Maldives is going through a complete face-lift since the introduction of multi-party system in 2005. Contrary to the old ways, we now have a say in who should lead our respective parties and eventually who should lead the nation. Of course, the Dictator will try his best to rig the elections but even that chance is now limited. In any case, it would be difficult for him to conduct it on the same scale as in the past.

As many of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leaders assert, the choice for the people now is not to elect a specific person to run the country, rather to assign that responsibility to a specific party. However, it is important that the party members elect a formidable leader through its own primaries and internal election. It is imperative that the party leader or candidate we choose to fight the presidential election is a person who embodies all the values that unite us as a group.

Old habits die hard. In the past, voting is just taken as a routine exercise and everyone knows that the regime of Dictator Gayyoom fiddles with both the votes and the final results. In the past, formidable opposition is caste aside way before the polling day and public funds and assets are misused to get the candidates backed by the regime to emerge as victorious. Fortunately, things have changed now to a certain degree that for the first time in Maldivian history, people have a glimmer of hope that there could be fairer elections.

So, for the MDP members who will choose their presidential candidate shortly, it is essential to assess the qualities of the contesting candidates before making their decision. Don't vote just because someone tells you to vote. Instead make sure that you personally weigh and assess the candidates before casting your vote. In a democracy, your vote is the most powerful right and so it must be exercised wisely and responsibly. Does the candidate have a clear identification of the key economic and social problems of the country? Does he have a workable policy on how he would resolve these issues? Does the candidate have the integrity and competence in undertaking the role of the leader of a country?

The ongoing campaigning by the presidential hopefuls within the MDP is a very healthy democratic process. Each camp will do their best to expose the weaknesses of the other while promoting their own strengths, and this information will then be available for the members who will have the opportunity to assess it and to make their final decision. If we had just one candidate, presumed leader of the party and presidential candidate from day one, we would have missed out on the opportunity of experiencing this important democratic process.

Choosing your leader is your responsibility so exercise that in the best interest of the country as well as your party.

Environment Ministry, Chief of Protocol and Corruption - Round 4

It appears to be the Round Four of the Corruption Cycle involving the Environment Ministry, Chief of Protocol Ahmed Rasheed and the determination to stop anything being built in H. Ameeneege at any cost. This is irrespective of the fact that this hotel would feed several poor Maldivian families by providing employment to local people. Now that the Environment Ministry has once again given the go-ahead to start the piling activities, the campaign to stop it seems to have begun with a vengeance. All this seems to be mainly directed at protecting one family and that is of the Chief of Protocol, Ahmed Rasheed. This is primarily because the palace where he lives, H.Athiriveli (his wife owns several other houses), is built adjacent to the Asters building and with the windows facing east, towards Ameeneege. So he does not want his view blocked by a big building there. more

Dictator promotes his brother-in-law Abbas to Minister rank

Male' - As part of the on-going promotion spree by the Maldives Dictator, Abbas Ibrahim, President of the National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research, was promoted to the rank of Minister on Wednesday. Abbas, a brother in law of the Dictator, was demoted from ministerial position after he fell out of favour and has been lurking around since at the Linguistic Centre since for more than 10 years. Earlier he held cabinet posts such as Fisheries and Agriculture Minister as well as Minster for Presidential Affairs. On 9th February, the Dictator increased salaries of minister, deputies and state ministers and have been going wild promoting his cronies to the ranks. In addition to the hefty pay package of a minister rank official, Abbas will also get more than 25,000 for being a member of both parliament and the constitutional assembly. This is the Dictator paying his cronies handsomely ahead of the presidential election this year. Abbas is an infamous pyromaniac who ran a long campaign in the capital in the 90s, torching several properties, on the orders of the Dictator.

Late Saleem's funeral to take place in Colombo tonight

Breaking News Update

Colombo - The funeral of late Mohamed Saleem Ali will take place around 1:00 am tonight at Jawatta Mosque. A special funeral prayer will also be held in Male' tomorrow after noon prayer at a mosque to be announced later.

Maldives News @ Dhivehi Observer 2007

MDP Saleem passes away

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.

Maldives News @ Dhivehi Observer 2007

Violence! Violence! Violence! - the Dictator's dirty deals

Editorial

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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.

Why the Maldives needs a transitional government

"This is how fair and free elections can be ensured," Benazir Bhutto recently told reporters after demanding that President Pervez Musharraf hand over power  to a caretaker government in preparation for next year's Pakistani general elections.  She knows what she is talking.  Dictators and their kleptocratic governments are not famous for bagging fair-play awards in elections.

 

For a copybook example of a poll conducted under a dictator one needs to look no further than the Maldives national referendum of August 2007.  In the no-holds-barred campaign of Gayyoom's ruling DRP Party, administrative offices in the islands and atolls were turned into party campaign offices.  Government officials were given hasty promotions on election eve to 'motivate' them into becoming party activists for the occasion.  Public money flowed freely to bribe communities and individuals to rig the polls. 

 

To prevent such flagrant rigging, some countries have adopted the practice of handing over power to a transitional government to preside over elections.  A transitional government is a temporary ruling organization usually put into place pending the establishment of a permanent government.  A caretaker government is similar and is often set up following a war until stable democratic rule can be restored, or installed, in which case it is often referred to as a provisional government.  Caretaker governments may also be put in place when a government in a parliamentary system is defeated in a motion of no confidence or when the parliament is dissolved, to rule the country for an interim period until an election is held and a new government is formed.  Such practice is common in UK, Australia and other parliamentary democracies.

 

Bangladesh has adopted this practice with considerable success in minimizing electoral fraud.  They appoint a caretaker government led by a former chief judge to rule the country for 3 months before an elected government takes over.

 

In Bangladesh, the practice of rigging elections started during the military regime of General Zia and continued under General Ershad.  The Parliaments elected through these rigged elections were used to legitimize their usurpation of power.  This practice continued till 1996, when the blatant rigging of a by-election at Magura led to such public outrage that Begum Zia's government was forced to accept the proposal for a caretaker government and enact the necessary change in the Constitution.

 

The Bangladeshi experiment with this system in 1996 proved to be a success. Neither side complained of rigging. Admittedly there were minor complaints but on the whole the elections were accepted as free and fair. Both the national and international observers expressed satisfaction about the arrangements.

 

The justification for caretaker governments springs from the deep distrust of the outgoing government amongst the people. It is the result of repeated failure, on the part of the elected governments, to conduct elections fairly and honestly.  It is also the result of the government's shameless manipulation of the levers of power to rig the election in order to ensure its own victory.  In such situations opposition parties know they do not stand a ghost of a chance to win if the ruling party remains in office.

 

In this respect how has Gayyoom's government conducted itself over the last 3 decades?  It is an open secret that through his brother Hameed who controlled the atolls, Gayyoom managed to turn every past presidential election into a farce, making it an inter island competition to get the highest percentage of votes for the dictator.  While the Chiefs of winning islands got promotions and their islands rewarded with development projects, underperforming chiefs and their islands were penalized.  When the people of Kelaa Island in Haa Alifu Atoll dared to reject Golhaaboa in the 1998 elections, their island was treated like a pariah for years.

 

To avoid the plight of Kelaa, the chiefs of other islands devised innovative methods to get the votes right.  In one island, the chief duped the islanders into giving 100% 'yes' votes for the dictator by instruction voters to put a big 'yes' on the ballot paper if they liked him and a small 'yes' if they did not.  Many katheebs inspected the completed ballot papers and prevented them from being put in the box if negative.  If after all this, someone still manages to cast a vote against the dictator, katheebs had devised many interesting backup methods to fish out the vote papers and 'clean' them.

 

Golhaa and his brother Hameed used these methods in all past elections including the latest in 2003.  He may of course claim that the rigging occurred before he became a born again democrat in 2004.  But the referendum of August 2007 was rigged just 3 months back, after the dictator had claimed he was fully 'reformed.'   Thus one would have to be extremely gullible to believe he will play fair in the coming elections.  So a caretaker government is a must to ensure the next election is free and fair.

 

But getting Gayyoom to agree to a transitional government will be easier said than done.  He knows that a camel could pass through the eye of a needle more comfortably than he could win a free and fair election.   So, he will need a lot of persuasion to agree.   This is where well-wishers in the international community can help the country's transition to democracy.

 

History shows that international pressure is crucial in getting dictators and warring factions to agree to share power.  In recent examples from Africa such as Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo, vital roles were played by EU, US, the African Union and South Africa in 'persuading' the dictators and warlords to agree to transitional governments.

 

Next year's presidential election is perhaps a once in a lifetime chance for the present generation of Maldivians to see a democratic government in their country.  They would certainly hope that friends in the international community will not let them down in their hour of need.