:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Gayyoom, Hitler and Mussolini

OPINION - by a Correspondent

By reading the special report “Maze of Power – 25 years of rampant nepotism in the Maldives”, dated 5th May 2004, it is quite clear that Gayyoom's tactics are very similar to that of Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. If there is any difference between them, perhaps it might be that those two European chaps did not lead any of the Friday prayers in one of the Mosques of their respective country. All three used their inherent oratory skills, propaganda and lies to attract the ill informed masses to their cause. Religion was unimportant and clergies were persecuted vigorously. They controlled the executive as well as legislative and judiciary branch of the government. They cracked down freedom of speech and banned all opposition in the country. Democracy ceased to exist and the parliament became a rubber stamp parliament, it only exists for the purpose of legitimizing the leader’s ambitions and actions. Mass media was used extensively for the purpose of indoctrinating and exploiting the people, feeding them a diet of total obedience and loyalty to the leader. With these methods they were able to create a generation of brainwashed youth who held a destructive perception about their leaders: the leader is always right! What was the fate of such states like Germany and Italy under these two tyrannies? In order to avoid a national calamity before it is too late, we all have to work hard to help end the rule of Gayyoom. You might say then, who else will rule the Maldives? Many people in Maldives got shocked when in 1978 the former president Ibrahim Nasir announced his resignation after 21 years of autocratic rule. They said how sorry are we that there would not be anyone in Maldives who can rule this country? Even the People’s Majlis (Maldivian parliament) sent a delegation led by a very well respected person called Ibrahim Shihab, begging Nasir to remain in Office. Here we have to remember a very important thing, that is, in any society at any time there would be people who can fill the political power vacuum left by the former. That is how societies operate and functions from the earliest time, whether it is in the USA, Burundi, Nepal, Papua New Guinea or Maldives. The first constitution of Maldives was written in 1932 and since then the successive regimes changed it as they pleased. It took 17 long years and immense resources of our national wealth for Gayyoom to do his bidding. The constitution was revised chapter by chapter, article by article and even clause by clause. By the time it was finished Gayyoom said the newly revised constitution does not need changes for many years to come and he boasted for the achievement. Then why do we need to change our constitution in such a short period of time? The answer is simple. The present constitution of Maldives doesn’t reflect the needs of the Maldivians. It only reflects Gayyoom desires and aspirations to get him richer and richer, while the country is on the verge of getting bankrupt with huge overseas loans. This is how he does things in hiding in this paradise nation of the Indian Ocean for the past 26 odd years.