:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Lack of government vision leads to social disaster

By Freemaldives 2003, Male’ 15^th July 2004

What can you say about a president who can offer nothing but excuses for an economic downturn, nothing but lies for a political crisis, and nothing but prayers for a drug menace? That he is clueless? That he has no vision? That he should say his last prayers and depart? You can say all these and more about His Excellency Usthaz Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, GCMG, President of the Republic of Maldives.

Surely Gayyoom himself should know by now that the drug and crime situation in the Maldives is totally beyond his depth. If not anything else, the steadily rising crime graph since he assumed power tells its own story: he cannot come out with a solution. Rather, he is part of the problem.

Consider this. On third July a gang of 20 men attacked a youth with steel rods and a spade while walking along the Henveiru play ground, causing him injuries severe enough to be admitted in ADK hospital (Ahmed Abdullah Haveeru 8 July). The next day in Naifaru, Faadhippolhu Atoll, another gang attacked 5 youths with paper cutters, opening a gash 6” long and 3” deep down the back of one victim. Such attacks are no longer isolated incidents. According to an eyewitness from Naifaru, “…the danger is increasing day by day. Incidents are very common during school holidays …”

Life in Male' has become unbearable because of burglary. Each year more than a 1000 people are prosecuted for various crimes, in this small country of just 300,000 people. According to a Haveeru report theft has risen to alarming levels in Addu (Aishath Solih, 12 July).

How far have we come since, about 25 years ago, the Guinness Book of World Records described the Maldives as the most peaceful country on earth! If we do get another Guinness record in this category, it could very well be for the fastest slide-down in law and order. Gayyoom must take full responsibility for this abysmal failure.

According to social scientists, the crime and drug problems are a direct result of failed social development. Economic mismanagement has led to severe unemployment among the youth. With no legal means of earning enough to meet basic needs, more and more youngsters are taking to crime. The Government’s colossal failure in this crucial sphere has led the Maldives to the very edge of a social crisis of Sub-Saharan proportions. While Gayyoom and his family glide across the 1.8 KM island in spotlessly polished black Mercedes cars, about half the population languish in abject poverty. A poverty survey conducted by UNDP in 1998 (which the government did its utmost to suppress) showed that about 40 % of Maldivians live on less than US$ 1 a day, which is the international poverty line. It is the deep sense of privation among the under-privileged that tail spun the Maldives into a death spiral of crime, violence and drugs.

The cruel irony is that this catastrophe occurred in the face of a booming tourist industry powered ahead by the private sector. There was no shortage of money in the country as a whole. The problem was a total failure on the part of the government to produce a trickle effect, to implement effective policies and programmes for generating jobs, alleviating poverty and uplifting the masses. In the absence of any coherent socio-economic strategies, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots has widened rapidly, with per capita GDP 11 times higher in the capital Male' than in the rest of the islands (figure calculated from UNDP 1998 report).

Despite this abject failure, Gayyoom never wastes an opportunity to boast about the so-called high Human Development Index of Maldives (0.743). Actually this figure does not represent the real situation of the country, since it is based on misleading figures submitted by the government, particularly the Education ministry’s grossly exaggerated figures for adult literacy and enrolment in education. The ludicrousness of the situation can be seen when you note that according to the figures provided, Maldives has a higher educational attainment (0.90) compared to Brunei (0.86) Singapore (0.87) and Cyprus (0.89). In fact we are supposed to be equal to an advanced country like Luxembourg which also has a figure of 0.90. (All figures from Human Development Report of UNDP at www.hdr.undp.org)

Compare these tall claims with the real pathetic situation of education in the Maldives. The secondary school enrolment is only 44%. This is the official government figure submitted to UNDP, which of course does not tell you that the vast majority of these students are taught by unqualified teachers and end up failing in the O level, just 6% managing to enter higher secondary education. Tertiary education? A private individual, Mr. Gasim Ibrahim, provides more opportunities for higher education than Gayyoom's government.

The failure of education is directly responsible for the drug situation in the Maldives. A Rapid Assessment Survey done last year (Narcotics Control Bureau) unequivocally linked drugs with low attainment in education. The same report acknowledges a 20 fold rise in drug abuse since the mid 70s [Author’s note: Gayyoom came to power in 1978. No causal link alleged].

Here is the lesson in this for you, Gayyoom. It is not just a question of you failing to solve the social problems of Maldives in 25 years. Rather, it is more a question of your worsening the problems during those long years. One generation is lost to your incompetence; spare the next. What is left to do now is your best service to this nation: your resignation.