:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Setting the record straight - more Gayyoom means no reform

Mohamed Latheef, founding member of Maldivian Democratic Party - 9 June 2004

Most rational people would agree that a quarter century is time enough to bring reform to a homogenous society like Maldives with only 300,000 people. An omnipotent autocrat like Gayyoom has enough power to implement reform if he wishes.

On 9 March, the Sri Lankan Island published an article by A.M Ali entitled ‘Time and Space now needed: Report from the Maldives’, and Fathimath Rasheed wrote in reply in the same newspaper on 20 March refuting A.M. Ali’s pathetic argument that for Maldives ‘time and space to do the job is now needed by an administration brimming at the seams with a huge agenda for reform and to get on with the job.’

Political will on the part of Gayyoom – not ‘time and space’ – is what is needed ‘to get on with the job’. Gayyoom is both unwilling and unable to muster the political will necessary to institute real reform in Maldives. Any significant reform leading to a more transparent, accountable, equitable form of governance would mean political suicide for the dictator, and herald the end of his kleptocracy.

Reform would end the systematic rape of the wealth of Maldives by the Gayyoom regime. Gayyoom's cronies will not allow the president to remove their access to the wealth they have amassed, merely to accommodate an abstract concept of reform. As in the past, they will make a superficial sales-pitch about reform and restructuring. However, one can be certain that Gayyoom will not jeopardise his stranglehold on power and wealth by implementing any meaningful, tangible institutional reform.

On the contrary, the indications are that Gayyoom will only tighten his grip on all aspects of Maldivian life. He will continue to pervert the laws of the country, socio-cultural norms and even religion to legitimise his insatiable craving for power and wealth. If proof of Gayyoom's malicious intent is required, consider the fact that he recently reinstated his partner in crimes against humanity, Adam Zahir, as the Police Commissioner and promoted him to the rank of Brigadier-General of the National Security Service (NSS). Gayyoom's message to the nation seems loud and clear: We, Adam Zahir and I, will bludgeon the people of Maldives into submission.

A. M. Ali says Gayyoom is leadings us into a national Maldive utopia which is ‘brimming at the seams’. But can the people of Maldives peacefully exercise their most fundamental liberties as guaranteed in their constitution? Gayyoom would be more credible if he would at least honour the rule of law.

Freedom from torture, cruel and inhuman punishment is a fundamental right that Gayyoom's NSS has routinely violated in his twenty-five years of repression. Gayyoom is fully aware that his uniformed goons mete out cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment to detainees and prisoners on a regular and routine basis. Gayyoom, with his Baathist philosophy, seems fully convinced that to run an effective police state he needs to use such draconian methods to terrorise the citizens into submission, and at the same time he needs to protect and nurture the abusers. For example, when the commission investigating the custodial death of unarmed prisoners implicated a senior NSS officer in the crime, Gayyoom quietly removed his name from the list of suspects and reinstated him as Deputy Commissioner of Police. Gayyoom's need to retain capable people for the art of torture and terror, far outweighs his need to show the international community that he is seeking justice. Yet, A. M. Ali claims Maldives is brimming with reforms?

Fair trial is another fundamental human right that Gayyoom regularly ignores. The Maldives president directly manipulates the judicial process, and routinely abuses his position as the highest judicial authority to enforce his own pre-packaged judgments, regardless of the evidence presented in court. The National Security Service (NSS) personnel are responsible for the death of unarmed prisoners in Maafushi. Gayyoom is the Commander in Chief of the NSS. A commission of inquiry was appointed to investigate the killings and it reported directly to him. The Attorney General is in charge of the prosecution, and he works under the president’s direct orders. Judges are directed by Gayyoom and pass sentence exactly as prescribed by him. Maldives, under Gayyoom, does not have an independent judiciary. The president cannot run a dedicated police state with an unhappy police force.

Article 13 guarantees equality of citizens before the law. Under Gayyoom, some citizens are more equal than others. When his brother-in-law swindles the nation, he gets to take a break abroad before being reinstated as a cabinet minister upon return. When an ordinary citizen artist Naushad (not an in-law, family or crony) asks Amnesty International and the BBC to look into human rights atrocities, he is given fifteen years in jail where he is subjected to constant abuse.

Article 27 of the constitution enshrines freedom of association as a fundamental right, and yet Gayyoom unashamedly refuses to register any political parties. His fear of loosing his political hegemony outweighs his fear of international outrage at this blatant violation of a fundamental political right.

Article 26 gives Maldivians freedom of assembly. Yet when the Maldivian Democratic Party organised a peaceful walk to hand over a letter to him, Gayyoom got his uniformed goon squad to handcuff ‘suspects’ from behind, drag them on the road and detain them. MDP members are being hounded for the mere intention of exercising their constitutional right to freedom of assembly. Even the children of members are not spared.

Article 21 guarantees freedom of movement. Yet the NSS at the airport have detained many Maldivians – even after they had passed through immigration.

Article 25 guarantees freedom of expression. However, the only ‘expression’ Gayyoom guarantees is the freedom to sing his praises and to lie on his behalf. Gayyoom has monopolistic control over the electronic media while cabinet cronies and in-laws control the print media at his behest. Even the Internet is not spared. Maldives has the dubious distinction of being among five countries highlighted by Reporters Sans Frontieres for suppression of Internet freedom of expression.

Letters, messages and other means of communication, according to Article 20, are inviolable. However, under Gayyoom's orders, the telecommunication company, Dhiraagu and other relevant authorities regularly and routinely violate this article. Citizens’ phones are tapped, letters and other correspondence are intercepted, The SMS service is withheld at will and, as highlighted by Reporters San Frontieres, and Internet communication is routinely violated. Even the mildest expression of protest against Gayyoom or his regime is violently and brutally suppressed.

Gayyoom's propaganda notwithstanding, about half the population of Maldives are deprived of their social and economic rights. Despite the enormous wealth pouring into the country, by way of tourism receipts and donor assistance, 42% of the population of under 300,000 live below the poverty line – a living monument to Gayyoom's quarter century of inept, corrupt, repressive rule.

The uncritical acceptance of Gayyoom's corruption by the international donor community aggravates the situation. Just a little bit of pressure from the International Donor Community – for example, insisting that Gayyoom verifiably adheres to the basic tenets of the constitution as a condition for aid – could enhance the quality of life of the average Maldivian. The obscenely high percentage of aid funds siphoned of by way of ‘commissions’ could then be addressed. Under a more imaginative, less corrupt leadership, Maldives could easily be another Singapore.

Article 15 enshrines the right to be treated according to the law, and the right to appeal against oppressive treatment. This is almost too laughable to comment on. To whom do you appeal when the oppressor invariably is the omnipotent Dictator himself or agents working under his direct instructions? Gayyoom, surely much more than any other Maldivian, is guilty of crimes against humanity. Complaining to Gayyoom about oppression would be akin to Jews complaining to Hitler for oppressive treatment in concentration camps. To citizens long used to oppression, Article 15 reads like a macabre horror story written in fairytale language.

Article 30, which reads ‘it shall be the duty of every Maldivian citizen to protect and uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Maldives and to honour the freedom and rights of others’, is the cruellest of Gayyoom's jokes. Gayyoom routinely, blatantly and systematically disregards the Constitution and the rule of law. He acts like a feudal lord whose word – and not the constitution – is the supreme law of the country. Gayyoom with his Ba’athist/Saddamist mentality lacks the intellectual capacity to grasp the true meaning of the words ‘honour the freedom and rights of others.’

Given the ongoing abuse of even the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, why would Maldivians or the international community get excited about another empty Gayyoom mantra about reform and constitutional amendment? He could adopt the most liberal, democratic constitution in the world! What difference would it make to Maldivians, if Gayyoom steadfastly refuses to honour the its provisions? For Gayyoom to be taken seriously, he needs to demonstrate his willingness to establish the rule of law in the Maldives. He needs to go beyond rhetoric.

I doubt that Gayyoom, after his quarter century of unchallenged autocratic rule, would have a sudden change of heart and adopt reform that would lead to a system of transparent and accountable governance based on a culture of respect for human dignity, justice and the rule of law. Such concepts of good governance go against the very nature of brutal autocrats like Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and, of course, Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom himself. If Gayyoom has any inclination to introduce reform he has but one course of action left – quit and be gone. The process of national healing can only begin in earnest when Gayyoom and his cronies are effectively out of the way.