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Gayyoom's Feckless Legacy

Editorial 20^th June 2004

A.S.I.Moosa (Sappe')

Dhivehi Observer
Editor-in-chief

The speech Gayyoom made on the 9^th of June 2004, acclaimed only by the President’s Office, contains all the reforms that have been called for by political dissidents of Maldives. It is quite astonishing that Gayyoom claims that these thoughts were originally his and has been contended with ever since he came to power; what is even more shocking was his inability to listen to his conscience, supposing that these views had been there in the first place. Instead, Gayyoom ruled the Maldives for 26 long years with pronounced contempt towards the Rights of Citizens and misuse of his Official capacity as the Chief Executive.

The Executive powers in the Maldives are absolutely enormous and the current Constitution is the most compelling evidence to this claim. This basically means, had Gayyoom really wanted to reform the country and establish a democratic state as he had in mind, he could have done that quite easily with the powers granted to him by the current Constitution. For instance, by allowing people to express their will and thoughts rather than handing them down life-sentence for doing so. He also had the opportunity to enforce his support towards pluralistic democracy by avoiding interference in the election process. Methods of such interference includes laying down strict control of the campaigning procedures by candidates (through the Elections Commissioner who he solely appoints) and more importantly by rigging the vote in the islands through hand-picked atoll/island chiefs who were either intimidated or bribed into these illicit practices.

The whole nation, except Gayyoom’s brothers, Hameed and Yameen as well as his cronies in the cabinet and higher government posts which in fact amounts to less than 5% of the voting population of the country, are very wary of this sudden change of heart. In a free and fair election, this is the support Gayyoom will get; it will be a matter of pure chance should he manage to scrape over 5% or less of the polls in favour for him. DO would like to apologise if the 5% estimate is an overstatement. It might be even lower considering the recent discontent of Gayyoom’s own family members (whose names readers can establish for themselves), who are now united with the People in their call to end his brutal reign.

Here is a person who wants to reform a country, to leave a legacy behind by ideas revealed after almost 26 years of absolute tyranny. In a country ranked 77^th in the Human Development Index (HDI-UNDP, 2001), Gayyoom has surpassed the conditions necessary to qualify for a text-book example of a totalitarian mad-man; who else can manage to live in multi-million dollar Palaces, Private Island retreats and finally an Office complex equivalent in value to about 20 competent Schools. These are just a few ornaments of an empire Gayyoom has accumulated by swindling the people who he is supposed to serve.

After the speech, his brothers and the rest of his henchmen are busy at work coercing people in the islands to write to the President in protest against pluralistic democracy in the Maldives. According to Hameed and Yameen, it will generate divisions between the people. Party politics according to them, is nothing but trouble and will only bring despair to the people.

Perhaps it is best left to the reader to ponder over the following questions, which has the potential of verifying whether Maumoon’s latest attempt at reverting back to a self-made Democratic Leader is as identical with his feckless legacy

Why doesn’t Gayyoom abide by the existing Constitution and offer the rights of the people already enshrined in it?
Why has it taken him 26 years to realise the importance of a true democratic state, with clear separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary?
Why did Gayyoom request to have people send their suggestions addressed to him personally? Why can’t the people write to their own elected MPs?
Why is the period set for the National debate on constitutional reform limited to a mere 15 days, when in the past, Gayyoom could afford to have spent more than 17 YEARS to lag on with cosmetic-reforms?
Why doesn’t he stop interfering with legislative processes? such as his government campaigning to elect a Minister, ideally his brother Hameed or Justice Minister Zahir, to the post of President of the Special Majlis (Upper House of Parliament)? Why can’t he let the members of the Special Majlis decide that? Why cannot he allow formidable candidates to do their own lobbying?
Why is he allowing his brothers to spend public funds on anti-reform campaigns only days after his call for reform? Why are they intimidating officials who support pro-reform candidates?
Why doesn’t Gayyoom lift the ban on the dissident websites and allow press and media to be free from his influence?
What is he doing to sort out the drugs problems in the country? There are over 15,000 addicts in the Maldives at present according to a recent study done by UNDP and Fashan.
Why does he continue to threaten the liberty of people like Naushad Waheed and Zaki, Didi, Nisreen and Nazim? Why doesn’t he release them?
Why does he harass and detain the mother of the Eevan Naseem, who is still mourning the brutal killing of her son by Gayyoom’s National Security Servicemen? Has she not suffered enough? Is it a crime to mourn the death of your own child?
Why does he continue to let the NSS bully the people and why can’t he respect the rule of law?
Why are our utility bills (water, electric, etc.) so high?
Why are we so reliant on tourism? If something happens to the tourism market worldwide we will be the first to suffer. We could starve? Why is it ridden by corruption and favouritism?
Why is our education system such a disaster? The O' level results of 2003 was less than 30% pass rate!
Why are the Atoll Chiefs and Katheeb's (Island Chiefs) mini-Gods appointed or rather blessed by his brother Hameed? Why can they get away with murder?
Why is there endemic corruption in the Maldives? Have we lost all sense of honour and doing business on true merit rather than under the table bribes? Isn’t this problem initiated right from the top?
Why aren’t we getting more investment in the islands for water purification? One of the reasons why our longevity is so low is that the water we drink is so bad.
Why is our health system so appalling? So little investment? Why aren’t there adequate health facilities in each island? We have millions to spend on the palace, the holiday retreat, the yacht, the President’s Office? Why?
Why did he need to employ the services of a PR firm from the UK, that must have cost Maldivians a fortune, to spin the lies and hide the realities of the nightmare of his regime?

One need not have a fellowship at Harvard University to answer these questions. For Maldivians, who have had to endure and suffer the strangle-hold grip of Gayyoom on their country, it would be even simpler; Gayyoom is buying time to mend his reputation in the international community. His speech is as one pundit said, 40% public relations (local), 30% public relations (international) and 30% legacy and fame.

There can only be one way forward, and that is to let the people of Maldives decide their own future. Gayyoom has left it for far too long and there is no longer a person in Maldives with even the slightest hint of patriotism who would entrust Maumoon with even a grain of sand from our beaches.

If he sincerely wants to leave a legacy behind, he has to admit to his crimes and apologise to the people of Maldives and resign without any delay. His legacy, if any left would be that of a caitiff academician, who resorted to invest his deception and hypocrisy to swindle a nation of its wealth and to devastate a whole generation in pursuit of his personal agendas. Historians would only be wise not to write a legacy which is not worth the ink its being written with.