The only time I’ve seen my father light up like the Diwali Festival was the day Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) got elected as the first ever democratically elected president in Maldivian history, after replacing the long term autocratic President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
I was in the 8th grade and didn’t know much about politics, but understood enough to know that we somehow restored hope in our hearts. I got the feeling that everything was going to be all right… the tears of happiness rolling down my father’s face were a testament to that.
After that, everything changed. The police brutality, arbitrary arrests of politicians and democracy activists, disruption to media and freedom of expression, everything that we thought was so wrong, that we had to get out on the streets to change, became our past – things that we only joked about in our living rooms and coffee shops.
The conversation usually went like: “Hey, remember how Golhaa Force would drag Anni out on the streets of Male’ like he was some kind of dead animal?”
Only we didn’t know that it would happen again.We had no idea; we were so naive.
Anyway, the days went by and for some reason Maumoon was running around doing his own thing, not necessarily bothering anybody – yet – and Nasheed’s administration was busy cleaning up the mess left by Maumoon.
But given that Nasheed was in charge, as suspected he didn’t let the mess distract him, and instead he went on to revolutionise the Maldives. Health care, state transport, social security, infrastructure improvements made headlines every single day. He had built so many flats that the opposition started to call him ‘Flat Dhombe’ – a name he adopted and wore proudly. Such was life in paradise.
And then the honeymoon period ended. President Nasheed had to make some tough yet important decisions in his presidency, in order to head towards a more prosperous economy in the long run.
This meant the bank accounts of the rich and the elite of our community were going to take our hit. The government had asked for the parliament’s assistance to move forward with the bills, but half of the rich and the elite were already in the parliament. A lot went downhill after that.
The religious conservatives saw an opportunity at that point and jumped in, making the situation even more ridiculous. Gayyoom started to show up every now and then, making political statements and what not. And then we saw the opposition parties coming together, having set their differences aside.
These were some very extreme far-right minded politicians coming together with a group of Islamic radicals, which was the only thing that made sense from their partnership. Religion was the main issue of their political movement. As we understand now, that may have very well have been the turning point.
The opposition parties in the name of ’23 December Ih’thihaadhu’ – the 23 December Coalition – came out on the streets, protesting and calling for Nasheed’s resignation. Their parliament members would openly disrupt any government or MDP-sponsored bills on the parliament floor. The protesters would vandalise public property every night, and for some weird reason they targeted areca palm trees planted by Male City Council.
They would pluck the palm trees out and toss them out on the streets every night. One of those photographed destroying the trees is now the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
After 21 days and nights of protesting and vandalising, the opposition succeeded in removing the elected president from office, by force, with the help of a rogue police mutineers.
The next day the Maldivian Democratic Party took to the streets condemning the coup d’état and everyone that took part in it.
I was there myself, with a friend of mine, a fellow activist, only to witness the horrible turmoil and the wrath of the Special Operations police brutes. They were anything but officers of law. A lot of peaceful protesters were brutally attacked by the savages. We were surrounded by chaos, and blood and tear gas canisters.
That moment I knew we had lost our country. That it was far from over, and the real struggle for democracy was yet to come.
Since then the coup government have been busy destroying everything Nasheed has built. They’ve put an end to state transport system…the universal healthcare, and everything else. They’ve set us back 100 years in our relationship with India.
Maybe they aren’t well-versed in foreign policy, but how could they possibly think that they can afford to be in bed with China after they’ve screwed over India in the matters of GMR airport and everything else that came afterwards? It would be hard for India not to take that personally.
I may not be an expert in foreign policy, but even I know that when you screw over your neighbor, it’s going to get awkward and complicated. Much like an office romance which ends badly.
Removal of President Nasheed from office wasn’t enough for the coup leaders, so they decided to prosecute him on charges of “kidnapping a judge”, to void his candidacy for the comping up presidential election.
They’ve already once dragged him to the kangaroo Hulhumale court which legally does not exist, while he was down south on the Journey of Pledges campaign in Faresmathoda.
President Nasheed was summoned to court for the second time, and the illegitimate ‘Hulhumale’ court ordered the police to make sure that he attended. But instead Nasheed has taken refuge in the Indian High Commission, taking the upper-hand in the current political situation in the Maldives, perhaps for the first time since the coup.
We are yet to find a solution and I personally don’t think that we would find one through political dialogue among the parties. It hasn’t worked before, I doubt it would work now. The only way we can move forward is to let Nasheed take part in a free and fair election this September. I think that’s reasonable.
Like many fellow Maldivians, I wish to hold that flag of red, green and white and feel proud again. But I’m afraid today is not that day.
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