So much has happened in the last few days. A democratically elected popular government has been ousted from power and the VP has been sworn in as the new president. The country is in turmoil amid fears that three years of democracy could be undone with the change in government.
Police brutality has made an apparent comeback and the public is nervous and sometimes afraid. It is time for the MDP to take stock of the events of the past week and change the party’s current action strategy now.
I don’ t think confrontation or aggression against the current government is the way to win majority of Maldivian hearts.
Currently the MDP is presented with an opportunity to win a clear majority of Maldivian hearts and sweep an election easily. But it can only happen provided the MDP changes their strategy and plays its fortunes correctly.
There are many reasons why a change in strategy is important.
One of the main reasons is that their opponents control the majority of media organizations in town in their favor. The only news service favorable to MDP are;
1. Raajje TV
2. Minivan News
Let us keep in mind that none of these news organizations has a nationwide reach. They are mostly accessible only to people in Male’ or people who have access to the internet. By rough estimates, that is just about 1/3 of the population, if not less.
MDP needs to get their message across to the total population for them to be successful in their goals. A new strategy should include how to make the “enemy” media work for MDP as well.
How to do this?
It is not that easy, but a few changes in current course – or “mid-way course correction”, as Anni once called it – could be a good place to start.
MDP should immediately do two important key things right now.
1. Consult with all party members.
2. Correct action course according to the consultation of party members.
One might say, that MDP is acting now as per consultation of the party members.
I disagree. What is happening is, irrational thinking fueled by surprise, hurt and humiliation of being ousted in a coup (I believe there is sufficient evidence to suggest this is a coup and I don’t support any non-constitutional change in government – but that is my personal opinion) is responsible for bad judgement in setting the current course of the party.
Saner minds would say the current course of the party is heading towards conflict that would be difficult to resolve later on. After all, we are a very small community and people on different sides are effected equally (by way of family relations, friendships and business contacts). We simply can’t afford to be enemies in this tiny land of ours. Our future depends on how we navigate the current political crisis.
Coming back to the two key points I mentioned earlier. How do we consult the members of the party? And how to structure the consultation so that the decision of the members of the party are clearly defined and useful?
By way of a poll.
MDP has good credentials when it comes to polling its membership. Free and fair elections have been held at party level in the past and there is no reason why it cannot be done now or in the future.
Poll the membership to find out what they want. A simple poll could be like this:
Now that the MDP leadership has been ousted from the presidency of the Maldives (illegally, if it makes the MDP happy – the party can phrase this any way they like), and we are faced with the current scenario, what would you as a member of the party have us do next?
1. Protest the current governments legitimacy, request for the resignation of President Waheed and call for fresh elections in 2 months or “threaten” with street protests if they don’t not comply.
(This is what the MDP is doing right now – basically its asking the party membership for a full endorsement of the current course of action.)
2. Request for a full independent investigation into the events surrounding the “forced at gunpoint” resignation allegations, and if this is proven to be true, request for fresh elections and then “threaten” street protests if Waheed’s government doesn’t comply.
3. Accept what has happened (albeit illegal) and start preparing the party for 2013 elections. Meanwhile the party should restructure its leadership if necessary and establish a shadow government and contribute meaningfully to protect the reforms achieved during President Nasheed’s leadership in the past 3 years, and ensure they remain in place and are not reversed or rolled back.
4. Join the coalition government of President Waheed and work for a solution by working with the “enemy”.
By conducting such a poll, MDP reiterates in action its commitment to a democratic process and its actions would be endorsed by its membership.
While such a poll is conducted, media on both sides will have no choice (if they have an ounce of credibility) but to give publicity to the poll and thus, to the MDP and its future actions.
I do hope that reason and sense will eventually prevail and that our tiny nation is not thrown to the dogs in this politically turbulent climate.
I wish the MDP much success in the future, because I honestly believe that it is by far the most democratic party in town and currently the best solution for the country.
I do not wish to see this country go through an autocracy ever again. I wish the people of Maldives much success today and in the future. Please let good judgement take the lead as you tackle the future of our country and our people. Promote democracy and rule of law!
Muzaffar ‘Muju’ Naeem is a media strategist and consultant. He currently works in the public relations sector. He is a member of the Maldivian Democractic Party and a contributor to the initial democracy movement when he co-founded the Dhivehi Observer.
All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]
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THe root of the problem lies with the 23 Dec activity.
Despite the hypocrisy of the whole event, the whole agenda of the evening, this was the only activity, until then, that made Anni falter in this steps.
one led to the other. hypercritical crowd led by a handful of Mullahs, incompetent Judges, promise of more Mullahs events, warnings by yet more opportunists, hypocrites... led to the events of 7th Feb.
Anni : I would call upon you not give up. But you have to promise, when you return to power, to address the root cause of the worst virus to Democracy. Once and for all.
Very good article Muju. MDP needs to change course too and get them to sort out the people who are not fit to hold position.
This is the biggest problem for MDP. They have a lot of incompetent in important jobs and that is why this whole problem came crashing down.
due to hasty and misjudged recognition of this coup by key intl allies it a favorable outcome is looking unlikely for Anni. I am guessing that the Commonwealth or any investigation to the Feb 7 will be sympathetic to Anni, but will still call for reconciliation, national harmony etc. so the key factor on MDP side is utilize this critical time window to win the public on the illegitimacy of the coup and also discredit parties who supported the coup in a civil manner. MDP also should wait for the very possible cracks to form among the coup partners. Thirdly MDP should go on with their campaign of reforming the judiciary to show its stand is firm and unified.
start the minivan radio in exile in UK . Hon Ibrahim Hussein Zaki should be in the front line party needs you Zaki. support the view party should join the emey coalition government . DR DIDI and HON MOahmed Aslam . IT's high time MDP choose it's presidential canidate moahed nasheeds runing mate in my prosnal opinion it should be mdp vice president uz Alhaan Fahummy or DR DIDI. please give this rebel goverment some time say up untill may 12th 2012 before taking to the streets . I know this may hurt mdpians might want to protest in the roads right now but thats not a responsible opposition . just join waheed but critize them at the same time
Yes, democracy needs to come back ... but no more mystakes like GMR ... they have to go home.
very good article ! Nice thinking and awesome path way !
4. Join the coalition government of President Waheed and work for a solution by working with the “enemy”.
I promise u MDP if u do this ure support will vanquish and we will assume this whole thing is DRAMA ochestrated by u n the opposition. OR RATHER ANNI WAS WRONG . We are fighting for injustice in every single corner of this land and we will stick to it
No one can be more MDP than myself. I fully support this idea.
If u join the current un-democratic government than this would be the biggest human rights abuse ever in the maldives ..... Ochestrated by anni himself . My vote is a NO for joining
Great article. President Nasheed has to be held accountable. He is partly responsible for what happened to the Party. A change in leadership is needed.
In general, a very good post.
The test of a good leader (or even a party) is the ability to withstand a crisis and come out of it stronger. This is the big test before MDP now.
As mentioned above, the MDP needs to do a self reflection to find out what went wrong. Was MPD too accommodating to the fringe and corrupt elements to the point where MDP at times resembled its enemy - that Gayoom set up? These are the questions to be asked.
One of the strengths (and equally a weaknesses) of MDP is that it is an emotional party. People who love MDP do so because of devotion to President Nasheed and not necessarily to MDP. As a consequence, President Nasheed has also built his party around his personal cult (see the similarity with Maumoon, although Maumoon is a different kind of a cult leader).
In the end, MDP become like what MDP hated - the Gayoom set up.
To capitalize on the wide support MDP enjoys especially now, the part needs to be professionally managed. This is a golderb moment for that.
MDP has always worked with confrontation, violence, fear and vandalism. They did all these before coming to power, while they were inpower and after they lost power. Siiting like normal people and dicussing to resolve issues is something which Anni and his MDP mates don't really know at all to do. They have a mentality of dominancy and brutality. They love to operate like Mafia bosses. Its time they are seeing that the ordinary and interlectual maldivians have had enough from them. We will not tolerate any of those crap from MDP anymore. We will pin them down as long as they want to operate via violence and fear. If they want to talk and work with us, we will accept them with open arms. They should stop taking advice from people like Robert Blake and come to work with us in the best interest of the people of this country, not in the best interst of MDP wierd policies.
Anni’s biggest mistake was to start the changes too soon without proper economic reforms, GST, tax, GMR was too soon to implement. Anni should have concentrated in first term on social and economic reforms; the cooperative policy should be in the next term which would have guaranteed if the former was tackled. The next problem was Anni’s rhetoric that was more party oriented than a leader of all people including those who have not voted for MDP and finally to be surrounded by those who involve in anti social behavior and those who are pro western in a majority hard-line Islamic society.
The fourth point of your article is the most important. As the old saying goes, you have to keep your enemies close to you.
Joining the enemy doesn't mean that you agree with them. It gives you a chance to outmanoeuvre them! Nasheed and his team will be well advised to head this advice.
It is important for the MDP to stay calm and formulate a strong policy for going forward. It's not the time for knee jerk reactions. Study all that has happened, study your enemies and most important of all, stay together. Strength comes in numbers.
Nasheed should leave politics. He is a liabilty to the party. Some members feel that he is the driving force. The truth is he is the militant force. There is no room for such a force in the Maldivian society. Let the party members elect a reasonable person to lead them to the next election. We have had a taste of Nasheeds three year rule and let me honestly say it was the most bitter experience the middle class maldivians had go through. True there was the madhana which failed and now is replaced by Aasandha which is bound to go bankrupt in a while. Electricity prices went up. Food prices went up, Rufiyya depreciated just to name a few hardships we had to go through. I will never vote for Nasheed. He is mentally not fit to govern a nation.
Very good article, rooting out incompetency and working with for the next election are great idea's. Lets not put this country into further chaos. I hope this independent probe into the coup goes fairly
MDP seems to be losing friends left right and center. This article has some great suggestions. Its time to think strategically, give space to calmer and more rational people and control the crazy firebrands.
Former President's biggest mistake is his girl friend Mariya Didi, Rekko Moosa and Sarangu Adam Manik.
MDP is currently same as PPM or old DRP. Dr.Didi is nobody! You will always see Mariya next to Nasheed and its as if Mariya is the first lady.
MDP has no internal democractic insitutional arrangement. Its core is corrupt. there are A, B, C grade MP's. Mariya, Eva, Hamid, Ibu and Rekko Moosa are the A grade MP's who are always consulted by Nasheed. And same goes for the cabinet. Kerafa Naseem (zionist agent), Jesus Afeef(just the devil thoughts and no good for anything), Mausoom (does all dirty laundry like take all corrupt money under the table and shows an innocent face) are the core cabinet. Others are just for the show. Anni doesn't know to trust or respect anyone. It is roiting the party. Dr.Didi looks like a puppet. Nasheed controls the party via the Gaumee Majlis with proxy's like Hora Ibbe and NSPA Ibrey. Ibrahim Hussain Zaki is controled by his own greed for more money! Ameen Faisal just a family to be kept at arms lenght happy with lots of high profile jobs and beers. Alhan, Ali Waheed and Abdul Raheem the "prepaid/bought" boys! Then there are some kids at President Office to clean all the smelly shits when Anni orders day and night.
The real master mind is Anni himself for the zionist game plan! He is a monster just like Dr.Waheed and Gayoom. We are experiencing the dark ages.
Anniversary should retire.from active politics. Let Dr Didi run the party.Get rid of the party chair position as it undermines the party president. Get rid of Reeko Moosa from party positions. He is a liability.
President Nasheed was elected President on an MDP ticket. Therefore MDP cannot work with this government, unless the MDP Council withdraws its support for Nasheed. Clearly the MDP COuncil has not done that.
Dr Waheed must resign and we should have fresh elections.
This government is not a legitimate government.
The whole conmversation about not calling a snap election now is because the political parties want more time to campaign.
@Shaheem on Tue, 14th Feb 2012 1:55 AM
"The whole conmversation about not calling a snap election now is because the political parties want more time to campaign."
There's nothing wrong with that. It also gives them time to fight with each other over power. Do you really think Gayyoom or Yamin is going to stand by and hand over power to Waheed or Thasmeen or someone else in an election? Do you think they've forgotten about all the DRP/PA/PPM battles? Hell, no!
Now that the common enemy is out of the picture, time is ripe for jostling for the top job. Achima Shukoor fired the first volley for PPM today. She announced that civil servants salaries should be brought back in line with their previous levels. This is a blatant campaign salvo deep from within PPM on the orders of the dear leader! After all, she put party politics before economic sense and the welfare of the country, in announcing this.
Should MDP join this regime? I think there are grounds on which they can join, provided an external independent public enquiry into the coup d'etat takes place. It has to be supervised by a recognised body outside the Maldives. There simply is no way that any group of locals can carry out an unbiased investigation into it! If MDP play their cards right, they can get this done and join in the temporary administration of the country until elections.
The advantage of that will be enormous. There is much greater potential to make a difference from within the government than from outside. Also, it's a chance to study your enemy from up close! I do hope that they listen to this advice.
Drain the constitution in the garbage?
Why not we start fresh referendums to see if we can agree on our constitution first? How about referendums to interpret every phrase in it too?
A suggestion to accept total power control (almost there now) by former dictator and his (financial) allies is nonsense!
If you leave another human with any of the people below in a confined room for an indefinite amount of time, you can be 100% sure they will survive the longest - because they are cannibalistic by nature.
Gayoom & Brother Yameen - do I need to say anything about these Organized inhumane torturers and multinational drug/oil smugglers?
Gasim & Thasneem - they need to have their financials secured through a judiciary controlled by Gayoom for them. Gasim owes to World Bank (secured by govt in Gayyoom's time). Thasneem owes to BML. And both of these 'pimp' resort owners are Muslim Fundamentals if need be. (23 Dec 2011)
The remaining are either fundamentalists or non-democratic Islamists like Hassan Saeed, Jameel, Imran, Shaheem. Waheed just stepped in and took his vows to uphold the constitution of Gayyoom's cult.
So? what's different with Nasheed? He is no torturer. He is no resort owner. He has no BML or World Bank Loans with cases pending in Criminal court held by Abdulla Ghazee. He is a democrat. May be he doesn't understand what these dirty politicians are capable of. I understand he's a little delusional at times, when he treats these creatures (Gayyoom 'n Co) with the respect deserved only by humans. And this he learnt from his overseas friends - to respect all.
And, what's the position of 'the three powers' now?
Executive: Ousted by coup. (PPM of Gayyoom in control)
Judiciary: Secured from Day 1 (Gayyoom's loyalist judges) and guaranteed for lifetime (4 Aug 2010).
Parliament: soon? (Attempted murder of Reeko & MP Mode's arrest are the first indications, I'd say)
And... who has the final word in interpreting the constitution, no matter what the lawmakers (people's representatives) meant? I heard it was the Judiciary.
If status quo remains till 2013 elections, we'd have broken all the fundamental blocks we built over the past ten odd years towards a democracy. Gayoom would creep into every system of checks and balances before we know it! Starting with MNBC!
In a democracy, people demand 'EQUAL' say and 'EQUAL' rights.
However, if people don't want Equal say or Equal rights, we can forget about democracy. The direction is towards an Islamic Kingdom! Saudi/UAE - here we come to join you!!!!
Almost missed: Abdulla Shahid - long time loyalist of Gayyoom, and his Executive Secretary with the power to execute on behalf of Gayoom during his last two/three terms. Abdulla Shahid is the president of the Parliament.
That's the last of the three power Gayyoom is waiting for - the Law Making!!!
@narxym on Tue, 14th Feb 2012 4:40 AM
"I understand he’s a little delusional at times, when he treats these creatures (Gayyoom ‘n Co) with the respect deserved only by humans. And this he learnt from his overseas friends – to respect all..."
"However, if people don’t want Equal say or Equal rights, we can forget about democracy."
Agree with quite a lot of what you had to say. I know I'm preaching to the choir (the rest are either deaf or blind or both). We all knew Nasheed faced an impossible task. He made the task even harder for himself by coming to the point where even the most unlikely people turned into bed-fellows.
One thing Nasheed should've learned from the British is to use your enemy to your advantage! In politics, you need your enemies as much as your friends. He certainly did a bit of that when he came to power. For whatever reason, he abandoned that golden principle soon afterwards. He had the opportunity to keep his enemies close to him instead of sending them over the fence to start a war with him.
I think the process started when, unexpectedly, MDP lost the Parliamentary elections in a big way. They reacted to this very badly and lost a coherent policy to deal with that. Knee jerk reaction after reaction followed from that point onwards.
Quite often, Nasheed resorted to idealism instead of staying with a bit of pragmatism. What I mean here is that, reforming the entire country (which is needed) just with the support of his party alone is not possible.
However undesirable it may be, he needed the likes of Gasim, Saeed and others closer to him, whilst he chipped away at the layer upon layer of rust and got to the shiny metal core of the country known as The Maldives! If he or someone else can muster the will and strength to do that again, by the will of Allah, they shall succeed.
@ Marie. Totally agree with you
Well said Narxym
It is unfair to suggest that a rebel government be accepted. The acceptance of an illicit government is one thing and preparing to win the elections in 2013 while maintaining the popular support to the party is another.
With greater power comes greater responsibility.Anni failed to make the powers work in his favour. I did'nt say the police force did the right thing in rebelling against Him. They should'nt do that as long as they have a last drop of blood running in their veins. I strongly condemn their acts on that day, though i'm in the National Defence Force.Anni actually treated us as dogs. And still i did'nt say we should rebel. If ever he comes to power in 2013 again i hope he takes us as humans ....
@Antonio
You are speaking in your personal interest because you are a shareholder of Alpha MVKB and your shop has been legally taken over by GMR. If you seriously want to do something for the general citizen of Maldives - you will not have mentioned about GMR. It was not a mistake. It was intended. Check state income from GMR vs. Previous figures.
In a democracy, no one cares singular interests of tycoons like you. Its about our people, not your money. Get a life!
Good Article...
I have something very important to say on this and maybe many have not thought about this.
It is in the constitution that if there is a huge national interest then the Government should have a national referendum on it. We had one on the Presidential or Prime Minister style government.
Now Waheed says he agrees to an inquiry on whether Anni was forced to resign or not. That means that he has doubts about the legality of this or has agreed that the people of Maldives has doubts about the legality of his resignation.
So in these cases the constitution says a referendum should be held.
Why not hold a referendum to see if Anni was forced to resign or he resigned under on his own without any duress?
This would clear the whole matter and the people of Maldives would have spoken and no one not even Anni can say anything against the decision of the people.
@manik
You'll first check what the Supreme Court's interpretation of that clause is. Wanna guess his answer?
@manik on Tue, 14th Feb 2012 3:38 PM
"Why not hold a referendum to see if Anni was forced to resign or he resigned under on his own without any duress?"
With due respect, I don't think that's a good way to solve this particular issue. Referenda are held to gather opinions on political issues.
The investigation of the coup needs factual accuracy above all. There should be no emotional content involved at all. This is why I would like to have an international team carry out this; at least lead the exercise. Total impartially is paramount as well.
There is an issue where we can hold a referendum. That is on the handover of power to the Speaker until elections and the length of the Speaker's caretaker government.
MDP's peaceful march today is an example of what they CAN do! That kind of peaceful protest is very important, not because it will achieve much in the short term, but for the longer term benefits that it brings.
The clever thing to do is NOT to hold them too often; otherwise, the public will get weary of them. Hold bigger and well organised protests every now and then, just to remind the people that there's a cause worth fighting for and to remind the illegal regime of the price it has to pay.
The one thing that will terrify this illegal regime more than anything else is to see thousands of people marching on the streets. They'll do their utmost to prevent that.
Narxym, I do not need to ask the Supreme court about it if you look at the constitution. The issue here is much more than an opinion and Waheed is being pushed into a corner and his legitimacy comes from the people and not from a book or the guns of the military.
As far as the Speaker's caretaker government there is also a length specified in the constitution.
The MDP should re-think their very existence. The people have spoken.
Heed my words. Nasheeds demise is a result of his own misconduct, the final manifestation of which, was his brazenly unconstitutional assault on the independence of our judiciary. Was he so jettissoned from reality that he expected no counter-reaction?
I pity the deluded fools who still give their loyalty to this man. Though something clearly needs to be done about them before more harm comes to public property and to our brave men and women in uniform.
tsk, you are a disgrace to our country. I do not care for the MDP. I care for democracy be it MDP, PPM or DRP or any other party. I would say the same thing if any legally elected President in a free and fair elections is thrown out by a coup.
The MNDF and The Police are a disgrace to the Uniform they wear. They should be ashamed of being called soldiers. They are not soldiers but traitors.
@tsk tsk...
Don't threat, when you are anonymous - you make a fool out of your self!
MDP will not let this country be ruled by autocratic rule of Gayoom and his cronies, with death & torture threats. You'll have to kill them to stop them demand freedom from dictatorship.
You quoted "Independence of our judiciary?" - tells a lot about you!
@manik
As much as I hope that the constitution be respected and upheld, I don't see how it could be done with the controls this coup regime have on us now!
Judiciary is under the dictatorship (look at the records of their decisions on anything related to the gang Ghassan/Yameen/Nazim/Abdulla Hameed/Ilyas Ibrahim on and on and on...)
If at all, the clause that you are referring to is being raised (say by the parliament, to go for a referendum), the opposition (the Baghee 'coup' govt) will push a case into the Supreme Court for correct interpretation of the clause. And it will be as they want it. Supreme Court has accepted Waheed as legitimate.
Speaker's caretaker govt. will not come into effect unless Waheed resigns. Since, he has not (and would not)... the 'coup' regime stays.
Constitution is just a chunk of paper for the Judiciary and now the Executive. The only people (from the three powers) who respects its truthful essence are a handful MPs.
I hope too that there is some workable solution to this. May be it's just me, but I do not see how we can re-consolidate a democracy in this country with current power holders staying in their positions. Its headed right back to 1978, with an Arab twist.
Conveniently, Dhunya Maumoon now claims that outsiders have no role in our affairs. How very convenient. Her party has been doing the rounds to various diplomatic missions in the last few months trying to draw attention to the Maldives' internal affairs.
Now that her family is once again back in power, the tune has changed completely! Of course we all know why. Their biggest fear is that an unbiased international investigation into the events leading up to the resignation of the President will find it was illegal and was a coup d'etat!
I always knew that the first group that will oppose such an unbiased investigation would be none other than PPM. They seem to think they've masterminded the perfect "murder" of our infant democracy.
If they think this, they seriously underestimate us, the public. We can outsmart you lot anyday 🙂
I think the article has some really good suggestions idealistically.
But it does not necessarily reflect the current facts on the ground. With all the powers currently vested in the opposition, everything hinges on how long prominent MDP members are going to be left alone before they are thrown into jail for what ever reason the opposition can come up with.
It didn't take them too long to have the arrest warrant out for Anni and the police have already declared that they will use it strategically and will use it when ever they feel like using it.
And with due respect, all those people who were and are being abused currently are not necessary MDP people. And I strongly feel that the majority of the people who voted for Anni in the first place are people not aligned with any political party at all. And all the people who are currently following MDP rallies and rooting for them are also not MDP.
Why shouldn't they be consulted as well? This is a national matter now and not just an MDP issue.
The current people in the government will drain the will power of everyone if we don't hold strong and I feel that given the current situation we all will lose in the end if we retreat. I am not saying that we should retaliate and pillage and burn private and public property and use abusive vitriol, but no should we pull back. The past 3 years is testimony to the level of enmity and hatred they can whip up when they are left alone.
Sure there are many things that I am not happy with as far as MDP is concerned and many things that need reforming. And don't be alarmed, I am not talking about religion. As far as that is concerned I am of the opinion that few politically motivated Sheiks manipulated the masses to rebel when they should have stuck to preaching Islamic fundamentals for now (such as prayer) gradually and with tolerance so more people are inclined to listen. Religion cannot be forced down peoples throat and the existing antagonism towards religion among the youth is a result of such hardline approaches. Muslims are not supposed to look down up on each other no matter what (Sheik or not), but we should always advice our brother or sister in Islam if they seem to be veering from the correct path.
We can only advice and keep on advising and praying for each other but Allah is the one who decides who to guide and who not to guide. And we should never be arrogant enough to think that we are better than somebody else when Allah is the one who knows our true selves. There could always be something about another person who seem a little lax with regards to religion, that is more acceptable to Allah than someone with a full beard and shortened trousers or a women in full Niqab like me.
That is the teaching of our beloved Prophet Mohamed (SAW). Allah is the judge and its not for human beings to decide who is more or less religious. I try to live with this in my mind since I started educating myself more on Islam. All I can say most sincerely is that I believe that Anni has done more for our religion in the past 3 years compared to the previous regimes 30 years. He ruled by the principal live and let live with regards to most things including religion.
I do hope people would refrain from resorting to accusing all the Sheiks of fundamentalism because of participation in the 23 Dec rally. There were those that did not participate, but there were some who did participate and even made speeches even though you could easily distinguish them from the hardliners from their nonpolitical manner of speaking such as Sheik Ali Zahir. We all make mistakes including prominent and great Sheiks and participating in that rally was in my opinion one of those mistakes. Especially when they had to take turns with the opposition and hardline Islamic speakers who interjected the whole incidence with thinly veiled occasional bouts of venom.
Anyways the current situation is more about fighting for human justice. The minute MDP pulls back to lick the wounds privately all those who have been brutally abused so unjustly would have no where to turn to given that the current government still haven't even admitted to their abuses.
I don't think we should ever refrain from fighting for justice. Sure things are going to be extremely testing for all of us but we never get what we don't fight for. Remember how many sacrifices we had to make back then when we fought for justice?...well we are currently back in square one so we should keep going.
But having said that I am all for thinking strategically and acting in a manner which would be non retaliatory, and I think the petition is a good start. We can take stock and change the course along the way but I am not going to advocate for people like Reeko to be completely sidelined when he was subjected to such abuse. But we should try to not let him hijack the cause as well and treat him respectfully in the process.
Niqabi Sister, well said. I also hope that MDP becomes an advocate for all the people of Maldives who support democracy and not only for its members.
One can support democracy without being joining a party. The DRP should have used this opportunity to show to the people that it could have been an alternative to the MDP but as Maldivians are big fools, they also lost that opportunity. Now DRP would be eaten by Gayoom's PPM.
We all need to stand up and be counted in this fight against tyranny and despotism. How can someone like Waheed who studied in Stanford be so low that he thinks he can get away with this? Does he think that the rest of the people are so stupid?
tsk tsk
Whatever you say the fact is that it is because of this man you so despise and passionately condemn that you can write your comment in this internet magazine. That is recorded history. Looks like you have forgotten it was Hassan Saeed, Munawar and Gayoom who would not allow political parties and freedom of expression and threw everyone who called for democracy into jail!!
You must suffer from amnesia, maybe short term memory loss???
I do agree with the writer and have been waiting for such an initiative from some one who loves MDP and Maldivians as well.
MDP should strengthen strategies.
Leave no room for errors and defaults.
It must rethink and restrengthen strategies all the time.
Every Kings have good and bad advicers but I don't see any good advicers in Nasheed's inner circle. He had Militant Extremists such as Reeko Moosa, Hassan Afeef , Maria , Thimarafushiee Mustafa , Raabow Zaki , Ali Waheed . The only persion missing is Umaru Naseeru. I wonder why MDP went counter protests and confrontation with opposition protesters While they were in power despite the fact that Opposition protesters were less than hundred . ( most people were spectators)