Comment: Social fabric on verge of being ripped apart

Extract from a 22-page dossier published by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), entitled “Abuse of Power and Assault on Democracy: A Dossier on the First 500 Days of the Nasheed Administration”

At the onset, the DRP wishes to welcome all the distinguished delegates attending this year’s donor conference. We are pleased to note that the concept of hosting a donor conference in the Maldives annually was developed during the previous administration, and that the Nasheed administration has decided to adhere to this policy.

This donor conference takes place at a time when the Maldivian public feels deceived and let down by the government. Lawlessness has become the norm, people have lost hope, government controls the state media, stabbing and beating of private reporters and journalists has become commonplace, brute force including teargas is used to suppress peaceful dissent, and members of parliament and key opposition leaders are facing arrest and detention.

Democracy in the Maldives, in short, is in peril, and the country’s social fabric is on the verge of being ripped apart.

We need every help we can get to implement meaningful development, restore normalcy, hope, security and the rule of law, and to protect democracy. However such assistance needs to be tied to measurable targets in promoting democracy.

The DRP acknowledges the so called ‘five key pledges’ of the MDP government, and the many additionally promises made by President Nasheed during the 2008 election campaign. We call on President Nasheed to honour the large number of pledges!

We are, nevertheless, deeply concerned by his callous disregard for the sensitivities and wellbeing of the public. We are also concerned by the flawed policies used to implement the ‘five key pledges’.

Civil servants

The government’s rush to downsize the civil service within the year by over 9000 civil servants, who account for almost one tenth of the country’s labour force and breadwinners, is a very serious concern.

The fear of redundancy has created psychological anguish among the whole civil service and their families who account for about one third of the country’s population. The policy is bound to be counterproductive especially in the Maldives, where low and declining labour force participation rate has been identified as one of the most serious problems encouraging drug abuse and other social evils. It is outrageous that the government is going ahead with this flawed policy even after the majority in Parliament has given a clear message that the policy is unacceptable.

Reducing the public sector wage bill is important, but it has to be done gradually to ensure social stability. Government’s proposed saving of US$ 24.8 million a year compared to 2008, through forced redundancy of one tenth of the county’s breadwinners, sounds absurd in a democracy.

The government’s justification for the redundancies has no merit at all when we consider that the proposed saving of US$24.8 million is accompanied by a government’s proposal to increase other allowances to employees by over US$71.9 million a year compared to 2008. Most of these allowances will inevitably end up lining the pockets of political appointees.

Furthermore, the continuing appointment of political appointees, with average salaries eight times higher than civil servants, clearly shows that the government’s intention is not the reduction of the wage bill but a reallocation of it from civil servants to MDP supporters and activists.

At the moment the average salary of a civil servant is approximately Rf2,800 while the average salary of a political appointee is Rf24,793 according to information given to Parliament by the Finance Minister. Nasheed’s government which came to power promising a leaner public service has today more political appointees than the previous government and most democracies like UK, Norway and Denmark.

Foreign assistance needs to be conditional on a freeze on appointment of political appointees until parliament can set a ceiling for political appointees. DRP strongly feels that any reduction in civil servants needs to be accompanied by an equivalent reduction in political appointees based on salary if the process is to have acceptance of the public.

Lack of conviction

The donor community must also exert due pressure on the government to implement an immediate freeze on the release of drug dealers and serious offenders from jail before they complete their sentence. The current practice is leading to rising crime and violence, and it surely does not send out the right signals to the donor community.

I call on President Nasheed to stop the lying and to make good on all the pledges including the pledge for a mid-term election. There is a serious need for his administration to regain public confidence. I note that present popularity ratings of the MDP government are at a pitiful 15%.

President Nasheed needs to implement urgent measures to free the state media and to protect journalists in the country. Also, the stranglehold on the civilian police force, through his Home Minister, must be loosened with immediate effect. I call on all participating delegates to urge the government to stop its current practice of arbitrarily arresting opposition activists and leaders. In two nights this week alone, no less than 40 such arrests were made.

I believe it is time for the international community to closely scrutinise the Nasheed administration’s democracy and human rights record, as, far from his cosmetic image of being a staunch supporter of human rights, he has become the biggest perpetrator in living memory.

As the largest political party in the country, the DRP is committed to ensuring that the rights of the Maldivian people are upheld and that the government is held to account for its failure to deliver on its pledges.

President Nasheed resorting to desperate, unconstitutional and heavy-handed tactics to cling on to power and crush the rising opposition movement is likely to lead to violence, unrest and even civil war in the country!

President Nasheed’s failure to deliver on his promises of upholding democratic principles and the widening gulf between his actions domestically and words overseas has resulted in an overall loss in public faith in the democratic reform agenda.

Also, the opposition, now a majority in numbers in the country, have very little avenue to voice their concerns, as the MDP government continues to keep a tight grip on the media, with full control of the state media.

The opposition DRP is currently dispatching envoys to meet with key diplomatic stakeholders to seek assistance in exerting pressure on President Nasheed to put an end to these Soviet-style ‘show trials’. We believe that the international community, who worked hand-in-hand with us in implementing the democratic reform agenda, has a moral obligation to ensure that the opposition movement can continue to fulfil its parliamentary and institutional duties to the people, without intimidation, harassment and bullying.