So much for ‘Yameen The Strong’, the tough, gunda boss: alleged purveyor of illegal oil to the Burmese Junta and other illegal substances to Male’s youth. Instead, he should be known as Yameen The Chicken, or Yameen The Meek.
For Abdulla Yameen is clearly scared of the Maldivian electorate, and afraid of losing the second round presidential polls. Why else would he conspire with half-brother Gayoom to get the Supreme Court to indefinitely postpone the vote? There can only be one explanation for PPM’s delaying tactics: Yameen knows that in a second round fight, the MDP’s Mohamed Nasheed will kick his ass.
Yameen’s election campaign has been lacklustre at best. He rarely campaigns, his policies sound as if they are made up as he goes along and, as I pointed out in my previous column, Yameen seems incapable of dropping his semi-permanent and voter-off-putting sneer.
Yameen barely scraped second place in the first round on 7 September, despite inheriting the second largest political operation in the country: the PPM. Yameen acquired a paltry 25.35 percent of the vote, to Nasheed’s 45.45 percent. Since then, the DRP has joined forces with Nasheed, likely pushing his vote above 50 percent and leaving Yameen’s campaign in big trouble.
And so, rather than choosing to man-up and fight Nasheed head-on, Yameen has hidden behind a bench of thieves, porn-stars and illiterates otherwise known as the Supreme Court of the Republic of Maldives.
The Supreme Court has entertained a ludicrous case about voter irregularities by third-placed Gasim Ibrahim – another Gayoom stooge. This farcical trial, involving witnesses “who heard from someone there was voter fraud”, has been used by the court to delay the second round indefinitely, despite numerous foreign and local election observers praising the vote for being free and fair.
Yameen’s gambit appears to be to delay the second round for as long as possible – perhaps until the New Year – so, in the words of his lawyer, PPM has “time to campaign.” Or maybe his game-plan is to get rid of the Elections Commission, so his mate Abdulla Riyaz – Police Commissioner and coup d’état perpetrator extraordinaire – can take over the voting process and rig it in Yameen’s favour.
Yameen’s running mate, Mohamed ‘Angry Bird’ Jameel has even muttered dark thoughts about disqualifying Nasheed from the race entirely, by re-starting the politicised trial against him over his decision, when president, to detain a corrupt judge.
Yameen’s undemocratic (and unconstitutional) behaviour might not be surprising. He is, after all, the little brother of a vicious dictator. But it does smack of cowardice. Because leaders – real leaders, that is – don’t hide. They don’t cower. And they don’t duck out of a fight, and get big brother to fight it for them.
Yameen has been accused of many things since the start of the election campaign. Hassan Saeed vowed to put Yameen on trial for the theft of US$800 million of state-owned oil, which Yameen allegedly stole while head of STO. Umar Naseer claimed Yameen peddles drugs, and pays street gangs to attack his political opponents. Mohamed Nasheed has called on people to be “mindful” of Yameen’s dark past and dodgy character.
But now the PPM candidate faces a new charge. One that, for an aspiring Head of State, is perhaps most damaging of all: that he is a chicken and a coward. He is Yameen The Meek.
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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This is an impartial, factual and unbiased exemplary journalism with fine professionalism.
We need more..
Where in the world do you get impartial newspapers or TV channels?
LOL! A little irony is always refreshing in these times @poignant.
I had spoken out before about Minivan being forced to drop their standards by giving web-space to childish blog posts and silly rants.
I am sure the writer's hate for all things not MDP is genuine and beyond sincere. However the young one should try and look up about other politicians and senior figures in the Maldives instead of his heroes as well.
It is true that Justice Ali Hameed Mohamed's continued presence on the Supreme Court bench has done untold damage to the Supreme Court and its image and standing in particular. However the young lad must try and control his anger and refrain from using generalizations that may be untrue and in the case of the other Justices undeserved.
Yes Justice Ali Hameed Mohamed was caught with his pants down in a widely circulated video, but labeling the rest of the Justices appointed by Ex-President Nasheed as "illiterate" and "thieves" is not a mere smear but downright character assassination. The lad must be forgiven for his poor awareness on such issues. If he had just referred to the Supreme Court website or asked his mom and dad about some of the esteemed personalities in the court and also some of the less-esteemed who are still far from "illiterate" then he would have thought of rephrasing his statement.
I know the young will find these things hard to understand but I think it is best for all of us to remember that we will need a judiciary after this election as well and we should refrain from destroying the entire institution out of our disgust for one errant Justice.
Your anger should be rightly directed at the politicians who framed the Constitution in a way that left the judicial oversight body (JSC) paralyzed. Your ire should be aimed at the Parliament that has consistently failed to hold the JSC accountable. You should direct your anger at the former President and the then opposition for appointing a Supreme Court bench consisting of some characters who are less than "supreme".
Another excellent piece of journalism! "hidden behind a bench of thieves, porn-stars and illiterates otherwise known as the Supreme Court of the Republic of Maldives."
The best thing the baagees could do now is to arrest all the local journalists, expel any foreign reporters and shut down all Internet access. That would enable 'Shelob' Gayoom to continue pulling the strings of his puppets without any interference from the rest of the world. Oh, and ban alcohol from the tourist resorts and enforce separate bathing beaches. Then the clowns will have finally taken over the circus!
Meekness is one of the Seven virtues in
Christian tradition (future Aneh Dhivehi Raajje!)
Jesus of Nazareth preached, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth".
This is an editorial comment. If I'm not mistaken and editorial comment is a way for individuals in the media to express their opinion outside regular articles and stories. So Of cause this article is biased. It's meant to be.
Or have I been under the wrong impression this whole time?
True this is a comment piece, nothing to do with minivannews journalism, something to keep in mind when commenting here.
Yes, Christianity always made a virtue of meekness. Guess what! If the poor are kept meek and poor, than the rich and the successful can get on with exploting them!(this is a one sentence summary of religions of all sorts, not just Christianity.!) Meekness is not a virtue in all circumstances.
However, lets establish the correct diction here. Yameen is not meek. He is simply gutless.
This article is slanted. It expresses an opinion... but it's analysis of the situation is about right. And of Yameen. He is a coward.
Comment pieces are by definition opinions and don't have to be unbiased. Some of you are more than just a little slow but again that's what 30 years of dictatorship will get you. News articles written by journalists are supposed to be based on facts and not opinion. That is what editorial pieces are for and that's exactly why there's a disclaimer at the bottom.
The Supreme Court judges are on the side of the people, and the Army are on the side of the people.
So say some Maldivians.
If this is actually true, may I ask you who are these people you refer to, and where are these people?
The Supreme Court and the Army have always sided with the rulers in the Maldives. They have been tools in the hands of the rulers.
They have not been independent institutions with different codes of conduct from the Executive's mode of functioning.
They have supported the status quo, and trampled on the fundamental rights of the people.
These are the lessons of Maldivian history.
Maldives have a long way to go to become a democracy.
Maldives have a long political journey in order to become a modern state.
You cannot destroy the Election Commission and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and still call yourselves post-dictatorial organs of state machinery in the Maldives.
Nice article. Many "silent" Maldivians share this view and are waiting for the polls to clean their country. They do not necessarily support MDP but they want democracy and want the economy to flourish again giving everybody equal opportunities to achieve their goals in life. Some people want chaos to stick to power and they don't care about anything else than their own personal interests and dirty business. I hope we see the light very soon...
I LOVE a person who is generally meek, generous, humble, kind hearted, yet knows how to be strong when standing up for the rights of others.
The Yameen I met was the opposite.
He was generally arrogant, a bully, rude, obnoxious, lacking empathy, yet MEEK and cowardly when it comes to standing up for the rights of others.
Yaameen is not meek. He is DANGEROUS. He should be watched carefully. He might do just about anything to secure the power he craves. It is every MAldivian's patriotic duty to keep their eyes open and to remain vigilant where Yaameen is concerned. If he does acquire the power he craves you can be rest assured he will drive the country into bankruptcy and the coming generations will pay for this folly. The man's track record speaks for itself.
Yameen's facial expressions says it all. He can barely smile. A coward. He has no compassion or feelings for the country and his fellow country men, The gay-Yoom clan are power hungry bunch of idiots.