The greatest threat to democracy in the Maldives is the “growing extremism among Maldivians”, according to Maldives High Commissioner to the UK Dr Farahanaz Faizal.
Speaking to the House of Parliament during a meeting on November 2, Dr Faizal cited objections within the country to the appointment of women to senior posts in the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM). She also highlighted the practice of preaching against the vaccination of children.
Dr Faizal also stated that she believed that although both the government and the current leadership of the opposition were committed to democracy, the greatest threat to democracy “lies in growing religious extremism.”
The meeting, organised by the All Party Group on third world democracy in collaboration with the UK parliament’s All Party Maldives group and assisted by the Maldives High Commission, was chaired by David Anderson MP. Speakers included Dr Faizal, Chair of the UK-Maldives All Party Parliamentary Group MP David Amess, Chair of the Commonwealth Journalists Association Rita Payne, journalist Mark Seddon, Chair of Third World Solidarity Mushtaq Lasharie, and Yameen Shahid, a member of the Maldivian student community and son of the Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid.
Others present were Sir Ivan Lawrence, MP Gary Streeter, members of the Maldives High Commission, Friends of Maldives founder David Hardingham, Paul Moorcraft, Karen Lumley from the Conservative Party, BBC journalist Adam Mynott and Islamic scholar Idris Tawfiq.
Representing young people in the Maldives, Yameen highlighted the need for education on democracy and called for Maldivian politicians to work together and serve the best interests of the people.
Yameen also accused the police of using excessive force towards drug users in the Maldives, claiming that the future of Maldives was bright as young people took the initiative to solve the drug issues facing the country.
MP David Amess and Mark Seddon called for more support for the young democracy in the Maldives, calling it a “fragile flower” that needs support, “especially from the EU.”
Amess went further, calling for more support from the British Government given the long association between the UK and the Maldives.
Idris Tawfeeq the Islamic Scholar maintained that it was important to support the Maldives without interfering in the internal affairs of the country. He also stressed the importance of young people being involved more in political life.
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it is also important for muslims not to terrorize citizens of other, particularly western, countries. and muslim preachers to not breed intolerance by giving sermons about the impurity of infidels and their plans to destroy the Islamic castle, and how infidels will burn in hell with detailed accounts of their torture.
Finally. I'm so happy to see the issue of religious extremism in Maldives discussed at this level.
Because we maldivians come from a stigma-based culture where even saying anything religious is considered being an "infidel". So many people tend to shy away from saying anything against these big-bearded-short-trousered cult- for having under-age concubines, and stopping their kids from vaccines claiming that it contains brain washing chemicals from the western world.,stopping children's education because teachers are not muslim or because they teach science.
In the Maldives we have extreme social issues like drug-addiction and gang-violence, which are constantly debated and discussed among ourselves. But people tend to ignore the real threat to our society which have been slowly growing like a plague - religious extremism.
And looks like Maldives have a lot of work to do to get rid of these mullahs, who have even got a ministry to run in the government.
finally the governemnt and drp is standing against extremism, down will adhaalath fall. unfortunatly we have under water caves to hide meaning there is no place to hide in madlives if they plan to go underground.
Out of context and uninformed journalism is also a threat. Bigotry while pointing fingers at others. Islamophobia. Nepotism. Cronyism. Psychos like Umar Naseer. These are all threats. Not just extremism in religion. But all aspects of life.
wrong, the greatest threat to Maldives (forget democracy) is the politicians and the members of the parliament!
The greatest threat to Maldives is the extremism. That is not to say the others are harmless. The others could become worse, much much worse because they are being driven by idiots, maniacs, con-artists with pure unadulterated greed.
In case of religious extremism, the drivers are mostly blind faith, fueled by paki's , saudi's. These guys have their fantasies of heaven driving their stupid visions.
Neither is good for the country now. This is a fledging democracy, barely standing, and these gale forces are pulling it apart.
We need help. Desperately need external help. To crush extremism, to root out corruption, to make the political parties responsible for their actions.
Or else, its neither global warming nor a Tsunmi that will destroy this island nation, but a combination of these poisons.
Im with haama
It would have been good if she had explained what she meant by 'religious extremism'. However, regardless of how one defines it, it may not necessarily be a threat to democarcy. The real threat democracy in the Maldives lies in its effectiveness in creating a just and egalitarian society; its effectiveness in addressing the challenges facing Maldivian society namely drug abuse, violence, unemployment; its effectiveness in dealing with corruption and nepotism. If democracy is able to address these issues successfully and thus help citizens to trust such a system system of governance, democracy will prevail. However, if it were unable to address these issues and people see it as a tool abused by politicians to serve their personal interests, there will be others who will suggesst other alternatives, whether these will work or not, and religion will remain - at least for foreseeable future - one attractive alternative.
The greatest threat to democracy is our current regime. Talking about things like extremisim that suits western countries ears is a start of a big game to hold on power. From what we are seeing, the current regime will be more brutal than Gay-oom's regime - just wait and see..
"Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those who say “We are Christians”: because amongst these are men devoted to learning (priests), and men who have renounced the world (monks), and they are not arrogant. And then they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth. They pray: ‘Our Lord! We believe, write us down among the witnesses.’ (Surat Al-Maida 82-83)”
Everybody seems to have an idea of what is the greatest threat to the country. The threat Dr. Farahanaz Faisal raised is the one the media loves to grab and digest most.
We believe there is also an equally important and a very important threat perhaps even bigger than the extremist threat. We would like to call this threat 'brainlessness'. Our government's top echelons has this delusion of fighting this continuous war of evil against good and this dangerous delusion is unfortunately bringing us more negative publicity than anything else. Our country relies greatly on tourism and our selling point in tourism is peaceful islands, sandy beaches, beautiful weather etc. But we are constantly killing our public image of peaceful islands by being covetous of media attention. This is understandable as media was suppressed for so long under the former administration. However media has to be used and sought wisely otherwise we will end up getting a lot of publicity but not the kind we want.
Forget about democracy. The greatest threat to the existence of Maldives are the people. We are against our own people. We are more of a certain party than we are Maldivians. We are just puppets of our defective politicians. We need to wake up or those Hippocrates will destroy us.
Lets simplify it...make the Constitution democratic... No way to have a democracy when you try to build it on the wrong foundation. Biggest flaw is binding it to Shariah which is effectively a struggling ideology among Islamic scholars.
The very root - the Constitution causes the violence and contradicts one of the pillars of democracy
Then social justice is completely lacking
Lets simplify it...make the Constitution democratic... No way to have a democracy when you try to build it on the wrong foundation. Biggest flaw is binding it to Shariah which is effectively a struggling ideology among Islamic scholars.
The very root - the Constitution causes the violence and contradicts one of the pillars of democracy
Then social justice is completely lacking and it is not possible to achieve it as long as Islamic inheritance laws prevail.
Participatory democracy is not possible and people have not say...
And last not least even environment belongs to the Government and not to the people..
Greatest threat to maldives democracy are Maldivians themselves. Beat that.
let's hope they succeed
Islam and democracy are totally incompatible. Name one democratic islamic state in this world? Most islamic countries are backward, intolerant places. Democracy and secularism work in India because the majority of its people are Hindus. Muslim majority states end up like Maldives and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Maldives Resort Workers you are the result of 30 years of dictatorship plus. Totally backward fellows with your head stuck somewhere the sun never shine.
hey!hey!hey! dnt try to define extremism only on one side.point number one to be noted is that extremism can occur in two ways.first is that being more religious than wht rasulullah has advised...some of the examples could be objecting to vaccinations,and the belief that girls shouldnt attend to schools..to name a few..second way of extremism is negligence.not following islam properly.even the one(farahanaz) who mentioned extremism as a threat to democracy is an extreamist in this regard.yes, so i agree with her if she meant the same.
Religious extremism is a threat to the well being of a people, living in peace.
Stemming from a view of intolerance, people with so called "extreme" views do not embrace the fact that different Muslims interpret the Holy Quran differently. Thus making it turbulent to live together, without the tolerance.
Just like any type of oppressive thinking, extremists too use "fear" to oppress.
It is not merely democracy that extremism is a threat to... it is the peace and well being of the people it threatens. And YES, it is here... has been taking form, at a rapid rate, for a while...unhindered... still continues... The Islamic Ministry of the govt it self comes up with some intolerant views... so does the Parliament... and the judges...
May Allah have mercy on our nation an humanity. People are mistaking each and every word they utter or doing it purposely to get support of some group of people or nations .
What is Extremism? hussain on Thu, 4th Nov 2010 11:37 PM , has a very valid point.
I say " The biggest threat to the so called "flawed version of democracy (a theoretical, biased, and fundamentally extreme in all sense, that has proven itself the biggest obstacle for the proponents of the said "democracy" itself) is and will be the biggest obstacle for a practical democracy. What some perceive as democracy maybe different from the ideological democracy people is believing. For the common person "democracy" means fairness, practical and a decent way of life, ...but for some others it means absolute rights not respecting the others rights. So what is the balance? The Way Of Life Our Creator had Chosen for us.
This is a shame that Dr Faizal (Farahanaz) to blame purely on religious or even irreligious extremism as the biggest threat for democracy, while we the people is witnessing the extremism in politics, corruption, moral devaluation of the people.Some leaders had failed this nation for too long and it has become evident that intellectual freedom given to us by Allah was chained during past regimes and now the intellectual freedom is being used against the beliefs and way of life that Allah had chosen for us, by the extremism in Politics, Satanism, and misguided so called "Mullahs" as well.(No All but some and other cases few from these groups of people)
People need to educate themselves to protect their minds from such deceptions played extremely by all people in authority. They need to guard their thoughts and minds through remembrance of Allah. We need to understand that our Creator gave a guidance through Glorious Quran and no human be it a Mullah, Shaikh, High Commissioner to the UK or any other (Dr Farahanaz Faizal or any one else).,Parliamentarian, Cabinet or state Minister, Director, OR even the President can triumph over that. If they say anything ask for proof. Allah had given all proofs in the Glorious Quran and within our own souls, bodies and environment. Then ARE We to just allow all these people in authority to over rule our Creators guidance, ARE We to believe all they say just without asking for proof while our Creator had with mercy given us all proofs, signs though Allah don't need our support and prayers accept for our own benefit. ARE we to believe the people are much greater than the SCIENCE (Knowledge) of Allah AND the Signs (Proofs, teachings, guidance, Ayats) of Allah?
No, We Only submit our will to Allah alone. And From Allah we seek help and guidance and as it is instructed in his guidance we obey the rules of our communities & leaders as long as it doesn't go against Quran (Allah's guidance to us) and Allah's Messenger.
May Allah give us all guidance and protect us from the evils of ourselves and the evils around us. May Allah bless humanity with real understanding and real happiness.
In Allah Almighty We Trust.
Not only islamic extremism but extremism of any kind is dangerous. Extremist political views is leading Maldives to hell on earth.
In my opinion when Presidents Special envoy tries to justify the nov 3rd killing of 19 Maldivians by terrorists and blame an undemocratic government for that,( although undemocratic he didn't resign but had to be kicked out) he is not different than Osama Bin Laden and therefore is an extremist even if he doesnt have a beard.
One is a secular extremist and the other an islamic extremist. But seems that their means to achieve what they want and how they see things can be the same.
I have a feeling that MDP government is the most undemocratic government Maldives have ever had and it will turn to a dictatorship by 2015 if they win the next election. So do I have the right to carry an AK 47, go to presidents palace and kill whomever I see in the name of democracy? What kind of extremist will I be? Islamist or democratic?
glad to knw they acknowledge that, even when MDP is in bed with wahhabi fanatic adhaalath party . religious extremism is actually one of the biggest threats to mankind. the world would be a much better place without it. no, i DID NOT mean religion. and NO, im not spreading any religion or atheism here. i believe religion and spirituality is important for mankind. but extremism fanaticism intolerance and dogmatism of anykind is dangerous. this includes hindu, christian atheist muslim jewish..etc extremists.
the reasons WHY extremism is dangerous to maldives and maldivians is very long. maybe i should make a list. hmm. lets begin with; its gonna friggin destory democracy from inside and harm our sovereignty by joining backward extremist emirates elsewhere. they are not even trying to hide their goal, just spilling it out in the open. also their intention to replace the current constitution with one which adheres to the strictest interpretation of shariah law.
Extremism that sounds great. .. Unfortunately, we've been hearing similar things from dictator maumoon for years, when he hates somebody he becomes extremist or a terrorist.. blah blah blah!
Farahanaz faisal .. Has No Clue What She's Talking About When It Comes To threat and National security and her statement is a clear proof ..
It's amazing that so much can happen and make so little of an impression on the brain of diplomat like farhanaz fasial .. besides, stupid yameen and farahnaz has demonstrated today that they are still so out of touch that there is no use in hoping for any useful outcome from these high commissions and forums , Ask any body with common sense ? “the greatest threat to this country is our own incompetent Police force in stopping the drug dealers and gangs etc .. also the MNDF still waiting to see what the police are up to, and the judiciary and the parliament” .. I don’t think anybody will disagree with me …
The international traffic in illicit drugs contributes to terrorist risk through at
least five mechanisms: supplying cash, creating chaos and instability, supporting
corruption, providing “cover” and sustaining common infrastructures for illicit
activity, and competing for law enforcement and intelligence attention. Of these,
cash and chaos are likely to be the two most important…and this is the phenomenon in this country, thank you
The greatest threat to Maldives today is the attitude stubourness of MP'S the ruling with their Executives and the opposition
Intellectual freedom is not available to everyone in Maldives. Only the religious clergy have full intellectual freedom. They are the only ones who can freely express their views. Anyone who questions the extremist views they propagate is silenced because people are still afraid to speak out because of the fear of being labelled as an infidel. I agree that unless everyone is able to express freely without the fear of social punishment, there will be no real democracy in the country.
What? Seriously ?! So its all extremist in Maldives politics?!!.. haahah seriously extremal what a Joke babe?
Its all the political leaders the biggest threat to Democracy... because they dont fit to be in there ..
Dont blame on extremest ... blame your own ppl babe..
I hate Maldives now..
Happy blasting...
"Yameen called for Maldivian politicians to work together and serve the best interests of the people"
are you kidding me. if honesty was suddenly introduced, the whole system would collapse as George Carlin said.
Farahanaz is Defence Minister's SIster , We have Extreme Nepotism and Cronysm.
Tourism Minister is going to be Zulfa ., who is the sister of Press Secretary Juha .
Whole Family of Chairperson Mariya in the Governemt, including new born babies.
Shame on you Farahanaz , Speak the Truth.
The biggest threat to our democracy are our MPs
I wonder how much Farahanaz would get to spread Anni's extremist views. Reeko was awarded $21 million for his hard work.
Kaaaah! Kaaaaah!
THE GREATEST THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY IS NEITHER THE EXTREMISM NOR THE EXECUTIVE BUT THE LEGISLATURE and THE JUDICIARY who are working together like a Union playing fool of the country's citizen my dear Dr Farahanaz Faizal...For example, when drug dealers and murderers are being kept in Police custody, Judiciary orders to release them because no evidences. Police says Judiciary does not accept Forensic evidences, even fingerprints as evidences. It seems the Penal Code and other important Bills are lying in the Majlis for years and that Judiciary is unable to judge but the Opposition is the Majority in the Majlis...WOW! Dr Farahanaz, what u have mentioned in UK does sense???? Please don't talk rubbish my dear
Who is this Faizal talking about Maldives and Maldivians at large, this women has no clue about Maldives and its people. She is been raised and lived , all her life in UK, hardly can speak even Dhivehi. Just because of nepotism of current regime she got favor to get fat salary from Maldives,while staying in UK, she is talking all this nonsense.
Parliament´s refusal to endorse a cabinet minister will not remove the minister from office – President Nasheed.
If this is not a threat to democracy, what democracy they are talking about.
MNDF Fail, Police Fail, Health Care System Fail, Judicial System Fail, Parliament Fail, MDP Fail, DRP Fail, Anti-Corruption Fail, Anti Nepotism Fail, Media Fail, Education Fail and finally you want our livelihood and religion to FAIL? Everything you say turns to Shit.
You chauvinistic politicians are a bunch of idiots. We should send you back to school with no lunch money. A 60k salary is not worth watching your Star-Plus stylized drama unfold. We have real problems here face the music and solve it.!!
the Government should address this issue openly in Maldives, with Maldivians before talking about this abroad. this is typical MDP style
If the politicians of our country are sincere to their country, then the problems can easily be solved. This is simple equation we lack
Extremism is threat to national security. Stupidity is threat to Democracy.
Typical hypocritical propaganda by Dr. Faisal; why don't she talk about the fact that she and her government are in bed with the extremist Baree?
this is stupid , where are the extremists?????/ ,, anyone having a long beard and short trousers cannot be extremists,anyone saying that is just extremism is clearly against Islam . true extremists are who oppose islam .look at her hair ,, cudnt that be extreme ,, shes a maldivian and muslim and dusnt even cover her hair , isnt that extreme . im really confused ..
extreamism is the bigest threat now in maldives. i agree the current extreamist regime who just made up a stunt by making a ruling on foreiners marriage in tourist islands that results in desasters like crashing the tourist of Maldives. the only solution is teaching our youth the beautifull rulling of islam . the way westners define extream should be corrected. being extreamly kind is not bad at all... i am a fundamentalist muslim who loves u evn if u hate me... pls learn to tolerate ...
If there is a extremist threat then why government is not taking any action against it in our home land ? Why do president and uk high commissioner has to publicize it to the world without taking any action? People does this government has any love for this country?. We failed to promote us in seven wonders but we are champion in telling the world we are full of terrorists and extremists just waiting to be drowned by the effect of climate change... This happens when's chips of west are planted in our system.. Ppl please wake up !!!!
Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.
The America is the real extremists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIX1CP9qr4&feature=related
@Imran(extreamism is the bigest threat now in maldives. i agree the current extreamist regime who just made up a stunt by making a ruling on foreiners marriage in tourist islands that results in desasters like crashing the tourist of Maldives.)
I was told by a friend in the resort the guy who did that hated Islam and always made fun of the religion. These are extremists and I totally agree that we must teach these people real teachings of Islam according to Qur'an and sunnah of the Prophet(Peach be upon him). May Allah guide us all.
Greatest threat to Maldives peace and future generation is Dr. Farahanaz and her alikes (like her brother Ameen Faisal who is a heavy boozer and open girl abuser)!! Maldivians are aware of the fact this regime is changing colours and its repeating the same mistake of gayoom! Farahanaz is a waste for Maldives budget..as she does nothing concret to Maldivians residing in London! We know that fact! Royal my ass!
no coments... the extreamist(MDP, zionist) regime n its followers are moving towards its end.
dear all,
greatest threat to the Maldives is the extremist politicians like Maria, Farhanaz Faisal, Reeka Moosa, Yaameen, Thasmeen, Sarangu, Hassan Saeed, Buruma Gasim, etc....you all are the biggest threat to the Maldivian ppl.
Thanks
Have BLAST
Farhanaz, you and your family are the biggest threat to the whole Maldivian society.
dr.(dirty) faizal you better watch your mouth .... no extremists in maldives ... the biggest threat to the Maldives is growing number of armed gangs .. you know it better than me. cant you read the daily papers last two days 2 or 3 knifing incidents ... i think you all are spoling this goverments good name by hiding the truth
Farhanaz, from which field did you get your PHD? Is it corruption? Before opening your mouth, speak about the corruption of the current regime. And what about the gang rapes, gang violence, robbery, etc, are not these crimes terrorism? Maldivians are now mentally sick of theses crimes. Why you don't speak about these things. speaking of the religion i wonder how much you know about Islam and do you know at least to pray my dear.
We all know your dramas on the media specially on MNBC One. And why did you forget to mention the latest rank the Maldives got in the Most Corrupted countries. Please stop your mouth and resign from your post.