President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has this afternoon meet with representatives of the parties making up his national unity government to discus how to address the findings of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI)
According to a press release on the President’s Office website, the meeting saw discussions on agreeing a way forward upon the release of the report compiled by the CNI. The report, which was scheduled to be released today, has been delayed for at least an additional 24 hours.
The President’s Office stated that a consensus was reached at the meeting whereby all the coalition partners pledged to back Dr Waheed’s views concerning the investigation and its findings. No further details were provided on the discussions in the statement.
President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza was not responding to calls at the time of press.
Local media quoted government-aligned Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla, as saying that the coalition parties had assured President Waheed that they would not allow any persons to create unrest in the Maldives upon the report’s release. He also said that all the coalition parties were ready to help security forces in their work to maintain peace and order.
Chief Spokesperson of Jumhooree Party, Moosa Rameez, speaking to Minivan News today said: “Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik is the president of a coalition government and all the coalition parties have decided to work together with whatever decision he makes regarding the CNI results.”
Rameez said that the coalition parties also agreed not to hold any protests or demonstrations following the CNI report, no matter its final outcome. He added that although government-aligned parties in the coalition had pledged to follow the president’s views on the matter, they had not yet received any additional information about it.
The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has alleged that President Waheed’s government came to power on February 7 in a “coup e’etat”. These claims form the central focus of the CNI’s investigation into the exact details surrounding the controversial transfer of power.
This article first appeared on Dhivehisitee. Republished with permission.
Until Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik took oath of office as President of the Maldives on 7 February, most people did not know much about him, and even more could not care less.
The generally shared impression of Waheed was that he is an educated man who drily stuck to policy, the ex-UNICEF man with a PhD from Stanford. As Vice President he was delegated drugs and environment as focus topics, both issues of great national concern. He seemed to keep well out of the political intrigue and chaos that surrounded him; and, unlike most Members of Parliament and the increasing band of petty politicians, largely managed to stay out of newspaper gossip, and the extremely productive Maldivian grapevine.
He has friends in high places, even if of dubious credentials, like the vacillating British tycoon Sir Richard Branson who first criticised Waheed then admired him then suggested a middle-ground; and the mysterious ‘Malaysian consultant’, Dr Ananda Kumarasiri. Kumarasiri is a best-selling Buddhist author who, when he arrived in Male’ shortly after 7 February, was described as ‘a passing friend.’ But he was allowed to interrupt Waheed during an official press conference, and to speak for him in Sri Lanka.
Abroad, the general impression Waheed seems to have left is that of an affable, likeable man. Even when disagreeing with him, Waheed’s foreign acquaintances make a point of saying they like him.
Branson said, for instance:
It was a real pleasure meeting you and your delightful wife when I was last in the Maldives…
From knowing you, I would assume that you were given no choice and that it was through threats that you have ended up in this position.
And Mike Mason, Nasheed’s Energy Advisor, said this:
I don’t think Dr Waheed is a bad man – actually I like him a lot personally.
Perhaps these men see a side of Waheed that the general Maldivian public do not. Certainly, his interactions with the foreign press are rather jovial and quite the opposite of the dull occasions they are back home.
Truth is, the general Maldivian public did not quite know who Dr Waheed was, and nobody really cared. But, now that he has put himself in the Presidential limelight, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is substantial discord between the image people had constructed of Waheed and the details of his personality emerging since he assumed office on 7 February.
At an early press conference as President, for example, he was asked about allegations of a coup. Waheed replied,”Do I look like a man who would stage a coup d’état?”
Waheed’s belligerence towards those against his presidency came as a shock to most people. A popular recrimination of Waheed among Maldivians is that he is a quitter. In 1989 he ran for Parliament but quit and left the country in 1991 when the going got tough under Gayoom’s repression. He only returned in 2005. People call him ‘Fili Waheed’, ‘Waheed who fled.’
In the last 141 days Waheed has shown that this label no longer applies, if it ever did. He makes his determination to stay President until November 2013 crystal clear. He spelled it out for the BBC earlier this month. Even if CoNI [Commission of National Inquiry] finds that there was a coup on 7 February, unless his direct involvement was proven, he would not leave the post. Even if it means battling it out in court.
If they [the commission] find out that I have had a role in bringing about a coup, then I will definitely resign.
But if I have no role – if somebody else has done it – it doesn’t mean I have to resign, according to the law of the Maldives.
People were properly introduced to this new aspect of Waheed’s personality on 24 February when he gave a rousing speech in ‘Defence of Islam’ to a thousand-strong crowd of supporters. Gone was the refined gentleman of the world, the Westernised academic. Here was an Islamic warrior, calling everyone to join his Jihad and proclaiming Allah had made him President. Again, it wasn’t just words, but his actions; the whole package jarred sharply with the public perception of Waheed.
The previously placid Dr Waheed pumped his fists in the air and addressed his supporters as Mujaheddin. Where did all the rage, the Islamist vocabulary, the sheer bull-headedness, the pelvis-pumping, and the swagger come from?
Waheed’s attempts to deliver his presidential address on 19 March also show his determination to keep his job, and suggest that he quite relishes defeating MDP’s efforts to prove the illegitimacy of his government. Three times he was interrupted mid-sentence during his ‘inaugural address’. Where a less determined man would have crumpled, Waheed battled on and, in a credible impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenneger’s Terminator, told MDP MPs: ‘I’ll be back.’ He was. He delivered the speech.
Since becoming President, he has also shown himself to be remarkably thick-skinned to public humiliation. Led by Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), supporters of Nasheed and reformists have continued to oppose his rule on the streets of Male on a regular basis. When Waheed travels across the country, he has to send ahead armed police and military to line the streets and protect him from protesters.
Waheed has refused to let it get to him. Instead, he seems to have decided on a strategy of ignoring the protesters, claiming – and then sincerely believing – he has 90 percent support among the Maldivian population. He pretends not to hear the calls for early elections, and the public anger against him. When he cannot avoid angry democrats, he waves, smiles, and makes sure at least one smiling child is in the vicinity for a photograph that could be captioned as ‘my supporters love me.’
With time, it has also become clear that although Waheed has set up CoNI to look into the events of 7 February 2012 and Nasheed’s resignation, he remains absolutely convinced that Nasheed was responsible for his own demise. Details of an email exchange between Dr Waheed and Nasheed’s Energy Advisor Mike Mason published by Minivan News this month revealed that in Waheed’s opinion, Nasheed was under the influence of an illegal substance when he decided to resign.
“It would be nice if you listened to something other than Nasheed’s propaganda. He is free to go anywhere he wants and say what ever he wants,” Waheed wrote.
“Have you ever thought that Nasheed could have made a stupid mistake under the influence of what ever he was on and blown everything away? I thought you had more intelligence than to think that I am someone’s puppet and Maldives is another dictatorship,” the President said.
Is Waheed a puppet?
Since the coup, people have come to form a new impression of Waheed: that he is a puppet of political masters above him. In late February, an audio recording was leaked to the local media in which Waheed’s own political advisor was heard describing him as ‘the most incompetent politician in the Maldives.’ From Dr Hassan Saeed’s comments, emerged a Waheed who felt bored and irrelevant within Nasheed’s administration, spending his time playing games on social media networks.
Although it contradicts Waheed’s emerging Hard Man persona, it matches people’s perception of him as a coward and a quitter.
Many incidents have occurred in these 141 days of his presidency to suggest the accusations are not baseless rumours. Waheed’s speech was interrupted live by MP and tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim on 24 February. A President who is in command will only be interrupted in public if there is a national emergency (remember this moment?)
or, if someone else is in command.
And then there are the ‘little things.’ Like Waheed paying a courtesy call on Gayoom at Gayoom’s residence after becoming president. Protocol dictates the visit be the other way round. When President Mahmood Abbas of Palestine paid a visit, on invitation from President Nasheed, it was impossible to say who the official host was, Gayoom or Waheed.
Waheed also seems incapable of stopping involvement of the supernatural in law enforcement practices–a hallmark of Gayoom’s thirty-year rule–that have returned to haunt Maldivian politics in the last three months. The general impression of Waheed as the well-travelled ex-UN-official cannot be easily reconciled with a Commander in Chief who lets his armed forces pursue, prosecute, and punish people for ‘practising sorcery.’
Another factor that further indicates Waheed is far from being in control of the government is his relations with the Islamists. Perhaps because he worked in Afghanistan, and saw first hand the dangers of extremist religion in the twenty-first century, countering Islamism in the Maldives seemed to be of some concern to Waheed. In October 2010, for example, he told Indians that ‘rising extremism‘ posed a challenge to the Maldives.
Yet, he gave that 24 February speech about the Mujaheddin, and allowed himself to be criticised for attending a ceremonial service at St Paul’s in London marking the British Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
In May, convicted terrorist Mohamed Ameen who detonated a bomb in Male’s main tourist thoroughfare was released from prison, while this month Islamists attempted to murder the country’s only openly gay rights activist and campaigner for a secular Maldives, Hilath Rasheed. On 7 February itself, extremists vandalised the National Museum and destroyed age-old Buddhist relics.
Waheed has remained silent on such critical incidents while key members of his cabinet have told the international community that threats from Islamism in the Maldives are exaggerated.
Also, thanks to a purple-prose column published on Haveeru [in Dhivehi] recently commemorating the 25th aniversary of Dr Waheed’s PhD degree, the public has come to know that his dissertation was on the subject of political influence over national education curricula. Yet, he has not made a stand against the Islamist Adhaalath Party’s continuing efforts to meddle with the national curriculum. And he most certainly did not stand up against Adaalath, and key political figures, for their criticism of Nasheed as anti-Islamic when Washington Post reported that:
While he [Nasheed] was in power, he says, he changed the school curriculum to make it “more balanced and not so Islamic” and proposed a new penal code less dependent on Islamic sharia law.
It is surprising that a man so proud of his academic credentials that he thinks its 25th anniversary is an occasion deserving of national attention, fails to stand up for the core arguments of his own work. Such weakness of principles does suggest a corresponding weakness in character, making it very plausible that Waheed is, indeed, a puppet being controlled by an unspecified master or masters.
Despite his many weaknesses in the face of the varying demands and beliefs of the so-called Unity Government, should Waheed really be dismissed as a mere puppet?
It is just as, if not more, plausible that his ‘inability’ to take action is precisely the terms of the deal he agreed to with the so-called Opposition Coalition in the early hours of the morning of 31 January 2012.
The rewards for Waheed the President, even if a very short-term president, are rich. Apart from the usual perks of travelling the country and the world in full national honour, influence and global profile, there are also the many benefits for his nearest and dearest.
Almost all members of his family in Male’ and of working age are now in high-ranking government positions or in lucrative positions as board members of various national and international businesses and associations. His son Jeffery Salim Waheed, was promoted from an Intern at the Maldives Permanent Mission to the UN to First Secretary shortly after Waheed assumed office. Salim Waheed was previously a vocal campaigner for democracy but has now become a crusader for his father’s cause.
@yaamyn @velezinee shame. I guess his lies worked. Being held hostage, held at gun point, res letter in MNDF HQ, assassination attempt…
Judging from what other key players in the Opposition Coalition have said, Waheed’s deal with them also includes a promise that he will not run for presidency in 2013. Umar Naseer, the outspoken Vice President of Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has told the media several times that he ‘knows’ Waheed will not run in 2013. So far, Gasim Ibrahim from the Jumhooree Party (JP), Thasmeen Ali from Dhivehi Rayyithun ge Party (DRP) and Nasheed have declared their intention to run in 2013. Waheed has stayed silent.
The silence suggests Umar Naseer, as usual, is speaking from first-hand knowledge of the behind the scenes strategising by the Unity Government. Waheed’s share of the pie for helping topple Nasheed seems to be twenty-one months as President, and full immunity from prosecution at the end of his term with full benefits and privileges accorded to former presidents. A life of luxury abroad–preferably in America and desirably inclusive of frequent socialising with the Obamas, and perhaps working the lecture circuits à la Clinton and Blair, is what Waheed is looking forward to once he completes his part of the deal.
This suggests that Waheed is more pragmatist than puppet. Someone who knew exactly what he wanted–the Presidency of the Republic of Maldives–and got it. It mattered little to him how. Dismissing Waheed as a puppet would be a mistake.
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]
There are few individuals who have lost as much goodwill and respect of democrats in as little time as Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
Among them was his own brother Naushad Waheed Hassan, the former Deputy High Commissioner of the Maldives to the UK, who handed in his resignation letter following the February 7 coup d’état. In a statement, he said “…it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that this is indeed an illegitimate government and I cannot be party to it”.
Maldives Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, resigned live on air on Al Jazeera, citing “moral and ethical concerns” surrounding the transfer of power. Dr Farahanaz Faizal, the Maldivian High Commissioner to the UK, also tendered her resignation, saying: “They robbed the people of the vote and when I saw the brutality of the police… that was the final straw”.
Over 100 days later, tens of thousands continue to march in protest and express contempt for the man who undid the country’s first democracy.
Coercion
It is hardly a matter of debate that what transpired on February 7-8, 2012 was a coup d’état.
Indeed, the then Vice President Mohamed Waheed himself claims to have been watching the events unfold on national television as the country descended into chaos.
TV stations were played harrowing videos of police senselessly beating MDP leaders and supporters unconscious on the streets. We saw dramatic footage of police and military personnel, led by Dr Waheed’s brother, storming into and taking over the headquarters of the state broadcaster, as well as ransacking and destroying the MDP party campus.
Online videos show a former military colonel Mohamed Nazim (later appointed Defence Minister), demanding an ‘unconditional resignation’ from the first democratically elected President in the nation’s history.
An amateur video clip showed the alleged coup leaders holed up in the police headquarters along with a former policeman Abdulla Riyaz (who has since been appointed Commissioner of Police) and current Deputy Commissioner Hussain Waheed (who had earlier denied his presence at the scene), showed them hugging and celebrating. Gasim Ibrahim, the businessman leader of Jumhooree Party, was seen remarking that he was relieved it was over “without involving a military takeover”.
PPM Vice President Umar Naseer – a man renowned for speaking exactly more words than necessary – has publicly revealed the existence of a ‘command centre’ and openly boasted at a party gathering that the President’s life was on the line had he not resigned.
Indeed, Australian television SBS Dateline has aired devastating audio clips of an agitated President Nasheed pleading for the safety of his family in return for his resignation. In yet another leaked audio clip, Waheed’s own advisor, DQP leader Dr Hassan Saeed – has termed it a “unique coup”.
The brazen violence against MDP leaders by the regime forces, the arrest warrants issued against Nasheed less than a day of his ouster, and the subsequently leaked audio and video clips leaves no room for doubt that the first democratically elected President of the Maldives was made to resign under duress – in other words, an unambiguous, clear-cut case of a coup d’état.
There is simply no intellectually honest argument that can be made against this.
What remains to be seen is whether the perpetrators of the coup will face justice for their treason, and whether Maldivians will ever get to learn the finer details of the plot that overthrew their first democratically elected government – of how it was conceived, financed and executed.
Uncovering the facts
Whereas governments like India have spectacularly miscalculated their response to the coup d’état, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and EU have been more forthright about their demands from the newly installed regime – early elections, and an independent inquiry.
In what is essentially Napolean hiring a council of pigs to investigate the affairs at the Farm, Waheed put together a three-member ‘independent’ inquiry commission, two of whom served as Cabinet ministers in Gayoom’s former regime, to “investigate” the coup d’etat.
The Commission for National Inquiry (CNI) came under heavy fire from CMAG, which gave the government four weeks to reconstitute the panel to include international experts and a representative acceptable to the MDP, or face the consequences.
A lot of tantrums were thrown in retaliation, with prominent figures allied with the regime ridiculing the Commonwealth body, going so far as to accuse them of accepting bribes. One MP even introduced a bill in Parliament to withdraw from the Commonwealth.
Another MP, Riyaz Rasheed, offered his enlightened opinion that the UK was not, in fact, a democracy, and proceeded to mock the British Queen as “physically challenged” in a bizarre diatribe that would have earned most people a long vacation in a padded room.
Despite the alternating complaints and swagger, the regime finally relented with just a day left on the deadline and agreed to have a Commonwealth approved co-chair on the Inquiry Commission, and also gave an assurance to CMAG that a member nominated by President Nasheed would be appointed.
However, no sooner did the Commonwealth Special Envoy Sir Don McKinnon board his flight than the regime’s obstructive tactics were back in full force.
The regime rejected all nine names proposed by President Nasheed. Instead, Waheed’s Attorney General Azima Shukoor laid out the “conditions” that needed to be met by the nominees, including the demand that they should not have served in a political position in the past two years, and must not have taken a public position on a matter that has been at the centre and forefront of the national debate for over a 100 days.
And if Nasheed doesn’t find such a candidate in less than two weeks, the regime vows to unilaterally appoint a lawyer to fill the spot.
Rewinding the clock
With the delaying tactics in place, the regime has embarked on a series of steps to try and legitimise the power grab.
The government has already hired London-based PR firm Ruder Finn – for an assignment allegedly worth about US$300,000 – to rebuild their image in major Western countries.
Former Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed, once employed by Gayoom as the ‘reformist’ mask on the his brutal dictatorship, seems destined to forever keep applying lipstick to hideous pigs.
As Waheed’s ‘advisor’, he has been penning a series of articles in the local media, talking about ideals of democracy and state building – a rather weak and laboured point, coming from someone who continues to play lackey to an unrepentant, brutal dictator who has never faced justice for his three decade-long crimes.
The State TV channel, forcibly renamed ‘TVM’ by the vandals on February 7, continues to be known by its Gayoom-era moniker. Gayoom’s children and close associates have all found high ranking positions in the newly formed regime, which Waheed insists is a “continuation” of the former government.
Every major MDP policy – from decentralisation to regional development – has been either reversed or suspended. Boards have been reconstituted, organizations have been abolished, and even the ministries have been reshuffled to closely resemble their Gayoom-era counterparts.
Meanwhile, in another throwback to the despotic Gayoom era, the Waheed regime has engaged in systematically dismantling all avenues of dissent against his government using a heavy handed campaign of intimidation.
Following President Nasheed’s first public appearance following on the coup d’état on February 8, a massive spontaneous protest was crushed with unprecedented police brutality that drew condemnation from international Human Rights organizations like Amnesty International, as well as the local Police Integrity Commission. The regime-appointed Police Commissioner has announced that he will not investigate the mindless violence perpetrated by the police of those days.
After weeks of demonstrations calling for early elections showed no signs of abating, the regime sent in a cavalcade of military and police vehicles to forcibly evacuate and dismantle the protest site, while also rather conveniently recovering boxes of illegal alcohol once the media was out of sight.
In recent days, the regime has indicated its intention to yet again take over the protesters’ new camp, and also usurp the land from the MDP controlled Male’ City Council.
While he has stalled and delayed elections in any way he could, Waheed has been agile and and moved fast to reward the police service with a record number of promotions and has generously increased their headcount by a further 200 staff. He has also paid out generous lump sum awards for years of “pending” allowances to the military forces, in a move that couldn’t hurt his popularity among the uniformed forces.
Waheed has also appeared to be shoring up his Islamist support, sharing a podium with far right Islamist politicians and businessmen, rallying the ‘mujahideen’ behind him in a fiery jihadi speech delivered on February 24.
Waheed’s strategy of using tried and tested Gayoom formula of employing twin pillars of religious paranoia and military force to prop up the regime is increasingly evident.
It is starkly clear that the present regime threatens to rewind the clock back by a decade, undo every progress the country has made since the democratic struggle began long years ago, and return the country back to the hands of the same tyrant whose clutches we had barely escaped.
Every day that an election is delayed is yet another day that the old monster of despotism spreads its tentacles wider.
If the international community fails to make a firm stand to resuscitate the Maldives’ rapidly failing democracy, and ensure justice for the victims, then it will turn out to be an even bigger body blow to Maldivian democrats’ diminishing hopes than Waheed’s betrayal ever was.
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]
The government of the Maldives has agreed to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group’s (CMAG) demand to revise the composition of a commission set up to investigate the controversial transfer of power on February 7, but has set conditions for the appointment of a new member to represent ousted President Mohamed Nasheed on the commission.
Attorney General Azima Shukoor said Nasheed’s nominee must not have served in a political position in the past two years or taken a public stand on the transfer of power. Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have challenged the conditions and called them “nonsensical.”
The CMAG in April warned of “stronger measures” against the Maldives if new President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan failed to revise the composition and mandate of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) by May 16.
The Commonwealth had already suspended the Maldives from the CMAG and placed the Maldives on its formal agenda following Nasheed’s claim that he was ousted in a coup d’état on February 7, carried out by mutinous elements of the police and military.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday with only a day remaining before the CMAG deadline, Shukoor said the CNI will continue to retain the three members appointed by President Waheed, but will now include a Commonwealth-chosen judge as co-chair of the commission and a member representing Nasheed. The government has already accepted a retired Singaporean judge as co-chair, but has rejected nine candidates fielded by Nasheed and given him a two week deadline to fill the post.
Regarding CMAG’s call to revise the CNI’s mandate, Shukoor said a “misunderstanding” had taken place and that the mandate would be “clarified and refined.”
“Nonsensical”
At a press conference immediately following the government’s briefing, MDP Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor hailed the government’s decision to revise the CNI composition as “historic”, and said the commission “is now independent.”
However, MDP lawyer and former Youth Minister Hassan Latheef expressed concern over the government’s “nonsensical” conditions for Nasheed’s member. In addition to prohibiting any candidate who had served in a political position and taken a public stand over the transfer of power, the government has also stipulated that the nominee must have “good behavior and integrity.”
Latheef said the latter conditions were “subjective”, and added that if the government required a candidate who had not yet taken a public stand, “then they are saying Dr Waheed will appoint President Nasheed’s representative.”
If Nasheed was not allowed to appoint his own candidate, the opportunity “lacks any sincerity”, Latheef said.
The nine candidates fielded by Nasheed include MP and former MDP chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi, former Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam, former Youth Minister Hassan Latheef, former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed, former President’s Member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) Aishath Velezinee, Nasheed’s cousin Hudha Ahmed, former Airports Company board member Ibrahim Saleem, and former President’s Office political appointee Fareesha Abdulla.
Ghafoor said the MDP had initially asked for three MDP members on the commission for equal representation, but acceded to a foreign co-chair and a member to represent Nasheed because the party “wants the case to proceed and we want a way out of this.”
According to Shukoor, the government rejected Nasheed’s nominees because they included members of his cabinet, his relatives and MDP activists. “The Commonwealth’s concern is that the composition be independent and impartial. Hence, the government believes the inquiry commission cannot proceed with the [nominated] people,” she told reporters.
The MDP initially challenged the independence of the inquiry on the basis that Chair Ismail Shafeeu was previously Defence Minister under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s government, at a time when systematic torture was being conducted on political prisoners.
Home Minister Mohamed Jameel said he hoped the CMAG would accept the government’s proposal, and said: “We do not believe CMAG’s demand was to appease a certain person. The government and the majority of the public cannot believe these nominees can be impartial.”
The government has given Nasheed a two-week deadline to field an acceptable candidate. If an agreement cannot be reached, then the government will proceed by appointing a lawyer to the seat reserved for Nasheed’s nominee, Shukoor also said.
Terms of reference, elections
Although CMAG had called for a revision of the CNI mandate, Shukoor said the terms of reference would not be changed, but had been refined.
MDP’s Latheef provided details of the changes to the mandate, claiming the CNI would prioritise an inquiry into whether Nasheed had resigned under duress and the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power.
The CNI’s current mandate stipulates an investigation into the events starting from the detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed on January 14 until the transfer of power on February 7. The government maintains Nasheed voluntarily resigned following public furor over the judge’s detention.
Furthermore, instead of relying solely on witness statements, the commission would also accept photos, videos, audios, personal bank statements and phone recordings as evidence, Latheef also said.
The CMAG had also called on the Maldives to hold early elections within 2012, but Shukoor reiterated the government’s position that fresh elections could only be held if the inquiry found the transfer of power to be unconstitutional and added that early polls would require a constitutional amendment.
Newly-appointed Human Rights and Gender Minister Dhiyana Saeed said the enhanced mandate of the CMAG approved in Perth in October 2011 only allowed the organisation to place a country on its agenda if there was: “(1) unilateral abrogation of a democratic constitution or serious threats to constitutional rule; (2) the suspension or prevention of the lawful functioning of parliament or other key democratic institutions; (3) the postponement of national elections without constitutional or other reasonable justification; and (4) the systematic denial of political space, such as through detention of political leaders or restriction of freedom of association, assembly or expression.”
Saeed claimed that as long as Nasheed’s allegations of coup d’état remained unproven, the CMAG could not activate its mandate to place Maldives on its agenda.
“Given that no allegations have yet been proven and when the Maldivian government is cooperating with an investigation into the allegations, CMAG has placed the Maldives on its formal agenda outside of the CMAG mandate and process,” she told reporters.
Despite the government’s opposition to being placed on the CMAG’s formal agenda, it remained ready to engage with the Commonwealth in finding a political resolution, Saeed said.
The Commonwealth must follow “due process” by establishing whether an unconstitutional transfer of power had taken place before placing Maldives on its agenda, Shukoor added.
“It is our right to be treated according to those principles, no matter how small or vulnerable we are or how serious the allegation against us are,” she said.
Political parties backing President Dr Waheed have called for preemptively withdrawing from the Commonwealth. MPs of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) in April submitted a bill to Majlis to disengage from the Commonwealth.
Waheed is currently in India for an official visit, and has criticized the Commonwealth engagement with the Maldives.
“We used to believe that the Commonwealth was the champion of the smaller nations that extended assistance in every way possible. But to the contrary we witnessed the grouping inclined towards Nasheed, head towards punishing us,” local media reports Waheed as saying.
Despite voicing his disappointment with the 54 nation group, Waheed said that he would not back the proposals to withdraw from the Commonwealth and expected the bill to be dismissed as soon as the Majlis returned from its current recess.
Police have reportedly arrested 99 people following violent confrontations yesterday during protests led by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to disrupt President Dr Waheed Hassan Manik’s presidential speech.
Police have told local press that 80 men, 13 women and six minors were among those who were arrested.
Of those arrested, 14 suspects were said to have tested positive for illegal drugs, though security officials did not specify what substances were have said to have been found.
Speaking to the press yesterday Police Superintendent Ahmed Mohamed claimed that the demonstrations taking place near parliament were at first peaceful.
However, Mohamed added that the protests turned violent after demonstrators attacked officers and entered in to the green zone.
He said security forces attempted to disperse the crowd, but protesters then used pavement bricks and other objects as weapons to attack the security forces.
During the clashes, Villa TV[VTV], owned by MP ‘Burma’ Gasim Ibrahim, the leader of the Jumhoory Party [JP] – part of Dr Waheed’s government coalition – was vandalised by the protesters.
Mohamed said the attack was itself an act of terrorism and that those involved should receive the harshest punishment possible.
He said 11 police officers were injured and one with serious injuries has been now sent abroad for treatment.
A police spokesperson today told Minivan News that some of the arrested persons have been taken to the court for an extension of their detention period. The police official was unable to specify the exact number of people who were facing extended detentions at present.
‘’It is very difficult to say at the moment because I am not quite sure about the figures,’’ he said. ‘’This evening we will provide details of the arrests.’’
Protest camp
Police also yesterday dismantled a protest camp site near to the Tsunami memorial that had been home to some MDP supporters originally from islands around the country without any prior warning.
The area was cleared; with people inside moved by police back behind a blockade at the entrance of the surfpoint.
Normality appears restored as of today though, where there is not a single Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) flag or a trace of the colour yellow seen in the area when the police left.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Monday morning said the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will deadlock parliament until the government sets a date for an early presidential election.
Nasheed addressed the people gathered at the party’s ongoing rally near the tsunami monument, and said that it was necessary that the government set a date that no later than the end of this year, in line with recommendations by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.
Nasheed said that setting a date after opening the parliament was not wise, and that the increase in political friction would not solve the issue.
An audio recording of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s political advisor describing him as “politically the weakest person in the Maldives” with “a lot of legitimacy issues” has been leaked on social media.
“In reality, why we are not able to fully attend internationally is because Dr Waheed is least prepared for this job,” says Dr Hassan Saeed in the recording.
Dr Saeed recently traveled to the UK to meet the Commonwealth Secretary General, the BBC, and UK Undersecretary of the FCO, Alistair Burt.
“Dr Waheed and the wife, that Topi [Ahmed Thaufeeg, Secretary General of Waheed’s Gaumee Itthihaad party] and Waheed’s secretary at the President’s Office – what I am saying is there is no one else but these four people in Dr Waheed’s team,” Dr Saeed says.
The new government was pushing for engagement with Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) because Dr Waheed’s party did not have “a single seat in parliament. Therefore we have to keep all these people.”
He expresses sympathy with the frustration Dr Waheed must have experienced during his many days under the former government, “bored in the office”.
“I wouldn’t just sit. Honestly,” Dr Saeed says. “When an educated man like him whiles the day away being like this, going on the Internet… really it is sad. This is how Waheed was. What happens when this job [the Presidency] comes all of a sudden?”
That job arrived, Dr Saeed says, with “a lot of legitimacy issues”, the involvement of “a lot of foreign partners” and “huge bilateral pressures”.
“Fifty million dollars has to be raised before the end of this month or there will be a sovereign default,” he adds.
President Waheed’s Press Secretary, Musood Imad, told Minivan News that the President’s team had spoken to Dr Hassan Saeed, who said he “had been played” and that the recording had been “taken out of context”.
The President’s Office would be releasing a statement on the matter, Imad said.
Dr Saeed was Attorney General under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration. After breaking from the MDP coalition that unseated the 30 year autocrat in 2008, Saeed’s Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) was vocal in its criticism of government policy, particularly a 25 year concession agreement between Ibrahim Nasir International Airport and Indian infrastructure giant GMR involving the construction of a new terminal.
The Vice President of his party, Dr Mohamed Jameel – now the Home Minister – was also a vocal critic of the government’s religious credentials, in January distributing a pamphlet entitled “President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians”.
Dr Saeed was also one the first to raise concerns about the conduct of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, in a letter to Gayoom in 2005.
Translation:
‘Then second in command has now become the chief. When it happened, as circumstances would have it, he is the weakest, politically the weakest person in the Maldives is Dr Waheed. In reality, why we are not able to fully attend internationally is because Dr Waheed is least prepared for this job.
“The wife and…Dr Waheed and the wife, that Topi [Secretary General of Waheed’s Gaumee Ittihad party, Ahmed Thaufeeg] and Waheed’s secretary at President’ Office – what I am saying is there is no one else but these four people in Dr Waheed’s team.
“And this is…as circumstances would have it, there was no major role for President Waheed in the previous government. Very many days [spent] bored in the office. I wouldn’t just sit. Honestly. When an educated man like him whiles the day away being like this, going on the Internet…[few people chuckle, a voice is heard saying: ‘on Facebook’. More chuckles]..really it is sad. This is how Waheed was. What happens when this job comes all of a sudden?
“And also, when it came…a lot of legitimacy issues are there, a lot of foreign partners are also involved, bilateral pressures are so huge. 50 million dollars have to be raised before the end of this month or there will be a sovereign default. And there isn’t a single seat in parliament. Therefore we have to keep all these people…and that’s why it is being thought ideally to include MDP in the coalition [cut off].”
These past weeks’ demonstrations, protests, and proclamations continually evoke the principle that constitutional powers must be separated, but conveniently ignore the checks and balances which are meant to be inherent to any functional democracy.
We have had one constitutional crisis after another precisely because our system is broken. The checks don’t work and our system is anything but balanced. The opposition claims the executive is all powerful, while the ruling party claims that both the legislature and the judiciary are trying to hijack the government. The only way forward is through leveling the playing field. I propose we do this in two ways; implementing a real power of veto and meeting our constitutional obligations regarding the judiciary.
At Democracy’s Doorstep
It is self-evident that the democracy we fought for against 30 years of tyranny has not come to pass. In November of 2008, we merely started the next leg of a voyage that pioneers like the President and Vice President started two decades earlier.
In that moment, it was fitting that they embarked on this next leg together. And though much hailed as the fruition of hopes and dreams for democracy, what we failed to grasp is that the journey was not yet complete. The legislature, when controlled by a hostile opposition can bring the state to a standstill, while the judiciary remains with strong political bias and an ethos that should have ended when the middle ages did.
Democracy is meant to function with representation from the people. The people choose a president and a plan for five years, and while the implementation of that plan should be vetted through the legislature and the rule of law safeguarded by the judicature, neither of the two subsidiary bodies are supposed to take the helm of the country. A ship is supposed to have one captain, who is advised and guided, but whose direction and vision guides the course that the ship takes.
The reason why we have a presidential system is because we have the right to choose the vision to guide our nation. We choose our President and Vice President as they are directly elected by us. We choose our path for five years.
But say they both, God forbid, die tomorrow. Our Speaker becomes interim President till elections are held. In parliamentary systems, those who control parliament head government as well, and they do fine – right?
Wrong. If the Speaker led government, we would have a man who represents only 0.2 percent of the voting population (having won his seat with a total of 305 votes). A delightfully clearheaded and capable man though he is, he would not represent the people. We would not have a say in how our country should progress.
In 2008, when we voted, we had our say. Fine, a bunch of people voted against the former President, rather than for this one – but that is one of the growing pains of overcoming dictatorship. We chose this path, so it is time we stopped institutional mechanisms from hindering it.
We stand here at democracy’s doorstep, afraid to cross the threshold because of our authoritarian past. But the point of government is not to constantly bicker and make governing impossible, but rather to provide for those who elected you to power – not through handouts but rather through policy that changes things rather than causes stagnation.
The Point of Majlis
All the Majlis has done for the last three years is to find ways to cause stagnation rather than governance. The opposition believes that every government policy is wrong and that instead of dialogue, the only avenue available is to block policy. It is not about helping the people – it is about making sure the government fails.
That is not the way a government is supposed to function. Apart from the fact that our newly elected Majlis members have no resources, guidance, or staff to assist them – we are also encumbered by a significant institutional failing: the President has no veto.
When the President sends a bill back to Parliament because it is either inconsistent with his vision, or because it may be damaging to the people, it is but a symbolic gesture in our country. In other nations, such an action can only be overturned by a stronger majority (such as two-thirds).
Yet in the Maldives, a simple majority can force a bill through. A simple majority can hijack government and change the course of our ship. This is not the way it was meant to be. Because of the electoral system by which our parliamentarians are chosen, and because of the other factors that influence parliamentary functions, that simple majority can never equal the weight of the office of the President. To change our course and to change the direction which our country follows, we must empower our president with the authority to stand against the tyranny of a minority, and only ever let the will of the majority override the vision we chose.
An Independent Judiciary
Yet a nation cannot function, unless the rule of law is safeguarded. We worked long and hard to ensure that the judiciary would be one that was independent and free from political and social bias. There is but one mechanism to keep the judiciary accountable; the Judicial Services Commission. Alas, this mechanism has failed. It was tasked with thinning the herd, with vetting our judges, and with maintaining some level of dignity on the Maldivian bench. As described by Dr Azra Naseem, we had our moment to hold the judiciary to some standard, and we collectively dropped the ball.
The constitution clearly empowers this commission to take disciplinary action, including dismissal proceedings, against judges for incompetence or gross misconduct. And yet, when they finally get around to finding that Abdulla Mohamed failed to comply with the required standard of conduct, on the 26th of November 2011, the same judge managed to have a court order issued preventing further proceedings. The one body charged with keeping our courts in check has proven itself powerless to fulfill its constitutional mandate.
Here, we have a judge whom most agree is corrupt – or at the very least unfit to sit in so high an office; we have a judge who is blatantly politically biased and admits as much on national television; we have a judge who has released criminals including rapists and drug dealers and who has been seen cavorting with defendants after his rulings; and yet we as a nation and a people are powerless to remove him from the office which he so flagrantly disgraces. Can there be a constitutional failing that is more evident than the one embodied in this man?
A Constitutional Amendment
Our path and our national progression are being hindered by mechanisms that do not function. We have a President determined to follow through on the promises he made when elected; to provide housing, healthcare, transportation, less drug abuse and a better standard of living. Yet even basic policies are refuted, not by the merit of the program, but rather by the party which proposed it. And now there are few avenues that are open to move forward. We need to move beyond stagnation as a policy for politics. We need to change the game. There is but one captain of this ship. For five years, we choose one captain, one direction and one path. In 2013 the path might change, but before that happens – let fix these mechanisms. Let’s become the democracy we were always meant to be.
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President Mohamed Nasheed has sent letters to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Musthafa and Shifaq Mufeeq, requesting they clarify corruption allegations made recently against the government.
According to the President’s Office, the Nasheed requested the MPs send details and evidence related to the corruption allegations as soon as possible, and urged their cooperation.
Mustafa told Minivan News that he had received the letter sent by the President and that he would share all the information he had, as requested by the president.
‘’These corruption allegations have become a national issue and the President is obliged to investigate it,’’ Mustafa said. ‘’I believe that when the president makes a request, we are obliged to share whatever information he wishes. There are many corruption allegations against senior officials of MDP and some serious allegations that we cannot share with the media right now,’’ he claimed.
“We will be sharing this information later,” he said, adding that he would reply to the president’s letter.
Several MDP MPs have recently alleged in parliament that there were corruption allegations in the government and that these should be investigated and stopped.
On November 21 during a debate in parliament MDP MP Shifag accused MDP Chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik of corruption.
He claimed that excavators sent by Moosa’s Heavy Load Company to the SAARC Summit preparations were not usable, but that Moosa was paid millions of rufiya in lease payments for the excavators that he was not entitled to receive.
MDP MP Ahmed Rasheed claimed that same day in parliament that there was corruption in the government to a level that was ”concerning and dangerous.”
Ahmed Rasheed was not in town and was not available for a comment, while Shifag was in a committee meeting and was unavailable for a comment.
Moosa also said he was in a meeting and was unable to comment.
Last week Transparency International revealed that the Maldives had risen slightly to rank 134 in the organisation’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
The country scored 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
The score however is a mild improvement on 2010, when the Maldives was ranked 143th and below Zimbabwe. The Maldives still rated as having higher perceived corruption than many regional neighbours, including Sri Lanka (86), Bangladesh (120) and India (95).
Project Director of Transparency Maldives, Aiman Rasheed, warned that the ranking could not be compared year-to-year, especially in the Maldives where there were only a three sources used to determine the index (India has six).
“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”
Faced with such endemic and high-level corruption, it was “up to the people of the Maldives to demand better governance”, he said.
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