The Maldives has seen radical changes within the past 7 years. From a 30 year old dictatorship to a elected democracy to the toppling of that government to a Supreme Court that is way too powerful than it should be.
My two cents on the arrest of Nasheed are as follows. Firstly, he is being charged under the Terrorism Act for the “Kidnapping” of a Criminal Court chief judge, Abdullah, which happened in 2012. It has taken two years, and sudden call for street protests with government coalition parties abandoning the government to support the opposition MDP, for the government to suddenly arrest him. The Criminal Court issued an Order to the Police to lock him up for ‘he might flee”. This is a clear political decision. In fact, this now means there will be no free, unbiased investigation or court case with regards to the arrest of the Judge by Nasheed.
Secondly, the government, especially the President Abdullah Yameen, is quite rapidly alienating himself and backing himself into a corner. Parliamentarians are defecting and leaving his party as well (while it has to be acknowledged that one MP has signed over form opposition JP to PPM, the governing party as well). The opposition coalition will hold a street protest on the 27th to show their strength. These are ploys by Nasheed, who says that the CONI report, done with support from the Commonwealth to investigate his own “forced resignation”, has legitimized the methods that the opposition will utilize to over throw the current government. The government has played into their hands by arresting Nasheed and being intimidated by the oppositions ‘show of strength’. Nasheed has clearly stated in an interview to a leading newspaper that while MDP accepts the CONI report they do not believe it is how things happened and that there was a Coup on February 2012. Nasheed seem to have to do very little, since the government has manged to entangle themselves in their own personal agendas. The Defence Minister is being tried under the Terrorism Act and being accused of trying to “Kill” certain government officials by smuggling in a pistol and three bullets, which the Police found at a midnight raid of his apartment. The Home Minister who commands the Police has not been heard of nor have we seen or heard from the Vice President as well. The only Prominent minister is the Tourism Minister and the rest are either unheard of or keeping themselves out of the politics. The government organized a street rally with Gang Members with their faces covered and this probably lost them a lot of public sympathy. Nasheed is now once more locked up, and so is the minister of Defense, Nazim, and the new Defense minister, Moosa Jaleel, of the government is being tried for being part of the Nasheed government and for ordering the Military to take up arms during the whole events of the day of Nasheeds resignation. It is like a Hindhi Drama, the Defense Minister Nazim who is being tried now, was the one who was key to stand against Nasheed and lead the Police and Military to riot against Nasheed’s government; but now the current government has him locked up. The newly appointed defense minister, Jaleel, (who is also a war hero as close to it as it gets in Maldives) was the one who stood with Nasheed back in 2012. The roles have been reversed so badly I am certain that these persons themselves at times forget which side they are on.
Future of the country is full of chaos but it is not hopeless. With current rumors that Nasheed will not compete for presidency but lead the movement to change the current government is good news. It means the MDP will now have a chance to provide a new leadership that is open to any of its members. Nasheed also could set an example and precedence for the rest of the old dinosaurs of politics in other parties to step aside and let a new generation take over. Some people say this conflict is the worst in our history. I say that there is much more hardship ahead with more refining required of our constitution and our models of governance and economy. There is much more work that will be required after the government has changed. For we have seen how the first elected government of MDP, with president Nasheed, failed after toppling the dictator. We need to elarn from the mistakes of the past. We need more educated persons involved in societal change and development. We need more educational opportunities and increase our local food production and agriculture, reduce our dependency on imports and tax the rich and provide opportunities for the poor. We need to lead the youth away from gangs and drugs and violence and confusion by providing jobs. Island councils need to be of the people and accountable to the people and the utility companies be owned and run by the people. The unhealthy competition created by the privatization of utility companies has been a bad experience. Nasheed was successful in so many ways as a champion of free speech and a democracy activist and much more. I would hold much greater respect for him if he pushes new people to lead his party and praise him for his humility. The future looks stormy but there is always new growth and life and fertility after the rains.
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