Now...one Maldives, many voices

by Prasad Gunewardene

MALE: When I last visited Maldives a decade ago for the SAARC summit, there were smiles all over the tiny island. Those smiles indicated that it was one Maldives with one voice. As a guest of the Government of Maldives, I was afforded the best of treatment. But, when I landed in Maldives last week, things looked different.

Jennifer Latheef	M.Nasheed	Mariya Didi

I was in the company of the Executive Producer of Independent Television Network (ITN), Mangala Radaliyagoda and the Colombo Chief of Media for Democratic People Worldwide (website), Jayanthi Mendis. We were on a fact finding mission.

The smiles I saw a decade ago were not there. Officials manning the Immigration counter at the Hulule Airport displayed arrogance. "We were told that you were coming and we must check you", an officer said. I complied saying they were free to exercise their duty. Then came a policeman who haughtily questioned in broken English, "What you come here?". He then opened my baggage, rummaged through my neatly packed clothes and half closed the baggage. It was nothing but arrogance of this policeman who knew a few words.

Though Maldives boast of a very high literacy rate in South Asia, it is only confined to their mother tongue, Divehi. The English speaking level is less than five percent of the 300,000 populated nation of islands. In the islands, the school education is only upto grade eight. Thereafter, the students are promoted to grade eight continuously till they attain the age of 18. The main island Male is over-crowded.

Students from the islands rarely gain admission to schools in the capital. Poverty and inflation levels are high. In the capital, only the affluent lead good lives. My friend, the Maldivian Foreign Minister, Dr. Ahmed Shaeed who rang from London and spoke to my colleague Jayanthi last Saturday, claimed that democracy was still in the budding stages in the Maldives.

However, to me it appeared that democracy had deteriorated to an alarming level. The police throw their weight about.

Such powers are not vested in the statute books of the judiciary in any other democratic country. They could pick up any protester and detain him/her for days in isolated islands. I made my way to meet the resident leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed who has been kept under house arrest for over six months. He was bailed out by court, but, the police have the audacity to keep him under house arrest, though no court has not issued such an order. Similarly, young Jennifer Latheef, daughter of exiled MDP leader Mohamed Latheef is too under house arrest after she had been released on bail.

They have been charged for treason and terrorism. On the contrary, the MDP leaders claim that they fight for the restoration of democratic rights of the people.

"We want to save the people from President Abdul Gayoom's dictatorship", said Nasheed who was due to be produced in court the next day. In Male, there is no state of emergency. It appeared that the police and the newly established 'Star Force Commando' Unit were being used to stifle any uprising by the opposition political parties. The MDP challenges President Gayoom to call for an election. "We are confident that the people want Gayoom out", claimed Mohamed Ismail, a 27-year-old youth released from detention after 21 days, for joining a pro-democracy protest in the capital.

Another significant feature that I witnessed was the support towards MDP by the young and the elderly. Nasheed called upon Gayoom to bow out gracefully ending his 28-year one-man rule. Jennifer Latheef, the attractive young woman leader of the MDP under house arrest suffers from back ailments as a result of police assault.

She claimed the Maldivian society was corrupt from top to bottom, adding that the island was contracted by the drug menace, homosexuality and prostitution under the guise of massage clinics operating in the open. Jennifer's case too was due in court last Sunday but it was postponed the previous night. In other democratic countries, cases are called and put off in open court. In male, the police informs the defence lawyers about the cancellation.

When Nasheed was brought to court the following day, police barricades were seen around Dharubaaruge where the case was to be heard. The Star Force Commandos and the Police patrolled the vicinity. Crowds were prohibited entry to the area.

A limited number of passes were issued by the police to the MDP. Nasheed was brought by the police in a car. Yet again after two hours of 'deliberations', the trial was put off. Mariya Didi, a London Barrister and Majlis MP, who earlier served in the Attorney General's Department was highly critical of Gayoom's administration over justice.

I resigned from the AG's Department unable to cope with the pressure from the 'top', where they (top) wanted us to harass the opponents and frame charges to suit the state. I joined the MDP to support the struggle to restore democracy in our tiny nation. Today, I am subjected to harassment by the police but, I am not afraid, Didi asserted.

As Foreign Minister Dr. Shaeed was away in London, attempts to contact the Information Minister and any other higher authorities proved futile as none answered the several telephone calls placed to that ministry. However, Dr. Shaeed assured Jayanthi that he would meet us in Colombo shortly.

In Male, the battle is for political freedom. Pressure mounts on the Gayoom administration day by day. Last Sunday, Parliament approved a motion to call a referendum to decide on the future of the presidential system of government.

It looks like, the government has felt the heat of the protests by the main opposition MDP which struggles for better democracy and political freedom.

As we said earlier, beneath the serendipity, trouble continues to brew in the Maldives. How long Maumoon Abdul Gayoom could survive under this situation is anybody's guess!