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Chanting at President Nasheed Drug Abuser –Defamation?

Special Report

24th Jan 2011, By Ali Sulaiman (Freelance writer to www.maldivestoday.com)

Its election time in the Maldives, for the first time the tiny Indian Ocean nation polls for local council election. The Maldives voted for a presidential election in 2008 which saw coalition of political parties ousting former President Qayyoom, replacing him with Mohamed Nasheed as the president of the country. Two years down the line, another coalition is loosely formed, this time ironically it is against Mohamed Nasheed, on one side there is President Mohamed Nasheed, and on the other side, opposition parties.

Among whom are those who were his former coalition partners during the Presidential election, including the Maldives Republican party lead by Hon. Qasim Ibrahim, former Finance Minister, and President Nasheed’s first Home Minister. And there is the Dhevehi Qaumee Party led by former Presidential candidate Dr. Hassan who garnered a respectable third position in short period of political campaign and held the post of Attorney General in previous government and Advisor to Nasheed.

Only last month Maldives Justice Party led by religious scholars has also pulled out of the government though few of their ministers opted to remain in the government. All these parties campaign against MDP and President Nasheed. Opposition jointly calls the public to vote anyone but the MDP and President Nasheed’s candidates. All these parties and individuals has abandoned Nasheed after seen his betrayal to democracy, his authoritarian style and denouncing his policies which saw corruption soaring high in the country eroding investor confidence , and his total disregard to Constitution and Rule of Law.

However, in these days something else is fast becoming too common a scene in the Maldives. On his campaign trail he is shouted at as a drug user and substance abuser. Locals call him and chant at him “ Ganja Boa” means someone who abuses drugs.

Allegation of substance abuse

Long before Nasheed entered politics, there was serious allegation against him of using cannabis and marijuana. The allegation has never been formally refuted even after he is being elected to the high office of the presidency. The author of this article was met by close activist of MDP working for them during 2008 election, he confided that he was too scarred when he saw Anni as is called locally, smoking dope along with known drug users at a premises belonging to a close friend, he said he saw Ibrahim Hussein Zaki in the same room as well. “I do not want to go there again”, he said. He asked not to mention his name; he works in local film industry as a director.

Nasheed is repeatedly alleged to use cannabis and substance abuse by the former DRP Deputy Leader  and former Leader of Maldives Islamic Democratic Party, Umar Naseer at public rallies held in the capital Male, and the allegation has never been refuted and no action has been taken to clear his name through courts. However, his ministers’ jumps up even for minor allegation of abusing powers and take several individuals to courts; currently his Youth Minister Hassan Latheef has taken Mr. Solih another politician from DQP for defaming him in a television program. It is widely believed that Nasheed does not dare to file cases on these allegations as there are number of eye witnesses who are now ready to testify against him.

Presidential Spokesperson: a former drug convict

Maldives public has more than one reason to suspect of their President’s dirty secret of still continuing to smoke dopes. He has surrounded himself with convicted drug offenders. His Spokesperson Mr. Mohamed Zuhair is among the first Maldivians convicted for drug offences under Maldives drug law “ The Law on Drugs”. The Presidents appointed member to Maldives National Broadcasting Company and MDPs inner circle member Mr. Fahala Saeed was convicted not only for drug abuse but, for drug trafficking and trading, his entire family was involved. He was convicted for the felony, and life sentence was given. However he was bailed out from prison after Nasheed took over the Presidency. President’s aid, Mr. Ziyad who has become the symbol of this Presidency for his phony tail and appearance is widely believed to be a habitual drug abuser and the supplier of it to the President.

Number of local MDP activists has drug related criminal background, many joining MDP to free themselves from prosecution and from serving sentence, though so far no systematic survey has been conducted to gauge the extent of this practice, reports are common that drug offenders are given offer to join the party along with their family and get released from custody and prosecution. Some notorious local drug lords have escaped prosecution after their high profile arrest. President Nasheed, the Former Defense Minister Ameen Faisal  and number of high ranking MDP officials visited the Southernmost known drug dealer widely accused for the trading drugs in Addu and known by his nick name Mr.Azalla when he met an accident and later died of his injuries.  Though in Muslim societies no one celebrates a death no matter what character of the person was, on hearing Azalla’s death people of Addu sighed relief.

Presidency shame proof

In societies where decency matters, and where public officials are scrutinized for their words and actions, minor scuffles with law and rules of the society force them to take action though Italy might be an exception. It is for these reasons that we see Presidents and Prime Ministers take great care in protecting the image of their post and position.  We often witness people working closely with head of governments and head of states work away at mere allegation. As recently as this week, director of communication for UK Prime Minister Cameron, Mr. Coulson has quit amid allegation of phone hacking. President Obama’s advisors and aids continue to exude for varying reasons. However, here in the Maldives convicted drug offender’s serves proudly as Presidents spokesperson. His appointed officials are drug officials carrying life sentence, several of his appointed councilors has drug related criminal background. These are not mere allegation, but established by criminal judgment by court of law. President himself though declares his effort to eradicate drug epidemic in the country  is indelibly tainted, accused of still continuing dope smoking along with drinking. Maldivian believes that International community is oblivious to these facts, and Nasheed therefore, considers that he is shame proof at international community if not at home. For these reasons Maldivians widely looks down at the presidency and considers Nasheed a national tragedy. The chant of “ Ganja Boa” follows him wherever he goes without any relent.

23rd January 2011, Maldivestoday.com

Maldives and the world believed that with 2008 Constitution and with a new election, reform and change has finally arrived to the Maldives. Only couples of month’s later reality started to sink. The new government and the new President Nasheed only helped themselves and allegedly in a short period of time have enriched themselves at unprecedented speed and level. They colored themselves to deceive the normal public and laymen on the street, once in power they are considered and compared as “looters and robbers” by local politicians. President Nasheed has become a symbol of tyranny and too eager to opulence and exorbitant spending and too addicted to lavish partying at government houses and private luxury hotels in the Maldives, enjoying excessive foreign trips at the expense tax payers, taking along with him big entourage comprising close friends and his party members. His love to foreign trips has become talk of this small nation, specially when the country is badly hit by the worst recession the country has ever witnessed, disregarding the plight of his people he has traveled in private jets abroad, whether sponsored by the hosts or friends, more recently he has adopted traveling by seaplane around the country campaigning for his party to upcoming local council election.  He says all his trips are “official trips” and related to his presidential duty.  Trips are organized only to campaign for his party and promote his candidates.

Extravagant and lavish life style

For Maldivian life has taught a hard lesson, many ordinary Maldivians have hoped a new ray of life, a new beginning to their very ordinary and average life style, they came out in droves to vote for the change, to end the long thirty year regime who become too comfortable and oblivious with needs of its subjects. The country was in festive mood during the 2008 election time, believing that finally for the first time, the interest of the subjects or its people will become the national agenda. Warring politicians forged coalition to oust the regime. On winning the election, President Nasheed declared “ it’s clear what people has said, you must not try to rule alone but rule  along with others who helped to bring the changes”. Less than months after taking the realm, he embarked on recruiting his family and close aids to government posts, created several state enterprises to employ his loyalists, posted his close aides to profit making government companies, appointed several hundreds of close friends, party activists to political posts to run typically third world and authoritarian style government.

President Nasheed loves to spend weekends and public holidays at his private island “ the Aarah” along with his party activists and friends often displaying lavish and opulent spending. He would often drop by to seven star luxury hotels belonging to his close business friends, witnesses say during these trips he behaves like any other cowboy, taking along with him several activists, friends and the partying goes on till late hours of the nights. He jets in the tiny islands of the Maldives on hired exceptionally expensive seaplanes to campaign for his party; no other Maldives President has ever acted in such blatant way to waste the already tight state coffer. He would often organize foreign trips accompanying several close friends, party members and stay in five star hotels. His Italy trip alone has cost Maldives tax payers several million ruffiya.

He is reported taking party members and activists on state trips to provide them with business opportunities. Back at home, he has made a habit of cross crossing the country during the day by seaplane and come back to the capital for the evening and again taking off in the morning by seaplane, for a President who has spoken of extravagant life style of former President because the former has kept stylish speedboat for state purpose, this is like rubbing salt to wounds of the ordinary Maldivians, especially when the country literally goes on begging for extra funds to meet its needs from international community and friendly states. Unlike the former President, the later openly challenges the public of his right to spend, taunts them, even get them arrested if they openly question his actions, for example; the leader of Republican Party Hon. Qasim Ibrahim, and leader of Peoples Alliance, Hon. Yameen and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hon. Nazim all were arrested for opposing his excessive life style and action as the head of state.  He has already being labeled at home as stunt maker and someone eager to display lavish life style.

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Maldives

To many Maldives, President Nasheed is the Ben Ali of the Maldives. He controls all the state powers, exceeds the legal authority given to him, controls and refuse to free Maldives State Television, “ The Television Maldives, and Voice of Maldives” despite a parliament legislation passed and become law to free it. He has continuously harassed and suppressed free media in the country as evidenced by many reports published by Maldives Media Council. He has arrested, sent military to arrest politicians opposing to him, he locked the Maldives Supreme Court and refused justices entry to the Court. He uses state resources bluntly and without any shame that might embarrass even Mugabe and leaders of Burma. In a short period of time his appointed loyalists and Party Parliamentary Group Leader Mr. Reeko Moosa Manik has secured 21 million dollar government contract, many allege were corruptly given. President Nasheed is reported to have secured several millions of dollars to his family and friends through GMR contract of Male International Airport. Cases are filled at Anti-Corruption Commission against all these awards and contracts.  His Party Chair has to her family credit launched an Airline and several party members have received islands to develop as tourist resorts, all along while the ordinary Maldivians struggle and suffer to meet a decent life, meet daily needs, a decent health care, and struggles for the education of their kids. For Maldivian, it is another Muslim country and another Ben Ali- and the country waits and prays for the same event to fall on them as it had happened in Tunisia.

The war ended in 1945, and due to Mohamed Ameen’s failure to follow the British Lieutenant Walker’s advice, the Maldive people experienced extreme hardship. Many people migrated from Gulhi island in Male’ atoll, but others died. This was what happened in many islands.

Meanwhile 25,000 rupees a month in foreign currency was sent overseas to pay for the living expenses of Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan, his younger son and associates, and about half a dozen elderly people with them. This arrangement continued for a long time. There is no reason why the leaders of the country should escape responsibility for people starving to death during WW2 in Maldives.

Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan had gone off and settled in Egypt in 1933. Immediately after the end of the war, he went to Colombo because Hassan Fareed had died without a child, and as Fareed’s father, Majeed had become the owner of Fareed’s property in Kandy. He sold it and bought a large three storey building in Colombo which contained six shops. It is on the junction of Banksal street and the second cross street on the sea-side corner. It was named the Fareed Building. From the rent it earned, 300 rupees were given to Sheikh Ali Hussein Didi, and the remainder was for Mohamed Fareed and Ibrahim Fareed.

Thus the 60,000 rupees that Hassan Fareed had taken to buy rice when he left in the Fathul Bari (after WW2 began), had now become a building. And it was just as the people in the north said � we never saw the rice. Hassan Fareed’s wife, Aminath Mohamed Didi, was paid 25,000 Maldivian rupees, as was her rightful claim. And she was given a house originally built by Abdullah Didi (Athireege Abdullah Didi). He had no children and his properties were inherited by Athireege family elders.

Very briefly, this is the story of the Second World War:
For twenty years (after WW1) there had been peace, and during that time the wealth generated around the world was at a historically record level. Then the Second World War began. According to Honourable Ibrahim Rasheed of Karankaage house, a trustworthy and reliable gentleman, a certain number of people did die of starvation during WW2, and this is corroborated by many elderly people. And people suffered from malnutrition too. Ali Hussein of Novelty said that people in other Maldivian islands ate the inside of papaya tree trunks. But people did not starve to death as they did later in the Ameenee Big Famine.

Addu atoll and Fua Mulaku did not suffer any effects of the famine. Fua Mulaku had enough vegetables and fruit growing on the island. Addu atoll had foodstuffs that were imported in large amounts for the British soldiers who occupied the atoll with their Pakistani and Indian labourers. Ameen Didi issued feeble instructions that the people of Addu should not have easier access to food than other Maldivians.

The Ameenee Republican Big Famine

Mohamed Ameen and Ibrahim Faamuladheyri Kilegefan 1948

The British-Maldivian agreement was prepared by Mohamed Ameen and he decided to hold the signing ceremony in Male’. The British High Commissioner W. Henkinson came to Male’ from Sri Lanka, and signing on behalf of Maldives on 24 April 1948 were the two members of the Council of Regency, Mohamed Ameen and Ibrahim Ali Didi (Faamudheyri Kilegefaan). Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan was there and he was saying the signing of the agreement was a great service for the country. Then, on 29 April 1948 we witnessed a koli being held for Mohamed Ameen, proclaiming him Dhoshimeynaa Kilege (Grand Defender of the country).

Mohamed Ameen had become a particularly highly honoured gentleman. His name was now Al-Amir Hajj Mohamed Ameen Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan. On the day the agreement was signed, Mohamed Ameen announced that the money owed by the islands for food they received, had been absolved by Abdul Majeed.

Ameen seizes Addu compensation money

Yaahunbaraahu

In 1947, Mohamed Ameen received �300,000 from the British, which was originally obtained from the Japanese by the Allies as compensation of the deaths and property losses caused by the sinking of the ‘Yaahunbaraahu’.

This vessel was an odi owned by Ali Didi, the son of Elha Didi. Only two people escaped death on this odi, Mohamed Manikufaan of Sikkage, and Ibrahim Didi, the son of Abbeyaa. These two were imprisoned in Singapore by the Japanese after the odi was gunned and sunk. Later, when the British recaptured Singapore they were sent back to Maldives with clear details of the ship’s accounts, handed to them by their British rescuers. Mohamed Ameen summoned them to the Home Ministry and ordered them to hand over the documents they’d received. I was given this information on 9 February 1998 during a telephone conversation with Mohamed Manikufaan of Sikkage.

Without any sense of decency, or care and sympathy for the widowed wives and children who had lost fathers among the many men killed, Mohamed Ameen deceived them and misappropriated their rightful property. Regardless of the fact that Ali Didi was wealthy, his son Mohamed Didi had been killed and he had lost the odi. Mohamed Ameen was required to pay this compensation money to Ali Didi. However, he acted terribly by committing this great deception, and at the same time he was accepting the title ‘Ameenul Gaum’ (Head of State).

There is no question that as soon as Hassan Fareed was missing (April 1944), Mohamed Ameen became the leader of the country. His behaviour wasn’t too bad then. When the Japanese were defeated, foodstuffs and clothing were delivered to private businesses and the National Company. Prices were really cheap, and this continued up to the signing of the agreement in 1948. After that, Mohamed Ameen’s manners began to deteriorate. His father-in-law Salahuddhine and Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan had died. Abdul Majeed was happy to go with the flow. As long as he received money, Majeed was happy.

T. A. J. Noorbahi was the man who wrote the amounts on the board of all the fish that were brought into the Big Store. One day he would accept all the fish, and then on the next day all the fish would be taken to the Nagariya shop. All the people acting on behalf of the other shops would complain as they left the Big Store with empty hessian bags.

Mohamed Ameen was using this fish to borrow money in Colombo, via confidential letters, at the rate of one rupee for eight Maldivian rupees. The money lent to him in Colombo was from secret funds that had avoided tax. The money was being laundered into legal money. Thus Mohamed Ameen was paid illegal money that he could spend on whatever he liked. When this scam started, the amount of goods being imported into the country began to decrease.

1950
Mohamed Ameen was suffering from two chronic diseases � diabetes and high blood pressure. His tonsils were always infected and he often had a high temperature. He regularly took dispirin and other stronger medication. He was always being admitted and treated in the best Sri Lankan hospital, the Nursing Home. It was on High street, adjacent to the land-side of Galle Road. The managing director of T. A. J. Noorbahi’s company Baseer Ali and Mohamed Ameen were both students at St Joseph’s College, and very close friends. Once as he lay sick in bed, Mohamed Ameen sent a letter to Baseer Ali asking him for an immediate loan of 300,000 rupees and promising to pay in fish after returning to Male’. I think this money was borrowed in 1951. I have seen the letter, but that was after Mohamed Ameen’s death.

1940s
As mentioned before, Hassan Fareed’s disappearance in 1944 meant Mohamed Ameen inherited the leadership. The first large house he built with government money was Sosunge, for Annabeela Ameenath Hussein. Then he built the beautiful Orchidmaage for Annabeela Fathmath Ibrahim Didi. After this he built Billoorijehige for a very beautiful young woman who was studying in the Convent of the Holy Family in Colombo. Her name was Miss Fathmath Abdul-Wahhab. Mohamed Ameen also built a very large two storey house inside the grounds of King Ali’s palace for his second wife Annabeela Zubaida Mohamed Didi.

The Athireege compound as it exists now was all built with government money except the part that extends from east to west. A solid house (now called Vadige) was built for Vadi Dhon Manik, and a house (known today as Finifenmaage) was constructed for Masodi Mohamed Kaleygefaan. A very small house that belonged to Beyruge Yusuf Fulhu was rebuilt for Ameenath Faiza and renamed Daisymaage. After obtaining consent from Faiza’s father, Yusuf Fulhu, the land and house were registered in Faiza’s name. As well, another large block of land known as Daisy Fehi was given to Faiza. However, after Faiza became the wife of Sayyid Abbas, no building was constructed there. At that time, an immense amount of money flowed into the market to finance the building of these houses. All the houses were built from material purchased at any price from the market . Teak, and other good quality timber that had accumulated in government hands from the days when Abdul Majeed was in charge, were used in the construction of these buildings.

1952
Now the period of the Republic was imminent. Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan left Egypt and travelled to Sri Lanka. Shortly afterwards, he died on 21 February 1952.

Many girls were taken to Sri Lanka for their education and because they were friends of Mohamed Ameen Didi. The students stayed in the upper storey of Fehige in Colombo with Ameena Mohamed Ameen. Mohamed’s ‘friends’ stayed in Cosy Corner. In India, Mohamed Ameen had a very close girlfriend called Sheila. It was rumoured that she was one of the beautiful film stars in India. Through her, Mohamed Ameen met many film stars in Bombay. He reserved many rooms in five-star hotels and it seems that the compensation money for the loss of the Yaahunbaraahu was spent on these film women. None of the Maldivian girls received a single cent of those funds, that’s for sure.

Male’ street 1947

During the last half of 1951, Male’ was decorated in preparation for the announcement of a Republic. At that time the classrooms of the House of Learning (later, the Majeediyya school hall) were under construction. The on-site superviser was Nakhuda Hassan Kaleygefaan and Mundu Kuda Futhu. The outer perimeter walls of Majeedee Magu road were lowered to a height of 4 ft. and finished off with rounded coping.

It became difficult to borrow money from overseas, until a loan of 700,000 rupees was granted by the Sri Lankan government. I believe the debt, in the account of the government agent P.B. Umbichchi & Sons, had become too high. (The public became aware of this loan after the end of the Republic). With proper records being kept, a loan of 80,000 rupees was taken from a company owned by M. S. Hibathulla Bahi. I don’t know when this money was borrowed.

From this time on, a terrible famine began to spread all over the outer islands. People starved to death. This was because foodstuffs were not being imported. Fehige and Cosy Corner were full of female students and girlfriends. When the republic ended, it was discovered that about 50,000 rupees a month was being spent on these places.

People were dying of starvation and there wasn’t even any cloth to cover the dead. The junior island chief of Ribidhoo said he used a hessian bag to cover his nakedness. Mohamed Saleem, the son of the famous poet Adam Saleem of Hoarafushi island, told me over the telephone that his father told him that 12 people died on his island on one day. The sails of a grounded odi that was no longer suitable for fishing, were used to shroud the dead. Vashafaru Adam Abdul Rahman said that Ahmed Shafeeg, who was then an atoll chief, said to him that he had seen a dead mother and two dead children . The young ones had their mouths on her breasts. All three had starved to death in Felidhoo island, Felidhoo atoll. He wouldn’t admit that now.

Shaviyani atoll Kan’ditheem Katheeb was sitting in K. D. M. Shop No:2, and during a conversation he said that anyone who said magoo (scaevola taccada) leaves made good food, was given a Kaleyfaan title. It was also said that in some islands the shortage of cloth and weakness of the people resulted in the dead being covered in coconut frond thatch and buried in the soft sand near the beach.

Those who were able to go fishing were prohibited from taking a stove aboard, so they cooked fish in the sail. In complete secrecy, they brought the bits and pieces of food to their houses. If anyone was caught doing this, they were put in stocks and exposed to the sun and rain. There were stories that some people were hanged and fires lit under them. These acts were carried out by those atoll chiefs who were backing Mohamed Ameen. Some of the islands chiefs also joined them. According to reliable people, in Naifaru island the atoll chief Kaannaa Kaleyfaan distributed magoo leaves from uninhabited islands as food.

Here I will quote extracts from Essays II, by Honourable Al-Usthaz Ibrahim Shihab, Malas 37, NCLHR, 1992:
‘Maldives was starved in every meaning of the word. People ate leaves, and islands were in total darkness. The people were in a state of nakedness.’
‘People were suffering in this way, while in Male’ there were dances, silk clothes, tea drinking and feasts. Yes! We are now understanding the taste of it all..’ p.146
‘Yes! In Male’ some people were flying, living at the highest level of prosperity and happiness. But for many of the poverty stricken people in the islands, their food for that day was leaves from bushes.’ p.189
‘The treasury had become the property of those in power, their share depending on the extent of that power.’ p.194
‘The huge debt we owe to Sri Lanka is the other important economic issue we have to face.’ p.198

Republic Day
Nevertheless, Male’ was still being prepared and was nearly ready for the republic celebrations. The day of the announcement was imminent, and it was to be 1 January 1953.

On the morning of this day, ministers and men and women from the gentry were in official dress, and men and women delegates were brought from the other islands. All these people gathered in the conference hall at the House of Learning. The British officials from Sri Lanka arrived at the venue. They included the High Commissioner Sir Cecil Sawyer, Dr Sir Ivor Jennings, Royal Ceylon Navy Commander Royce de Mel, and the Member of Parliament for Jaailaa and former student of St Joseph College, Peris Perera.

The meeting began at nine o’clock. Right on cue, the ‘Head of State’ appeared in a military commander’s dress, and wearing a brimmed hat. Beside him, but one step behind, was Mohamed Zaki in similar attire. When he called out ‘Head of State’, everyone stood up. Maldive men who were not from Male’, had to wear a white turban on their heads. Kaanaa Kaleyfaan, Meynaa Kaleyfaan and Fenna Manikfan were also forced to wear the turban on their heads. During the republic celebrations, these gentlemen were given the titles reserved for non-Male’ Maldivians . Malin Moosa was given the title of ‘Maafahaiy’, and Nakhuda Hassan Kaleyfaan was made Ranahamadhi. Other titles were also proclaimed.

Many girls were brought to Male’ for the beauty contest. These girls were staying at Buchaage house, which was almost directly in front of Athireege house (Mohamed Ameen’s residence). There were about twenty of them, and their food was chicken curry, fish curry and boiled long-grained rice. They drank condensed milk tea and ate ‘Golden Pop’ biscuits. They wore ‘Number 3′ dresses, made of London fabric. [This was one the few designs that women were allowed to wear. The government gave permission for the wearing of three types of dresses. This permission was granted in May 1942]. The Republic was proclaimed and then the carnival began.

About twenty people from both sexes were in charge of this carnival. Among them were Mohamed Ameen and Velaanaage Ibrahim Didi, and other people of lesser status. Tea was arranged for them at Naadhee and the snacks available included deepfried fish balls, fish patties and savoury cake. This food was prepared at Athamaage house. The carnival days continued until at one o’clock each morning.

Abdul Latheef’s wife was Dhondhi. At the end of the carnival, Latheef was paid 600 rupees for the preparation of the snack food. Chicken samosa was made at a house in Henveiru ward. I believe they made about 1000 rupees by the time the carnival was over. It ran for ten days. For a year before the proclamation of the republic, Gulhi island (in South Male’ atoll) was where many people died of starvation. While the official teas and feasts were being served at the carnival, Gulhi island was becoming uninhabited. The situation was the same in the islands of Felidhoo atoll. Many people died because they were unable to walk without support, and couldn’t find anything to eat. Most people died in the small fishing islands. Shihab writes:
‘The president of the country seemed to have forgotten that he was a human being.’ Malas 37 p.194.

Tobacco banned and hands amputated
Well, it wasn’t surprising really. The constitution presented to the people had contained no rights for them. The Privileges Committee ruled with great power. Its chairman was Mohamed Ameen, and his anger could be intense. In a short time even the people in Male’ began to greatly disapprove of Ameen Didi.

Rice was rationed in Male’ to a half cup per person, and then there was the smuggling of tobacco into the country by some members of the Kandaa family from Maafannu ward. When the smuggling became public knowledge, orders were given for fifty people from each ward to gather at Naadhee (the public servants’ club) at eight o’clock in the evening. Everyone attended, and Mohamed Ameen said that all the people from Maafannu were thieves.

Hakeem Didi and fellow conspirators from Viligili island in Huvadhu atoll. They were accused of murdering the Huvadhu atoll chief, and plotting the murder of Mohamed Ameen using black magic.

And then there was the issue of the execution of Hakeem Didi, and the amputation of the hands of thieves. Among the people who’s hands were amputated were Hussein Didi of Badi Alibey house, and Sidi (also known as Ibrahim Waheed) the son of Kalhu Sidi. These two gentlemen were members of the gentry. Bodu Fenvalhuge Sidi went to see Mohamed Ameen and asked him not to amputate Hussein Didi’s hand.

‘All the gold has been recovered,’ argued Bodu Fenvalhuge Sidi. ‘The owners have no more complaints. Since it was a first offence, then in accordance with the law of the Shafii sect, the hand cannot be amputated.’
‘I have to execute a sentence given by the Honourable Chief Justice,’ replied Ameen.

On behalf of another person sentenced to amputation, Ibrahim Faamuladheyri Kilegefaan went to intercede with Mohamed Ameen. Faamuladheyri Kilegefan was closely related to Sidi on his father’s side. His appeals were also rejected.

The third person whose hand was chopped off was a commoner.

Anyway, all three men had their hands amputated at the wrist. The Sri Lankan doctor who was in Male’ at the time, John Ratnam, also asked Ameen Didi not to cut off hands. He showed Ameen a photo of a large machine and asked to be allowed to use it to dislocate the joint before the amputation, if it had to be done at all. He also wanted to administer a tetanus injection and anaesthetise the hand before the sentence was carried out. Kuda Ahmed Manik overheard these discussions and secretly told many people. There was growing anger among the population. People also heard about the protests of Velaanaage Ibrahim Didi, the vice-president, and this also became a commonly known secret.

As (Ibrahim Waheed) Sidi’s hand was about to be cut off, Velaanaage Ibrahim Didi suddenly fainted where he was in the forest in Hulhule’ island. He lay on the ground until he regained consciousness, and people believed he had collapsed because he was humane and kind.

Ameen’s finances
At this time, Hilihilaage Moosa Didi had been the deputy at the Home Ministry for two years. Before, Velaanaage Ibrahim Didi had held the position. It became a commonly known secret that Ameen Didi had bought a hundi (financial promissory note) valued at 25,000 Sri Lankan rupees for 200,000 Maldivian rupees, from Moosa Didi’s company at a rate of 8 rupees for one Sri Lankan rupee. 22,000 of the rupees from the company were packed into twenty-two boxes and taken by Ameen as diplomatic luggage to Sri Lanka in the M.G.R. Marukaaru. This also became a common knowledge.

Ameen Didi now believed he was all-powerful, enjoying the loyalty of the militia, the customs officials and young people. He distributed unlimited amounts of money to women who joined his supporters, and gave funds to his associates as well. About a hundred households were eating No:1 hard and tasty long white rice. In many other households, only tainted flour was being eaten. This flour had been released onto the market as ‘food’. Of the 4,000 people living on Male’, only about 200 ate good food.

Hathifushi Ramiza was the daughter of Hathifushi Dhon Manik, and her brother was Hathifushi Ali Manik. The mother of the children was Dhanvaru Aiminah. The father, Dhon Manik, was dead. This Ramiza was the girl who Ameen Didi loved most.
Ninety-eight pounds of sugar and a letter were sent to the atoll chief of Thiladhunmathi from the Ministry of Trade. At that time Thiladhunmathi atoll wasn’t divided into Haa Alif and Haa Dhaal. In the same vessel ( which belonged to Kulhudhuffushi Kokko Ahmed) was a letter from Mohamed Ameen along with two sacks of sugar, each weighing a hundredweight, for Vadi Dhon Manik. The letter instructed him to deliver the sugar to Dhanvaru Aiminah. The two consignments of sugar went aboard that same vessel. The writer has a signed handwritten document regarding this matter.

The end of the First Republic
Anyway, the end of the First Republic came near. After being very sick for a while, Ameen went to Colombo for treatment. On the advice of doctors there, he travelled to Madras in India. News of the long trip reached Male’. A group of younger people had the idea of handing the leadership over to the vice-President. Ibrahim Didi agreed. Very quickly, secret meetings were held in two houses in Maafannu and it was decided that they would gather at the parade ground after the Friday prayer on the 11th of the Hajj month, and overthrow Mohamed Ameen. The plan was successful, and it happened on 21 August 1953.

Less than a month had passed after the change of leadership, when Ibrahim Faamuladheyri Kilegefaan went to Colombo and obtained aid from the Sri Lankan government of 3,000 sacks of rice, each weighing 150lbs. From Pakistan, there was aid in the form of 4,000 sacks of long-grained rice, each sack weighing 200lbs. Faamuladheyri Kilegefan hired a boat called ‘Safina Thariq’ and took this cargo, along with rice, sugar, and flour to Male’ for Zaib Ali, the Director of T. A. J. Noor Bahi.

The fish sold to the Big Store were now distributed to businesses in accordance with their rightful quotas, and supplies � rice, sugar, flour, areca nut and betel leaf eating condiments, and spices � all increased very quickly. These goods were transported to the other islands and less than three months after the end of Ameen’s rule, the eating of magoo leaves in Maldives ceased.

People had begun to receive decent food, but nothing could be done about the debts. More details about this appear in many of my other writings in the daily newspaper, Aafathis. Goods came into the country regularly after the end of World War 2 in 1945, and seven years went safely by. Then came the Big Famine that Ameen Didi inflicted on the people.

Two widely separated famines have been joined together by certain noble members from Huraage, Ameen Didi’s girl-friends and others who would falsify history. Regardless of what they have written, this later famine cannot be connected with World War 2. The term ‘ration card disease’ (a protruding stomach due to malnutrition) comes from the time of the Ameenee Famine.

Author’s note
I, Abdul Hakeem Hussein Manik, wrote this document in response to the accounts written, with the approval of the government, which claim that this famine never happened. This falsehood is even being taught in our schools, in the ‘Social Studies’ curriculum. Also, there are many middle-aged people who talk about this famine, but they pretend they don’t know what really happened.

And then there are those who are involved in writing history. One of them is Naibuge Haleem, another is Abdullah Sadiq. Koli Ahmed Manik also ignored this famine in his writing, even though he was very well aware of it.Ahmed Shafeeg, the son of Medhu Gan’duvaru Thuththu Manippulhu, was misleading and lying when he wrote that the Ameenee Big Famine didn’t occur. His account has even been published.

This statement is written by
Abdul Hakeem Hussein Manik
Everglory house
Machangoalhi ward
Male’

Part 1 – by Abdul Hakeem Hussein Manik, Everyglory house, Maldives, Maldives 1999
translated by Fareesha Abdulla and Michael O’Shea, with assistance from Majid Abdul-Wahhab.

The first world war started in 1914, and ended with the defeat of Germany in 1919. During this time Athireege Abdul Majeed Didi was the political leader of the country. Later he became known as Abdul Majeed Rannaban’deyri Kilegefaan.

Binbi (finger millet) and kudhibaiy (common millet) were commonly cultivated in the Maldives, and binbi can be stored for a long time. At the treasury building, a very large warehouse was built. This was a time when tax was collected on agriculture by the government, and all the binbi collected as tax was stored in the warehouse.

Long before the start of the war, the the Maldive importing and exporting trade was in the hands of the Borah traders. The largest shop in the Maldives bazaar was E. G. Adam Ali’s main shop, and the manager was Ibrahim Didi. He was popularly known as Baburu Ibrahim Didi.

The writer of this document (Abdul Hakeem Hussein Manik) was born on 16 April 1916, during the first world war. My father was working at the treasury building. Although it was under the ultimate control of Abdul Majeed Didi, the treasury building was run by Abdullah Didi, the son of Holhudhoo Navin Dhon Manik. The manager of the warehouses was Hussein Manik, the son of Kalhu Ali Manik.

At this time, the population of Maldives was about 70,000. Maldives and other islands were full of huge breadfruit trees and in Maldives there were many mango trees. Papayas, sweet potatoes and pumpkins grew throughout the islands, and the people needed only a limited amount of extra food.

The Borah traders acted meanly during the first world war, though the war itself never reached the Suez canal. Even so, the price of a 150lb sack of Rangoon rice was raised to 50 rupees. When news of the war first reached Maldives, the price of a sack of rice was between 6 and 7 rupees. My father said that the manager, Ibrahim Didi, used his hands to measure out the rice. One and half naalhimeasures were sold for one rupee. (One naalhi is approximately 2lb, so one and half naalhi is about 3lb.) With a sack weighing 150lb, this meant it was sold for 50 rupees. In the same way, the price of sugar also went up. In those days it was cane sugar. Beet sugar had not yet been introduced to Maldives.

The government did nothing to control the prices. Instead they sent binbi grain to some of the atolls to alleviate the rice shortage.

The writers who have claimed that Maldives’ first major famine occurred at this time are being grossly deceptive. They are claiming this is the one of two major famines that occurred in Maldives during wartimes, although they know very well that these claims are false.

In WW1, British warships came to Maldives. They asked if a German ship had stopped here, and then they left. It was during the war that a buoy-like thing (probably a mine) was washed onto the beach at Kudarikilu island in Baa atoll. Twelve people fishing found it. One of them hit it with a stick and it exploded. The people near the bomb were blown to pieces, and it was said that bits of skin and bone were plastered on the trunks of coconut trees.

Mohamed Ameen, and others who falsify history, talk about people starving during this war, and have written about it. In addition, Mohamed Ameen wrote that his father Ahmed Kuda Doshimeynaa Kilegefaan went to Colombo to procure rice. This is something that the Borah traders, and Maldivians who are aware of what was happening at that time, will not accept at all.
Ibrahim Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan and his older son Ahmed Kuda Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan received help from E. G. Adam Ali in their attempt to end the political independence of Maldives, and overthrow of the monarchy of Haji Imadhudheen. Therefore, the father and son would not act in any way against the financial interests of E. G. Adam Ali, regardless of any advantage that might come to the people of Maldives. This matter was made very clear by Mohamed Ismail Didi’s book, ‘Memories of a Son’.

At the age of seven, Hassan Fareed left Maldives to study, and Mohamed Ameen wrote in his book ‘Gratitude of a Son’, that the first world war started before the government trading boat carrying Fareed entered Colombo harbour in Sri Lanka.

Mohamed Ismail Didi’s ‘Memories of a Son’ clearly explains the depth of the relationship between E. G. Adam Ali and this father and son.

Abdul Majeed (later Rannaban’deyri Kilegefaan) was partly opposed to the Borahs and the British. It was Abdul Majeed Didi who ordered E. G. Adam’s shop torn down after the death of Majeed’s father, Ibrahim Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan. In the same place, he had the Big Store built. These events show that Abdul Majeed was not in complete agreement with his father and older brother.

Famine during World War II
The first major famine occurred during the second world war. Unlike WW1, this war spread all over the world. It started in 1939 and ended in 1945. On one side were Germany, Italy and Japan. Britain, America, Russia, China, large and small European countries, and other countries of the world united and became the ‘Alliance’. The war ended with the defeat of the German side.

When news arrived in Maldives about the start of the second world war, Hassan Fareed Didi, who was responsible for all matters relating to the war, abandoned the Ministry of the Interior and all the other responsibilities he held. He became a minister of state.

Hassan Fareed

Hassan Fareed and his wife, accompanied by twelve guards, left Maldives in the royal Fathul Bari ship with sixty thousand silver rupees to buy government rice. Bandhu Moosa Kaleygefaan was in charge of the guards, and the ship went to Cochin. The money was taken from Cochin to Beypore and delivered to P. P. Hassan Koi (or Koya), the owner of the P.B. Umbichchi & Sons. Then Hassan Fareed and his wife, and the guards, went to Colombo by train. They spent sixty thousand rupees buying a property consisting of four hills and a garden with a beautiful small house on one of the hills.

Each morning, Hassan Fareed would commute to Colombo by car. It was a three hour trip. At this time the office of the Maldive Representative was a house on Flower road. It was rented by Hussein Hilmy, and his family lived there with him.

When he left Maldives, Hassan Fareed took a letter with a signature which allowed him to withdraw money from the office of the P.B. Umbichchi & Sons with the presentation of his own signature. From then on the withdrawal of money on letters from Hussein Hilmy was stopped.

In the very early days of the war, before the Borah traders had heard war had broken out, they were buying a hundredweight of fish for twenty-eight rupees. A hundredweight of fish was bartered for four sacks of Rangoon rice, weighing 150lbs each. A sack of cane sugar weighing two hundredweight was being sold for 13 rupees.

All of a sudden, they began to pay 7 rupees for a hundredweight of fish, and they wanted 10 hundredweight of fish for a sack of rice. At this time, the manager of Old Giraavaru shop, Najar Bahi, known as ‘Two-head Najar’ bought fish at the rate of seven rupees per hundredweight and stored it in a large, poorly built warehouse made of corrugated iron. The three most prominent Maldive businessmen, Kolige Umar Manik, Buruneege Ibrahim Didi and Hilihilaage Moosa Didi, discussed purchasing fish in the shop owned by Buruneege Ibrahim Didi. The manager at the time was Abdul Hakeem Hussein Manik (the writer). Umar Manik decided to buy fish, but the other two declined. Umar paid 7 rupees per hundredweight, and he stored his fish in a warehouse called ‘Maajehi’ warehouse. It was built with brick and mortar, and inside was dry and clean. White sand covered the floor. The warehouse was filled with 800 hundredweight of fish.
Mohamed Ameen Didi did not write about this.

During the early days of the war, Representative Hussein Hilmy Didi arrived in a chartered cargo boat loaded with foodstuffs. There were 4,700 sacks of rice, 2400 sacks of unhusked rice, and 150 sacks of flour  7,250 sacks in total. This is referred to on page 151 of ‘Maldives under a Cloud of War’ (by Mohamed Ameen Didi).

The boat left carrying 400 sacks of dried fish owned by Kolige Umar Manik and another 400 sacks of fish that Umar had sold to Hibathulla Bahi’s shop at a rate of 14 rupees (per hundredweight), with the money to be paid in Colombo. The fish stored in the warehouse used by Old Giraavaru shop was eaten by weevils into a heap of dust. According to discussion in the bazaar, about 2,000 hundredweight of fish were ruined. The massive loss had to be borne by the ‘wise’ Najar Bahi, the famous ‘Two-headed Najar’. From memory, customs officials did not allow that fish to be loaded onto the boat.

The 400 hundredweight of fish owned by Umar Manik fetched 80 rupees per hundredweight in Colombo, and Hibathulla Bahi’s fish sold for only 14 rupees per hundredweight. Kolige Umar Manik suddenly became very wealthy.

The Big Store
When the Borahs refused to pay any acceptable price for the dried fish, Mohamed Ameen decided to allow the Big Store (owned by the Maldive government) to open, and buy fish for the government. This building had been strongly constructed by Abdul Majeed Rannabandeyri, specifically for this purpose.

All the Maldive businessmen, and some members of the Majlis, expressly stated that it was not right for the Big Store to buy fish on behalf of the government. These businessmen were Kolige Umar Manik, Ibrahim Hassan Didi, Mohamed Ismail Didi, Hilihilaage Moosa Didi, and Ibrahim Didi. However, the determined Mohamed Ameen proposed a bill to the Majlis to allow the government to buy fish. With the exception of Umar Manik, all of the gentlemen mentioned above and Kuda Dhaharaage Ibrahim Didi, spoke against it, saying the plan was something that should not be embarked on.

Nevertheless, some members of the Majlis agreed with Mohamed Ameen and the bill to open the Big Store was passed. Mohamed Ameen awarded the title of ‘Kaleygefaan’ to Moonim Hassan Bahi of Nagariya shop. He agreed to buy a quarter of the fish for the Bodu Store. The other quarter was for the government. That took care of 50% of the fish. The remaining 50% was open to market quotas. Different businessmen took portions, until the quotas were filled.

The Borah traders held a number of meetings, and though they pretended to be kind, they attempted to intimidate Mohamed Ameen. Hilihilaage Moosa Didi was the managing partner of MM Ibrahim Didi’s company. At the time, he told this writer that Mohamed Ameen didn’t know what was going to happen with the fish, and that the Bombay people [another name for the Borahs who actually from Colombo but considered themselves descendents from Gujerati Borahs] were telling him there was no profit in the trade. The writer was then asked not to talk about the reality of the situation. ‘Otherwise we won’t be able to buy any fish,’ said Moosa. I didn’t reply one way or the other.

The Big Store was opened on 10 December 1942, and the first manager was Nakhda Hassan Kaleygefaan. The assistant manager was Kolige Umar Manik. From the beginning, the store bought hundredweights of fish from the middle atolls of Maldives for 28 rupees. From Huvadhu atoll, the price was 32 rupees. In each case, the fish was sold on to the private businessmen at a five rupees profit. I remember well that these were the prices at the opening of the store. Mohamed Ismail Didi quotes the same prices in his book ‘Motorboat Revolt’. He also says that Hassan Fareed officiated at the opening of the Big Store. This is incorrect, as he may be well aware, because at that time Hassan Fareed was in Colombo.

Due to the circumstances surrounding the opening of the Big Store, morale was low among businessmen, but the store itself ran very well.

War food rationing and the Northern Uprising
When the war started, Hassan Fareed was in power and he made rationing arrangements from the very beginning so that each person in Maldives was to receive a cup of rice per day, while the people in the other islands were given half a cup of rice daily. Mohamed Ameen changed this arrangement, and Maldives islanders saw their ration cut to half a cup per day, while people in the outer islands were given only a quarter of a cup.

When we heard the war had started, the market was full to the brim with rice and sugar. At that time, wheat had not been introduced to Maldives, or at least it was very uncommon. But during the war years, wheat became widely available as all the food in the marketplace was taken over by the government at controlled prices.

Due to the changes that Mohamed Ameen introduced, there was a huge revolt called the Northern Uprising. The Chief Khatheeb of Kulhudhuffushi, and Mudhin Kaleyge of Maalhendhoo, Lagodi Maalimee and chiefs from other northern islands, all came together in dhoani and baththeli and filled Maldives harbour. This was described in the ‘Finihiyaa’ magazine of March 1988. But there was something omitted from that account that should be mentioned.

During that revolt, people were arrested in Kulhudhuffushi island, and Mohamed Didi, the son of Maafaiy Kilegefaan, and Mohamed Jameel wrote letters. Mohamed Jameel wrote in 1989 in ‘Memories of the Thiladhunmathi trip’ (see ‘Malas’ 21 p.23):
‘How are we going to get anything? All the profit is taken and poured into Galle! Once they took away 24,000 rupees, and recently they took another 32,000 rupees! That’s why we have nothing, and have to die of starvation.’ The Thilandhunmathi people came to Mal� on 3 March 1943. Hoarafushi Katheeb Thakurufaan, Usman Ibrahim said, ‘If all the ambergris that was washed up on Maldives was sold, and the money from this alone was put in the bank, then this famine would not come to Maldives.’ This was the sort of thing being said in Kulhudhuffushi and around the atoll. ‘Hassan Fareed, accompanied by soldiers, has left for Cochin in the royal ship Fathul Bari with 60,000 rupees, to buy rice. That rice never came!’

Hoarafushi Katheeb Thakurufaan Dhiddhoo Dhon Ali Haji Kaleygefaan, and Hathifushi Dhon Manik were on the side of the government, but they were accused of lying. This was all written on page 2 of ‘Aafathis’ newspaper on the 17 March 1993.

Lieutenant Walker was sent to Maldives by the Civil Defence Commission to advise the government on food distribution. He came to Maldives in the S.S. Shenkin on 21 December 1943. Hassan Fareed was also in Maldives at that time. Walker advised that every island in Maldives should receive rations of half a cup of rice per person per day, along with sugar and flour at the same measure. He advised that all foodstuffs be kept under government control, and all fish caught in each island should go to the Big Store. Regardless of whether the accounts balanced or not, no one was to die of starvation.

All the Borah and Maldive traders who were taking quotas of fish, held a meeting in the Customs building. Walker and Mohamed Ameen were at the meeting. Walker said that from that day on, all foodstuffs imported into Maldives should be sold to the government. The government would not be able to pay for everything at once, so each person would have a government account. The imported food was to be recorded in that account at the controlled price. The fish and other saleable items bought from those islands would be recorded in those same accounts. Some islands would be permanently in debt, but this was not to be taken into consideration. The same applied to the fish that were sent to the Big Store. The government was to take responsibility for the debt. The British government would provide other assistance apart from financial aid.

To facilitate this arrangement, Mohamed Ameen with advice from Hassan Fareed, set up a Food Organisation Committee. It was called the Food Organisation Committee. Mohamed Ameen was its chairman. After making two trips to both ends of Maldives, Hassan Fareed left Addu in a small ship called the H.M.S. Malloy for Sri Lanka. That ship was sunk by the Japanese (in 1944), halfway between Maldives and Sri Lanka. Hassan Fareed and Walker died, along with the entire crew.

Thus Mohamed Ameen was left in control of both the rudder and sail of Maldives.

It was rumoured in Maldives that Walker had come to the capital at the instigation of Hussein Hilmy Didi, the Representative in Colombo. But it is more likely that it was the doing of Hassan Fareed. Later, Ameen did not arrange the rationing of the food as he had been advised. Even though they were first cousins, both Fareed and Ameen wanted to be the leader.

I will now write a little about how the food was received. Although no orders had been sent, P.B. Umbichchi & Sons, who were agents for both government and private businesses, sent 200 sacks of Italian millet, weighing two hundredweight each, to the shop owned by Ibrahim Hassan Didi. The same boat brought another 200 sacks of Italian millet for Ibrahim Didi’s shop (Ibrahim Didi and Ibrahim Hassan Didi are two different people). With regard to the pricing of this Italian millet, both shops submitted letters for their accounts at a price of 14 rupees per sack. The matter of payment ended there.

This shipment arrived in 1942, when the writer was manager of Ibrahim Didi’s shop. Due to efforts made by Ameen Didi, the SS Shenkin cargo boat, accompanied by a British convoy, brought 4,000 sacks of wheat and rice into the country in April 1944 Again, at the end of May 1944, 4,000 more sacks of wheat and rice were brought to Mal� in the SS Shenkin under the protection of a British convoy. This is written in Ameen’s ‘Maldives under a Cloud of War’ on page 285.

At one time, Mohamed Ameen arrived in Colombo when all the Maldive trading boats were anchored in Colombo harbour. He found that the captains and crew were on strike, demanding that their salaries be doubled. His hard work to solve the matter is described in detail in chapter 12 of ‘Maldives under a Cloud of War’. The successful Mohamed Ameen returned to Maldives via Addu, in the S.S. Maharaja, with 6,000 8,000 sacks of rice, wheat, and wheat flour. That boat left Colombo in August 1944.

Six varieties of grain were brought to all the major Borah traders and to three shops owned by Maldivians. This was the time the Food Organisation Committee was established, near the end of WW2.

In 1944, a lot of flour was brought to Long Shop, owned by T. A. J. Noor Bahi. It was rumoured that 20,000 sacks were delivered by this shop’s boat. The government also had a lot of flour. From memory, I think the controlled price of the government stock was 42 rupees per sack. The shop reduced its price to 8 rupees below the controlled price, but Mohamed Ameen was determined not to take any loss, and forced the Food Organisation Committee to gather for a meeting. Some of the members of the committee were Kolige Umar Manik, Hilihilaage Moosa Didi, Ibrahim Hassan Didi, Kuda Dhaharaage Ibrahim Didi, Mohamed Naseer Manik (M. N. M.) and other members. The chairman of the committee was Mohamed Ameen Didi.

The members were expressing their views, when Mohamed Naseer Manik suggested that if there was control over rising prices then there could be control over falling prices. A silence spread over the meeting. Even Ameen Didi smiled involuntarily. Other members were lost for words and Ameen closed the meeting at that point.

The Food Organisation Committee informed the market that those who had brought in the most food during the previous three solar months now had an increased quota in relation to their imports. The managers of the Big Store would remember this. This raised the level of competition, and due to the high profits to be made from fish, and the fact that those importing more food received more fish, even more food was imported.

During the war, a naalhi of rice was available at times on the black market for one rupee 25 laari, and people starved to death on some islands. On others, breadfruit, screwpine fruit, yam, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins were available, but islands devoted to fishing, faced starvation. This was due to what the Borahs did with the fish. Islands that had vegetable gardens were not affected.

Dhivehi Qaumy Party demands reappointment of the Chief Justice and Supreme Court Bench after President’s unconstitutional actions

(Briefing Note from Dr Hassan Saeed – Leader of the Dhivehi Qaumy Party)

Contents

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2. Commentary by Dr Hassan Saeed – Leader of the Dhivehi Qaumy Party
3. 3. Briefing on the threat to the Independence of the Maldives Judiciary
4. 4. For more information

Appendix – Background Note on the Current Maldives Crisis

Introduction

The following document has been produced by the Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP), to brief the wider international community of the ongoing situation within the Maldives and in particular the current threat to the independence of the Maldives Judiciary. This reflects an ongoing pattern of behavior by President Nasheed over the last month to weaken the independence of the Legislative and Judicial arms of Government through arrests, threats and intimidation by his MDP party activists and through a show of strength by Police and the Military.

In the last few days, a significant constitutional crisis has occurred in the Maldives. In summary:

• The President has over-ridden the constitution and appointed a temporary Supreme Court of four people, claiming that the present one does not now have legitimacy after the expiry of transitional arrangements in the constitution and has blamed Parliament for not legislating final arrangements.
• However the four proposed justices have resigned, not wishing to be part of the President’s unconstitutional arrangements. His Attorney General has also resigned.
• The opposition secured a victory when a Civil Court, on an appeal by the Prosecutor General, upheld the right of the current Supreme Court to meet. However the Government is now contesting this in the High Court and the Maldives Defense forces refuse to hand over the keys to the Supreme Court to the current Chief Justice.

As you will be aware from previous briefings and through his recent visit to the UK on behalf of all the opposition parties, Dr Hassan Saeed, leader of the DQP, has expressed his deep concern about recent events and the behavior of the President.

President Nasheed came to power carrying the hopes of many people that the Maldives could achieve full democracy. However we now see him threatening the Maldives Judiciary along with its democratically elected Parliament in a way that he would have no doubt similarly criticized his predecessor for. In view of his response, many who previously supported the President will now feel totally let down by his actions.

What you can do?

We believe the international community can continue to play a key role in asking President Nasheed to pull back from the threats he is making, just as it did with his predecessor.

In order to defend democracy in the Maldives you can do the following:

• Call on the Government to restore the Supreme Court bench immediately.

• Call on the President to show respect for the separation of powers as set out in the Maldives Constitution

• Call on the President and the Parliament to expedite the process of confirming the Supreme Court, Chief Justice, and other institutions required to be confirmed or established during the transition period.

This paper comprises some initial commentary by Dr Hassan Saeed as well as a more detailed briefing note on the current crisis regarding the suspension of the Maldives Supreme Court. Finally it also has a background appendix summarizing events in the Maldives over the last month.

Commentary by Dr Hassan Saeed – Leader of the Dhivehi Qaumy Party

Dr Hassan Saaed, Former Maldives Attorney General and Presidential candidate and now leader of the opposition Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP), has demanded the Maldives Government restore the Supreme Court bench immediately following a Civil Court judgment rejecting the President’s suspension of the body.  Speaking to DQP members yesterday, Dr Hassan Saeed said:

“This is an extremely serious action. We in the DQP vehemently condemn President Nasheed’s repeated ill treatment of the judges and the judiciary of the Maldives. Removal of the Supreme Court bench and the interim Supreme Court he set up is unconstitutional and illegal and is a mockery of justice, separation of powers and democratic norms and civilized behavior.”

“The President has demonstrated not just unconstitutional and illegal behaviour but has also demonstrated a vast lack of competence through the serious misjudgment of seeking to appoint a temporary Supreme Court, whose members were not even prepared to serve. His own Attorney General has also resigned as well.”

“I am calling on the Government to restore the Supreme Court bench immediately and for Parliament to expedite the process of confirming the Supreme Court, Chief Justice, and other institutions required to be confirmed or established during the transition period.”

“The international community should be judging the President, not just by the words he and his political appointees and supporters make, but also by his actions. With his use of Maldives defense forces to prevent Supreme Court Justices from meeting, his behavior is clearly not one of a democrat committed to a separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary.

“We urgently need further mediation by the UN and the International Commission of Jurists to help us immediately restore the independence of our Judiciary which has been thoughly compromised through the behaviour of the President.”

1. 1. Briefing on the threat to the Independence of the Maldives Judiciary

Summary

President Nasheed has formed an Interim Supreme Court and tried to appoint 4 persons  to take over the administration of the Court via a presidential decree. The executive’s justification is that the Supreme Court established on 18th September 2008 has dissolved at midnight on 7^th August 2010 at the expiration of the two year transition period prescribed in Article 297 of the Constitution. The Parliament was required to constitute the permanent bench for the Supreme Court, High Court and appoint a Chief Justice within the transition period. However, it failed to do so. President Nasheeds’ formula to overcome the constitutional vacancy, which he claims exists, is through appointment of political appointees to the Supreme Court administration.

The Constitutional Position of the Supreme Court

Arbitrary dismissal of the Supreme Court bench and the establishment of an interim Supreme Court is unconstitutional and illegal for the following reasons:

1-    Article 284 of the Constitution provides that the Interim Supreme Court constituted under Article 282 will continue until such time as the Parliament carries out the due procedure of constituting the Supreme Court as provided under Article 145 of the Constitution.

2-    Article 284 of the Constitution is not tied to any fixed time period, including the two year transition period. This is to ensure that at all times a Supreme Court exists (whether interim or permanent one).

3-    The present Supreme Court bench is a transitional bench and the Constitution does not allow for an appointment of an Interim Supreme Court for a second time.

4-    The current Supreme Court bench was appointed by the Parliament and hence any changes to that should also take place through Parliamentary process, especially when the Parliament is session.

5-    Constitution clearly demarcates between executive and the judicial powers. The only judicial power the President has is to nominate, in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission, the Chief Justice and Members to the Supreme Court bench. Other than that no judicial power is vested in the President. Hence the President cannot assume or exercise any form of judicial powers.

6-    This is not the first time a constitutional vacuum has been created. In fact, the Government and the Parliament have conveniently allowed several constitutionally set deadlines to pass. For example:

1. Presidential election was not completed within the timeframe provided by the constitution and yet no temporary or transitional president was appointed.
2. Parliamentary election also did not take place within the constitutional timeframe and yet no temporary or transitional Parliament was set up.
3. Likewise election for local council also did not take place within the constitutional timeframe. Yet no temporary or transitional council was appointed.

7-    So why worry over a judicial vacuum when executive and legislative vacuums did not matter? Why a temporary or transitional Supreme Court when no such arrangements were made with regards to the executive, legislature and local councils? Why not allow existing Supreme Court to function in the same way the executive and legislature did and local councilors continue to do so?

8-    Constitution envisages the takeover of the executive by the Speaker of the Parliament in the event both the President and the Vice President resigns or dies concurrently. In contrast it does not envisage any situation during which the executive could overtake the legislature or the judiciary; be it during the interim period or post interim period. Hence the Constitution is devoid of recognition of a presidential decree formulated to override and disrupt the basic doctrine of separation of powers which constitute the very basic structure of the Constitution.

9-    Article 274 (a) defines law as follows. “Law shall be laws passed by the Parliament and ratified by the President, and regulations or by laws empowered by and consistent with the said laws.” Presidential decrees do not fall within the ambit of the said definition. The only avenue giving rise to operate presidential decrees can be found under the various powers and responsibilities under Article 115 of the Constitution dealing purely with the smooth running of the executive branch of the Government and does not authorize diffusion of power boundaries.

10- Even if a constitutional vacuum is created with the end of transition period, as argued by the Government, still the Constitution does not authorize the President to fill vacuum. In fact, the separation of power doctrine so clearly entrenched under the Constitution bars the executive from assuming judicial functions.

11-  Neither does a presidential decree to appoint four persons to administer the court replace the parliamentary function or satisfy the lacuna created due to the inexistent laws. Moreover, this notorious remedy does not fill the constitutional vacancy so created as his acts find no fit in the constitutional interpretations or the Rules of the Supreme Court which does not recognize an interim period.

12- Rules of the Supreme Court of Maldives and Bill on Judges and Justices recognize the Registrar of the Supreme Court as the most senior administrator with regard to the administration of the Court. As of now Supreme Court of the Maldives has a Registrar in effect and in force to handle administrative functions. Political appointees appointed outside the legal and legitimate context cannot override the functions and powers of the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Registrar is not authorized to carry out orders except that which is from a Justice of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice.

Judicial reaction to the President’s Proposals

The four members of the government’s short-lived appellate court resigned on 8 August citing other commitments, but it was widely reported that they did not want to be held responsible for the President’s misjudgment.

The Attorney General also resigned on 8 August, claiming that while he had some responsibility for the ‘constitutional void’, he also blamed Parliament. The President has now appointed a successor.

Also on 8 August, the Civil Court today ruled that the Supreme Court bench remains valid, and that the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) was obliged to return the keys to the building to the sitting judges. The government will appeal in the High Court

1. 2. For more information contact:

Dr Hassan Saeed: Phone: +960 778 6500  Skype: drhassansaeed

Jonathan Upton (TCC): Phone: +44 (0)7961 446034  Skype: jonathancampaign

Jonathan Upton of TCC provides strategic communications advice to Hassan Saeed, former Maldives Presidential Candidate and current Leader of the DQP.

Appendix – Background Note on the Current Maldives Crisis

This short summary sets how events have unfolded:

• President Nasheed was elected President from a wide coalition (some of who are now in opposition) as the first democratically elected president. Whilst seen at the time as a campaigner for democracy and indeed seen by some as the “Mandela of the Maldives” having been arrested by his predecessor President Gayoom, Nasheed has become increasingly intolerant and is now beginning to act in similar ways to his predecessor.
• The Parliament is not controlled by any party. It has been fulfilling its scrutiny role – for example, questioning the lease of the airport to an Indian company as well as considering no-confidence motions of some ministers (most recently the Education Minister on grounds of basic incompetence).
• The President pre-empted the decision of Parliament to debate the future of ministers by making his entire cabinet resign (whilst no confidence motions are under consideration it is illegal to arrest Parliamentarians under the constitution).  Thus arrests were made possible and were carried out of MPs (on charges of bribery and corruption) but also implying they were attempting to overthrow the government
• Parliament and the President have been in stand-off over their disagreements, with the Opposition demanding the release of the MP’s. The President has now reappointed his cabinet and claims it does not need parliamentary approval in breach on the constitution. This is now being challenged at Supreme Court level.
• On Monday 12 July, having been pursued through lower courts, the Maldives Supreme Court ordered the release of the two opposition MP’s.
• Police Officers who conducted the arrests were suspended due to their actions.
• Since the decision of the Supreme Court, there is now evidence of government intimidation of the judiciary as well with high-level sources indicating the head of the Supreme Court has been threatened.
• Parliament is now seeking to strengthen the immunities of MP’s from attack from an over-mighty executive. The Parliament has also been seeking to liberalise broadcasting to ensure a wide range of diverse opinions. The President was in favour of that too when he was a campaigner for human rights but is now resisting Parliament’s proposals.
• The Maldives Journalist Association has urged the Government to stop pressurising media organisations under the guise of the current political situation
• On the evening of Wednesday 14 March, the Governing MDP went ahead with a planned rally.  Ministers, State Ministers and senior government officials took part.  Hardcore activists were brought from remote islands. This was followed by a yet another rally later in the evening in which the president himself took part.
• President Nasheed at that rally declared that he will cross [legal] “boundaries”.
• MDP Parliamentary Group Chair Hon. Musa Manik told the crowd that they will ‘lynch the former President Gayoom!’.
• State Minister Mr. Aslam then called the arrest of the Chief of the Criminal Court, along with former Attorney General, Presidential Candidate and opposition DQP Leader Dr Hassan Saaed
• The MDP parliamentary group leader Musa Manik warned that if police don’t arrest Hon. Qasim, Hon. Yamin, Dr. Hassan Saeed they will crash into their home and take things on their own hands. President Mr. Nasheed was seen clapping, laughing and supporting those statements.
• The President’s political advisor said that the government will bypass existing courts and will setup a “public court”. He then threatened to arrest all opposition leaders tonight. The threat was almost immediately carried out when members of armed forces forcefully arrested Member of Parliament Hon. Mr. Abdullhah Yamee. He was then taken to a nearly Island. Access to his lawyers is also denied – a right which even during an emergency should be denied under Article 255(b)(9) of the Constitution. (Earlier the Criminal rejected application for a court order to re-arrest Hon. Mr. Abdullhah Yamee.)
• The Government then tried to forcefully remove Deputy Speaker of the Parliament (who is already appealing against in the Supreme Court his detention order.) However the attempt was failed.
• Members of the MDP then damaged/ransacked residences of the Speaker of the Parliament Hon. Abdullah Shaahid and Hon Yameen.
• On Thursday 15 July the army was again deployed on the streets in a show of strength
• On Thursday 15 July the Chief Justice of Maldives Abdulla Saeed called an emergency meeting of all the judges in Male’. The meeting was following threats to judges by Mr. Mohamed Nasheed’s government. In protest and in fear of violence against judges following the announcements at the rally the  chief justice announced at 9am UK time (approx 1pm Maldives time) the cessation of operation of all courts in the capital Male’.
• The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives expressed concern with the recent political unrest and turmoil in the capital, condemning the damage to private property and physical harm caused to police officers and civilians during clashes that took place on the night of July 14.
• People’s Alliance (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen has told local media outlets that he is being held against his will by the Maldives National Defense Force. The MNDF claimed Yameen sought their protection after the violent clashes of July 14. The MNDF have refused to present Yameen in court, despite an order from the Criminal Court on July 15.
• The sitting of Parliament on Monday 19 July was called off after opposition MPs vocally protested at the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) refusal to allow detained MP and opposition People’s Alliance Leader Abdullah Yameen to attend the sitting. Since then Parliament has had a number of other sessions canceled
• The current crisis regarding the independence of Judiciary has been brewing since attacks by MDP activists on the President of the Judicial Services Commission and Senor Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon Justice Mujuthaz Fahmee occurred on 1 August. Further threats were then made by MDP activists against justices.
• On 2 August, without having a court order, riot police shut down the Independent Judicial Services Commission and Department of Justice. The Judicial Services Commission was in the process of appoint/confirming judges to various courts in the country. The Constitution requires this process to be complete within two years (7 August deadline). The Government opposes the process and for several days MDP activists were protesting outside the Judicial Services Commission
• More details of subsequent events are covered in detail in the next briefing note.
• Dr Hassan Saeed visited the UK on behalf of all the opposition parties on 18-23 July to talk to a number of human rights and legal organizations, media outlets and politicians to explain his serious concerns about the current crisis. This visit received coverage in the Maldives and was attacked by the UK Maldives High Commissioner, despite the fact they are meant to be a non-partisan diplomatic representative of the country

www.orfonline.org N Sathiya Moorthy (in Male) 22 July 2010 Three weeks well into the constitutional deadlock that has stalled governmental functioning an parliamentary proceedings alike, there is no end in sight still to the political crisis overwhelming the Maldivian archipelago. The infant democracy, which otherwise used to be inward-looking until the politico-constitutional changes of 2008, cannot allow to fail itself ? and its political leaders cannot try to have it both ways, either. Keen observers of the Maldivian scene were not surprised when the politico-constitutional crisis erupted in end-July. Only the issue and the context remained to be written into the script when President Mohammed Nasheed?s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)-led combine failed to obtain an absolute majority in the parlimanetary polls. This was after the Nasheed Government had hired an international consortium headed by Indian infrastructure major GMR to upgrade the Male International Airport against payments and receipts spread over a 25-year period. That was also when the People’s Majlis, or Parliament, passed an Opposition-sponsored Finance Bill that curtailed the powers of the Executive President ? and thus the Executive ? on entering into contracts with third parties without prior legislative clearance. Stung by a series of legislative initiatives of the kind that was seen as a misplaced hurdle aimed at stalling the functioning of the Government, and even more by unsubstantiated charges of corruption in the airport deal, that too within 24 hours of the signing of the agreement for the purpose, President Nasheed, ’Mr Clean’ in Maldivian politics, hit back in a way he was expected to do. His Government lost no time in dusting the Auditor-General’s report of past corruption against some of the Opposition leaders when they had shared power under the precedessor administration of President Maumoon Abdus Gayoom. People’s Alliance leader Abdullah Yameen and Jumbhoree Party found Gasim Ibrahim, the latter the bitterest and the earliest critic of the airport deal for reasons best known to him, were kept under house arrest. Yameen is still under the ’protective custody’ of the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) with his family members in a Presidential retreat island. The Government claims that it was for his personal security and at his instance. The Opposition is not convinced. The role of the nation’s judiciary, rather than clearing some of the constitutional confusion, has added to the current political problems. The Government, for long, has been pointing out how individual judges have been allowing alleged criminals to go scot free even when material evidence in the form of banned drugs in bulk and large sums of money, purportedly linked to such criminal activities, had been recovered by the police. There has also been an instance in the current phase when the court refused to issue ’search warrnat’ to the police in a corruption case against an Opposition leader. It is another matter that the Government, acting through the police, refused to obey court orders that directed freedom for Yameen. There has also been an instance since of the police breaking open the door of Deputy Speaker Naseem, against whom the police had obtained an arrest warrant. As coincidence would have it, most such arrests have been effected during the dead of night, and no convincing justification has been offered either. Where from Here? The 2008 Constitution, which ushered in multi-party democracy, after 30-long years of ’autocratic rule’ by President Gayoom, has not conferred any powers on the President to dissolve Parliament. At best, through an ’emergency’ proclamation, whose validity is only for 30 days, the President can at best ’suspend’ Parliament for as many days. It would have to be business as usual afterwards if the Government were unable to muster a parliamentary majority. Despite making various attempts at it, the Government has not been able to do so over the past year. Despite coming together hurriedly after the airport contract was signed, the Opposition has still not been able to garner a two-thirds majority, required to impeach an incumbent President. Ironically, Gayoom’s Dhivehi Rayyathunge Party (DRP), which had lent moral support for the contiuance of the Executive Presidency in a referendum, is leading the campaign against the incumbent. The ruling MDP, along with some of the then Opposition parties ? which are still where they used to be after a brief honeymoon with power under President Nasheed ? had written in ’restrictive powers’ on the Executive President in the past, identifying Parliament as the democratic tool for the purpose. The roles having reversed, the two sides seem unable to live with the reality. Nor has Maldives the time to go through the complex nature of ’transitional democracy’, particularly under an Executive President not enjoying parliamentary majority. The ’separation of powers’ and ’checks and balances’ relative to matured democracies with Executive Presidents, as in the US, took decades and centuries to evolve. Maldives did not seem to have given itself that kind of time. At least, its political leaders seem not having the luxury of time to sit back and absorb the intricacies of the democratic scheme, many of them not having had the occasion or opportunity to observe it at work from close quarters. President Nasheed’s choice being pushed into a second run-off round, in which minority stake-holders played a crucial part under the 50-per cent vote scheme, also seem to loom large before some of the future aspirants. Long before the current crisis, many an Opposition leader had openly thrown his hat into the ring for the presidential polls of 2013, even though the incumbent will be completing the second of his five-year term only in November this year. Need for fresh look It is becoming increasingly clear that neither side to the current crisis had prepared for a safe-exit, or a fall-back option, or even a successful end-game before they proceeded to target the other side. Though Parliament hurriedly passed the Finance Bill, among other controversial pieces of legislation, the Opposition pretty well knew that the incumbent President could not be expected to give his assent to any one of them, given the political realities of the situation. In its wisdom, the ruling MDP got all 13 Cabinet Ministers to resign en masse, but not very long after, ended up re-appointing them. The Parliament is yet to give its mandatory clearance for the re-appointments. The current crisis is not about the constitutional deadlock or even the airport contract. They are products of a political reality which both sides refuse to acknowledge, but need to do so, if the Maldivian youth, who had posted great faith in democracy in 2008, are not to lose heart and feel frustrated. A regional icon of Third World democracy in the extended Islamic neighbourhood as much as in South Asia, President Nasheed has since grown an acceptable global icon for environment, out-beating former US Vice-President Al Gore, who however could not become Head of State. Considering that his MDP at the time had derived democratic strength from the international community, his Government should now be wary of his one-time allies, now again in the Opposiiton, playing the same card against him. President Nasheed’s predecessor, Gayoom, now in his seventies and having handed over the reins of the DRP to his trusted running-mate Tasmeen Ali, who incidentally, is from outside his family, has the opportunity and need to play an equally statesman-like role, if the current crisis has to be resolved. Others in the list, and there are not many at the moment, are Parliament Speaker Ahmed Shaeed and DRP’s Tasmeen Ali, himself. By the virtue of the position that they hold, the latter two can contribute immensely to resolving the current crisis, which is as much constitutional as it is political. The need of the hour is to diffuse the current crisis, which for now hinges on the Opposition making an issue of Yameen’s continued custody. Given the internal pressures and also the public standing, President Nasheed and his camp cannot be expected to be seen as ’compromising’ on corruption cases without having to face electoral retaliation in future. The Opposition charge being the inadequacy of ’rule of law’ under the current dispensation, the ends of justice would be met if ’law is allowed to take its course’ in the matter. This could mean Yameen still having to face the court case and yet being able to obtain bail. Better still, there is need particularly for the two major parties in Parliament, namely MDP and DRP, to sit together and come together in the cause of national unity and reconciliation. They also need to resist the temptation of encouraging defections in the interim, with the full realisation that the continuance of the current deadlock would ultimately lead to such a situation, in which either or both of them would be the victims, one way or the other. The question is who would blink first. But either or both of them would have to blink now or later. It is all about timing, and more about the costs involved. But there would be costs to pay, and the worst would be if the nation is made to pay, instead. (The author is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation)

Democratic Consolidation or Reversal

Disturbing Trends under the New Regime

(Report issued by the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (Maldives)

Introduction

“In a preponderance of successful transitions, the most dramatic improvements in freedom tend to come quickly – in the first years of a transition, rather than slowly and incrementally over a long period of time.”  How Freedom is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable Democracy, Freedom House Study (2005), p.  5

Studies of democratic transitions over the last 30 years show that the most durable democratic foundations are laid by transitions that are achieved by broad coalitions of non-violent civic action. In this sense, the Maldives achieved one of the most auspicious transitions when the 30-year old authoritarian regime of President Gayoom was toppled by a coalition of all those parties who contested the first round of elections against the incumbent.

In the first round of the elections, the incumbent President Gayoom (DRP) obtained 40.63% votes, MrNasheed  (MDP)25.09%, Dr. Hassan Saeed (Independent/New Maldives Movement) 16.78%, and Mr. Qasim Ibrahim (Republican) 15.32% and Mr. Ibrahim Ismail (Social Liberal Party) 0 .078%.

The grand alliance, named the “Patriotic Front”, adopted the manifesto of the MDP, which, in addition to developmental benefits, promised specific gains in governance, such as:

• Clean government,
• Lean government,
• Transparent government,
• Accountable government,
• Judicial independence
• Media freedom
• Law and order and rule of the law
• Rejection of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism will have no place.

With these promises the Patriotic Front was able to convince the citizens to vote for President Nasheed. As a result Nasheed was able to increase his share of the vote from 25.09% in the first round of voting to 54.21% in the second round.

The victory was emphatic, and provided the opportunity to introduce democratic practices, institutions and traditions. The agenda ahead was clearly to consolidate democracy and to improve the quality of life of the people. Democratic consolidation required the faithful implementation of the new Constitution and economic development required the stabilization of public finance which in turn required careful fiscal management.

Four months down the track, there is widespread disquiet over the trends in democratic consolidation and concern over the deteriorating public finances. The country is divided over those who clearly see that need to give more time to the new government and those who are alarmed over the directions that are unmistakable. While provision can and must be made to accommodate political posturing for parliamentary elections and for the impacts of global economic gloom, the political and economic capital gained by the democratic coalition is fast running out.

Instead of widening and strengthening political consensus, the coalition has fragmented. Instead of prudent fiscal management, public finances have spun out of control and national reserves are being depleted at a very rapid rate. The public’s perception of the new leadership is one of incompetence, corruption and arrogance.

All this may be seen to be too hasty, except that studies of democratic transitions highlight two frightful scenarios. One is that the toppling of the dictatorship does not necessarily result in democratic consolidation. The other is that where the transition effectively produced free societies, the changes were evident very early on. Thus, it is proper and rational therefore, calls for patience notwithstanding, to ring the alarm bells as early as possible, so that proper policy and civic action interventions can be made to increase the momentum towards democracy.

It is in this mindset that this paper wishes to make a realistic assessment of where we are, where the country is heading, and whether democracy-deficits are increasing or reducing. The objective of this brief paper is to assess those issues critically.

Manipulation of general election

Old Order

President Gayoom’s30 year old rule was marked by:

a) Electoral irregularities;

b) Widespread rigging;

c) Money politics;

d) Intimidation;

e) Media monopoly;

f) Abuse of government resources;

g) Use of island and atoll chiefs to force citizens to cast positive votes and deny negative voting.

Promised New Order

President Nasheed was most vocal against this order. The Patriotic Front promised to dismantle this system. Have we achieved this? The answer is NO.

President Nasheed, in clear violation of Constitutional provisions, electoral laws, provisions of the Penal Code and anti-corruption laws, that:

“I intend to interfere, not just indirectly but directly, in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and I will do so until the MDP wins”. This he did in a nationally televised MDP rally held in Imaaduddeen School, on the 30^th January 2009.  A day later President’s Special Envoy Mr. Ibrahim Hussein Zaki defended the President’s “right” to interfere in the elections.

On April 17 President Nasheed, while addressing the population of Alifushi in Raa Atoll said “if an MDP-MP requests something (for the constituency) I will do it. But if any opposition MP requests something (for the constituency) I will show how nasty person I am. And you cannot imagine how nasty I can be”.

What President Gayoom did secretly President Nasheed is doing openly. President Nasheed has, indeed, developed a very comprehensive formula to manipulate the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Formula to manipulate election

President Nasheed is using the same tactics as Gayoom did to manipulate the election. Gayoom used island and atoll chiefs to manipulate the election. President Nasheed only changed the names to Island and Atoll Councilors. Today atoll and island councilors have replaced the island and atoll chiefs. Labels have changed but the function remains the same. All the councilors are from MDP. Most of them are MDP street activists without formal education or qualification. Some of them have serious criminal records. Some councilors themselves are candidates while the rest openly admit that their sole function is to ensure that MDP candidates succeed in the parliamentary elections.

Appointment of councilors

Since the introduction of the Civil Service Act in 2007, all Island and Atoll chiefs have come under the purview of the Civil Service thereby preventing them from direct political involvement. This was one of the reasons why Gayoom could not rig the last election. However, one of the first steps President Nasheed took was to appoint Island and atoll councilors. Island and atoll administrations, including island chiefs are subjected to the authority of these councilors. In fact, some of these councilors are MDP candidates in the upcoming Parliamentary election. They shamelessly use State resources for their campaign. Members of the Transparency Maldives have privately raised concerns.

The appointment of Councilors is in clear violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Chapter 8 of the Constitution provides for elected representatives to head island atoll councils. Further Article 298 of the Constitution provides that local council election should be held before 1^st of July 2009. However, the Government is yet to draft this law. All indications are the government has no interest to hold local council election in time so that the government could maintain unelected councilors to head island and atoll councils.

Threats to candidates

1. Mr. Riyaz Rasheed is a Qaumee Party candidate for Th. Atoll Villifushi constituency. He is challenging the MDP parliamentary group chair Mr. Hassan Afeef. Mr. Riyaz has rejected several offers to withdraw his name. These offers were followed by verbal threats. Finally under political pressure the State Trading Organization STO):

1. Reduced credit facilities given to Mr. Riyaz in the past several years.
2. Refused to give credit facility.

STO Chairman Mr Faarooq told Mr. Riyaz and his wife separately that the issue could be resolved if Mr. Riyaz withdraws his name.

2. Mr. Adhil is a Qaumee Party candidate for Seenu Atoll Maradahoo/Maradhoo Feydhoo constituency. Mr. Adhil rejected MDP ticket in favour of Qaumee Party ticket. The government has unilaterally terminated a contract the government entered with Mr. Adhil in 2008. Under the contract the government leased a land to Mr. Adhil for a period of five years to build a workshop and a shop. Another four years of the contract remains.

3. Former Central Bank Governor as well as former Finance Minister, Mr. Abdulla Jihad, was on 13^th February 2009 arrested, questioned and searched by police for suspected drug trafficking during his election campaign trip to GD. Thinadu – another bullying tactic of Gayoom’s that President Nasheed is copying.

4. Some civil servants with government bonds are contesting the elections under opposition ticket. Under the constitution they are allowed to stand for election. The elections commission has accepted their nomination papers. However, senior MDP officials are threatening to use government machineries to disqualify these candidates.

Other threats

Island and atoll councilors are often threatened with dismissal or transfer if they did not support MDP candidates. MDP ministers also issue such threats. For examples, Fisheries and Agricultural Minister Dr. Didi issued such threats during his visit to Addu atoll,  FuahMulah atoll, and Haa Alif atoll.

a)   Center Park, a restaurant in the island of S. Feydhoo, has been feeding members of the armed forces in the atoll. In February 2009 Qaumee Party organized a dinner for key party activists in the island.  First the owner was warned. The very next day notice to terminate the contract was send.

b)   A number of senior staff at the State Electric Company (island branches) who supported DRP have been transferred to other islands. Only those who agreed to join MDP were allowed to stay on in the previous posting. For example Mohamed Latheef (manager) and Ahmed Rasheed (technician) in HaaAlif atoll, Dhiddhoo island were two DRP diehard activists. However, to save their jobs they were forced to join MDP and denounce DRP.

c)   Like Gayoom’s Ministers and island and atoll chiefs, President Nasheed’s Councilors and various MDP ministers have threatened the islanders that they will not receive any developmental benefits unless MDP candidates are elected.

d)   Senior MDP activists and various island officials (including Himmafushi and Thulusdhoo in Male atoll) have threatened civil servants unless they switch to MDP or support MDP candidates.

e)   Threats to civil servants have become so common that the Civil Service Commission had to issue a press release.

f) When press releases and appeals failed to stop the threats, the Civil Service Commission, in a press release on 30^th April 2009 warned that it would take the matter to the Court.

g) The level of threats and intimidation is such that the country’s human rights watchdog – the National Human Rights Commission said that the parliamentary election will not be free and fair.

Abuse of government resources

State resources such as speed boats, government guesthouses, and island and atoll office facilities are used by councilors for MDP candidates’ campaign. Many of these councilors themselves are candidates in the parliamentary elections.  Often MDP candidates travel alongside with the President, Ministers, and senior government officials at state expense.

Lack of Media Freedom and Manipulation of State Media

a) The government media especially Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives, the only two entities having nationwide coverage, does not give access to opposition politicians and political parties. Like President Gayyoom, the entire state media is devoted to promoting President Nasheed and his agenda. The manipulation of the State Media again contravenes Article 23(e) of the Constitution which provides for non-discriminatory access to state media.

b)When Opposition parties organized protest marches calling for media freedom, MDP thugs disrupted the protest.

c) The former regime granted free TV and Radio time to opposition parties even before the election date was announced. However, Nasheed’s government has ruled out access to state media for the Opposition until election date is announced. On 4^th March 2009 Election Commission announced election date (May 9, 2009). However, the government agreed to provide access to state media only from 20^th March. This also subject at a cost of 22,200 rufiyaa per hour for Television Maldives and 10,000 rufiyaa for Voice of Maldives! Only MDP can afford such large amounts of money.

Money politics

Vote buying and selling are widespread. Gayoom did everything to encourage this culture. Close aides and relatives of Gayoom were accused of spending large amounts of money to buy votes. The same culture continues in President Nasheed’s administration. No voter education program is being conducted or planned.

Deterioration of Law and Order

a)   Close to every election, President Gayoom used to release a large number of prisoners. To prevent such abuse, Article 115(s) was added to the Constitution to limit the president’s unfettered discretion in this area. Under this Article, release or pardoning of prisoners is subject to legislation. No such law has been passed. One of first steps President Nasheed took was to release 120 serious criminals from Maafushi prison. This was done between December 1-10. In doing so the President bypassed Parole Board and disregarded clear provisions of the Constitution. Consequently, his own Attorney General declared the action illegal and yet the President refused to review his decision. Law enforcement officials linked the subsequent surge in serious crimes with the release of these prisoners.

b)   Prisons and prisoners remain out of control. Some serious criminals with political links are terrorizing inmates in prisons. Serious bodily injuries have become a daily occurrence. Illicit drugs are widely and openly available in the prison. Video evidence is available implicating senior government and MDP officials. The Maldives Human Rights Commission has expressed serious concern about the prison conditions and the deteriorating law and order situation.

Abuse of State resources

President Gayoom abused state resources to buy support from MPs, NGOs and key individuals. To prevent this, the Public Finance Act was passed. Also Article 250(a) was added to the Constitution. Public Finance Act and Article 250(a) of the Constitution prevent the President from arbitrarily giving loan facilities, grants, or property to individuals, NGOs or MPs. However, President Nasheed has disregarded these statutory and constitutional provisions. Two such examples are cited below.

a) MP for Gaaf Alif atoll is Mr.  Abdulla Jabir, a resort owner and the Deputy leader of the Republican Party. His wife, FathimathDiyanaSaeed, is the current Attorney General. Mr. Jabir won a public bid to buy sub-lease rights of a resort owned by the Maldivian Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) – a 55% public owned company. The remaining 45% shares belong to the government. It is the largest public shareholding company in the country with more than 23,000 individual shareholders.

Mr. Jabir refused to pay rent to the company. He also asked for reduction in rents and to delay rent payments. President Nasheed, in total disregard of Maldivian Securities Laws and Regulations first appointed Mr. Jabir’s Deputy Mr. Ghafoor to the MTDC board. The Government put enormous pressure – verbally and in writing on MTDC board to decide the matter in favour of Mr. Jabir.

Violation of law plus the rights of 23,000 citizens were scarified in favour of a friend-MP – something we were accustomed to see in Gayyoom’s administration.

b)   President Gayoom gave away state property to buy NGO support. President Nasheed is doing the same. For example, one of the important NGOs in the capital Male is the Care Society. One of its founding members is the current Health Minister, Dr. AminathJameel. She is also the President’s close relative.  On 23^rd January 2009 (at Dharubaaruge, RannabandeyriMaalam), the President announced that he would give a building to the Society – again in violation of the Constitutional and legal provisions of the country.

c)   Fishing vessels and other state property are given away in return for MDP support. For instance, during his visit to Thaa atoll on 29^th January 2009, the President promised to give fishing vessels to several islands (including Gaadhiffushi).

Intimidation of political opponents

When reformists demonstrated against various issues in the country, Gayoom send thugs to confront and disrupt their activities. Key MDP activists have tried to prevent and disrupt every public protest organized against President Nasheed’s policies. Here are a few examples.

a)      Islamic Democratic Party, with tacit approval from the DRP, organized a protest outside the Parliament on 31^st December 2008 against the government’s proposal to extend lease period of resorts. Large number of MDP activists tried to disrupt this peaceful protest.

b)      DRP organized a rally outside the Television Maldives headquarters on 22^nd February 2009 calling for liberalization of state media. President Nasheed responded by sending a large number of MDP street activists to surround President Gayoom’s private residence. Confrontation between President Nasheed’s supporters and President Gayoom’s supporters resulted in several serious injuries.

c)      The Constitution requires the new Parliament to be in session before 1 March 2009. When the Parliament and the Government tried to continue with the old Parliament, the Islamic Democratic Party on 1^st March 2009 organized a public protest outside the Parliament. Again MDP street activists disrupted the protest.

d)      President Gayoom was harassed by MDP street activists during his visit to Himmafushiisland.

e)      Mr. Jaabir is a former MP as well as a critique of President Nasheed.  Government announced its intention to takeover a resort operated by Mr. Jabir. On the night of 9^th June 2009 Mr. Jabir appeared on national television to defend his position with regard to the resort. After the program when Mr. Jabir came out hundreds of MDP activists confronted and threatened him. After three hours of holdup Jabir was able to leave the premise with police escort.

f)       On 10^th June 2009 Mr. Jabir tried to purchase air time from DiTV, one of the two private television stations in the country. Immediately MDP activists, including MP Ricko Musa Manik called the station and threatened to destroy the building if Mr. Jabir was given airtime. That night a large number of MDP activists gathered outside the television station.

Interference with the Judiciary

One of the key concerns about Gayoom’s rule was lack of judicial independence. Until the establishment of the Judicial Service Commission in 2006, judges were subject to dismissal at the whim and fancy of the executive. Judicial independence was one of the key demands of all reformists and citizens alike. Unfortunately, judicial independence seems even more remote under the present administration than the later part of President Gayoom’s rule. Below are a few examples.

a)   The Judicial Services Commission was established by a presidential decree to appoint, dismiss and discipline judges. The new Constitution and the subsequent Judicial Service Act provided proper legal basis for the Commission. However, since President Nasheed assumed office, the Commission has arbitrarily broadened its mandate to include not only appointment and dismissal of judges but also to cover the entire judicial administration. Today, the Commission is more powerful than the Justice Ministry under President Gayoom. Judges, including those of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice have been summoned to the Commission on a number of occasions. Court opening hours, leave, training, hiring, firing, domestic and international travel are all dictated by the Commission.

b)   The Commission’s Chairman is MDP Parliamentary Group Leader Mr. Hassan Afeef. Any judge who dares to question his authority faces immediate repercussion. For instance, on 4^th February 2009 Chief Judge of Civil Court Mr. Shuaib, was warned, demoted and transferred to the Juvenile Court when he defended the Supreme Court decision in an official meeting with the members of the Judicial Service Commission and senior justice of the judiciary.

c)   On 18^th January 2009 the Supreme Court has given a landmark judgment for the first time in the history of the nation declaring section 21 (e) of the Judicial Service Commission Law as repugnant to the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.  The said section empowers Judicial Service Commission to run the administrative affairs of the judiciary. The Parliament and the government has refused to enforce the Supreme Court verdict.

d)   The Supreme Court also ruled that new parliamentary election must be held within the time frame stipulated by the constitution. However, once again the parliament and the government rejected to enforce the ruling. In fact, senior MPs associated with the government ridiculed the Justices of the Supreme Court.

e)   In 2006, a total of 18 students were sent to study law and to be trained as judges. This was the first time in the history of the nation that the government had invested in this kind of training for judges. Gayoom’s government had assured these students that they will be appointed to the bench upon return from the International Islamic University, Malaysia. Some of these students have returned. However, the Judicial Service Commission, headed by President Nasheed’s close aide, refused to appoint them as judges. Instead, people with inferior qualifications were appointed to the bench, in clear violation of the provisions of the Constitution as well as international obligations.

f) On the night of June 2, 2009 the newly appointed Attorney General Husun al-Soud blasted the judiciary in an MDP rally held in the artificial beach, capital Male. And on the very next day Mr. Soud held a live press conference in Male in which he blasted justices of the Civil Court as well as the Chief Justice. DRP filed an emergency motion to debate the issue in Parliament on 8^th June 2009.

Undermining key reforms

The biggest reform the new Constitution introduced was to create a more representative and more powerful legislature. The new parliament will consist of only elected MPs and the total number of MPs will increase from 42 to 77. Article 296 of the Constitution requires the election for the parliament to be held before 15^th of February 2009 and the first sitting of the new parliament shall be held before 1^st of March 2009. Following an application by leading lawyers in the country, the Supreme Court declared that election dates stipulated by the Constitution must be respected unless natural forces such as tsunami struck.

However, not only has the government once again disregarded this landmark decision of the country’s highest judicial body but also did everything not to hold the election within the stipulated timeframe. Presidential appointees in the Parliament as well as MDP MPs voted to facilitate the delaying of the election.

The judgment of the Supreme Court and provisions of the Constitution make it clear – that the old parliament has no legal status after 1^st March 2009.

President Nasheed, just before his official visit to Sri Lanka, declared that he would use everything to force the election within the timeframe. However, he conveniently let the deadline pass without doing anything despite the fact that he and his party have an absolute majority in the Parliament.

By doing so President Nasheed has denied the public opportunity to have more representative legislative body. Instead, he preferred to work with the old Parliament where he has 8 appointees, who give him a comfortable majority. Therefore, with an expired parliament, he continues to pass key “laws” including fat pensions for parliamentarians, and pushing for extension of resort leases from 25 years to 50 years.

Good governance

No place for meritocracy

President Gayoom’s30 year old regime was marked by nepotism, cronyism, corruption and wastefulness. During the later part of Gayoom’s rule, only DRP members were given political posts. There were some 500 political posts.

a)   Like President Gayoom, President Nasheed is also giving political posts only to party members and to family members of key party figures.

b)   Most of the island councilors President Nasheed has appointed are MDP street activists, some without any formal education. Some of them even have serious criminal records.

c)   Overwhelming number of board members appointed to various state enterprises are also from MDP.

Government wastefulness

Large number of political appointments

While Gayoom had gathered nearly 500 political appointees by the end of his 30 year rule, political posts in the President Nasheed’s 5 month old government are already close to 500! As a result government expenses have only increased. One of the legacies of the Gayoom era was that per capita GDP wise Maldives was most expensive government in the world. President Nasheed’s actions and decisions only cement this label.

The large contingent of party activists and MPs that accompany President Nasheed in his domestic and international trips is no different from that of President Gayoom’s entourage. For instance, in his trip to Italy a 25 member delegation accompanied the President Nasheed. The team stayed in the most expensive hotel in Milan (Galleria) where even the Italian Prime Minister is not allowed to stay!

Freedom of information

President Gayyoom refused to provide even basic information to political parties, NGOs or even academia so that his government could not be held accountable. To address this issue Article 29 (right to access information) was added to the Constitution. President Gayyoom also signed a presidential decree on right to information to be effective from January 2009.

President Nasheed was one of the strongest advocates of this right. One of the first steps his administration took was to hold workshops and seminars to senior government officials on this right.

However, like President Gayyoom, President Nasheed is also refusing to provide information. For instance, on 25^th February 2009 Qaumee party, under Article 29 of the Constitution, requested details of president Nasheed’s visit (accompanied by 25 member-delegations) to Italy and Vice President Dr. Waheed’s trip to Europe. For three months the government failed even to acknowledge the receipt of those requests. Finally when notice of legal action was served the government gave in and provided the information.

Internet censorship

President Gayyoom blocked some websites like www.dhivehiobserver.com that were critical of his administration. Like Gayyoom, President Nasheed’s administration is also blocking websites that are critical of his administration. For instance, recently in March 2009 the government banned a website called www.raajjeislam.com a day after an audio clip by Foakaidhoo Island Imam Mr. Mohamed Shakeeb alleged that the state minister of Islamic affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed had threatened him.

Administrative division of the country

President Nashed’s decision to administratively divide the country into seven provinces with State Ministers appointed to head each province has no legal basis either in Constitution or in Law. It also violates the unitary nature of the nation embodied in Article 2 of the Constitution. President’s own Attorney General has said that this division was unconstitutional. Once again President Nasheed refused to revise his decision.

Economy

a)   As the world economy suffers its worst recession in decades, promises of embarking on infrastructure developments, building thousands of houses on remote and isolated islands, sewerage systems and bridges between different islands have become daily news in the Maldives.

b)   President Nasheed has created numerous State Corporations to attract investments in different parts of the country. All these Corporations have been asked to provide electricity, sewerage and transportation to islanders and in return these corporations directly seek foreign and other investments in these corporations. It is baffling to economists in the country as to how these entities would survive without a broad policy framework or a coherent economic agenda by the government.

c)   There is also fear that under the guise of these corporations, several State properties may be sold off cheaply to foreign parties having special links with MDP officials.

d)   While the tourism industry is the main economic lifeline of this small island nation, the worsening world economy has dealt a huge blow to the Maldives tourism industry.  The industry has already reported a substantial drop in guest arrivals (10% in March), weakening spending power by the guests and in some cases cancellations. All these are worrying signs to the island nation as it tries to survive the worst economic crisis in decades.

e)   Yet, President Nasheed has appointed more State Ministers than anyone else, with several political appointees including Deputy Ministers and Councilors in different parts of the country. He has just a month ago increased the salary of Civil Servants which cost a total of a billion rufiyaa to the Treasury (7/1 of the state revenue).

f) Though several Companies and businesses in the country are suffering and on the verge of collapse, there are no plans or policies by the government for the survival of these businesses and give comfort to these entities. Furthermore, banks in the country have virtually shut themselves from further lending and are sending investors, including resort developers, scurrying abroad to look for alternatives.  The national reserves have depleted to less than a fortnight’s food imports and the country is asking well-wishers to either lend or donate, to which so far India alone has responded generously with 100 million dollars.

g)   President Nasheed however seems oblivious to the economic plight of the nation, or deliberately tries to confuse the public with the talk of mega projects of bridge building and real estate development in islands with less than 90 inhabitants. He further compounds the misery by having unnecessary political appointees with high pay, increasing government employee’s salaries, and unnecessary foreign trips by his administration.

h)   Economists and politicians in the country consider many steps he has taken since becoming the President as reckless and politically motivated and targeted to win the parliamentary election rather than making an honest and genuine case to fixing the enormous tasks facing the nation.

Conclusion

President Nasheed continues to behave like the chairman of his party rather than the chief executive, and is on all out offensive to win a two-thirds majority in the parliament by the use of state resources, monopolizing the state media, intimidating and bullying opponents and squandering the wafer-thin national reserves. Unless the government is held to account for its abuses and restores the rule of the law, the Maldives faces the danger of being another example of a democratic reversal. And unless the government is forced to curb its fiscal excesses and introduce economic rationality, the country could face several years of ruin.

Maldivian Government Denying Right to Information

Number: DQP/2009/PR-008

Date: 13 December 2009

Maldivian Government Denying Right to Information

Today (13^th December 2009) Civil Court held its first hearing of a lawsuit filed by Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) or the Maldivian National Party against the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. DQP is suing the Ministry of Finance and Treasury for its failure/refusal to provide information DQP had requested.  This is a series of lawsuits DQP is planning against President’s Nasheed’s one year old government for refusal/failure to provide information as required by the Constitution.

DQP is suing Ministry of Finance and Treasury in the Civil Court for its refusal/failure to provide information:

1. Overseas travel expenses of Minister/State Minister/equal rank officials from November 11, 2008 – 23^rd June 2009;
2. Business addresses of some five “paper companies” the government setup to give fat salaries to MDP activists,
3. Constitutional documents, salaries of Board of Directors, paid-up capital, number of employees and their salaries) of two wholly government owned companies (i.e. Gulhifalhu Industrial Company Limited and Southern Utilities Ltd)
4. Cars/vehicles given to government officials and the policy by which cars/vehicles are given.

DQP’s repeated requests, including threats of legal action, have failed to persuade the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to provide the information. Several other ministries and departments, including Ministry of Defense and National Security, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and the President’s Office have refused/failed to provide information DQP has requested. In fact, the Government has even refused to provide information requested by DQP Parliamentary Members in their official capacity.

Information the Government has refused so far

Below is a list of information DQP has requested and the government has so far refused/failed to provide:

Date sought	Information sought	Responsible office
15 June 09	Criteria by which the President made nominations to Elections Commission.	President’s Office
3rd Sep 09	Expenses of Vice-President’s Australia trip.	President’s Office
4th Oct 09	Expenses of President’s New York trip	President’s Office
4th Oct 09	Information on establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel, including clarifications on certain allegation of briber, corruption, commercial interests.	President’s Office
11th Oct 09	Reasons for terminations of transport services in Addu and Fuvahmulah by a State Company (MTCC) and award of that contract (including a resort in fully operational condition) to a major campaign contributor and MDP activist.	President’s Office
13th Oct 09	Name and identification details of a prisoner President Nasheed claimed (during British Conservative Party Annual Conference) to have released from prison who is said to have been imprisoned calling President Qayyooms’ resignation.	President’s Office
15th June 09	Reason for bringing in and subsequently freeing the son of Male Municipality President who was serving a life imprisonment in Sri Lanka for trying to smuggle large amounts of drug.	Ministry of Home Affairs
15th June 09	When and how the Government expects to address sewerage and clean water issues in Seenu Atoll Maradhoo / Maradhoo Feydhoo	Ministry of Housing Transport & Environment
24th June 09	Details of land allocations made from the industrial island of Thilafushi since President Nasheed came to power.	Thilafushi Corporation Limited

Constitutional Provisions

1. Article 29 of the 2008 Constitution provides right to information as a fundamental right.
2. Article 16 allows restriction on fundamental rights by legislation. However, all such restrictions must be:
   1. reasonable, and
   2. should be justified in a free and democratic society.
   3. Article 69 of the 2008 Constitution clearly prohibits interpretation of any of the provision of the Constitution in a manner that would nullify/defeat any of the fundamental rights under the Constitution.
   4. Article 68 requires Courts and Tribunals, when interpreting provisions on fundamental rights, to do so in a manner that would promote an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom.
   5. Article 68 further requires Courts and Tribunals, when interpreting provisions on fundamental rights, to rely on international conventions and treaties to which the Maldives is a party.

International Conventions/Treaties

1. Maldives has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 19 clearly provides for right to information.
2. In its very first session in 1946, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 59(I), stating:

“Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and … the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated.”

Abid Hussain, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, elaborated on this in his 1995 Report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, stating:

Freedom will be bereft of all effectiveness if the people have no access to information. Access to information is basic to the democratic way of life. The tendency to withhold information from the people at large is therefore to be strongly checked.

1. Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 1999 adopted the following:

Freedom of information should be guaranteed as a legal and enforceable right permitting every individual to obtain records and information held by the executive, the legislative and the judicial arms of the state, as well as any government owned corporation and any other body carrying out public functions.

1. Right to freedom of information is well protected by the Constitution. However, the “first democratic” government in the country, is refusing to implement/facilitate this right.
2. The country’s repealed 1997 Constitution did not provide freedom of information as a fundamental right. However, to facilitate access to information Reformist Ministers of President Qayyoom’s administration introduced “Right to Freedom of Regulation” to facilitate this right.
3. However, the 2008 Constitution unambiguously provides right to information as a fundamental right and yet President Nasheed’s administration continues to rely on Administrative Directives issued by President Qayyoom under 1997 Constitution to restrict and deny this right.
4. DQP’s crusade to obtain firsthand information from the Government is to expose allegation of widespread corruption in President Nasheed’s administration. This include award of resorts to major campaign contributors, award of government contracts without competitive bid process, allegations of acceptance of bribe by senior government officials/friends/family members of President Nasheed in exchange for recognition/establishment of diplomatic relations, offering bribes in exchange for votes in the Parliament.

We, therefore, urge the international community to put pressure on the Government of the Maldives to respect fundamental rights enshrined under its Constitution as well as under ICCPR. We are worried that if left unchecked President Nasheed’s administration would likely be, as President Obama said ruthless in suppressing the rights of others once in power.

We are also worried that without international pressure President Nasheed’s one year old administration is fast drifting towards dictatorship. Freedom House study clearly shows that:

“In a preponderance of successful transitions, the most dramatic improvements in freedom tend to come quickly – in the first years of a transition, rather than slowly and incrementally over a long period of time.”  How Freedom is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable Democracy, Freedom House Study (2005), p.  5