Maumoon and Nasheedh’s Road map
Same road different map:
Abdulla Sameer
According to the many Writers and analysts Maumoon
started his political thinking while he was studying in Egypt. Whether this statement is true or false the fact we can see today; can draw
a line starting from Egypt during late1950’s and early 1960’s straight to the president’s
office of the Maldives.
As Maldivian students in Cairo Maumoon and the rest
of the students were enjoying there student life style peacefully until they decided to send a letter to the prime minister
of Maldives signed by 14 of them, regarding the diplomatic ties between newly established country Israel and Maldives. In that letter they highlighted that Israel and Egypt were in war and the Maldives might face consequences
of being close to Israel. The answer for the letter was very clear. Maldivian government has stopped funding
for the students in Egypt. There was no further explanation. It was the end of the story. As the presidents
of the Maldivian students association of Egypt, Maumoon acted to solve
the problem immediately. This was his first political activities towards the president’s office. Maumoon’s approach
was to ask for help from Egyptian government and was quite easy to convince the government of Egypt that the poor students did something in favour of Egypt and the Islamic world.
So that Egyptian government granted them the fund to complete their education.
The harsh action of Maldivian Prime Minister Nasir
made Maumoon hesitate to go back to the country after completing his MA in Azuhar University. He moved to Nigeria and stayed there
for a number of years. Because of difficulty of extending his visa and lack of fund for his hope of doing a Ph.D. Maumoon
returned to the country with the fear of being harassed by Nasir. But nothing much happened. When he came back to Maldives
Nasir offered him a job as a teacher, which was beyond Maumoon’s expectation after doing a masters degree at that time.
So he used all his time and effort criticising Nasir and his policy in secret. The major issues he brought forward were lack
of religious activities in the country and the low level of public services especially in the areas of education and health.
Soon Maumoon became popular in the country as a young
enthusiastic educated personality who cares about the people of the country. And this encouraged Maumoon to criticise Nasir
even more, which ended him been locked up in jail and later banished to an isolated island.
As history tells us president Nasir was an extra
ordinary politician, and it didn’t take much time for him to realize that he has being in power for long enough, and
decided to hand over the power to a person who can do a better job of taking the
country to the next level. Finally he brought Maumoon to the front line of his government and slowly handed his power to Maumoon
on his own free will at the age of 50.
As soon as Maumoon came to power he brought his families
and friends to the cabinet and took maximum effort towards sustaining the presidency as long as he can. As the 30th
anniversary of Maumoon’s presidency is approaching he is facing the similar criticism which he made more than 35 years
ago, and Maumoon is obviously not in a mood of giving up his power, and his approach against the young critics is challenging
them and prolong his stay in power. This led to a political and social unrest in the small island paradise of Maldives. The Leader that stepped in his shoes which he wore to remove Nasir from power is Mohamed Nasheed (Anni).
Nasheed became famous during Maumoon’s experimental
media freedom in the year 1990. Nasheed and his colleague Shafeeq (Dhivehi Observer, Sappe’s brother) published a weakly
news paper called Sangu, and they focussed on government’s weak points in order to putdown Maumoon’s regime. This
activity didn’t last too long as Maumoon realised his mistake of giving any kind of freedom is a threat for his presidency
thus he quickly tightened his control over the media and put Anni behind bars.
Later Nasheed and his followers organised anti governmental
activities in a broader scale with the help of experts and international community. This came as an unexpected shock to Maumoon
and his government, and it became the first proper threat to Maumoon’s regime. But using his 30 years of political experience
and government’s resources, Maumoon re-organised himself and is trying to combat the pressure that Nasheed and any other
opposition sends in his way. This became a disappointment for the younger generation of the country.
When we look at the two different opposition movements
that of Maumoon against Nasir, and Nasheed against Maumoon although they happened in different times, it is easy to see identical
similarities in their methods and approach towards acquiring the presidential position. Maumoon got popularity by using Maldives rejection of Israel’s to gain financial support and acceptance from Islamic and oil rich Arab
countries. Nasheed clearly used the same tactics but with a different concern. He is using the issue of human rights to earn
the support of Western countries and countries of EU.
To get the public support Maumoon used President
Nasirs lack of religious revival as the main slogan and Nasheed used the presidents lack of commitment towards human rights,
corruption of elites and the providence of social and public services.
The question here is will Maumoon let Nasheed or
any other reformist come to power as his successor by following Nasirs set example. The answer is very clear, NO. One thing
for sure is Maumoon is not going to let go of his power as easy as Nasir did.
The time spend in this current political situation
is hindering and obstructing the countries development process. As mere human beings it is a moral responsibility to realize
that:
There is a time to laugh and there is a time to cry.
There is a time to stay and there is a time to go.
There is time to welcome and there is a time to stay
good bye.
There is a time to accept and there is a time to
reject
There is a time to speak and there is a time to listen
There is a time to have it all and there is a time
to loose
There is a time to work and a time to rest
Good Luck Anni and Good luck Maanu.
