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NOVEMBER 10: What went Wrong?
30|11|2006 |
Evening Weekly | Ibrahim Hameed
President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom must have had
many challenging moments since he came to office 28 years ago.
His adversaries have made at least two attempts on his life. The
gravest moment came 18 years ago, on the 3rd of November 1988,
when a group of heavily armed mercenaries attacked Maldives and
tried to overthrow the government and kill the President.
Luckily, and to the relief of the Maldivians who were listening
to BBC radio that day (BBC had falsely reported that the
President had been killed in the attempted coup) he managed to
escape and survived. Even his most trusted aides, like his
brother-in-law, Ilyas Ibrahim, once attempted to have him
unseated, by buying the loyalty of several of the MPs ahead of
national elections for a new term. But perhaps nothing has been
as difficult for President Gayoom as the emergence of the
political movement that emerged under the name of Maldivian
Democratic Party (MDP).
MDP burst onto the Maldivian political scene like a tornado. So
powerful was their debut that no one thought that Gayoom’s
government would have the slightest chance to stand in its way.
Having been launched abroad at the end of 2003, MDP was not
officially recognized in the Maldives until June 26th, 2005,
when it became the first political party to be registered in the
country. This came following the President’s historic
announcement to reform the country’s political system, in June
2004. MDP was led by Mohamed Nasheed, a well-known political
activist in the country, who had returned from a self-imposed
exile ahead of party’s official registration.
Soon, MDP began to spread its activities across the country,
with enormous response from the public. After years of apparent
political repression and restricted public speeches, MDP’s style
to openly challenge the government and to criticize the various
state policies was well received by the people.
The support for MDP was overwhelming. Across the country, the
public thought that MDP could perform miracles. From high living
standards and housing scarcity in Male to various social and
economic disparities faced by the islanders, people began to
believe that MDP would have a solution for every problem they
had.
Some even compared Nasheed with the legendary Mohamed
Thakurufaan, the 16th century Maldivian hero who chased out the
Portuguese proxy army that ruled Maldives for over 17 years.
A major milestone came in December last year, when MDP held its
first National Congress. During this high profile event, which
was attended by foreigners from as far away as UK, various
members were elected to the party’s top posts. Back then Nasheed
was under house arrest, pending a trial for the activities that
he apparently led in the August earlier the same year. But upon
a request by the party, he was brought to the convention centre
under a police escort and it was another historic moment, as his
supporters rushed in, almost causing a stampede, to meet their
leader.
After the congress, the newly-elected President of MDP, Ibrahim
Ismail, assured the people that a new government would be formed
in the Maldives in a mere six months. He might have highlighted
that probably Gayoom would be somehow persuaded to resign from
the office or call for an early election, which MDP was thought
to win easily.
And that was what MDP demonstrated when it won two of three
seats that were open for contest during the last by-election,
held early this year. But by that time, it also marked the
beginning of major fallout in the party’s top leadership.
Less than six months after the historic congress, Ibrahim Ismail
resigned from his position as President of the Party, leaving
the post vacant, even now. Also, many of the party’s
heavyweights, including Dr. Mohamed Munawwar, Dr Mohamed Waheed
and many others have simply distanced themselves from the
party’s activities. During the same period, President Gayoom’s
government began major steps toward rebuilding its reputation
both at home and aboard while MDP clearly took a turn a
different turn.
But a new beginning was thought to have emerged, when both MDP
and the government began to have engaged in informal talks
hosted by the British Ambassador in Colombo. It was thought to
be dialogue towards moving things forward, as the government
made good on its promise and freed some MDP’s senior figures,
including Nasheed who was under house arrest. But these talks
seemed to have been futile in the end as at the end of October,
MDP announced plans to have a demonstration for the 10th of this
November in Male. The demonstration was called off at the last
minute but then it exposed a major division within the party’s
ranks.
The firestorm erupted when MDP’s Parliamentary Group, consisting
of members in the parliament and the constitutional assembly,
passed a declaration advising against the planned demonstration.
The declaration had called on MDP activists to not instigate
anything which could jeopardize the law and order in the
country. But then several of the MDP’s activists and some top
officials took offense at the declaration, leading to the
party’s top officials exchanging verbal attacks and accusing
each other of misrepresenting the party.
The government declared that MDP was actually planning to
overthrow the government by instigating violent demonstration,
and took various steps to foil the gathering. The demonstration
was abruptly called off but then the damage had already been
done to MDP. MDP first came to the limelight through rhetoric.
But this would prove to be insufficient when it came to leading
the people. MDP has been struggling to establish democracy
within its own ranks and files, as members of the party have
actually endured bullying from among the party’s own thugs.
What is quite obvious is that MDP is now in a crisis. And if the
files and ranks within the party are not put into order soon,
MDP could be doomed. But what should be kept in mind is that
MDP’s failure isn’t going be to anyone’s gain. At a time when we
are trying to foster greater political pluralism in this
country, the eventual failure or weakening of a strong rival
political party could actually be a loss for all those who have
long hoped for a cleaner and more accountable government. Ends.
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