Make My Trip Advisor

The MDP has restated the concern that President Gayoom’s duplicity for political survival (after awarding himself the prerogative of being the final authority in the propagation of the tenets of Islam since1978), had introduced religious disharmony and extremism into Maldivian society. The MDP had voiced repeated concerns to friendly countries from 2004 that there was a fear that if President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom continues to renege on his promises of reform, extremists (including religious fundamentalists) may take recourse to violence.

The Government of the Maldives, as recently as March this year, had received explicit and repeated warnings of the dangers of rising Islamic fundamentalism but failed to take action to address the issue, former attorney-general Dr Hassan Saeed said this week. Dr. Hassan Saeed who resigned his position last month in protest at government policies on withholding reforms, said the Maldives government had received a detailed action plan early this year to combat Islamist extremism but had “sat on the report”.

In 2005, MNDF Chief of Staff Brigadier Mohamed Zahir intimated to MDP Ambassador Mr. Ahmed Naseem, (then working closely with the MNDF as a tsunami aid coordinator), that “President Gayoom had been repeatedly cautioned on the threats of fundamentalist extremism, to no avail”.

Mr. Gayoom’s governance

President Gayoom has relied to a great deal on the abuse of Islam as his main tool of governance. To safeguard his political supremacy by forcefully outbidding opponents for Islamic credentials, he had begun a campaign of prosecutions against a number of Islamic scholars in the Maldives.

In Maldives, where almost everyone is a professed Muslim, the government media promotes the credo that going against President Gayoom – the leader chosen by God Almighty to lead the Maldives – is tantamount to heresy. In a country with an 800 year-old open island culture that practiced a very liberal form of Islam, it was President Gayoom who built parochial Madhrasas that, to a large extent, brought in the current breed of fundamentalism, a strain of Islam that had been virtually unheard of on the islands previously.

Upon assuming power in 1978, President Gayoom began to affect systematic changes to long held traditions, creating a huge social vacuum, allowing various Islamic groups to fill the void. This action was seen necessary for the head of state to be able to play a supremely religious role of sermonizing, and controlling the issuance of fatwa. This had effectively created a distinct sect that revolved around President Gayoom, fostering hatred and intolerance towards anyone who is not under the control or patronage of this faction.

Arab Islamist rhetoric

Sectarianism was introduced to Maldives after President Gayoom organized large rallies in 1979 in the capital and across the archipelago to agitate against the United States of America and Israel – in a campaign to collect funds for the PLO.

President Gayoom who attended the Al-Azhar University in Egypt (for 27 years) in the 1950s and 60s to attain an MA in Islamic jurisprudence, was strongly influenced by both the teachings of Syed Kutb and Baathist philosophy. His respect, admiration and close dealings, with Mr. Arafat, Mr. Gadhafi, and role model Mr. Saddam Hussain (outlined in his biography “A Man for All Islands”), were indicators of his preferred system of governance. He had given the PLO the country’s national flag carrier Air Maldives for gun-running and even received gifts of fire-arms (disguised as “dates from Basrah”) from mentor Mr. Saddam Hussain. As a key player in the Muslim World League and Islamic Call Society, President Gayoom also endeared himself to other Arab rulers with his Arab/Islamist rhetoric. In September 2004, at a meeting of the Muslim World League President Gayoom called for efforts “to defeat the dubious plans of Zionists and colonialists to weaken the Islamic Nations and control its wealth”.

Maldivian foreign policy (the past 29 years under long-time Azhar crony Mr. Fathullah Jameel) appears to have been written for the Palestine Liberation Organization, alienating and ignoring many countries of Europe and the Far East. The US and Britain were berated as colonialist villains aiding and abetting Zionist occupiers. The BBC was reviled as liars.

In a country of 300,000 with perhaps the most homogenous society on earth, President Gayoom spends over 8% of the GDP on “national defense” - a euphemism to justify his use of national resources to maintain his grip on power. President Gayoom’s system of governance had made apparent one central purpose – to maintain him and his family and cronies in power and wealth.

Following regular displays of considerable rallying strength of the opposition, the Roadmap for the Democratic Reform Agenda was drawn up and issued by Mr. Gayoom in March 2006. This was done without consulting other local stakeholders or those in the international community, except for the UK-based public relations company Hill & Knowlton. The Peoples Special Majlis (Constituent Assembly) have failed to work within the time lines of the Road Map, despite the President controlling an absolute majority.

Other political parties, civil society and international NGOs have submitted comments and analyses to the government regarding legislation. This feedback has been ignored by the government. The Road Map Agenda have missed all deadlines to date.

The MDP has repeatedly stated that the best mechanism to prevent the spread of extremist intolerance was the establishment of democratic institutions and the strengthening of democracy in the country.

The Maldivian Democratic Party will continue to seek further support from independent Maldivian reformists and friendly nations to surpass appealing to and depending on President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s sincerity in fast-tracking and implementing democratic reforms in the Maldives.