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Maldives Blast, Who is to Blame?

Reports suggest that the blast was triggered using a mobile phone and washing machine motor attached to a gas cylinder. .Though, no lives were lost, the two Britons sustained extensive burns.

The 29^th September 2007 bomb attack which was directed at tourists, has several dimensions. Firstly it was intended to hurt people. Secondly the blast was targeted at tourists whom many Maldivians interact from a distance. Traditionally the country has been a tolerant place where visitors are welcomed warmly. This is evident from the historic episode of how the Maldives converted to Islam. In AD 1153 a learned scholar Sheikh Abul Barakaath Yoosuful Barubaree visited the country and converted the king and the country to Islam. He, a tourist was welcomed by the Maldivians back then and always has been till 29^th September 2007.

Soon after the blast stakeholders in the Maldives government and ruling elite were keen to play the blame game. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in his speech on state broadcaster Television Maldives, said “people calling for the boycott of the Maldives on the tourism front,” must "share some responsibility." This implies to British campaign group, Friends of Maldives (FOM) as it is the only association who is openly calling for boycott of certain resorts affiliated with Gayoom regime. A spokesman for the President’s Dhivehi Rayyithunge party told Minivan News local online news paper that he was “suspicious,” of “people living abroad, not from the Maldives,” who have targeted the tourism industry. The opposition, Maldivian Democratic Party blamed the government for failing to control and tackle ever rising crimes in the capital. The MDP spokeswoman Mariya Ahmed Didi went further accusing the government of, “tolerating extremism and not taking action against extremist activities in the country.”

It is absurd when the government official line of accusation goes to link two extremes, specially distorting the reality on the ground. Earlier the government branded FOM as a Christian missionary association trying to convert all Maldivian to Christianity. And the next moment when it is convenient for Gayoom he is branding them as Islamic terrorists who are trying to bomb westerners in the Maldives. David Hardingham of FOM in a report published in Minivan News dismissed the government's accusations as “ridiculous.” “Gayoom has accused me of being a Christian Missionary and also of being an Islamic Terrorist so any statements regarding me or the work of Friends of Maldives should be taken with a pinch of salt,” he said.

Without doubt the bomb incident has awakened our senses. The incidence is serious in the sense that there is a group of people among Maldivians who would kill others for their belief. It is serious for the fact that their mindset and education is moulded in a way that it will widen the gap between “them” and “us”. So far from the reports it suggests that the 12 people who were arrested were young people born and bread within the 29 year rule of President Gayoom. They were brought up and educated in the systems put in place by the Gayoom regime. He has introduced a more convenient version of religion in which he can twist, amend the religion as he pleases. When his authority is questioned among the people he will quote verses from the Holy Quran “justifying his oppressive rule”. The school curriculum is geared around obeying the ruler using justification from the religion.

Gayoom has two different versions of the propaganda in his media machines. The content which is aimed at Maldives audience often demonises the west and brands western organisations and ideologies as not Islamic and barbaric. He knows well the sentiments of common Maldivians who gather around island ‘Holhuashi’, a meeting place where the talk supports Saddam Hussain and Osama Bin Laden. Gayoom’s propaganda targeted at a western audience is polished with the help from some western spin doctors such as specialists from “Hill and Knowlton”. Gayoom’s version of pleasing the mass with religious justifications has played a crucial role in the rise of a more fundamental form of Wahhabi Islam in the Maldives. After all he takes lots of credit for introducing religious schools with Arab funding. Gayoom privately may take ‘credit’ for the bomb blast but at the same time showing a different side to the western media. When it is the ‘blame’, the finger is pointed at someone else.

It is easy for one to blame some one else for his own mistakes and failures even when it does not make sense to sane minds. Should we blame the Friends of Maldives for our chronic social ills such as drug problems, crimes and violent trespassing which is common in our society? Should we blame Friends of Maldives for the congestions in Male’, for the poor quality of life and the ignored poverty in the islands? Should we blame them for mismanagement of government funds and corruption in the country? Should we blame the Friends of Maldives for the violation of human rights in the past 29 years?

This post was written by: Franklin Manuel

Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter