The people the Maldives were effectively liberated from a 30-year dictatorship last November and the incumbent government of President Mohamed Nasheed is just about to pass the first 100-day mark. To some, he has done well whilst others believe he could do better and rectify some mistakes. Followers of the former dictator Gayyoom thinks he can’t do a thing right, obviously. Of course, the new government cannot please everyone. It is impossible. Nevertheless, this government is evidently more proactive and open to criticism, as expected. After all, it is the first democratically elected government emerging from the new party system and must adhere to democratic principles. Largely that appears to be the case, not perfect.
It is understandable that people want immediate change and benefits to trickle down to them having been oppressed for so long. In their aspirations, many have forgotten the milestones that we have achieved, in a record breaking time frame. Such as forcing the dictator to amend the constitution, introduce multiparty democracy, separate powers of the executive, the judiciary and the legislature and hold a generally free and fair election that removed him from power with a popular vote.
President Nasheed’s government inherited many problems, not least the housing shortage and drug epidemic in the country. He inherited a society in which power, wealth and opportunity belonged to an elite group who blindly supported the ousted dictator, Gayyoom. They supported a system of government marred in corruption and underhand dealings. They enriched themselves with a system which exploited the wealth of the nation at the expense of basic public services. Therefore, naturally and understandably it will take time before anyone could solve these issues.
Nevertheless, people’s expectations and aspirations are very high today. People are complaining because still open heart and brain surgeries cannot be performed in the Maldives. They are complaining that they still have to live in the same room with their families and their living conditions have not improved. They are complaining that their children are still drug addicts and are still in jail. They are complaining that they have no jobs and can’t make ends meet. Of course, they tolerated this for 30 years and have forgotten that President Nasheed’s reign in power is yet to cross 100 days.
Improving health service, education, housing and solving the drugs epidemic requires time, reorganising and a lot of money. It is only fair that we give this government a reasonable amount of time to address and solve these issues and 3 months is far from adequate to turn around a nation which was brought to its knees by a ruthless and greedy dictator. President Nasheed inherited a country which was not only socially disintegrated but also virtually bankrupt.
If our new President had a magic wand, surely he would have used it to full fill the wishes of every Maldivian. Unfortunately, we do not live in magical wonderland.
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30 comments:
how long will it take before the current govt. takes responsibilty and not blame it on the 30 years!!!.....another 30 years???...
cos i have a feeling that this is gonna be the explanation or excuse tht will be given by the current govt. wenever people doesnt really feel a difference!!!...
compared to 30 years, the 10 years nadheed wud serve wud be no match....
btw i do understnd tht 3 mnths is a bit early to judge a newly elected govt....bt its shud neva be too early to take responsibility....
Sappe, i have to disagree with you for the message which you are trying to communicate either directly or indirectly.
Sappe, Anni and his team had positioned the wrong message in the mind of poor people during his campaign days and during his interest to get power, those days he had repeatedly said that so and so issues (eg: drug, housing, health care, jobs, economic activities)can be solved in few months time, he knows and he has the calibre to solve these all sort of issues in the society. He raised his voice so loud and said that if Gayyom is not able to know the tactics to solve those issues, but he (anni) knows how to solve all these issues.
Therefore the people has been informed wrongly, and today the government is unable to solve these so many issues in a months time, thus the people will talk the new governments inability in sloving social issues withing the society, there is no way the current government can deny these facts, all these facts are available. sadly at the end of the day it is the government whether its Gayyom or Anni who makes the decision not the public, so public will suffer and public should be told to learn how to tolerate such that during 30 years people did.
shahym
New government has done a lot to prison birds, I hear that the jail birds are using mineral water to bath, and yet this administration is spending 1200rf per a skull in penitentiary! Why don’t they provide us some 1000 rf for not involving ourselves in offenses, I believe it would be healthier if they focus further on the citizens who are still under pressure for a livelihood.
What good the social order will be if we acquire luxury resort standard conveniences in prison subsequent to a slaughtering an innocent on the street! Primarily President nasheed ought to recognize the distinction among criminals and human right campaigners, since he was locked up by previous despot it doesn’t automatically transform all morally wrongs to human right activists.
According to President Nasheeds term “ jalu kudhin” is there for no good grounds they are supposed to be doing what ever they desire in jail, smoke, drink, mobiles, now it seems the guards are inmate.
So what’s there to inscribe on achievement, this male is like hellhole for us and paradise for criminals same as the dictator maumoon, in the past we thought that the maumoon administration was involved in these gangs but it’s the same now nothing has changed in this 100 days . “ jail is there for only one reason, cause criminals should think twice before committing a crime, they should know the loneliness and loosing of freedom when in jail , and they should feel they are in a punishment” or else how could you anticipate them to change their actions , yes they should be counseled, but in discipline.
I believe I should discontinue working in a office and smash someone’s head after that go to prison and have a pleasant get-together with amaa shaffeegu the one and only state minister with jaileru sahaabs designation . what a squander in the name of vathan edhey gothah? GOD help US insha allah
I agree with this article to a point that we need to give more time to the current government. I also agree that it will take time to improve the broken social fabrics.
But what I do disaree with sappe is that 100 days is a milestone and there are certain things which Nasheed must address as a matter of urgency. And one such area is health. You talk about cardiac and brain surgerys. Whos is complaining about that??? May be what you didin't know is Nahseed's new government could not fix a CT scanner in IGMH in 100 days. Nasheed's priority seems to be touring the country and annoucing on every Island that he is going to build X number of flats.Maldivian's are not new to these rehtoric, indeed these were the same tactics dictator Gayoom used close to every elction.
What I would say to Nasheed is he must be more focused need to be realistic on what the government can afford and could do. There is no need for him going round like a mad man promising he will do this and that. Becuase we have elected him for the next 5 years and there is o need for him to worry loosing his job.
Solving problems like housing, health care etc etc will take time.
What I get really confused is why aren't things that can be done fairly within a government policy not done.
For example when it comes to giving notice and cutting down government civil servants. Shouldn’t there be a policy that all the government offices follow when cutting down its staff? and shouldn't the people be informed?
I will give you an example..in one ministry they are cutting down technical people based on academic qualifications but this rule is not applied to all the department within the same ministry or to the administrative people!!!
And within another ministry they are cutting down administrative people and leaving the jobs of all technical people!! This doesn't make sense eh?
If the idea is the cut down people who are less educated over others who are more educated than this policy should be followed in every ministry eh? and regardless of technical or administrative jobs eh?
I would think the first place to do this than should be Maldives College of higher education. Look at the qualifications of the current deans, senior lectures etc. Don’t we have people with good educational qualifications in Maldives? Why aren’t these people in MCHE? And don’t we have engineers with doctorate degrees, why isn’t even one of them in the faculty? Don’t we have a people with doctorate degrees in health area why aren’t these person in the faculty of health sciences? Etc etc
And people should be aware of what is happening..they should be informed if the jobs are cut based on academic qualifications this is the case. And from ministry to ministry it can vary depending on how many qualified people are there in a particular position...and the second factor for example that they look for is experience..etc etc..
But nothing like this is happening. In some ministries it is so bad that some people who are the good friends with the permanent sectry or minister have been given the word that they will have a job.
Or some people are given assurance that they will have a job because the other person who takes over the job doesn’t want to do the job of this person although technically it can be done. (for example going to islands often )
Why can’t Anni's government have a system for this? Shouldn’t there be a system and a policy in place before they cut down jobs?
As an Internatioanl Political Economist I must agree with sappe and also with Shahym and also disagree with both of you.
First, no matter what Mr. Nasheed says, Maldives would not come out of this economic downturn unless the western economies recover. At the present rate we would continue to head towards recession. Sappe, economic down trun is not caused by Mr. Maumoon, well not at least directly.
Shahym, we could better this situation had we used our absolute bargaining position to the maximum during resort lease (over the last 15 years - when we became international icon in tourism) to incorporate a stronger taxation, rent and employmnet and local investment. To this extent Shahym Mr. Maumoon is responsible.
Moreover, he should have introduced a coprehensive and broad corporate tax system and income tax system from really well off, along with the substitution of tariff with VAT or GST.
Shahym Mr. Maumoon promises so much and delivers little with all these years of expansionary budgets. Our budget deficit as a per cent of GDP is one of the highest in the world (see 2009 Index of Economic Freedom by Heritage Foundation). Sources of revenue is dominated by borrowings. Do you think we can come out of this debt in a foreseable future. If we did not should we just blame it on Mr. Nasheed ignoring the cause.
Sappe, we know and appreciate the historic achievement. Indeed everyone does, even those who oppose Mr. Nasheed. But that does not mean we need to be constantly reminded that Mr. Nasheed is in power and not Mr. Maumoon. We (the people) put Mr. Nasheed there. We know it. So stop whining about it. Focus on what your government can do to alleviate us from the problems.
Shahym, drugs, issue no matter how much we loud on it you can't stop it. Yes we can have committees, NGO, what else, the whole list more. Unless we address with conviction to the root cause we will not be able to solve it. Solution, kill the supply. Yes, stringent laws and rules on traffickers. Implement the manditory death sentence. Even Saudi Arabia has this on drug trafficker. Take Singapore as an example. If there is no one wit hguts to pull teh lever on teh noose bring one from abroad, as done in sinagpore. Substance abuse is minimal due to the low supply eminating from sever punishments (death sentence). Screw the human rights of those who traffic it only to spoil the innocent. What about the rights of those who lured into addiction.
True, populist propaganda and progressivism lead to Mr. Nasheed success at the polls. If it was Mr. Maumoon, he would be advocating for the elites. Should he be elected again for the next five year, he would bring most of the changes made by Mr. Nasheed at present, only to be undone in a mater of few months. Back to square one.
If you want Mr. Nasheed to suceed and if you really want the masses to be economically well off we need to bring tourism benefits home, not to be repartriated from home. Expand MTDC with complementary shareholding to the population under the international poverty line. Lease the resorts to foreign and local resort owners with options to profits, and rent to MTDC and tax to government.
It would take more than Mr. Nasheeds rule for us to sustain ourselves, so even it takes 10 years lets get it done.
- Maverick -
Shahym
I cannot but help to completely support Mr. Nasheed with his housing polcy. FLats are the ultimate solution to our housing problem, if we also intend to attend the housing needs of everyone plus a care for the environment. With our population growth projection housing flats are the best option with our SCARCE land. Don't blame Mr. Nasheed for the housing project. Its hard to beleiev that you expect Mr. Nasheed to solve the housing problem within 100 days or even a year. It would take at least two years before the impact is felt (completition of the flats and allocation). So lets not ridicule yourself as if houses and flats are inflatables at ones wish.
Yes, people in desperation would expect quick fix results and yes there would view from a perspective that the government has failed. Try thinking logically and ask yourself if it would be possible over night, or over a year. Where do you expect to get the finance do implement the housing projects. LOANS.!!! Our International Debt Obligations are so high. We have foreign reserves equaling to less than three months of imports. The international realty markets are really feeling the grip of the credit crisis. Do you expect foriegn institutional investors to pump money into a highly indebted country like the Maldives, especially at present time.
Where is the Government budget right? true where is it? Did you forget that our budget over teh past so many years has been finnaced by debt obligations, foreign loans and foreign aid. World GDP is going to increase only by 0.5% this year. So do you really think we can get aid anf loan funding to finance the budget.
Sappe, like the first commenter, it's never too early to take responsibilty.
- Maverick -
P.S. Shahym, i am not pro-DRP, pro-MDP nor any party.
No one can satisfy DRP people. The sky is their limit. We are a very poor country and all what they did was to make us more poorer. Now that we inherited over 800 million dollar debt and crumbling infrastructure, there is very little one can do during these difficult economical situation worldwide. I think Anni has done his share of work and thanks to Dr Waheed is good in holding the fort. His advisor must fall in line and Gasim must make up his mind what he wants in this government. The longer the Home Ministry is vacant, Gasim is losing his dream.
We can never forget or ignore what Gayoom did to our country. Once the election is over, we must bring these crooks to justice one by one. Imagine if Gayoom got elected, he would have arrested all the party leaders ordered his 5m rufiyaa car, build another palace and order another yacht for 100 million and bankrupted the nation during this time. The world would have ignored us. If Anni will not bring justice, we are determined to bring justice to them.
Brother, Its the sytem which has failed, We dogs that are living in the slums will continue to live in the slums, the Masters will live in Palaces. Thats how the system is designed. Dogs will move into palaces once the BIG BUSINESS interest is demolished. We need a President who is not under the influence of BIG BUSINESSES.
long live maumoon!
anni sucks
This country is a big joke now. The Parliament is after the Supreme Court, the Attorney General is after the Ex-President, Anni has strings attached to Civil Services Commission, the Human Rights Commission is still protecting the criminals, President’s 8 members will be in Parliament till May, The “greatest” Constitution ever made by the Parliament in 4 years is more like a puzzle, Nobody respects the Constitution, President was given a Guard of Honor to get into his own home, extremists in Minister posts, Foreign Minister in Middle East begging for USD, a dentist as Fisheries Minister, MDP Counselors all over Maldives, Gayyoom still the leader of DRP, Gasim Disappeared, the Adviser to the president gives advise through media, State Minister appointments unlimited, discos banned and now Valentine’s day but President gets away after having a glass of a popular wine, Dr Shaheed was rejected by the Parliament during the previous administration but approved now by the same Parliament for the same post, MDP Parliament leader is also the president of the Judicial Commission, November 3rd Shahid is now a State Minister, Ibra got less than 1% of votes but still fighting for the people, the Government more concerned to make better prisons than to give shelter to tsunami victims, criminals are untouchable by law, Ricco Moosa and Mavota Shareef still dominates the Parliament, every parliamentarian is a lawyer, the world is going through a crisis but the Government is running cool, working hours has changed but productivity still the same, media not concerned over any wrong doings now, Tourism and Attorney General under Loly, Zaki working for the 3rd Government now, criminals released on parole without advising the relative departments, hijacking of island offices everyday, strikes and demonstration everywhere etc etc…..
helloo where's my comment? u know what now it's becomming crazy in the contry , can't even get vodka bottle , when maumoon was there it was easy for us, but now that all the party guys are with diplomatic passports we the poor can't even drink maybe after two years whole country will be on heroin and our president knows this best " refer to his speech ganja speech, the police is working on complete opposite to our presidents idea's " what a waste amaa shafeegu"
c'mon everyone...give the poor guy a chance to bring up this country that has collapsed by the greedy, selfish Maumoon Regime. The degree of harm done to this country is far beyond our imagination to correct over night. It will take ages..............i completely support the effort made by Anni and his govt
Now cant differentiate between Maumoon and Nasheed.If Maumoon is a dictator why cannot Nasheed? He is doing the same thing. His friends are getting all the benifits. He is promising same things and he know he cannot fullfill those within this year. I met him personally last week. He is telling me to join his party, that he will give me a good post. From that point onwards I am totally hopeless of mr. Nasheed. Now if Anni is reading this post, he wud know who I am. You are too cheap Anni! Not expected from you. I prefer to stay like this, rather than joining you. You are a very selfish man! I hope us Maldivians has opened their eyes. We are not as dumb as you think, we are.
i think nasheed should address on drug issue, v know that cannot be solved immediately, but he shud do something..atleast raise his voice against the dealers...
100 days have proved that Nasheed is what he promised to be. Hard working, honest and and a dedicated democratic President. Congratulations President Nasheed
AT LEAST HE CAN RECOVER THE RESORTS HANDED TO CRONIES AS FAVOURS WITHOUT BID, RECOVER THE UNPAID SOFT LOANS, AND BRING THE CORRUPT TO JUSTICE! THAT DOES NOT TAKE MUCH, DOES IT?
hey ! where are the coments I left yesterday and today?
A lot better can be done if politics and business has a clear distinct boundary. the problem is that even with the new government, the people at prominent position are influenced by business people.
Proper taxation should be applied and the benefits from tourism sector should be distributed among all Maldivians. Resort lease shall not be extended to more years unless shares are distributed among people.
Certainly, these are things thats related to policy and shall not take much time. Ofcourse, there are things that would take time. the point is that, we need to forget about the past 30 years, and be responsible for our actions rather than citing and referring to the 30 years of rule.
ahhhhh... sappe are you implying that wihthin the last few months that Anni has been in the office, what he has done is all he could do?
Now the question is what has he done? I myself voted for a change... a change to make Maldives a safer place, where criminals and drug addicts don't walk free, where they have to face the consequences of their actions.. but still the picture is the same, if not worse. Anni and adhaalath criticized the former government (as i did and still do)on how few felons were convicted and how the majority of them walked away, then the opposition was sayin that it was Yamin or someone.... but now who is to blame?
Anni talks about building flats here and there, dosent he realize the crisis the world is in? did he even once ask anyone how much cancellations we have on our resorts after march? where does he plan to get money to full fill his promises? and if he does find it, wouldnt it be a better to spend a little of it to improve our health care?
I mean the CT Scan machine in the IGMH has been broken for God knows how long. but still no keep it like that make promises to build more flats, promise to bring everything "Ai foaraa fasha"... it's been three months and we still cant see anything solid.. all we hear are promises and no way of knowing when they will be full filled, just like the past 30 years UN-FULL FILED PROMISES....
Now there is no point in blaming any regime! Remember that the drug addicts need proper guidance, councilling, love and care from their family members, society and the rehabilitation effort from the government.
We all Maldivian know that the drug menace in the Maldives is not the story of last years. It had its roots many years back. The custom official who collaborated, today have become rich! The corrupt and inefficient cabinet ministers were funding the gang wars in Male'. I would call upon all the intellectuals to wait for few months and allow the present government to tackle problems one by one. What a dictator could not do in 30 years, can not be done in 100 days. To get a job for every Maldivian, I would suggest kick the foreign workers out of this country. But this will never happen. The agencies in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, collect huge money from each applicant, some percentage goes to the Maldivian officials who issues certificate of work permit, namely, Education Ministry, Labour Ministry, etc. We need to determine not to bring foreign workers. For this our children should study hard, work hard and develop positive attitude towards working for the nation, be it even cleaning the toilet.
to the anony who said jail mates take shower with mineral water: its simply not true. show us ur proof if u have. but your master gayoom gold plated his toilet.now thats tru and we have evidence. Dont try to twist the truth you bstd!
After I saw Gayoom's gold plated bathroom, I have no more word to describe him. We have to hang him upside down with his cronies and give them to the sharks. They have no place in our country anymore.
The world is going through economical nightmare. We are not going to be spared from it. Perhaps we will pay more, because we depend on everything from outside. Despite our difficulties, Anni has made tremendous progress. I think it is time for Gayoom to shut up and keep quiet.
why the hell is it that no one can do anything right? give it time an u ll see the changes... its not like everything is going to change over night... the whole drug problem is a huge deal.. and it cant be solved in a day or two days... maldivian people need to learn how to have F***king patience.. its like u guys everything to go ok after just three months.. give it some time all ya'll.. and stop whining about whats not happening. hell anni has done a whole lot more than maumoon ever did in his 30 years in the past 3 months... so shut up an watch for the better changes...
Nasheed's government is a big joke. There are so many incompetent activists in high posts of the government. They dont know what to do.
Nasheed has created so many political posts and utilities companies. This is a huge burden to the government budget.
Nasheed is promissing to build flats, water, sanitation, harbours, hospitals, clinics to every island he visits. Where can he get many for all these projects at a time when we are experiencing economic hardships all over the world.
thats ur own problem! u sud hve treated ur son good.. away from shits... but u were busy with some other thing.. maybe dating women.. having unlawful sexual intercourse with other women! now dont blame this on others! LOOSER
swallow your pride and help Maumoon. Anni has begged you for your help and you refuse out of some little prideful "I told you so" attitude... How selfish you are, if you cared for Maldives you would just swallow your pride and help. Let everybody see that as an example of Maumoon's pride and that as usual he puts his own pride and Honor before you, that is an abuse of honor as you are suppose to honor others not yourself as a leader!
Hey everyone...this is going to be the same only difference will be he does'nt have 30 yrs so within the short period of time he will try to get the rest of the country sold to any foreigner he can get hold of ...u can say this is another way of bringing in money into the country ...we can say wht ever we want they will do wht ever they feel like..this is there time...
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