President Yameen: A Trojan Horse in a Cassandra Dilemma

The Greek Myth of Cassandra states that she was gifted with seeing future by Apollo, but was later cursed when she refused the romantic advances of Apollo. Her curse was, no one would believe in her. Hence, Cassandra Dilemma arises when someone does not believe in the looming threats and challenges.

Back in 2013, before president Yameen was nominated as the presidential candidate of PPM, one hardcore activist from the party asked me whether Yameen is a good choice. I responded saying “if he becomes the president, corruption will become rampant”. He agreed to some extent, but then the semi ironical loyalists of PPM, like him, had no clue of Yameen’s political project. Most people did not believe that Yameen was a Trojan Horse who would destroy rule of law and democracy. Even the fiercest critics of him like Umar Naseer never imagined the ferocity of his political project then.

Yameen’s political project began with the establishment of People’s Alliance Party backed by corporate elitists, close friends and business partners of him.  Adheeb, then a young aspiring fresh graduate, working in the Maldives Chamber of Commerce, soon caught the eyes of Yameen. Adheeb was one among a group of educated young people, Yameen gathered to work, in what he called as a “Think Tank”. Adheeb soon became the right-hand of Yameen and began working for Yameen’s political project. When the 2012 Coup led to the overthrow of Nasheed’s government and the incumbent Vice President, Waheed took over the government, Yameen began advancing his political project.

Yameen became one of the strongest influencers of Waheed’s government through Adheeb who had a strong foot hold in Waheed’s Cabinet. Adheeb also turned Waheed's government in to Yameen’s handmaiden, exercising overwhelming authority over the government, judiciary and parliament through the mentorship of Yameen. In the silence before the Storm of 2013 election, Adheeb also won the hearts and minds of several influential businessmen by negotiating favors for them within Waheed’s government. He also garnered support from international investors through shady deals, by leasing islands to various investors. This resulted in the flow of outrageous amounts of money to Yameen’s political project via Adheeb. This was admitted by Yameen in his recent press conference by revealing his outrage over the muddling of his own piggy bank. With the corporate money pouring in, and the parliament, judiciary and police blemished with a deteriorated image, because of 2012 coup, became easy targets to be groomed and allured in to Yameen’s political project. Money and influence boosted his political project, making him the ultimate winner of 2103 election, stirred by Police and Supreme Court.

Proof of the premise of the sinister political project of Yameen came to limelight within the first year of his government. Auditor General Niyaz uncovered a huge corruption scandal of Adheeb. However, the audit report was hijacked and swept under the carpet by the President, and the parliament backed by him dismissed Niyaz from his post. Almost half way through Yameen’s presidency, the Maldives saw yet another corruption scandal, the largest in the nation’s history. The semi ironic loyal supporters of Yameen, however, blames Adheeb as the sole proprietor, perpetrator and beneficiary of the billion Rufiyaa scandal. Nonetheless, Adheeb has recently revealed President and First Lady were the major beneficiaries of all alleged corruptions he committed. Additionally, the changes to public finance act, as well as his blatant remarks favoring selling of land to foreigners raises ethical questions over his political agenda.  While many who helped Yameen to rise to power now see that he was in fact a Trojan Horse, Maldives continues sinking inexorably in to a full-fledged dictatorship.

The government of Yameen controls both the judiciary and parliament. The whole public sphere is eroded in to a wreckage of a cesspool, and integrity of every single independent institution has been compromised. The public sphere was wrecked through bribes, fear and intimidation. Examples of this includes alleged bribing of judges, murder of an MP, disappearance of a journalist and recent killing of a blogger. More recent examples include, controversial transfer of judges by Judicial Service Commission, fines imposed to broadcasters and curtailing of freedom of expression, raising further ethical questions on Yameen’s political agenda.

Gayoom having a desire to leave a legacy of a national hero, by throwing away the excess baggage of his dictatorship saw a window of opportunity to make his wrongs right. With the events unfolding and with the support from his son in parliament and other loyalists, Gayoom began advancing a political agenda of his own. Though the premise of his political agenda is yet to unfold, he collaborated with the opposition, led by Nasheed and people obliterated by Yameen, in the hope of saving the nation.

The current saga of impeaching the speaker of parliament marks the beginning of the first blow to weaken Yameen’s power and strangle his political machinery. On the brink of losing his majority in Parliament, Yameen quickly resorted to the Supreme Court, romancing with him since 2013 election. Prominent lawyers have started ringing alarm bells, indicating the Constitution is now abrogated by the opening of a can of worms by the Attorney General. Proof of the premise of Yameen’s political project in destroying the democratic governance and rule of law has become evident from the collusion of the bench and other state bodies. To quote from Dame Sian Elias words, one can say, Maldives is ruled by rules but not rule of law. “Tyranny, arbitrariness and spite has perverted rule of law”. Despite this, ironical loyalists’, sympathizers and well-wishers of Yameen continue to believe criticism of the president is invalid and flawed. They continue to promote his brand of “shameless” while deceiving the public within a smoke screen of his mega development projects labelled by many as corruption scandals.

Gayoom, frustrated for being sidelined from the government brought through his support, denounced Yameen regarding the changes to the Constitution and Laws, questioning his loyalty. Even though Gayoom could convince his loyalists that, Yameen is a Trojan Horse who would destroy the nation, he has fallen to a Cassandra Dilemma. On the contrary, Yameen has fallen in to a different Casandra Dilemma by refusing to accept the weakening of his power and loss of popularity both inside and outside the Maldives.

While the “Right Brothers” who turned in to “Wrong Brothers” fell in to a Cassandra Dilemma, the Opposition coalition too has fallen in to it. They have fallen in to a conundrum of believing in finding a solution from the system.  However, the opposition must fight an upheaval battle to convince the political machinery of the State on the erosion of the rule of law and the sinister political agenda of Yameen.  The critical challenge for them is in salvaging the wrecked public sphere, especially the independent institutions romancing with the executive. What’s fascinating about the dilemma is the curse of “no one would believe” in anyone.  

Yameen’s political project has degraded the whole public sphere in to such a cesspool, the public is dismayed by the awe and irony of the destructive political game destroying the nation. People have started seeing the “government as the problem". For the opposition and rest of the public, it has become a wild goose chase, making their strategies to weaken Yameen futile. The chaotic bricolage of his shenanigans has created a deadlock within the whole system. As said by Rudiger Dornbusch, "things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could" and the public is hoping to see some change.

Daily Panic! Possibly never again, but the Pandora’s Box is still open and haunting the Maldives!

So, where should I begin. And how should I begin when I’m in in deep sorrow and pain of losing a friend I only knew as the greatest twat to ever tweet. Exactly five days before his murder I shared with him an interview by a free thinker like him: an interview by Polish writer, Piotr Ibrahim Kalwas. His Daily Panic may be gone, but the Pandora’s Box we opened on 7^th February 2012 keeps haunting us. Where we are and what has happened in the Maldives over the past five years certainly have got a strong causation and correlation to the coup which took place on 7^th February 2012 and events unfolded afterwards. These events surely have reeled back against us and the society. It has resulted in the murder of Dr. Afrashim, abduction of Rilwan and the murder of Yameen Rasheed (YR). Had it not been for this coup, we wouldn’t have lost these pearls which grew on the bosom of the white sandy beaches surrounded by the lush palms.

The breaches against the human rights which started on 7^th Feb 2012 exacerbated ever since. On that horrific day, both uniformed bodies colluded and supported a handful of people who demonstrated animosity towards an elected government. This collusion and support continues ever since, to the extent the public confidence with the Maldives Police Service became so low, some people have chosen imaginary characters like Care Bears over the Police (per a twitter poll by @kuhthaa). This collusion was fueled by Dr. Waheed’s inclination to garner support from the Islamic extremists and hardcore nationalists during the post-coup government. Dr. Waheed came out from his cocoon as the man who spent more than a decade in a mosque in New York, having his dose of daily zam-zam. He even shouted ALLAH Akbar in a rally after taking over the government in 2012 and mentioned his ascendance to power as the will of ALLAH against infidels. Till this day I could not be convinced, and I believe he was a curse from ALLAH to reveal us the real traitors of our nation. Moreover, his government was also considered by many as a handmaiden of Yamin Abdul Gayoom as his elder brother Maumoon abdul Gayoom’s power already began weakening by then. Contrary to many people’s perception that Maumoon was at the helm after the coup, Yamin in fact was tightening his grip. His power within Dr. Waheed’s government was heightened by planting Adheeb, whom he groomed as a political hustler since 2008.  

Whatever the result of this coup one critical aspect was the de-democratization of the nation. The human consequences of the post-coup include the weakening of human rights, clamping down of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the inclination of the government towards extremists and their ideologies. Critics of the government both real and imagined are constantly intimidated using the police and judiciary and are either framed or sentenced to jail. The abduction of journalist Rilwan and murder of YR are the direct result of clamping down on political dissent. Even though it may not be directly state sponsored the collusion and support by the Police and Government towards those giving death threats and warning to them is obvious to many.

As the saying goes violence breeds violence and injustice will breed resentments and conflicts. Hence we need to close the Pandora’s Box. We have no room to justify violations of human rights on the grounds of national security or stability or even national development. My hope is that the people realize the current regimes de-democratization and violation of human rights and pave way for democracy to succeed in the upcoming elections.    

Slaughtering the Sheep: escaping from the Pied Piper with a fool’s gold mouth piece blowing the hoodwinked flute!

The Parliament house of Maldives called Majilis is a majestic piece of architecture situated in the heart of Henveyru ward in Male’, surrounded by gates and a well-manicured garden. Fatefully it is situated in the old Bandeyrige compound known famously as Hakuraa Fiyaa, situated near Sikkage, where I spend a few years of my teenage days. Sikkagey Mohamed Manikfaan , my Dhonbeybey used to tell me a bit of history of the place and how elitists rob Bandeyrige from time to time using their influence.   

The Bandeyrige has been used to store food and other materials owned by the government during the Monarchy and yester years of Independence. Sometimes one can even wonder whether this location makes people who get elected to parliament, fantasizing going in to a treasure well to dig gold. Paradoxically their fantasies become true as they become richest elitists of the nation instantly. They gain this wealth not entirely from their lavish salaries, but also through infamous bidding process they conduct during their voting for major Bills, often selling vote to highest bidder. More irony lies in the name of the building depicted in the very high walls of it as the People’s Majilis. Sometimes one can wonder whether it is a People’s Majilis or a treasure chest of those who sit inside on those seats just to warm it.

If one can step inside this Majestic Building and listen and watch the rants, tantrums, abuse and often rare fruitful discussions one can easily notice the dominant position of the Majilis over the People and their partiality and prejudice for Presdient Yamin Abdul Gayoom. In the life of the Majilis there has been no instances of it becoming independent from the executive except during the “unfortunate” period of the first democratically elected government when they lost majority. Hence it has always acted as a rubber stamp for the executive except for the 2008 to 2012 period. It has always been used as a deception to show to people their leader as a genuine honest person working for their betterment. However, the perks of it being used as a rubber stamp has never been more blatant than the current period beginning from 2104. Some MPs proudly inform the PEOPLE, how they work with the speed of light in passing the bills. Their efficiency can only be compared to superheroes. The Speaker is the most crucial player in this respected place and is often referred to as the alpha male of the menagerie of monkeys.

The speaker has the sole authority on what comes to the floor of the Majilis. He can throw away anything out of the floor if he feels it unwarranted or is against his masters will, like yesterday’s bread.  He can reduce discussion time for bills for any member as he wishes or increase time as he wishes. He can be said as the Pied Piper of the presdient luring his  “rats” in to the abyss. 

However, after the long cold boring winter of rubber stamping, the People began seeing some changes. Some of the Gold Diggers finally have realized they are being lured in to the abyss by a Pied Piper and sinking inexorably. Hence they wanted to turn away from the Pied Piper and push the Pied Piper in to the sea. The sly fox has referred to this as Slaughter of his loyal sheep or rather the fox he kept guised as a sheep. They have even realized their Gold-Digging Seats are at stake as the naïve public shows signs of dismay and disapproval for their constant ignorance of People’s needs. Public opinion polls finally began showing frustration and despair for the very people sititng inside the Majestic place in their name. The last couple of days the social media pages in the country and twitter accounts are buzzing with words like “clean the Majilis” and for some people opinions on check and balance became news like "men biting dogs". 

Suddenly, some of the elected MPs seems to realize that they need to serve people and the Gold they have dug all this time is going to devour them. They have started realizing their ill-gotten wealth can be confiscated and they may inherit a jail cell instead of the castle they have been building from that. Their fear has started becoming real as the young generation who will vote in coming elections started being more vocal and concerned. The public has never become more agitated or angered by the notoriety of their representatives than the current times. People have even kept themselves awake with probabilistic statistical analyses. They have started listing the bad Eggs who must be egged in the next election to be held in 2019. In Coffee tables and smoke breaks people started talking more about the disgust of the "Majestic" Majilis. People started Viber groups and begun calling and asking their MPs to represent them or dare face them in 2019. This morning I woke up and saw on my phone a Viber group urging my MP to shorten her official visit to the States and return to Maldives. Moreover, the public is recieving social media doses of the leaked audios, videos and materials stipulating the illegal transactions of some MPs fuelling their anger and dismay.

Isn’t it time the MPs realize they are elected by People to represent the people and not to serve the President blindly.

Isn’t it time You show honesty and integrity.

Isn’t it time You say I’m working for People’s interest and 
Not in the interest of the President.

Isn’t it time You realize people are not dumb or blind.

Isn’t it time You appreciate, People do hard work and pay taxes so that,

You can have the best food on Your table,

The best health care for You and Your family,

The best education for Your kids and

The most expensive material wealth for You to enjoy.

Listen to us and our plea.

Look at the suffering of ordinary people

Begging the elitists for housing and welfare.

Why do you make us beg while you enjoy our sweat and labour!