:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Gayyoom robs Maldivians of their religion

by 'Zaroasters' - Sunday, 17th October 2004

Yet again Maumoon Gayyoom has performed one of his pseudo-religious stunts and tried (unsuccessfully) to mesmerize the masses into believing that the political mess he has created in this country (and the grimy, stinking legacy he is going to leave behind him) is all for the good of the people. The manipulative opportunist that he is, he used the occasion of the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, to drum his political agenda to the public. So entrenched he is in using religion as a political weapon, he did not betray any shame or guilt when reminding the people about the 'spiritual opportunity' that Ramadan is for every human being, and in the same breadth, justifying the events in the parliament on the same day, in which his brother in law was made the Speaker of the Special Majlis, contravening the constitution.

While this is standard practice for the aging dictator, most Maldivians also accept that he is a shrewd orator and an authority on Islamic affairs. However, given the affairs of the last year, leading up to the mass demonstrations of August 12 and 13th this year, most Maldivians are now very skeptical of his powers of reasoning. But the public has no choice but to go along with government imposed regulations for fear of arrest, torture, government sponsored smear campaigns against any individuals or groups who express dislike or disbelief to Gayyoom's whims. Most Maldivians are poor even by regional standards because of rampant corruption in the civil service and a concentration of wealth generated from tourism among a few wealthy families. To this grave situation, Gayyoom is adding the mix of fear, humiliation, and suppression to rob and rape the people of their self-esteem, their pride, their individuality, their native and indigenous culture

It is clear that Maldivians have become more twisted in their religious outlook in the time they have spent under Gayyoom's regime. And there now is a clear danger that huge sections of society might 'flip' into an Islamic fundamentalist society. All the phenomena which have been the root causes of past and present fundamentalist societies are now present among the Maldivian community; a deep and painful sense of alienation from the 'rulers' (a.k.a. Gayyoom's dictatorial regime), political and economic uncertainty, a disintegration of traditional social values, looming poverty and hardship. The people have lost faith in the civil service (several civil servants have recently been receiving their monthly salaries delayed by weeks. Payments to private individuals and companies who undertake government assignments and projects are routinely delayed. Nevertheless, there is nothing which can be done about it, as there is no court that will deal with or look into this matter) and the police and the National Security Service (the equivalent of the armed forces) are seen as a brutal gang of thugs out to spy on and hunt down any dissent or opposition to Gayyoom's despotic and totalitarian regime. The police and NSS, aware of their weight in maintaining the totalitarian rule of Gayyoom, have now taken to rude and aggressive behaviour towards the public, especially women, on the streets, knowing very well that they will not have to be accountable to anyone.

The only 'spiritual opportunity' of any promise to the Maldivian community at the moment can be the end to Gayyoom and his family's regime. So that Maldivians can once again connect to their roots of the past and feel comfortable in their own skin, knowing that they have a unique and personalized spirituality without the disturbing middle-eastern elements of extremist religion and the strict interpretation of Islam that Gayyoom and his Arab-educated cronies have tried to impose on and manipulate the Maldivian people with.