:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Gayyoom's Word Games

President Gayyoom, is one of the few remaining dictators of the modern world

By an Expatriate in Male' (name withheld for security reasons) - Saturday 31 July 2004

With reference to various recent public declarations Gayyoom has made, I do think that it would not only be wise, but necessary to remain sceptical about Gayyoom's intentions by announcing constitutional reform. From past experience, it is very clear that playing games with words comes as naturally to Gayyoom as a spider's inherent ability to spin a web. Moreover, Maldivians interested in changing their society to a freer country should also be vary of their own tendency to be emotional in the face of Gayyoom's extravagant performances. We have also witnessed how consistent he is in contradicting his own behavior, speech being a form of behaviour, as it is the primary form of self-expression, revealing one's relation to the world.

We all know that Gayyoom is a man who returned to the country after 24 years abroad, made a controversial statement about the sale of alcohol (for which he served a sentence). And we also know that the economic progress which he flaunts as a major achievement of his policies is very much dependant on the sale of alcohol to non-Muslims via the trade of tourism. And in fact, tourism remains a major economic activity in the country, and is likely to remain so as no other sector has developed as much to be able to compete internationally.

But then we also know that religion is just another tool for him, one more card in his deck, with which he manipulates the public. And if anything, without an informed discourse or dialogue at grass-roots level, the religious sensibilities of Maldivians have become warped and twisted in the last 27 years. And this is bound to continue if people are kept in fear of expressing themselves.

Apart from all, the economic and political muddles that people are pointing out, the youth of the country are also going through one of the worst crises they have ever faced. While Gayyoom has his fits of sympathetic gestures towards the rehabilitation of Maldivian youth, the drug problem in the capital Male' has worsened drastically over the last 15 years. Virtually unknown in the country before the '90s, there are hundreds of heroin addicts in the country at present, most of them teenagers or those in their early 20s. While the government's resources and energies have been focused on various projects, it has failed to tackle the gravest problem the country faces; the squandering of young talent. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the future belongs to the young. And the future is about to close down on Gayyoom and his regime. And may this happen with as little unnecessary violence or destruction as possible. For we all know that when nature is not allowed to have its course, the result is always destruction and mayhem. The Maldivian people deserve a better future. They deserve to feel a part of the rest of the world. They deserve to feel free!