Power without responsibility :: Maldives News :: Dhivehi Observer

Nashid Column

Power without responsibility

by Dr. Ibrahim Nashid, G. Keneree Ge, Male', 02 October 2005

We Maldivians are very aware how quickly we could fall foul of the law in the Maldives. Especially when it comes to 'disobeying the orders of the state' or 'bring the state into disrepute' or 'generating ill-feeling among the public towards the state'. The police and the security forces act as if they have the power to arrest arbitrarily anybody they wish whenever they wish. Even if you contradict the views of a traffic policemen, whether on or off duty, you could be charged with disobeying the orders of state. The resulting punishment could be harsh, depending on the police officer in question. Critics of Gayoom's government and in particular of the President himself have found out treatment at the hands of the police and the sentence passed by the judge could be severe. In nearly all such cases the judges, appointed by Gayoom, find the accused guilty. Take the case of the people who brought us Sandhaanu. Each and every one of them suffered extreme torture at the hands of the police before Gayoom's judges sentenced most of them for life. It is a wonder that they are still alive today. Zaki got a life sentence for distributing Sandhaanu via email, Naushad was made to pay for letting the world know about the gross violations of human rights that were being carried out by Gayoom. This is the power the government has. This is the power Gayoom has illegally accumulated through fear and oppression of the people of the Maldives.

The Maldivian legal system defines the State as the cabinet existing according to the constitution, the Majlis and collectively all agencies that are entrusted with the administration of those entities. But in the rare cases where police officers or members of the security forces are sentenced by Gayoom's judges for abusing their powers, they are left on their own. For example the NSS officers who shot dead the inmates following the Maafushi prison riots in 2003 were made to look as if they acted independently on their own without any orders from above. The State did not show that it was willing to take responsibility for the actions of those individuals who have to carry out its administration. The guilty were ordered to pay MRf 26666.66 to the families of each of the dead within one month. As NSS officers I do not think they could pay such an amount from their savings. I assume they were dismissed from their jobs and therefore would not have had any income to pay this amount within a month, especially as they were sentenced for life imprisonment. The honourable thing in this case would have been for the State to pay the families. No amount of money could replace the departed, but for the process of justice to be completed in this case the families of the dead should have received the money within a month. If the judge had not ordered the payment this question would obviously not have arisen. A more appropriate way would have been for the judge to order the State to pay the money.

As President Gayoom is neither an honourable man nor is it his wish to take responsibility for his actions, it is highly unlikely that the State would pay the families of the deceased. Every now and then Gayoom's government paid prisoners or ex-prisoners expenses to seek medical advice abroad. In such situations the authority concerned made it quite clear that the money being paid was not because they were obliged to pay but due to the President's generosity. Yes, in the same manner as medieval lords treated their serfs. The fact that the very reason for the trip abroad is to treat the injuries sustained due to torture by Gayoom's security forces is conveniently forgotten. The complaints of the victims often fall on deaf ears.

No amount of 'sweeping reforms' would bring democracy to the Maldives without the will to be democratic. With democracy should come the freedom and also the responsibility. While the people are forced to learn to be responsible for 'their' actions, the State should also start learning soon to be responsible for its misdeeds. Otherwise when democracy comes to the Maldives, those who haven't learned how to be responsible for their deeds might suddenly find life rather constrained.