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Reform debate in Male’ Social Centre

Mariyam Mohamed, Male' 29th June 2004

An informal public gathering was organised in Male’ tonight by an NGO, Oriental Academics, founded by Mr. Nazim Sattar, in cooperation with Mr. Ibrahim Ismail, Member of Special Majlis of Parliament for Male’. They are also members of the Maldivian Democratic Party Council. Other prominent reformists, most of whom are Members of the Maldivian Democratic Party were involved in organising the event. The event is historic in many ways and marks a change of direction by the autocratic leader of Maldives towards freedom of assembly in the Maldives as well as freedom of expression.

This informal gathering was organised in order to debate the various advantages of the political reforms that are being discussed all over the country after Gayyoom’s self acclaimed Reform Speech on the 9^th of June 2004 in which he gave the go ahead for debate on the issue. An estimated 500 or more people attended the debate and many openly asked questions to the panel chairing the session as well as several issues were debated amongst the attendees. There was calm all round and although most were quite observers, this marks the beginning of something much bigger.

Mr. Ilyas Hussain, Member of Special Majlis	Mr. Ibrahim Ismail, Member of Special Majlis
Mr. Zahir, Businessman and his brother Mahir	Mr. Qasim Ibrahim, Member of the Special Majlis

Another first, in spite the event being a complete u-turn for the government anti-reformist ways, the authorities appeared to have budged in the face of strong public demands for more freedom of expression and assembly.

This is a very historic move as many have broken away from the fear of being arrested and many openly debated and pointed out advantages and disadvantages in some of the proposals of Gayyoom.

Mr. Abjee of Victory Sports Club

Mr. Adil, Member of the Special Majlis

Most of the faces, as seen from these DO exclusive photos show the common people in Maldives who have always had a strong view and support for pluralistic democracy.

Some of the key questions raised and statements made in the debate are listed below:

In our last attempt it too 17 years to amend the constitution, how long can we anticipate it to be this time round?
This constitution is now seen to be unsuitable for Maldives just after 7 years, so those who amended it in 17 years must be held responsible for failing to provide us with a democratic constitution.
Mr. Nazeer Jamal, former Presidential Candidate questioned the legality of appointing a women as head of state in the context of Islamic Sharia, where how a Judge can be a woman in Islam, who can permit a woman to marry as that is what the Sharia states if she does not have a male guardian or (Walee Veriya) to give her the permission to marry (Walee), and if the Head of State is a woman can she give her permission, can a woman be a judge in an Islamic nation?
Another attendant wanted to know the actual definition of the current system of government in the Maldives
An attendant also asked what guarantee the organisers can give him that he will not be arrested for expressing his views in this session. He said he had a wife and two children to look after and cannot afford to get arrested. He later said that if there is no guaranteed then he might as well go home and walked out.
Another attended said that he does not care what happens to him, that he is no longer afraid of being arrested because he strongly wants to defend the rights of all people and he has made it his ambition to work with the reform movement.
There were also debates on why the mother of Eevan Naseem is constantly harassed by the police and why she can’t get justice for her loss. Evan Naseem was beaten to death whilst in custody by National Security Service guards at Maafushi Jail on September 19^th 2003. Evan’s brother is now in jail and is likely to be charged with attempted assassination of the President. The attendant demanded remorse and justice for her.
One attendet also pointed out the high cost of public services and utilities in the Maldives such as electricity and telecommunication. He said that the costs should be brought down especially because State Electric Company and Dhiraagu – the telecom company both posted large profits even last year. He concluded that many like him are prepared to vote in the next Presidential election for a candidate who can promise cuts in costs of these services.

Prominent figures including Members of Parliament and prominent businessmen such as Qasim Ibrahim and Rado Zahir attended the meeting. The hall was filled and many even sat in the corridor. Most of the faces, as seen from the DO exclusive photos show the common people in Maldives who have always had a strong view and support for pluralistic democracy. One attendant described the mood as being "extremely positive and vibrant". We are going to sleep thinking that “we have changed the government”. Another said that “Gayyoom is history and it is only a matter of time.”

The meeting began at 8:30 and lasted more than 2 hours. Oddly enough, the sound was provided by the Voice of Maldives and the event was also recorded by Television Maldives.