THIS YEAR IS OUR CHANCE TO MAKE A CHANGE
by Aisha
“Food shortages, suspected malpractices, lack of educational opportunities, citizens spying on one another, fear…the Maldives was far from the carefree paradise the tourists seeking sun, sand and sea believed.” P108
“The president did not rule by fear alone. The power of office was boosted by his involvement in enterprises that enriched his cronies as well as himself. He was aided by the lust of Western tourists for tropical holidays which they discovered were happily hassle-free in the Maldives.” P102
The above sentences may seem familiar; however they are no campaign slogans criticizing Gayoom, or the words from an opposition politician. These are quotes from our president’s biography, A Man for all Islands, in the chapter “Shooting Star” in which Royston Ellis describes life under Nasir’s rule.
When Gayoom came to power, he promised there would be no more fear, no more corruption, and no more food shortage.
And yet, since 1978, what has really changed? Do all Maldivian children really go to bed properly fed as Gayoom suggested it in his last speech for the SAARC summit? Have we not lived in fear for the last 30 years? Isn’t his power boosted by tourism that enriched his cronies as well as himself?
Ironically, the Maldives of 1978 are very similar to the Maldives of 2008. The main differences are that today, our society is crippled by drugs, gang violence, unemployment, inflation of prices, religious extremists and overcrowding in Male’.
The very recent employment bill is about to serve the interests of business tycoons of the tourism industry by failing to provide fair and equal workers rights to half of the Maldives workforce.
This year is our chance to make a change.
Comments
8 Responses to “THIS YEAR IS OUR CHANCE TO MAKE A CHANGE”
Leave a Reply
Aisha is right.
If we don’t change this goverment this time, it will be like committing suicide. Please! people of Maldives! Open your eyes and minds. Think about your rights! Think about your children’s future. Are u sure u will be able to feed your kid ,tommorow or day after? What will happen if u get sick the next day? Think about this!
We are just 0.3 milion people. We deserve much better than the hopelessness we are going through for the past 30 years.
O Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Give us a better future!
i hope this change will not be the change people have seen 30 years back. The only problem with the Maldivians is that they are too careless. too used to live life as it comes.
We all should be ready for changes. No one has to ruin their life by sacrificing against the dictator Maumoon. “MY VOTE IS FOR A CHANGE” whoever takes the seat, I dont care as long the dictator is defeated..LET’S VOTE FOR CHANGE.
Mustho, you are absolutely right. We as Maldivian, it is hard to believe we talk about changes and when it comes to action just shake it.. be ready for it.. God Bless Maldives!
we can …but the thing is we just don t try ..whats best for most of us is the interests of our on self, we don t think what could be best for the majority and for tomorrow.
we all want a change this time.pls vote
i think we still lack the NEED for the change.. the difference is its still just a want…
above 30 can afford to ventilate all their “i want the change” talk at coffee’s.
below 30 is either as students or active in their world of survival.
political parities are fighting a P’personal war that fighting for a system change.
business community is sticking behind a few individuals as their God’s of hope.
civil society in its process of identifying themselves.
civil servants systematically abused by the people in power to remain in power.
active individuals fighting politicized personal wars.
at the end of the day… have a coffee and go to bed….or join the silent protest against continuing minds of brutal dictatorial rule.
Personally I feel if we want a better future, the first thing we need is to forget Maumoon stories of corruption and torture. This is no secret and it has also become stale over the last 4-5 years.
Instead, if we give a joint effort to promote one of the candidates running against him it will be more productive. We need to talk about what can be done, and how. We do not need false promises.
Whoever comes as next President will be like a toothless tiger, so if we really want a better Maldives for our children, who we elect as our MPs are more important than the President. Defeating Maumoon will only be a psycological win, the power to change now lies with the future Parliament.
This time all the Maldivians should unite to remove this dictator from the power. He has abused the Maldivians for dark 30 years. Now he is selling the Maldives in the name of making resorts. Thats too to raise money for his so called deficit budget. It’s a way of selling our country slowly without much attention from the public. All our resorts are in the foreign hands. Maldivian workers are their slaves. There is no security to these workers. Because of his rules.