Which candidate will “Bushry” endorse?

When the deadline for application to the presidential election expired, six candidates had applied for the election. Those six are:
1. Mohamed Nasheed (Anni)
2. Dr. Hassan Saeed
3. Gasim Ibrahim (Buruma)
4. Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra)
5. Umar Naseer
6. Maumoon Gayyoom.

Of these six candidates, no sane person would vote for Gayyoom. The old dictator has been in power for nearly 30 years. The fact that the Auditor General has recently recommended to the Parliament, to liquidate MTDC, is just one small example of the scale of corruption and mismanagement in the wily old dictator’s 30-year-old regime. Another reason that we should not vote for Gayyoom is his blatant lying on TVM’s “Siyaasath” programme recently. Not only did he lie, he made statements that showed his contempt and disregard for Islamic Sharia. I would go as far as to say that anyone who votes for Gayyoom would be doing so as a challenge to Allah and His religion.

Anyone who loves this country of ours, or who loves the religion of Islam would refrain from voting for Gayyoom.

Umar Naseer and Ibrahim Ismail are two candidates who can make some very good contributions to a future government, but they cannot be described as serious challengers in the election itself. I would suggest that the eventual winner of the lection should make use of potential leaders such as Ibra and Umar in the future.

The fourth candidate, Buruma Gasim, would be a dangerous choice. Anyone who controls private television channels and radio stations and who does business in virtually all areas would have conflict of interests. If one listens to resignation speech of Thoyyib, who resigned from Gasim’s Villa TV recently, one can imagine the dangers of electing Gasim as a president of this country. Gasim is a good philanthropist who has helped a number of Maldivians in areas such as education and health. But that is no justification to elect Gasim as our president. We don’t want to build a socialist system of governance where we would have to beg Gasim for everything. If we elect Gasim, we would see the vultures that surround him, descend on the government and share the wealth of the state amongst them.
Dhivehi Observer’s Editor, Sappe, made a mistake in endorsing Gasim’s candidacy. We, the people of this country, should not make the same mistake that Sappe made. In fact, I believe that electing Gasim would be even more dangerous than even electing Gayyoom! Let’s say “No” to Gayyoom and to Gasim as well.

The remaining two candidates in this list are Anni and Dr. Hassan. Personally I think we would have had a dream team if these two were running on one ticket. Sadly though they are running as separate candidates. As I have said in the blog before, Dr. Hassan made a mistake in not selecting Dr. Waheed as his running mate. Selecting Dr. Shaheed would not have brought any new support to Dr. Hassan’s camp. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that Dr. Shaheed is a potential leader of the future, but Hassan’s candidacy would have been strengthened if he selected Dr. Waheed as his running mate.

Considering that Anni and Dr. Waheed are now running on one ticket, and considering the manifestos, and considering the relative popularity of the two candidates (Anni and Hassan), it seems to me that Anni and MDP are the only viable challengers in the contest who can beat Gayyoom and save us from this old man. Another five years for Gayyoom would mean more of the same thing (Drugs, violence, crime, corruption, disrespect for Islam, shortage of housing, discrimination against islanders, and so on).

I believe that Dr. Hassan and Dr. Shaheed (just as Ibra and Umar), have a lot to contribute to in a future government. But Anni and Dr. Waheed is the team that I’m endorsing, so that we can at last see the back of this dictator Gayyoom. Let’s unite behind MDP. Let’s make this country a nation free from corruption and inequality. Let’s say “yes” to Anni and MDP. I’m not endorsing Anni for any personal gain. But for the sake of our future and the future of our children. Let’s give MDP one chance.