Insha Allah the Maldivian People Would be Victorious!

Gayyoom is restless and sleepless. Winds of change have braced these fragile shores of ours. Maldivians have finally woken from the hypnotic sleep that they have been forced to endure. We now know the truth. The international community is aware of the Maldivian people's predicament. Together we will overcome this regime that has taken so much away from us. We do not need a leader who plants seeds of doubt in our minds about the Holy Koran. We do not need a leader who has very little knowledge of modern economics and the dangers of the current world recession.

Imagine! If a baby had been born on the first day Gayoom was sworn in as president, that baby would be 30 years old now. That's a lifetime. Imagine a young person who was only 35 years old on the day Gayoom was sworn in as president. That person would be 65 years old now! Indeed that's a lifetime.

This old man has been the president of Maldives for all these years and what has he got to show for it? An international airport that his predecessor (Nasir) built? A tourism industry that Nasir established? A fisheries industry that Nasir established? An English language education system that Nasir established? A land reclamation program that Nasir initiated? What exactly has this Egypt-educated sheikh brought to this country that Nasir hadn't already thought about? Nothing. Obviously Gayoom had nothing to offer for this nation when he came to power 30 years ago; and he most definitely has nothing to offer for this nation now. Its time that he leaves us to fend for ourselves. We can do much better and in a shorter period of time. We don't need Gayoom and his comical cabinet and his brutal police force to take us towards 2020 and beyond.

Imagine you are 35 years old now. I'm sure many of the readers would be of that age. Imagine you got a new president today. Would you want that same person to lead your country until you are a 65 years old? Surely not. Gayoom has taken a large chunk out of this generation and he is greedily holding on to power with the obvious intention of taking a large chunk out of the next generation as well.
His diabolical lying machines (TV Maldives and Voice of Maldives) are at full throttle. His comical cabinet is at full swing. His police force has the license to kill (and indeed they have killed innocent Maldivians). Anonymous websites sympathetic to the regime are propping up like popcorn to brainwash unassuming Maldivians. He has got the whole treasury and the provident funds of staff and the expatriate-laborer-deposits and the parastatal companies such as STO and the atoll offices at his command. He has absolute power to rule this country whichever way he so pleases.

But enough is enough! We do not need this old man. We need a leader who can bring meaningful change. Both Dr. Hassan and Anni have said that they will not live in Theemuge if elected President. Anni has gone as far as to say that when he becomes President he will convert Theemuge as the main campus of the first University of Maldives. We need a leader who has no desire to have a multi-million-dollar presidential retreat (Aarah). Anni has said that he will convert Aarah into a resort exclusively for locals. We need a leader who does not want to boost his ego by sailing in million-dollar yachts and speed launches at the expense of public money. If elected president, Anni has said that he will auction most of those presidential-yachts and reinvest that money in a nationwide project for an inter-island transport network.

We need a leader who will not use the cynical and Machiavellian trickery of divide-and-rule. Gayyoom divided our atolls into 20 groups. We need to rejoin the Boduthiladhunmathi and Ari Atoll and Huvadhu Atoll. That will give us 15 atolls instead of 20 atolls. That will save us unnecessary bureaucratic expenditure and unite our people more. Along the same lines, we need to abolish the four wards of Male (Maafannu, Machnagoalhi, Galolhu and Henveiru). Male can be managed by the Male Municipality. We can save millions by abolishing the ward offices. The same can be done with wards in other islands as well.

Along the same policy line of uniting the people, we need a leader who is willing to abolish the “Atolls Ministry” and unite the whole county under the “Home Ministry. Having a separate Ministry for the “Atolls” and then again a “Home” Ministry suggests that the people of the atolls are somehow inferior to those that reside in Male. If elected president, Anni has said that he will combine the works of the Atolls Ministry and the Home Ministry as one single ministry. This unified ministry would be named as the “Home” Ministry.

Similarly, Gayyoom wanted to reduce our population growth so that he will have less people to resist his dictatorial rule. Anni will reverse this outdated policy.
When we talk about “gender and family” we need to rethink our current stand on population control. Is it helping our economic development? In a way we have limitless land, so if we let our populations grow freely, that could help our development instead of controlling population growth. As testimony to the end of Gayyoom’s divide-and-rule policy and as testimony to our newfound policy of unity, MDP-Iththihaadh will initiate a gigantic project to reclaim the whole of Vaavu Atoll to form one giant island. We can reclaim the whole atoll by doing deep-sea dredging. The reclaiming should be done to a height of at least ten feet above sea level - the ultimate safe-island which could accommodate almost 300,000 people. This landmass would be big enough to accommodate at least a population of three hundred thousand.

Under this same policy of unity and better utilization of land we could relocate the five cemeteries in Male. Despite the fact that land in Male is limited, it has five major cemeteries. These five plots of land could be used for much better purpose if we could relocate the cemeteries to Thilafushi or Hulhumale. Under advice and guidance from the Islamic Majlis, we could devise a project to meticulously relocate all remains of the deceased from these five cemeteries.

We need a leader who will be brave enough to say that, in order to promote social and family unity, we need to close all shops at 9.00 pm. Many staff who works at shops starts their work at about 9.00 in the morning and goes on until 11.00 at night. This restricts the amount of quality time that they could get with their families. It would help boost family relations and improve the social fabric of the nation if we regulate the shops to be closed at latest 9.00pm.

We also need a leader who can address difficult issues such as changing the national anthem and the national flag – perhaps after a national referendum on the issue. The national anthem and our flag fails to inspire the new generation of Maldivian. I feel that even the anthem “Wathan Edhey Gothah” compiled by our first president (Mohamed Amin) is also a better tune and a better anthem than our national anthem. Our national flag also needs to incorporate the blueness of our seas and the whiteness and greenness of our islands.

We also need a leader who will bring down the walls surrounding the presidency. Not a president and ministers who live behind a “Karaamaathuge-Dhuli”. When we mention the title “Minister” we immediately get the connotations of power and influence. We need to change this mentality and mindset. One thing we could do to initiate the change of this mindset is to change the title of “Minister” as “Secretary”. This is the case in many developed countries such as the United Sates and the United Kingdom. For example, instead of having a Home Minister we could have a Home Secretary and instead of a Defense Minister we could have a Defense Secretary.

All these years we thought that we had to be grateful to Gayoom for whatever he grants us when we beg from him. Now we know that we do not have to beg from him. We demand and he has to eventually budge. We demanded for the establishment of political parties and he had no choice but agree reluctantly and grudgingly. We will now Insha Allah vote him out of office. He has been trying to repackage himself and sell this outdated and useless package to us as a gift from him but Maldivians can no longer be fooled by this man.

Listen to us carefully Mr. Gayoom. This country does not belong to you. We do not have to be grateful to you for whatever little token gestures that you grant us. You don't own us; and most definitely you don't own our children. You have no right to dictate anything to us. You are just a servant elected (I guess) to serve us. Try to get that through to your head. You can jail us and beat us and let your police force do sadistic things with us (like they did with Evan Naseem), but we are not scared of you or your lovely little Star Force.

We only fear Malakul Mauth, and Nakeer Munkir and Allah's Judgement Day and Siraath Magu and Hell. Even you and your police force would be paraded on the same Mahushar Ground that Day. Do you know that? Do you know that Allah is the Great Planner? He knows all your plans and Insha Allah the Maldivian people will be victorious.