Hassan Ali
This week a new political coalition was announced with a new leader. Let’s be quite honest with each other here – this isn’t an attempt to unite the disparate elements of the opposition in the Maldives. This is an attempt to ‘show’ the world, which has scant knowledge of the track records of these proposed ‘leaders in exile’ that these individuals are beyond reproach. Yet it is a cynical attempt to again exert influence outside of the democratic process of the country, and to keep facilitating the international community into abetting their plan. It assumes that the international media, unlike the local media and even a significant number of individuals aligned with the opposition, will take the opposition at their word and not vet the records of these ‘esteemed’ individuals.
Why shouldn’t they assume so? To date most, if not all, of the international media outlets reporting on the Maldives have been happy to regurgitate ‘facts’ cited by the opposition as truth; foregoing their process of due diligence that they would afford more ‘serious’ nations.
Everything about this announcement represents the contradictions and hypocrisy that runs deep in the Maldives opposition. Firstly, an invite only event to censor and control the coverage. Then, it was revealed, the ‘coalition’ contained a myriad of parties, some with beliefs that directly contradict the human rights agenda of the international community that the MDP current court.
None of this should surprise observers. For months, Mohamed Nasheed has attempted to spin a tale of woe from his London hideout. Much like his extended medical leave, it was a crafty PR exercise and nothing more. And so with this new announcement, which was aimed solely at stoking the attention of the international media, and not as a constructive contribution to political discourse in the Maldives. The similarities between the two are that neither will work.
The fractures and contradictions do not take long to emerge. On one hand, the MDP criticise the current administration for financial mismanagement and corruption. Yet now they happily share a platform with the representatives of former Vice-President Adeeb, a man implicated in mass mismanagement and misappropriation of funds while both Tourism Minister and VP. Now that Adeeb can be used to advance his former opponent’s ambitions, he is enthusiastically brought aboard.
The dubious makeup of this coalition continues. It was not long ago Nasheed spun a tale of woe on CNN. Islamic extremism, he claimed, was rife in the Maldives. Of course, the interviewer did not press him on his introduction and elevation within government of the Adhalaath party – an organisation rooted in unsettling interpretations of conservative Islam. Women’s rights, girls in education and a modern, transparent judiciary (including the ending of stoning) are unrecognisable amongst Adhalaath. But now, apparently, they can help restore democracy and freedoms to the Maldives. It is shameless opportunism of the worst kind.
The weaknesses in this new arrangement continues. Already the Jumhoree Party are casting doubt on the deal. Its Deputy Leader will attend in a ‘personal capacity’ but the party itself has said it is ‘unaware of any deal.’ Meanwhile Adhalaath will have to get any new deal passed by the party leadership. As of yet no formal proceedings have begun. Clearly, this shows all the signs of a hastily put together stunt – the style before substance politics that defined Nasheed as a politician and continues to dominate opposition politics.
Perhaps nothing reinforces this claim than the choice of Dr Mohamed Jameel as the coalition’s new leader. This is a politician who has failed to deliver in office at every turn. Sacked by four Presidents, of different political persuasions, he has proved incapable of leading competently, or holding the trust or loyalty of his peers. Now he sits next to Mohamed Nasheed, one of the former Presidents that once cast him aside.
If this new political alliance feels it can act as a ‘government in exile’, it will only undermine its cause, and that of the Maldivian people they so claim to represent, even further. The democratic process lies within the Maldives. Elections will be won similarly in the Maldives. International grandstanding and claims of a ‘right’ to govern by default from abroad are bordering on the ridiculous – but given Nasheed’s track record of ‘I-am-the-exception-that-proves-the-rules’ politics, it is hardly surprising. While this arrogance may play to a small audience abroad, and fuel the Nasheed public relations machine, they will only serve to isolate Maldivians from their message.
For Mohamed Nasheed, Dr Mohamed Jameel and the rest of this supposed new ‘coalition’, the facts remain. A hastily put together mix of former political enemies with vastly opposing agendas and a discredited leader, proven to be unfit to lead at every turn. But the most symbolic of all is the way this week’s announcement was made. In a grand building in London, in front of the media, headed by a publicity junkie. It is a world away from the lives and aspirations of Maldivians young and old. It is a project as shallow as a Maldivian reef, and one that is doomed to fail.
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The new opposition ‘coalition’ is anything but the sort
