After 21 months of political instability, Maldives, comprised of some 1,200 islands in the Arabian Sea, on 16 November elected a new president and both the newly elected President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Qayyum and his arch rival Mohammed Nasheed vowed to join hands for peace and stability.
On 17 November before his oath ceremony, Abdullah Yameen, 54, underlined the need of stability and said, “I hope we will receive the necessary cooperation from Mr. Nasheed through parliament. Instead of confronting political leaders, we will confront the big challenges facing our country.”
BIG CHALLENGES
What are big challenges? Unemployment, drug menace and to some extent “emerging radicalism” or “religious extremism imported from Madrasas in Pakistan” and elsewhere, are cited by the media as big challenges to the 100% most peace-loving Sunni country.
Mohammed Nasheed, who was considered a favourite candidate for the post, took his surprise defeat gracefully, and attended the oath ceremony of his arch rival who was instrumental in his unceremonious ouster from the office, said, “Today is a happy day for the Maldives – we now have an elected government.”
The world noted the reconciliatory tones of the two leaders. India was among the first to congratulate Abdullah and said they looked forward to working closely with the new leader.
“We welcome the acceptance of the verdict of the people of Maldives by all sides and commitment expressed to take the country forward on the path of stability, progress and development,” India’s External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. The USA also welcomed the development.
New Delhi had an uneasy relationship with Male after the toppling of Mohammed Nasheed who once took refuge at the Indian High Commission in Male to avoid arrest. Nasheed visited New Delhi in August this year. During his three-day visit he met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh. After first round of polling was annulled by the court, Sujatha Singh rushed to Male and impressed upon the leader to avoid constitutional crises and complete the election in time.
Nasheed, a trusted ally of India, was a favourite candidate for New Delhi. The regional super-power had uneasy relations with his successor Waheed after the Maldives government terminated a USD 500 million airport modernisation contract awarded to Indian infrastructure major GMR during the Nasheed regime and granted to China.
ASIA’S SMALLEST COUNTRY
The Maldives is the smallest country in Asia, with total area of less than 300 Sq Km and a population of around 3,40,000 people. But its strategic position makes it important. It is one of few countries with 100% Sunni Muslim population. After the long Buddhist period, the light of Islam reached here in the 12th century with Arab traders and preachers. King Dhovemi, who was crowned in 1141 as Buddhist King, embraced Islam in his 12th year of rule and adopted Islamic name Sultan Muhammad ibn Abdullah. He ruled for another 13 years as a Muslim and the entire population followed the king and voluntarily reverted to Islam.
According to Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, the Islamic preacher responsible for the change of King’s heart was Abu al Barakat Al-Barbari of Morocco. He is also referred to as Tabrizugefaanu. His venerated tomb now stands on the grounds of the Friday Mosque, or Hukuru Miskiy, in Male. Built in 1656, this is the country’s oldest mosque.
LONG HISTORY OF SUFISM
The island has a long history of Sufism. Many tombs are dotted all over the country. They were used until as recently as the 1980s for seeking blessing and help from buried saints. But now the tombs are considered cultural heritage only. Other aspects of ritualism, like Maulūdu (Mawlid) ceremonies, have also faded. “Maulūdu festivals” were held in ornate tents especially erected for the purpose. In 1970-80s the country saw a transformation from ritualistic to puritan Islam. Now almost all women wear descent dresses with Hijab. Black “Abayas” with “Niqab” are also in fashion in some parts. Mosques are full at “Salat” time. These social changes have rung alarm bells in Islamophobic intelligentsia and media around the world.
“There has been a genuine awakening of fundamental Islamic values throughout the Middle East and Islamic countries. This has caught momentum here since the 1970s. What was previously seen as extreme has now become mainstream,” admitted Mohamed Nasheed, former president who won the 2008 polls but was forced to resign last February in what his supporters say was a coup engineered by Abdulla Yameen, Abdul Waheed and latter supported by Islamic groups.
NASHEED FACTOR
Nasheed lifted many strict, Gayoom regime controls from mosques and Islamic scholars. But perhaps it was not considered enough by more enthused Islamists, who demand blanket ban on bars and casinos on beaches and flood of western nude culture. In the second round of Presidential elections, Abdullah Yameen succeeded to make an understanding with Islamist groups. His wife Fathimath Ibrahim wears Hijab and several reporters felt alarmed by seeing a Hijab-wearing lady entering the President’s House as First Lady of the country.
In the first democratic presidential election in 2008, Mohamed Nasheed ousted Mamoon Abdul Gayoom, after his 30-year autocratic rule. In December 2011, after three years in power, Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) faced massive protests led by Abdullah Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), clandestinely supported by Nasheed’s VP Abdul Waheed, who had taken over as President after Mr. Nasheed’s ouster.
Religious groups supported the “Defend Islam” movement against Nasheed. They accused his administration of defiling Islam, promoting western ideals and culture and restrictions on the spread of more austere Islamic practices. The uprising ended on 7 February, 2012, after Nasheed bowed out.
In the first round of voting, Nasheed secured more than 46 per cent votes and Yameen less than 26 per cent. But in the final round tables were turned on Nasheed, who secured little more than 48 per cent votes and Abdullah Yameen more than 51 per cent. This could be possible by unblocking votes of religious groups in his favour.
ISLAMIC AWAKENING
Animesh Roul, in one of his articles, says, “For hundreds of years, Sunni Muslims in the Maldives have largely practised a more liberal form of the religion. Yet during Gayoom’s rule, the Egyptian-trained religious scholars enacted a number of measures that encouraged more hardline Islamist elements. In 1994, the Protection of Religious Unity Act was passed, which restricted the freedom to practise any other religion besides Islam. In 1996, Gayoom constituted the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (which was renamed as the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in 2008) charged with overseeing religious affairs in the country. This body of Islamic scholars pressured the government to carry out moral and cultural policing of alleged “anti-Islamic activities”. In 2008, it asked the police to ban night clubs and discotheques for New Year’s Eve celebrations, saying that they were contrary to Islam.
“By the end of Gayoom’s rule in 2008, the dress code for women had grown increasingly conservative, and more and more men grew out their beards. Whereas women used to dress in bright coloured clothes, they increasingly wear black robes and headscarves today. On more conservative islands such as Himandhoo, women wear black abayas and face veils.”
Ahmed Naseem, the Maldivian foreign minister until the coup in 2012, said that the Maldives “had no one wearing headscarves 10 years ago, but it is common now.”
Roul accused “foreign madrasa education” also and blames “offer of free education in madrasas in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia” is widely acknowledged as a “core means of radicalising Maldivians locally”. He noted, “Well-meaning parents send their children off on scholarships to “study Islam”.
THE NEW PRESIDENT
Abdullah Yameen was born on 21 May, 1959, in the capital City of Male. His father Abdul Qayyoom Ibrahim, was Attorney General. His elder brother Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom served as President between 1978 and 2008. Yameen got his primary and secondary schooling in the Maldives at Majeedhiyya School. Yameen pursued higher studies in Beirut, Lebanon where he received his Bachelors in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut. Yameen later completed postgraduate studies in the field of public policy at the Claremont Graduate University in California, USA. For last four terms he has been a member of Majlis (Parliament). As leader of Opposition he played an important role in governance.
Important Events in Maldives
400 BC: Buddhist Kingdom; Discovery of ruined temples on some islands indicate an early Buddhist reign.
1153 CE: Conversion from Buddhism to Islam; Foundation of the first Sultanate; Islam becomes the national religion. The first Sultan of the Maldives was Mohamed Bin Ibn Abdulla (1141-1156); (he disappeared during a pilgrimage to Makkah)
1344: Ibn Battuta, Arabian historian and scholar travelled around the Maldives and worked as a Judge.
1558: The Portuguese captured Male; Sultan Ali VI falls in a battle.
1573: Under the leadership of Mohamed Thakurfaanu and his two brothers, the Maldives frees itself after 15 years of Portuguese rule; Sultan Thakurufaanu (from 1573-1583) is honoured as the national hero.
1887: On 16 December, 1887 the Sultan signed a Protectorate Treaty with England. The Sultan receives protective rights for the Maldives, and is obliged to pay a tribute to the English Crown.
1932: The first written constitution comes into force; the Maldives emerges as a Constitutional Sultanate
1947: The last tribute paid to England.
1953: 1 January: After 800 years as a Sultanate (1153-1953), the first Republic is declared. The first President is Mohamed Amin Didi who dies only one year later.
1953: 21 August: Return to Sultanate.
1959: Secession of the Southern Atolls and deceleration of the Republic of Suvadhuva
1965: On 26 July, 1965 the Maldives becomes independent and in the same year a full member of the United Nations.
1968: On 11 November, 1968 the second Republic comes into force (Presidential Republic by plebiscite). The first President is Ibrahim Nasir.
1972: The beginnings of tourism came after Hans Hass with his boat Xarifa; Produced the first film on the Maldives, both over and underwater in 1957-58.
1976: Accepted in the group of Non-Aligned States; the British leave the airbase at Gan.
1978: Maumoon Abdul Gayoom elected President for the first time in 1978; Confirmed in office in 1983, 1988 and again in 1993
Later developments are mentioned in the article.