An Open Letter to President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom

In the wake of USD 1.6bn corruption scandal surrounding Maldives and the resulting deterioration of democracy in our country, I, on behalf of “People of Maldives” write this open letter to the “President of Maldives”.

Dear Mr. President,President of Maldives, representing our Nation to our people, and also to the whole world. You have been trusted by citizens of Maldives who seek to mend the evils of our condition by reasoned experiment within the framework of the existing political system. People of Maldives expected new and bolder methods to be tried so that Maldives may date the first chapter of a new economic era from your accession to office of President.


At the moment your sympathizers in Maldives are nervous and sometimes despondent. The people of Maldives wonder whether the order of different urgencies is rightly understood, whether there is a confusion of aim, and whether some of the advice you get is not crack-brained and queer. Citizens of Maldives hold wildly distorted view of what is happening in Maldives and are deeply concerned and seek explanation from their President about the recent happenings. The average citizens believes that you are engaged on a self financial enhancement expedition in face of poor advice, that the best hope lies in your ridding yourself of your present President position and to return to the old ways of democratic Freedom, Human Rights and Liberties, and that otherwise Maldives is heading for some ghastly breakdown. Maldives is not convinced with your policy that we, the citizens of Maldives, only have to sit back and wait, in order to see what we shall see. May I crave your attention, whilst I put my own view?


I, as a citizen of Maldives, am scared that our country is being sold to International communities and the nation's money is being used to fulfill your own financial needs and economic condition. We criticized recent change in the law that allows the government to sell islands without competitive bids, turning the whole process opaque and beneficial to few in power positions of the government. Gayoom family and a handful of well-connected resort owners anyway control most of the country’s wealth, making the whole process non transparent will further increase the financial difference in the country by making you and your political allies richer and the remaining whole Maldives poorer. Most of Maldivians anyway eke out a meager existence by fishing or working in the tourism industry, we see no way out of our misery with your government promoting and enhancing the corrupt policies. Maldives has already been in clutches of corruption, be it the

Myanmar oil sales, using of double invoicing system to disguise the nature of the government transactions, and many such incidents that shame the state of democracy in “Republic of Maldives”.


Not stopping on just robbing the citizens of Maldives of their billions of dollars, your regime's governance banned former journalists with the now-defunct newspaper, Haveeru, from working at any other organization, saying it could only lead to authoritarianism and the end of democracy. The court’s verdict not only violates the fundamental rights of all the journalists which it targets, but it also confirms, if need be, that the judiciary is serving your regime's government policy to suppress critical and independent media in the country. This point is evident to people of our country with incidents like Raajje TV journalists facing trials, journalist Ahmed Rilwan still missing, Addu Live blocked, CNM's closure, etc. With your regime's recent crackdown on freedom of speech on media and murder and torture of journalist, we the people are forced to ask you if Journalism is Crime In the Maldives?


Not content with just the robbing of Maldives money and curbing free speech of media to supress the issue, you also engaged in preventing people of Maldives from organizing peaceful protest against your regime's governance by unleashing violent police action against own people. You are getting opposition leaders arrested if they demonstrate against your regime by declaring them as terrorist, leaving Maldives with no prominent leaders. Even government figures in your dictator style regime fear being arrested on “treason” charges”, if they fail to comply to your demands. Now with raids on the offices of a newspaper and a human rights NGO and cancelled passports of fugitive opposition figures, almost all of your presidential key rivals are either in jail or living in exile. Your actions are evident of the fact that under the veil of democracy, you plan to bring Maldives under your dictatorship, autocratic rule and repressive past.


Your action shames whole of Republic of Maldives as the condition of Maldives is worst it's even been. But despite heavy restrictions, rallies regularly take place against your regime, showing the will and consent of people to be rid of your evil regime. Many of the protesters are pushing for a democratic transition, and are worried about losing their recently gained human rights and democratic freedoms. Maldives has already seen a strict defamation law come in to force, with stiff punishments for comments or actions considered insulting to Islam or which "contradict general social norms", and tighter restrictions on demonstrations. People and journalists are already facing death threats, harassments & murder attempts, now we are seeing the courts and the laws silence the people and journalists.


In spite of such harsh crackdown on freedom and human rights of people of Maldives, I would like you to know that the people of the Maldives will find a way to get rid of your dictator regime. Not only have you lost all support from the people and within your own political party, but also do not have any kind of support from the independent institutions or from the security forces. We, the people of Maldives know for sure that there is no other way out of this messy situation in Maldives, than to make moves against your presidential seat and make attempt to 'legally' overthrow your corrupt pseudo-democratic and pro-dictatorship government regime.