Talking Point

I am at my study. It is 1 am in the morning. I hear young boys playing football on the street with empty cola cans. Its screeching noise is really getting into me. The other day, I was in my balcony having a cigarette. It was 6 pm in the evening. I saw two young boys wearing rather long and uncombed hair and torn blue jeans catcalling and speaking filth to a young girl walking by with a friend of hers. Those girls were wearing their school uniform. The other day when I was coming home from a coffee, I saw a group of young boy sleeping peacefully on the pavement of a shop that is almost in front of my house. Because my landlord was complaining I had whitewashed my boundary walls recently. One day last week, I saw when I cam from work, three boys leaning against my boundary wall and sipping pepsi cola. I had to ask them for space to enter my own house. When they moved aside, I saw the wall already made untidy with their slipper marks. I had to paint again.

I would never forget that August 4th night at Dharubaaruge. It was one of the most defining moments in my life. I was sitting there on that stage with my friend and colleague Mohamed Jameel Ahmed to take part in a debate between two rival political parties. DRP was promoting presidential form of government and MDP was promoting parliamentary form of government for the 8/18 referendum. Haveeru Daily brought the two parties together. We agreed on the modalities two days earlier.

I really thought I just hit rock bottom. But today, it's like there's rock bottom, then 50 feet of crap, then me. Rachel said something like that once in one of those Friends episodes to explain the deflated condition in which she was. I would use the same set of words today for want of a better description to explain where I am today as a person.

I was in parliament today to continue from where Hassan left the Criminal Procedure Code: one of his favorite pieces of reform legislations. One can imagine how difficult it would be for me as a person. I had tears in my eyes. I had emotions in my heart. I missed Hassan. Hassan’s departure from cabinet is affecting me in several ways.

Q [1]: You say that you "find the convictions that drive" you are in your blog. I see that many of the people are asking you to follow Dr Hassan and Uz Jameel. Would you consider resigning from the Gayoom administration?

A: No, I am not considering resignation from cabinet at this moment in time. It is true that I took a cabinet position because Hassan persuaded me to do so. But I am in cabinet not for Hassan, or for any one person for that matter. I am here in this cabinet to serve the nation to the best of my ability with a sincere heart and a solid commitment.

I was in three atolls until a day back: Haa Alif, Haa Dhaal, and Dhaalu. I met with lots of people on those atolls. I talked to them about both the systems of government and answered their questions. In Kudahuvadhoo I came across an interesting crowd of twenty or so people who stood in the northern side of the football grounds where the people wanted to meet me. Their job was simple: ensure that I was not able to speak, concentrate or deliver what I had to; and go back frustrating the meet up. Their commotion was felt through out the one and half hours I stood before a crowd of about 300 or so people sitting in front of me. There were several more listening to me in the nearby school premises or in or around nearby houses as well.

I have come to know that in two recent articles appearing on Minivan News under the authorship of Mr Ajay Makhan, certain comments have been attributed to me in reference to the speech I made at the DRP rally of 12 August 2007. I have come to know that Mr Ajay Makhan has also stated in one of the two articles that the “Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed also ridiculed the Indian parliament in his speech”.

Two weeks back I was given a copy of a yellow leaflet that carried this title: it is the people who would govern in a parliamentary system. I did not pay much attention to it - perhaps because I support a presidential form of government – or perhaps because I already knew the basics of a parliamentary form of government – and there was not the need to read that leaflet. It remained in my document bag.

Finally, Saturday, the 18th of August has arrived. The day is special. Maldivians would go to the polls. Their purpose is to show if they prefer a parliamentary form of government over a presidential form of government or vice versa. The choice they make is directly relevant to decide the form of government upon which the revised constitution is to be modeled.

Now we know the national verdict on the system of government to be installed in the Maldives. The country seems to be divided into two large parts. A large number of people [57109] seem to be tilted towards a parliamentary form of government. A substantially larger number [93042] appear to say yes to a presidential system. The 62% lead is clearly visible here in favor of the presidential system – the figure in favor of a presidential system, of course, includes me as well. Although unprecedented, the result is real and the verdict is binding. The people have spoken. They prefer a presidential form of government.

No, I do not think that the result of the referendum reflects the extent of DRP support in the country. I wrote the post from the perspective of what I have read in the media or is otherwise in the public domain.

Q1. What did you write in your letter to President Gayoom regarding Dr. Shaheed and Spokesman Mundhoodh?

A: I did not write a letter to the president regarding Dr Ahmed Shaheed or the current chief government spokesman. I wrote a letter to Dr Shaheed himself and copied that letter to the president. My letter to Dr Shaheed was a cumulative response to many instances I had come across where he had intruded into my sphere of responsibilities and made things difficult for me. I was complaining of a habit he should have kicked long time back. The letter published in the papers is indeed the text of the letter I had sent to Dr Ahmed Shaheed. I have nothing further to say on this matter.

I have been following the media reports regarding the referendum results. I understand that the Elections Commissioner is having a tough time wrapping up the process: my sincere sympathies. He has declared the provisional results of all 427 ballot boxes. Those provisional results the Commissioner announced have been approved by the Committee of Eleven and gone through the process and persons outlined in the Referendum Rules. Where the committee found issues, the Commissioner had ordered a second round of polling for two areas in Hithadoo, Addu. Provisional results of those two areas too have now been announced. The wait is now for the final results of the Referendum.

This morning I was in parliament trying to defend the press freedom bill. It is the first piece of draft legislation in the multi-statute media freedom pack. After three days of debate, the bill was accepted by 26 votes and sent to the Social Affairs Committee with the support of 34 votes.

As I was crossing the northern lobby in a break from the chamber, I saw Hiriga Ahmed Zahir, Managing Editor of Haveeru Daily at the reception counter situated at that lobby. He is a respected journalist and a personal friend of several years. I asked him how he was doing and what he was doing. He replied that he was putting in a petition to ensure that they got a chance to be present in the parliamentary committee when the press freedom bill is improved upon. Patting him on his back I wished him well as I hurried back to the chamber to continue with the session.

After a debate that stretched to three days, the Parliament accepted the draft bill on press freedom on 28 August 2007. Opposition MDP members spoke rather passionately against the bill. So did some Peoples Association, PA, members as well. When time for the vote to accept or reject the bill arrived, MDP members wanted to kill the bill. They refrained from voting. DRP helped. Some PA members too were helpful. The bill managed to get just the amount of votes needed for acceptance – 26 votes.