March 15, 2015

Building bridges

The political upheaval our Nation of Maldives has gone through now for the past month or so is unprecedented. The shocking court ruling on Raees Mohamed Nasheed to a 13 year jail sentence is indeed a staggering moment in our political life; a devastating blow to our Nation as yet tottering on the road to democracy. To many this has been a harrowing period of national anxiety over the future of an intensely popular political icon. The rampant opinions of a political framing culminating in the decision of a corrupt judiciary are just too loud and seem only too blatant.

The short march of our multi-party democracy has indeed torn our nation apart. What began as a hopeful introduction has deteriorated into chaos and resentment on both sides that will surely scar our nation for generations to come. Sadly there seems no constituency on a middle path that will see or hear out the mutual decadence that is going on. The argument that this is the teething problems on the path of democracy is but an excuse to gain time to fleece national wealth. Political coteries - AKA political parties- with a train of hangers-on have no clear issue agendas except the singular hope of ascension to power that seem to justify sacrificing even the life of a national icon just to have the chance to fatten on the booty. It is sad that at this early stage in a small 100 per cent Muslim nation such as ours, we witness such greed and resentment, just for the sake of winning the glitter of this world.

Yes, this is the governance of today driven by the politics of money and greed. Democracy and a new Constitution touted as means of promoting social harmony through the separation of powers that is to work against the inherent human desire to dominate is not elevating us to our soul, but dragging us deep into our ego. Yet we say that Islam reigns above this Constitution. So where are the beautiful lessons we glean from our Quran and Ahaadees?

In a democracy too there are processes established to follow a due process. When selfishness and gain take precedence over the common good that politicians are there to uphold, chaos will be king. As a faithful and well-meaning citizen of this country, I beseech those in power to be true Islamic democratic leaders -- those that have deep and exemplary Eman and patience as the critical ingredients that make them tick.

On the more mundane level, while we plan to build bridges that will connect islands, let’s also plan to build the more important network of bridges to our hearts.