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Forum on Democratic Reform held in Colombo today
Mariyam Mohamed, Colombo, 1st August 2004
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'Students for Democracy' held a forum on democratic reform in Colombo today. Over a 100 students studying and many other Maldivians living in Sri Lanka attended the forum as well as several reporters. The forum was held at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo.
Reports say that the Maldivian Students in Sri Lanka organized this debate in association with Maldivan Democratic Party in Colombo.
Gayyoom, the longest service head of government in Asia today has been forced to bring about democratic reform in the Maldives and bring an end to his tyrannical rule. There is no doubt that this was a direct result of the sustained pressure on the government by reformists in and out of the Maldives, who have exposed Gayyoom's dictatorship to the wider world.
In the current system of government and extreme power of the executive, the only people who suffer are the ordinary Maldivian. Great many Maldivians even today are deprived from basic healthcare and equal opportunity in education whilst millions of public money are wasted by the regime on building palaces and office complexes.
The objective of today's forum was to do a swot analyses of introducing pluralistic democracy in the Maldives. Sri Lanka is home to the most number of students outside the Maldives mainly because it is one of the closest to us. It is alleged that this debate idea was conceived by the students who support and wish to introduce party system into the Maldives politics. However, from what I saw, this was very much a joint effort between the students and the Maldivian Democratic Party officials who are based in Sri Lanka. There is no doubt that the students would be scared to go back home for organising it because Gayyoom will intimidate and might even arrest them. This is perhaps the reason why their invitation to the session began as follows with a bit of a complement to Gayyoom.
"On the 9th of June, 2004 President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom announced “historic plans set to change the entire framework of democracy in the Maldives”. Some of the proposals he suggested are indeed radical and would change the socio-political structure of the country – if they are implemented."
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The forum was chaired by a panel of 4. Dr. Mohamed Waheed (potential Presidential contender) accompanied by 2 most senior and founder members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Mr. Latheef(Gogo) and Mr. Nasheed (Anni)and Mr. Sobah, as the administrator of the forum.
The panel outlined the advantages of introducing pluralistic democracy in the Maldives. In particular, Dr. Waheed, who is the current resident representative of UNESCO in Afghanistan, discussed in detail the important of protecting human rights in the Maldives. He further outlined the need for improving and expanding public services in the Maldives such as health, education and social welfare. Mr. Latheef also explained the need for a powerful and independent human rights commission in the Maldives and discussed the importance of the separation of powers; the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Mr. Nasheed (Anni) talked about the advantages of party politics and looked at the disadvantages of the current political system in the Maldives. Several participants asked question but they appeared a little apprehensive and fearful. Some participants of the forum who had been previously tortured by Gayyoom told their stories and showed their scars to reporters.
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