Supporting DRP an insult to human intelligence
Tonight live on DhiTV was what appeared to me as an utterly shameless display of depravity and lack of integrity from the party of the so-called father of progress of this country. The awesomeness of the perversion of human decency would have traveled the seas and penetrated the coffins of Stalin and Mao Zedong and put a wry smile on their wasted skulls.
I doubt the DRP rally at the artificial beach will be the last card in their hand of dirty tricks. Speaking of hands why is there always a ghostly hand mysteriously emerging from the DRP podium? Is that the hand that has robbed the people of this country for the past 30 years? Is that the hand that has tortured and killed so many in those decades?
I find it hard to describe what I feel when I watch DRP rallies. Disgust is definitely one of them. Then tonight I saw Mohamed Nasheed, the information minister speaking, praising Gayoom for some 15 minutes and my jaw dropped and 'disgust' wouldn't have the potency to be useful to describe how I felt. Here was a man who I thought was the one person serving the current administration that had any integrity and self-respect still intact talking as if some mad scientist had done a brain surgery and turned him into a talking zombie.
What the fuck happened to you, Nasheed?, I wanted to ask. At which point down the line did he sell his soul, I wanted to know. When did the delusion take over? And then the icing on the cake came when Gayoom took the podium and started praising Nasheed and the camera panned to show Nasheed looking down and shyly toeing something on the ground like a timid little boy who had just done a good job in show-n-tell at kiddie-school.
Where is that tough talking man of solid integrity and principles today, Nasheed?
Perhaps, I am taking all this too seriously. What has me disappointed isn't so much that Nasheed joined the 'dark-side' for good. I have this absolutely concrete, cast-iron concept of why I must NEVER vote for Gayoom. I have this absolutely rock-solid notion of why we need change. It is a fundamental thought permanently established in my brain. And every time I see my compatriots extolling the one person who has deprived us of so much over the decades it simultaneously breaks my heart and I lose faith in my country. Perhaps I am the one suffering from the delusion, I wonder. Are people like Nasheed the example of the typical Maldivian?
Perhaps, everything that is happening today, the election, the new constitution, the reforms, perhaps this is all a joke for a lot of us. Maybe some of us have forgotten why we are here at this point in time, where we are and doing what we are doing today.
Today I'm seeing the depravity and the shallowness of those who are still parroting for Gayoom even after all the sacrifices made by people like Anni to make it possible to arrive at this exact point in time. Voting for Gayoom goes against every fiber, molecule and atom in my mind and body. It baffles me how so many ordinary Dhivehin don't see it that way.
For me, supporting DRP is an outright insult on human intelligence!
M | October 6, 2008 8:48 AM | Reply
u r rite - u r delusional.
i don't see why u r unable to understand that maumoon is the only person (then, now and forever) who can keep this country beautiful as it is, a paradise on earth.
if u want change, if u want a different person as president or if u want a good future for u and ur progeny then maumoon is the person u shud vote for.
drp is the only party that represents the ppl as its name directly translates to "maldivian people's party".
the hand represents the arabic symbol allah, which shows how dedicated and sincere maumoon is to upholding the blessed religion of islam in maldives. as u can see, islam is having troubled times over in maldives these days. as maumoon said even in last nite's interview with the unbiased "hfm", that all the other parties r in cahoots with the christian (not any other religion) missionaries. is this what u want maldives to be?
i want maumoon to be prez coz deep in my heart, i know that he has a direct hotline to god, and that his actions r inspired by a divine being. we need that kind of guidance.
just search deep within ur heart dude. u will know that maumoon is the face of truth. there cannot be anyone but him. trust me, he is the one. he is our saviour.
i don't what's got into u. we all love maumoon, just ask any maldivian. kutti has always been praising the zaeem since the get go. it shows his integrity which unfortunately the others parties don't have. other parties have internal rivalries where ppl disconnect and form other parties. see ibra n munavvaru for example.
give maumoon 5 more years to prove himself. it's a new era, a new democracy and a new constitution. if maumoon can't, then no one can!
but then again, maybe it's just ur intelligence insulting u.
a | October 6, 2008 10:42 AM | Reply
I know behind your polemical and emotionally-ridden post, there lies a seriousness.
I believe what Minister Nasheed (like many others) represents is what Hannah Arendt, in her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, calls the 'banality of evil'. A normal human being, so normally working to elect a man that in the past 30 years have systematically, sometimes brutally, suppressed all moral, religious, and political competition to him.
Whether it is the many religious people jailed and whose beards were shaved using tomato sauce, whether it is Sandhaanu dissidents jailed and tortured, or whether it is ordinary journalists jailed, we see from his actions all the characteristics of an evil dictator. Of course, following Machiavelli, he always appears to be religious. He always appears to be normal, humourous, loving, charming.
People like Nasheed do not problematize this regime. He is principled as a legalist. He does not think beyond the letter of the laws and constitution. The mere fact that he is supporting Gayoom's candidacy shows this. Gayoom is acting against a principle he himself endorsed. In June 2004 he said it was not good that one person ruled for many years. Now Gayoom is saying it is a principle to be applied in the current constitution. How morally despicable! The principle of limited terms is all the more relevant for a non-democracy, which his 30-year regime surely was. Of course, the current constitution legally allows him. But that is beside the point. The point is principles are principles. Hence, I cannot accept Minister Nasheed is a principled man. He just represents the banality of evil. Too much banality of evil.
One could go on writing about this. But I end here.
mycomment | October 6, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply
"For me, supporting DRP is an outright insult on human intelligence!"
funny, that's exactly what i thought when i saw the said rally.
maumoon is not what this country needs, not ever, and especially not after 30 years of his rule, this is a proven fact. and we all know maldivians don't like facts, surely this must be why they support him.
azima | October 6, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply
You should have seen him frolicking with Azima Shukoor (the Atorney General) minutes before his speech.. live on TV
Nashid | October 6, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply
Every Maldivian has the right to vote for whoever he or she wants, be it Maumoon or Umar. Just because they vote for Maumoon doesn't mean they are dumb. Even if you vote for Hassan Saeed or Anni, what are the chances of them achieving everything in their manifestos? You could be dumb if you vote for Gasim thinking, "Hey, he's a successful businessman and he's going to run our country like he ran his company." I suppose you forgot to mention that on purpose. Or this is just a personal attack on Honorable Nasheed.
i | October 6, 2008 8:26 PM | Reply
i would like u to apologise to us, the blog readers, for giving the idea to Minister Nasheed to make a blog and develop his blog for him. i think a public apology from u is very much needed at this time.
thadu | October 7, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply
people like kutti Nasheed knows very well the dictator and his vicious plans. but it seems that they have a too-much-of-love to him, because of what he has done personally to kutti. i hear that golhaa personally financed for all the medical treatments kuttis dad underwent before he passed away. and after that golhaa raised kutti just like one of golhaas ows children.
but still, today kutti and the like are grown people. although golhaa has done personal favors to them, they should still understand that golhaa ignored the maldivians, they should understand that golhaa left maldivians to be poor and in poverty.
any person who supports and voted golhaa/drp should be ashamed. and specially after the auditor general's report that proves how corrupted the dictator is!
me | October 7, 2008 9:38 PM | Reply
From 0000Hrs of 10th October onwards Kutti Nasheeh will be known as Void Nasheed or Voidey
rr | October 9, 2008 9:50 PM | Reply
"..sacrifices made by people like Anni.." What are these sacrifices ? If someone has inherited power hungry traits from his parents,why should we bother about it? Incapable person is incapable,no matter how much he struggles.
nass | October 10, 2008 2:17 AM | Reply
It's the older folk who support Maumoon.. I saw that in Addu. Most of the people are being bought off one way or the other - giving money to go to India for medical purposes, etc... that old bastard is smart.
A | October 16, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply
LoL, cant stop laughing after reading the first comment. 'DRP' represents the people cos the name translates to 'maldivian peoples party'! Kekekeke
You, 'M', take ur medication and get off the internet! Thats the only thing I hav to say to you.