Foreign Policy Prostitution - Terrorism Invitation

The recent decision taken by the Maldivian government to restore and develop diplomatic relations with Israel came as a shock to the Maldivian public. The simple question asked by many is: 'Why?' A question that the Maldivian government has miserably failed to answer.

The decision wasn't such a big shocker for me though. This government has been giving signals of its indifference towards Israeli crimes since even before it took office. On 10th November 2008, the then president-elect, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, while talking to The Guardian about his plans for the newly born democracy, compared his plan to legitimately buy an environmental refuge for Maldivians to what the Zionists did back in the early 1900s in order to acquire Palestinian land!

Now moving on to the real no-brainer: 'WHY?'

Take a slight look at the condition the Maldivian economy is in right now. While the Maldives is currently enjoying the highest GDP per capita in the region, 60% of it is spent on maintaining big government. Foreign debt amounts for 35% of GDP. And we have 5% of our tourism-earned blessings for developmental projects. Yay!

True, there was a time when the President promised to get the economy in ship shape within a week. But I'm sure he's truly and honestly over that day-dream. Now, he's trying to reinitiate the preferencial trade agreement with the US that was suspended in 1995, due to human rights violations by the previous government. Also, let's not forget that we're practically sending SOS messages to the World Bank to help us reduce the giant-sized civil service, recover the green we lost funding the previous regime's corruption, and don't let acquiring more green to fund actual development slip off the list.

Well, Israel isn't exactly the kind of economy where Maldivians will want to be investing in. But truth be told, improving diplomatic relations with Israel sure will help reduce the number of investors who do not want to inject their green in the Maldivian economy because Maldives has been refusing to have relations with a big not-so-behind-the-scenes player in the international community circus. Besides, it's an inarguable fact that the Israeli economy is one of the most highly techonological economies in the world right now. Forget the undisclosed nuclear weapons program. I'm talking about Intel, IBM, and Cisco all having R&D facilities in Tel Aviv. So, I guess you can connect the dots now.

President Mohamed Nasheed, in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, gave more reasons than just that though. He stated that the Maldivian government intends to use its relations with Israel as leverage to push for a sovereign and independant Palestinian homeland. I have one word for you, Mr. President: 'BULLSHIT!' (With all due respect.) Egypt and Jordan have had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1960s. They have more to offer Israel and more leverage to provide for the Palestinians than we ever will. Not once have the two countries been able to use their relations with Israel to reduce or stop the killing of Palestinian people during its many military expeditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hell, all the UN Secretary General was able to do when Israeli military aircrafts bombed a UN-operated school in the Gaza strip last time was to 'strongly condemn both sides'. The Obama administration since it entered the White House has been trying to push the Netanyahu government to freeze settlements. It backfired: Now the Obama administration is asking for a "restraint" in activity.

Reality check, Mr. President: Maldives doesn't even have an airforce to begin with. Israel has the most highly combat-trained, technologically equiped army in the world. And being a nuclear power adds a cherry on top of that cake. What leverage?!

In the meantime, the Maldivian Foreign Minister, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, claims that restoring diplomatic ties with Israel must in no way be seen as condoning the actions of Israel against the Palestinian people. That's kind of hard, really, especially since at the very beginning of this year Israeli aircrafts and tanks and footsoldiers assaulted a people trapped in a refugee camp, and killed thousands of civilians including hundreds of children. So what's our reaction? Go to the UN and shake hands with the Foreign Minister who's pushing for more illegal settlements. Bravo! Way to to use leverage.

And just for kicks, let's take the Palestinian people and any feelings of solidarity the general Maldivian public may or may not feel towards them out of the picture. It's an undisputed fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the failure of the international community to bring an end to it, has inspired a many Islamic terrorists. Maldives had its first brush with terrorism when a group of extremists exploded a home-made bomb in Sultan Park, which houses the National Museum. Don't get the wrong idea: We shouldn't bow down to that kind of extreme demands and extreme methods. But will the restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel not fuel more extremist thought? Do we want to legitimise attacking our country in the eyes of extremists the same way a US military base in Saudi Arabia legitimised, in the eyes of some, rebellion and the use of terrorism against the Saudi government. And for what? Agricultural help? Seriously?!

In any case, it's questionable if getting under the sheets with the Israel for a one-night stand will in any way benefit the people of Maldives. It will help Israel get a facelift sure, especially after the Goldstone report. Bravo, Mr. Nasheed and Dr. Shaheed! Way to expose us to extremism and terrorism just so that the Israeli government will provide agricultural help. Were they the only ones who could do that?

Conning the People: Con-fusing the Cons-titution

NOTE: To start with, this is an article I wrote a few days ago. So the dates don't match. You will have to do the math yourself. The theme of this particular article may seem a bit off, but it's not. I still believe that whatever field you're in, you have to abide by certain morals and ethical codes. As a good Muslim. As a good human. Even if it's politics. A friend of mine told me, 'politics is dirty'. I don't believe it has to be. And I don't believe politicians have to be conmen. Hope you enjoy the read. :)

I'm not sure if it's something Maldivian, like our tuna-based cuisine, or something to do with simply being human. But we Maldivians are an extremely opinionated bunch of people. Especially about politics. It doesn't matter whether you're a fisherman, a farmer, or even a primary school student. But you're bound to have something to say about the decision made by the President, the Attorney General, or the Home Minister yesterday, today, or tomorrow. And whatever opinion that is expressed is most usually not based on, 'This will cause a lot of difficulty for us Fishermen,' or 'farmers like us,' or 'us students'. The arguments are mostly based on something like, 'This is completely against the clear provisions of the Constitution.'

Now, don't get me wrong here. I do believe that it's a good step to familiarize Maldivians to concepts like Constitutionalism and Constitutional Supremacy. It's just that I have a slight issue with the fact that most Maldivians on the street don't really know what the Constitution says. Most Maldivians get their knowledge of the Constitution, not from the text, but rather through whatever is said by the politicians in our beloved respective political parties. And we know full well how the politicians of our beloved country can't help twisting and turning facts and laws around to support their own whims and personal interests.

And it's not like we have to look very far to see the political games these people play.

Just today, the honorable MP elected from Maafannu constituency, Mariya Ahmed Didi, raised a procedural point that gave way to a domino-effect in the first sitting of the newly elected Parliament. While paying tribute to her ability to twist the wordings of the Constitution and confuse the MP presiding over the sitting, Mr. Mohamed Hussain, what with her being a barrister at law in the UK and all, I personally think what she did was just a bit lowly for the position she was in. So she is a barrister. So she is really good at this lawyer stuff. So what? She's not in a court of law trying to win a case for a client of hers. The responsibility that she took upon herself in that sitting was to make the law clear to the people. Not to make it more and more clouded by playing little political jokes in a sitting that was being televised live to all parts of the country.

What she said was this: Article 82(a) of the Constitution provides that the election of the Speaker and his Deputy must be done by way of a secret ballot. Article 87(c) on the other hand denotes that the Speaker or any other person presiding over a sitting of the Majlis should cast his vote only in case there was a tie of votes for and against the particular issue being put up for ballot. Hey, wait! Doesn't that mean the ballot will no longer be secret? Contradiction, right? 'Oh my Gawd!!'

What she didn't mention is this: If there's an apparent contradiction between two provisions in the Constitution, you're supposed to read the two provisions together. Something like, Article 82(a)'s secret ballot is the general rule. And Article 87(c) is talking about an exception. This is a well known rule in constitutional interpretation, and I can bet my soul Mariya knows about it. What with her being a barrister and all. Then what the hell was she doing asking trick questions that were fit to be asked in a Constitutional Law exam paper?!! (Oh, by the way. If it were an exam, I wonder what kind of a grade Mr. Mohamed Hussain would have failed with!)

Now let's do a bit of time travel. Like around a week or so back. President Mohamed Nasheed (the Anni guy not the Kutti dude) appointed a special presidential commission for the purpose of investigating alleged cases of corruption and embezzlement. The very same day that was announced on the media, Mr. Ibrahim Shareef (Ma votaa) of DRP was on TV claiming the appointment made by the President was completely totally unconstitutional. And when you note the fact that Mr. Shareef was acting as a member of the Parliament when the Constitution was drafted and passed, you'd expect him to be a reliable authority in this kind of stuff.

But apparently, even though President Anni was not in the Parliament when the whole amending thingy went on, it turns out he knows this Ganoon Asasee thingy more that Mr. Shareef does. I think Mr. Shareef forgot some parts of it. He must have been quite busy with other stuff, right? Anyhow, President Anni seems to have gone through the Constitution enough to notice that Article 115(o) provides for him to appoint temporary commissions of this sort. Well, waddaya know! He can appoint the commission.

Later on, the DRP tone changed. Last night, the 'outvoted' former President, Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom appeared on VTV and said that, 'You know what? The President does have the power to appoint a commission for the purpose of investigation. Article 115(o) and all that. But that's only for investigation. Such a commission cannot constitutionally have the right to arrest people or search people's houses or any of these stuff.' Damn, that's so 'hikmat Amalee' and true! So wise, man!

But then again, who the hell is talking about any commission arresting people? Or searching people's houses? Why is he the only person who heard the news?

Lemme tell you, Mr. Maumoon, what really goes on in this 21st century country. These Commission dudes gather something called evidence. And call up the Police and give it to them. They take it to this place called the High Court. The people at the Court, who are called judges, print out and sign this piece of paper called a Warrant. And the Police people in their fancy uniforms and all that go arrest people and search houses.

And, no! President Anni didn't hold a pistol to coerce the Court people into signing the warrant thingy. He doesn't have to. If there's enough evidence to show that there's reasonable suspicion that a person is involved in a criminal activity, the people at the Court are morally and legally bound to issue the warrant. That's how things work in most modern 'dhimaqratiyyah's.

Unfortunately, Maldivians have only been recently introduced to democracy, Constitutionalism and all that. And if politicians go on playing these little political games of theirs with laws and constitutional provisions, they're not doing a huge favor to the newly born Maldivian democracy.

So, yeah. To all the politicians out there. Stop conning the people of the Maldives. And to all the people of Maldives, please don't let these people con you. Enough is goddam enough!