- Economy and Politics
Maldives’ democratic revolution has sparked a leap of faith
Between The Lines | Jyoti Malhotra
Mohamed Nasheed, 41, fondly known as “Anni” to his friends around the world, defeated Maldivian leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in a presidential run-off on Wednesday. Asia’s longest serving dictator, Gayoom, who has ruled the island nation for 30 long years with a little bit of help from India, has finally been ousted by the democratic opposition.
Nasheed’s victory is the result of the first democratically held election in the Maldives in decades. In New Delhi a few months ago, Nasheed met foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon and other members of the establishment, but the prevailing sense of cynicism in Delhi (how can the young man overcome the muscle and money that is at Gayoom’s command?) never really allowed the foreign office to fully put its weight behind a man who fought for his country’s future on a secular plank.
Gayoom did everything he could to win—including stoking the fear that Islamic fundamentalists would take over the Indian Ocean archipelago. He sent close aides to remind India that Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister had crushed an attempt to overthrow him in 1988. He rested secure in the belief that it takes a revolution to change the way nations think—and he thought Nasheed would never be able to mount a revolution.
But the unthinkable happened in the Maldives, a holiday hot spot for the rich and famous.
The island’s democratic revolution has sparked a leap of faith. It is the perfect message the Prime Minister could carry with him to the US, one that symbolizes the Asia of the coming years.
To be sure, the US summit has been called with the global financial crisis in mind. At last week’s Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Beijing, the major Asian powers were gripped by a collective fear that their own economies would be badly hit as a result of their exposure to the West. The South Koreans were especially jittery as their markets tanked. Singh admitted he was worried about the impact on India and even China, whose socio-economic indicators comparatively seem in the pink of health, looked a bit nervous.
As for the Europeans, French President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed somewhat imperious as he pronounced, “We have done as much as we could.” Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi swaggered in late for the meeting. It was left to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government has pumped in billions of euros recently into its own faltering companies, to put her head together with Asia’s leaders and debate what is to be done.
The answers may not be forthcoming immediately, especially since the US, with 30% of the world’s gross domestic product, is distracted with its own elections. Significantly, at Asem, few were ready to openly criticize the Americans for the manner in which it had bailed out the toxic assets of a few financial companies at home. These Asem nations know that, in the end, the US may have to rescue their own economies too.
There was another underlying thread at Asem, a sort of private glee, that an injured US might now become much more amenable to taking the rest of the world along—rather than bully its way through the global stage as the only remaining superpower.
Still, all said and done, the Beijing Asem summit will go down as the moment when the baton of leading global growth passed to Asia. Just as the US bailed out East Asia in the 1998 financial crisis, the current mess could create far greater and more direct linkages between Washington and Asian nations.
For a start, the leaders of China, Japan and India seemed to talk much more intimately at the Beijing summit. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao stepped out of the receiving line to welcome Singh—who had asked to make an intervention on the financial crisis, although he was not scheduled to do so—with a double handshake.
The Indian prime minister had clearly decided, too, that it was time to move on. Notwithstanding the diplomatic spat over China’s attempt at blocking the Indo-US nuclear deal at the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna in September, Singh’s handlers were ecstatic about his meetings in Beijing.
Meanwhile, the financial crisis could still provide the final irony, pushing the three largest Asian economies—Japan, China and India—to work together, rather than against each other. At least some signs point to this: Singh received the call from Bush in Tokyo, where he discussed the crisis with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Singh did more of the same with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing.
The time is ripening for the Big Three to signal the rise of a new Asia in Washington next month.
Even the new Maldives would agree.
Jyoti Malhotra is Mint’s diplomatic affairs editor and writes every week on the intersection of foreign policy, trade and politics. Comments are welcome at betweenthelines@livemint.com
 Golhaa Said: I was a student in India & have a deep love for the people of India & all things Indian. But, I believe that this Government of India has let down the people of Maldives time & again. It appears that the largest Democracy in the world was not too comfortable with its neighbor's aspirations to achieve Democracy. I have to say, that to many ordinary Maldivians, the BJP led govt seem more receptive to our democratic ideas than the Congress led govts. I would like to note here, that the former High Commissioner to Maldives, Mr. Gawai, was one of the few diplomats who really felt the pulse of the people on the street in the beginning, and seemed to have advised the Indian FO accurately. But, because the Dictator didn't like the truth, he had our High Commissioner(& notorious torturer) in Delhi, Brig. (ret) Sattar pressure the Indian govt to have him replaced by some one who is a bit more 'understanding' of the govt's views. Also, many Maldivians feel that Gayoom & his family has been protected for long by the Gandhi clan. It is very sad that the world's largest democracy and our closest neighbor sat on its arse and watched, sometimes actively hindered, while our people struggled up the long road to democracy, with the help of some enlightened European countries & the 'despicable' Americans. I believe not seeing something so close & obvious is a failure in part of the respected Indian foreign policy establishment & the FO. It will always be a paradox to Maldivians as to why our closest neighbor & world's largest democracy sided against the people and with the Dictator. We believe India needs to bring its govt into the 21st century, promote its brilliant younger generations into the corridors of power & stop acting like a regional 'colonial' power, if it wants to regain trust & credibility in the region. Posted On 10/31/2008 3:36:17 AM  |
| faruhad Said: i don't agree with you.. he is not a dictator. he was elected by maldives people according to our constitution(former). Posted On 10/31/2008 9:16:57 AM |
| PrinceMV Said: India should not try to take any credit out of this democratic change to Maldives. They were in a coma for 30 years and helping Gayoom to rule with iron fist in a small country with all the luxury and money istributing to his family. Posted On 10/31/2008 12:31:04 PM yes, your correct Mohamed Nasheed is a secular person. if he tries to spread secularism that will be his end.-a Maldivian- Posted On 11/1/2008 12:21:16 AM |
| PrinceMV Said: India should not try to take any credit out of this democratic change to Maldives. They were in a coma for 30 years and helping Gayoom to rule with iron fist in a small country with all the luxury and money istributing to his family. Posted On 10/31/2008 12:31:04 PM hello bushry, simply fuck you Posted On 11/1/2008 11:04:46 PM |
| Ibrahim Said: India is always boasting to be a regional power. with millions of its people starving should they not think of their own backyard rather commenting on other nation’s affairs. Posted On 10/31/2008 4:55:32 PM |
| Ibrahim Said: India always boasting to be regional power with millions of its people starving should think of their own back yard rather commenting on other nation’s affairs. Posted On 10/31/2008 5:02:39 PM |
| ahmed Said: yeah, we maldivians were crying out to the whole world for help and our neighbour was ingnoring us and actually helping and propping the maumoon regime. What a despicable act it was. It onlyplayed against Indias interests as it drew maldivians closer to America and the European Union, who were readily actingin the interests of the maldivian people & their democratic aspirations. So here we have a situation where we maldivians have not much respect & interest on having such a close associatin with India. Posted On 10/31/2008 6:02:44 PM |
| Mohamed Said: Gayoom must release all political prisoners and people who tried and worked to overthrow his government. Many were arrested on fake premises. He had notified Interpol and foreign governments to stop and arrest some of his opponents who are living overseas. Posted On 10/31/2008 8:47:24 PM |
| hassan Said: Sad to note that you have little information about Madives and our president. H.E Gayyoom was not a dictator. He built this nation; he built South Asia’s strongest economy! He ruled in accordance with the constitution passed by a democratically elected parliament. The reform we see now was proposed by him in his reform agenda. Yes, a lot of people wanted to change the form of governance in the Maldives, but we couldn’t have successfully implemented it without Pres Gayyoom’s support. Posted On 10/31/2008 9:37:18 PM |
| Thoughts Said: It comes as no surprise that India has always backed Gayoom regime. Now that the elections have ended and the transfer is gong smooth my biggest fear is of Gayoom trying to hold on to power though military is fading by the day. I really do believe that if the situation ever came about, India and our other neighbors would have ignored the election results and backed the dictator in his bid.Its about time that the world start backing people who want democracy in earnest rather than their diplomatic press releases. www.thoughtsofadyingregime.blogspot.com Posted On 10/31/2008 10:33:09 PM |
| Abu Said: Yes finally after 3 decades of supression maldivians had a sigh of relief. During dictator's iron fist rule we did achieve several milestones statistically. But those indicators had little impact on average maldivian. Had the Big Brother preferred democracy before national interests we could have ousted the dictator. Welcome to Anni's 'other maldives.' Posted On 11/1/2008 12:07:16 AM |
| David Said: The writer of the article does not know the history of Maldives at all...sorry to say this.By the way Maumoon is not a Dictator...He is the father of the Democracy in Maldives and its development.. litercay is over 98% Maldives. 30 years is too long for a person to be in power.. In first round of the elction Anni got only 25% and Maumoon got over 42%. In the second round Maumoon got over 45%.. Are you not insulting those voters .. The voters did not vote for Anni.. they voted for a change and Maumoon did not put any pressure to anyone... I wonder you know anything about politics and democracy..Do you know who brought mercenaries to overthrow Maumoon on 3rd November 1988, and innocent 19 Maldivian killed.. Please for God sake write what you know of not what you heard from others... be more responsible in Journalism. Posted On 11/1/2008 4:46:19 AM |
| Abdulla Said: Exactly you're right!! he is a real dictator. In the past 15 years I always voted against him but he wins our Island by 100%! lots of Maldivians killed in jails, roads and elsewhere! also he ordered to shave his opponents' beard by using chili sauce! Finally he started playing with holy book! now he can realize the power of people's wills! No doubt rest of his life in jail and Nasreena (first lady) will not be available to change his nappies! Maldivian Posted On 11/1/2008 12:06:31 PM |
| Lyecon Said: This is the day we have been dreaming for a long time. Want to congratulate and thank his excellency Mohamed Nasheed & Ithihad!! Posted On 11/2/2008 9:31:46 AM |
| princess Said: maumoon was not a dictator but the heart of malives. he was the person who brought democracy and well-being, and all these great things that we see today. if anni try to even practice christianity here, that will be the end of him. he will be killed by the muslims here. we dont accept anni!!!!!! Posted On 11/2/2008 2:38:43 PM |
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