Political temperament must cool down: President

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has said that the people’s political temperament needs to cool down for the sake of the country.

Addressing the people of Sh. Funadhoo last night, the President said that even though several political parties exist in the Maldives today, it is the responsibility of the ruling party to work for the benefit of all Maldivian people. He said that Maldivians’ political temperament needs to calm and cool down as the current political situation is not beneficial to the nation.

“This is not beneficial to our nation. We have to calm and cool down our political temperament. Regardless of which party we belong to, we must remember that the rest of the people are also Maldivians, our brothers and sisters, people we love. This is of great concern to me,” the President said. “This is a small nation. Division among our people even affects family relations. Families are divided and torn apart. Politics has negatively affected relations between fathers and children, mothers and children, husbands and wives. This is not how it should be.”

The President said that the current situation is such that if a person represents one political party, people of all other parties - be it his wife or children - view him as an enemy. This is the reality we face today.

He said that this should not be the case in a Muslim society where every person should be considered your brother or sister.

“Leaders and councils of political parties have to think about this. We have to upkeep certain manners when it comes to politics. We have to understand that some issues cannot be politicized. It is of poor conduct to chase, spit on, yell and throw stones at people every time we disagree with them. As if this is not enough, people’s properties are damaged and even set fire to. This is not how things work in developed, democratic countries around the world,” the President said. “This is not how people behave in developed countries. There are regulations which govern the act of protesting. People keep their actions within these regulations. So, if we want to be mature in our political dealings, we have to learn from those countries.”

The President said that the Maldives is an ‘infant’ on the path to democracy, and that Maldivians have yet to learn democracy. He said that Maldives began its efforts to become a democratic nation ages ago – these efforts did not begin on 11 November 2008.

“We began work on establishing a democratic, human rights friendly Constitution in this country ages ago. It is through years of hard work that we have the current Constitution. Citizens’ rights are detailed clearly in this Constitution. The limits of these rights, when they cause damage to other citizens, are also clearly defined. We must therefore try to uphold this Constitution,” the President said.

The President said that major challenges were faced at the beginning of our journey to democracy. This made the transition more difficult than it should have been, leaving the country in great disarray. Amidst this confusion, with the will of God, a positive change is now upon us.

“I repeat, the change which took place is too massive and complicated to have been planned by anyone. Things turned out according to the will of God,” the President said.

Speaking on the unrest in the country, President Waheed said that it is the work of few people, expressed sadness over these events and advised them to stop.

“Dialogue is the key to a country’s development. Amendments have to be made through dialogue. Revisions to laws and regulations have to be made through the Parliament. But what we saw was a group of people trying to stop the opening of the Parliament. Tell me how a country can be run, when certain political groups refuse to recognize the country’s institutions, rules and regulations, judiciary, leaders; and hinder the opening of the Parliament – where are we headed to?” he asked.

The President said that the cabinet of the current government consists of technical, capable individuals, and that his government will save the country from the challenges faced on its journey to democracy.

“The current government will uphold the Constitution and obey the laws of the country. No arbitrary orders will be made; we will work according to existing laws. We will work towards the progress of Islam in the country as well,” the President said.

He said that several members of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) are of the opinion that the country has taken a step backwards in its path to democracy, and noted that this is not the case.

“It is as if they think that we are going backwards in terms of democracy, as if the work they did has been lost. This is not true. A large number of people worked towards introducing democracy to our country. As I said before, the work did not begin in 2008. It is the result of the hard work of several people over many years. A democratic regime has been established today as a result of efforts over the past 30, 40 years,” the President said.