Siyam: No non-Muslim country will provide well-meant assistance

Leader of Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), Ahmed Siyam Mohamed has appealed to the people to stop expecting well meaning assistance to Maldives from non-Muslim countries.

Siyam made the comment during his speech at the function held in Dharubaaruge last Sunday night to officially hand out tickets to MDA candidates who will be competing in the upcoming local council elections.

In his speech, Siyam criticized the opposition saying that the countries which they sought assistance from were “destroying” other Muslim countries.

“Maldivians are 100 percent Muslim. Think about this! The people supporting the opposition are those who advocated to bring independence to Iraq,” said Siyam.

He said that the difficulties faced by Muslims in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Libya were because of non-Muslim countries.

He said that non-Muslim countries throughout the world were being “destroyed” by non-Muslim countries who claim to mean well.

Siyam also condemned recent comments made by former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed in an interview to an Indian newspaper.

In the interview, Nasheed said that Saudi Arabia was a country which “produced” terrorists, and that education received by Maldivians from Saudi Arabia was the driving force behind spread of extremism and Maldivians travelling to foreign countries to join militant groups.

“Saudi Arabia is the country from among all Muslim countries in the world which spends the most on counter-terrorism. I’m not surprised they are making such comments about Saudi Arabia, it’s because they are anti-Islamic,” said Siyam.

Siyam said that the opposition was working with anti-Islamic foreigners to enslave Maldives and the people of Maldives.

He said President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom would not allow for such a thing to happen.

“Travelling to our enemy foreign lands, to Germany and giving interviews to the newspapers there, in my opinion, is enslavement of the people of Maldives. The people in Maldives are 100 percent Muslim,” said Siyam.

Siyam also spoke about the upcoming visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

He said that King Salman will be pledging his assistance to a number of projects including a USD 10 billion project during his visit.

“We need to consider this. We need to open the doors for this,” said Siyam, who is also the MP for Meedhoo.

“The people of Maldives want prosperity. President Yameen has visited Saudi Arabia multiple times. He has performed the Hajj pilgrimage on a number of occasions. He is going to make the pilgrimage this year too. He will go there and meet with the top brass of Saudi Arabia and

President Yameen will be the one to remind the King and his family that we are a 100 percent Muslim country,” said Siyam.

The function was attended by members of MDA, lawmakers from ruling Progressive Party of Maldives, as well as Cabinet ministers.