President says protection of Maldives’ religion unity, independence top priorities

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated that the protection of religion unity and ascertaining the independence and sovereignty of the Maldives will be his top priorities throughout his administration.

He made the remark in his address on occasion on Maldives’ 53rd Republic Day on Wednesday morning.

The opposition has accused President Solih’s administration of selling off Maldives to foreigners and negligence in protection of the religion of Islam as it draws closer to completing its first two years in power.

“Even as we mark this happy occasion, I want to assure the beloved people of Maldives of two things. These are the two things that will be by top priorities for as long as I remain in this position. That is the protection of the religious unity of the Maldivian people and ascertaining the independence and sovereignty of Maldives,” said President Solih.

President Solih said that many of the fundamental rights of the people had been curtailed when his administration began its rule, and that the first rights he returned to the people after assuming presidency were freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the right to receive and obtain information.

“I believe freedom of expression and freedom of the press are essential to sustaining a democratic republic,” he said.

President Solih said that the freedom of the press has the power to change the direction of the nation in any possible way, depending on how its utilized, and said that the utilization of freedom of the press for the good, therefore depends on stopping the spread of hearsay and false information and prioritizing revealing the truth under responsible journalism.

President Solih said that with the trust entrusted in him by the people, he began the work of fulfilling his pledges after assuming power with proper planning.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic had served to impede everything, and that COVID-19 is not just a pandemic, but a catastrophic economic disaster the likes of which the world, and Maldives, has never experienced before.

He said that his administration was therefore forced to reprioritize development projects, but the objective of his administration became to support the people and continue to govern while ensuring continued protection of rights and continued uninterrupted access to essential services, even if by cutting down on expenses.

“While battling COVID-19, we have continued to provide essential services by avoiding dismissing civil servants or reducing their salaries. And by assisting the people who lost their jobs, and by assisting businesses,” he said.

President Solih said that Maldives is among the few nations to control COVID-19, and credited the success to the cooperation and assistance of the people in implementing the preventive measures rolled out by health authorities.

He said that the Maldivian people need to continue to adhere to the instructions of health authorities in order to maintain the success and eradicate the disease from the nation.

President Solih said that given the experience with COVID-19 so far, the upcoming year may also likely continue to be challenging and hard.

He said that the economic damages from COVID-19 pandemic are significant and therefore have no easy fix, and that his administration’s biggest priority in the upcoming year will be to cut down unnecessary government expenditure and roll out projects directly linked with the people and ascertain social protection in order to improve the income of individual citizens and revive businesses.