Why old hands must be in the cabinet

Hell! I confess! I called the bugger Janaaza! I swore I would twist him like a Danish pastry, roll him in his own spit and throw him into the deep end of hell. You don't have to rub it in. But now that we are in Aneh Dhivehi Raajje I believe that old hands like Shaheed is a wise choice in the cabinet list that seems to have leaked out. And bloody hell! My fellow country guys and gals!! Arnt we having a bit cacoethes carpendi ? So many of you worried about these people who served in the Golhaabo cabinet being in the new cabinet but the Devil advocates that in can only be a good thing within limitations.

Let the Devil elaborate. We need someone who can promote the Maldives to the outside world. IH Zaki does not seem to relish the idea of becoming Foreign MInister. So who else can replace Ablahi Di aka Abdulla Shahid? None other than the man who convinced the international community that out Beloved Leader for Forevernes Golhaabo is indeed God! Shaheed is the ultimate con-artist if one cares to term him that way but if Shaheed can con the international community into buying Golhaabo than he is definitely the man to convince the int.community that the Maldives is indeed a fully fledged democracy where their investors can invest without fear. We defo need someone like that.
I believe the same goes for Dr. Jameel. I am no fan of the man. A distant relative of mine was arrested for throwing bondibaiy at his car...but when you look around he has done more to modernize the justice department than any of his predecessors. Let the Adaalaath people come and stone me but I believe that his decision to allow female judges in the Maldives is the way to go forward (the Adaalaath will stone the devil anyway kekeke). No one was bold enough to take the decision except Jameel. (And NO! I am not going out with THAT girl studying to be a judge here in Malay...way wrong mates!! hehe)
I have no qualms about Qasim Ibrahim being Home MInister either. If old Umar Jaahil (Zahir) can do the job than so can Qasim Ibrahim. Faahana Nizam can be quickly implemented through out the Maldives. I have no worries. As long as Qasim does not have to decide fiscal policy the Devil can live with it
The only person I am concerned is Musthafa Luthfy for Education. Dont get me wrong. It's not because I think he is not qualified enough. I think we need an Education MInister who is inspirational and Musthafa Luthfy comes across as a mild slightly sleepy lethargic kinda guy. We need a charismatic animal in the Education Ministry ...not a mouse.

Ultimately I think we are doing it the wrong way..me included. It's not the personalities in charge of these ministries that should matter. It has to be the policies. If the policies of this government are the right ones and are followed to the letter then you should not worry even if I, the DEVIL, is in charge of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Now THAT would be a good one eh? :-)

How do you decide who to vote for? the low-down on the Presidential Candidates

"I don't know who to vote for" My friend Hassan said gloomily the other day.

So I have decided to make the choice a little easier for him by giving my take on the candidates.

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (DRP)


Positives:-
This was a hard one and the only things I could come up was
- he has 30 years of executive experience
- Educated (albeit Arabic medium)

Negatives:-
- 30 years of dictatorial rule (several dead in custody, torture in jail, corruption, nepotism, you name it!)
- 30 years of family dominance. Now that Yameen has joined up, there is no reason to believe that it would not be another 5 more years of Kaaminee Clan rule
- nearly 15 years of state-sponsored drug lords given free reign in the country
- Encouraged Arabisation of the Maldives (he began the Arabic medium schools which has now lead to the country being run over by Haabees.
- too many negatives to list on one page

MOHAMED NASHEED (ANNI) MDP


Positives

- Educated
- Number one advocate of Democracy in the Maldives both in theory and practice;
- Belongs to the only party that has even a semblance of internal democracy (was elected by a majority of party members)
- A brave and bold soul who is not scared in face of adversity and has stood up to his principles and beliefs against all odds

Negatives
- severe lack of experience at top executive level;
- Still seen by many as too much of an activist
- too many family members involved in MDP makes people worry about Kaminee Clan being replaced by Keneree Clan
- many claim that he is too dictatorial


DR.HASSAN SAEED (NO PARTY)


Positives
- highly educated
- Experienced in top executive level (was AG in Golhaabo's government)
- Has got the resilient and 'unbreakable' Doc Shaheed as his Running Mate.


Negatives
- Very Low on democratic credentials (was instrumental in prosecuting several MDP activists)
- Lack of a political party means that he appears not to believe in multi-party democracy
- Questions about how he will function if elected, given that he does not belong to a party. How will he push his policies through the parliament? Is he waiting to get elected and then form a party in which case, the whole multi-party liberal democracy scenario flies out of the window for another 5 years.



QASIM IBRAHIM (REPUBLICAN)


Positives:
- Experienced in running his Villa Empire so the top job at executive level should not be too difficult for him
- Philanthropist and a generous person to poor people
- Was one of the founding members of MDP and instrumental in getting the constitution revised so democratic credentials somewhat established


Negatives:
- Severe lack of education
- Too closely associated with the Endheri Clan. Many see him as their stooge
- Was a democracy advocate but turned Golhaabo loyalist when it suited him; therefore makes it difficult to believe in what he says. Not very trustworthy.



IBRAHIM ISMAIL (SLP)


Positives
- Educated
- Outspoken critic of Gayyoom and was first President of MDP
- very liberal in his views (first to choose a female running mate)


Negatives
- seen to be dictatorial in his approach while President of MDP
- Party still needs to establish their democratic credentials (Ibra was not selected
to be the Party Candidate by a vote of all the members)
- somehow lacking in popular support


UMAR NASEER IDP


Positives:
- not scared to speak his mind


Negatives
- lack of education
- history of a violent past while in the NSS
- totally cuckoo policies relating to drugs and other issues



The above is just a brief take on all the candidates. Ultimately I believe it comes down to a choice of two candidates:- ANNIi and Dr.Hassan. The problem with Dr. Hassan for me is that he does not belong to a political party. I cannot foresee myself voting for someone who does not believe in party politics in our first multiparty elections. That for me is a big No-No. Together with his actions while AG, his democratic credentials are severely lacking. Perhaps if he can prove it in the next 5 years then he maybe a worthy future candidate.

The rest of the candidates have done nothing or could do nothing to negate their weaknesses apart from Qasim Ibrahim who has choosen an educated person as his Running Mate. However, his other negatives (too closely connected to Endheri Clan) makes him unelectable for me.

That leaves me with no choice but to vote for Anni by default - for the simple reason that he has managed to negate his biggest weakness in lack of experience in the top level by electing the highly experienced Dr.Waheed as his Running Mate. Although Dr. Waheed has had a tendency to run away in the past if unsuccessful (and there is no reason to believe he wont dump Anni if they do not get elected), he may stay and help run the government as an administrator if they are indeed elected.

Hassan, there is my take on the candidates. You can choose to vote for my choice which is Anni or you can vote for anyone you wish.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

SHOULD THE MDP JOIN THE QASIM COALITION?

Dhivehi Observer reported that, "Male’ - 12:30 - Adhaalath Party and Maldives National Congress have formally endorsed Qasim Ibrahim’s presidential bid".

What the DO did not raise is the issue whether the MDP would join in?

And why not? The MDP was formed to bring reform to the Maldives; in effect, to try and establish a proper multi-party democracy where each of us would be guaranteed our fundamental rights as human beings, not just in name but in practice as well. So far so good.

But then why should the MDP join the Republican Party's bid to bring Qasim to power when they are fielding their own candidate? Surely this is against their party ethos to support another candidate's bid? And what guarantee is there that backing Qasim would bring democracy to the Maldives?


IF YOU ACCEPT THAT MAUMOON ABDUL GAYOOM IS THE BIGGEST ROADBLOCK TO DEMOCRACY....

the answer lies herein...

1. The whole foundation of the MDP was laid to bring democracy to the Maldives. Our Beloved Leader and President for Life, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is the biggest hindrance to reach this goal of establishing a democratic Maldives. People joined MDP not to bring Kenereege Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) to power. They joined because they wanted democracy established in the Maldives. Therefore Anni and the MDP owe it to its members to choose the best path to get rid of our Leader for Life. At this moment in time by joining the Qasim coalition appears to be the quickest path to get rid of Our Beloved Leader and President for Life.

2. Anni was given the mandate to run for Presidency because someone had to challenge our Beloved Leader and President for Life. People did not back Anni because they wanted him to be the President of the Maldives per se. They backed him because he was seen the most likely challenger to oust Gayoom at the time. People hoped that by backing Anni they could go for a single candidate from the National Unity Alliance (Itthihad)

3. Anni was willing to be Dr. Hassan Saeed's running mate. He said so himself. The reason he was willing to be someone's running mate appears to be because Anni himself beleived that at the time Dr. Hassan Saeed/Anni ticket would be the most sellable to the public. If there is a better option (ie Qasim/Anni ticket) then he owes it to the people of Maldives who he has been promising to bring democracy to, to follow the best option to achieve this task.

The MDP must not lose focus of their principal objective. That is to get rid of our Dear Leader for Life Maumoon. Without getting rid of him there cannot be a democratic Maldives. So even if it is backing Qasim or backing me, the Devil, the MDP owes it to the people to walk the best path to getting rid of our Leader for Life and God, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

If they fail to follow this and Gayoom wins the next election and democracy is waylaid for another five years, then it would be betraying the thousands of people who joined them.

Like my Kaafa said, "I did not join the MDP to bring any particular person to power. I joined the MDP in the hope of getting rid of golhaabo and hoping the Maldives would be free from this "fureytha" (His words, not mine! hehehe)
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IF YOU BELIEVE THAT MAUMOON ABDUL GAYOOM IS THE FATHER OF DEMOCRACY, THEN YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT I AM HIS SON AND YOU ARE READING THE WRONG BLOG. kekeke