Editorial Parliamentarians must act like role models :: Dhivehi Observer

Editorial
Parliamentarians must act like role models

By A. S. I. Moosa (Sappe'), 9th August 2005

In any community the burden of social responsibility heavily lies on the shoulders of parliament members. They are vested with enormous powers to ensure that peoples basic rights enshrined in the constitution are upheld and observed unreservedly. They must not breach the very laws they are meant to uphold.

In Maldives, up until now, parliament has been acting like a well orchestrated drill. Everything was preset and the whole purpose of it has been to protect the illegitimate government of Gayyoom. Illegitimate, because he bought his way into power back in 1978; because he was in possession of firearms even at the time of taking his oath of office to which he personally admitted, and because he continues to breach several articles of the constitution such as the fundamental rights of the people of Maldives; freedom of expression, association and assembly. These acts amount to nothing but high treason but there is no way to hold him accountable to any of these charges because the great majority of parliamentarians have been a bunch of puppets of Gayyoom to this day and Gayyoom continues to preside over the country's judiciary making it impossible to file a case against even his cronies not to mention filing a case against him.

Times have certainly changed now but for more than 25 years, Gayyoom had a very easy and trouble free ride as an all-powerful dictator. He achieved this principally by appointing his own brother Abdulla Hameed to the powerful post of Speaker of the Majlis for the better part of his reign (he was also a cabinet Minister and according to constitutional experts this was an act of treason as well) and his family as well as close friends to the cabinet. Such was the level of corruption and nepotism that Gayyoom's words were above the law. Under Gayyoom's full control, the parliament acted only as a rubber-stamp which allowed Gayyoom to remain in power for nearly 3 decades unchallenged.

The people of Maldives woke up from their deep sleep on 20^th September 2003 after witnessing in person the cruel and inhumane acts of Gayyoom until then most only heard stories but on this day thousands saw blood and untold cruelty. There is no doubt that the brutal murder of Evan Naseem and the killing of other inmates in jail on that day marked the beginning of the end of Gayyoom's autocratic rule.

Gayyoom has no policy and has no vision for his rule except to remain in power as an absolute dictator. But, all this has since been falling apart relatively quickly because of strong and organised campaign to establish a pluralistic democracy in the country. One of the achievements to date is that in the current parliament, there are several members who are no longer under the direct command of Gayyoom or any of his cronies. Quite the contrary, they have now joined the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and are openly calling for the resignation of Gayyoom.

Despite the current climate of change and calls for reform both of the political system and politicians, some MPs are still openly behaving in manners that contradict the very values they are supposed to uphold. As MPs, the public is supposed to look up to them and accept them as role models. However, financial corruption, abuse of power, criminal activities and anti-social behavior is rampant amongst parliamentarians. Some have even admitted that they have no agenda but sought the seat of parliament just to prove that they can get elected whilst others sought office to support Gayyoom's regime and expand their businesses through corruption and favouritism. It is our duty to bring an end to this by ensuring that these parliamentarians are held accountable and begin changing their behavior to reflect the integrity and dignity of a parliamentarian. They must realize that it is no longer a 'personal matter' once you are in the parliament. Exposing such persons is the duty of every responsible citizen because that is the only way we can build a just society.

Gayyoom's absolute control on the local media is no longer there which paves the way to address these issues head-on. Law makers must respect the law and uphold it, not undermine and break them.