Reminiscing

Today is the 13th of August 2008. It is the early hours of the morning. I had some time this evening to read a story to both my children before they slumbered off to wherever it is that children go to when their exhausted bodies just give up on them. A rare treat these days for my children and I. After an exhausting day of work and meetings and more meetings and some more work, my body has finally given up on me. Normally I, myself, would slumber off promptly; but tonight, sleep just will not come. I can hear the gentle breathing of my wife sleeping beside me, but I cannot join her in dreamland. There is just so much going through my mind. I just had to get up and share some of these thoughts with my friends in cyberspace.

This time, 13th of August 2004. I was at the Republican Square, where there must have been at least 15,000 people gathered to protest against injustice and the Qayyoom regime. I can still remember that I thought then, our country will never be the same again. Years and years of anger and frustration had finally spilled over, and the whole thing had taken a life of its own. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it. The forces of nature and time itself were at work. An awesome moment in the history of Maldives. The people rising against a brutal and armed regime. They had reached a point when it no longer made any difference. Funny thing was, there was no violence, no disorder. Just a large silent crowd of people, and a smaller crowd chanting slogans and giving speeches : expressing suppressed feelings of frustration.

Of course, even as the request from the President came to me while I was at home in the evening, to go to the Square to try and calm people down, I knew deep within me that this was a defining moment in the freedom movement. Of course, I knew the government would survive this day, and that I would be in jail at best, before the day was through. This was just the first confrontation of many more to come.

Of course by sunset the following day, I was in military custody, and in the early hours of the next morning, transferred to police custody.

68 days in solitary confinement, with only the Holy Quran to keep you company. Hospitalization for a week, after a month of losing consciousness two or three times a day, within the confines of a six foot by eight foot cell. Funnily enough, the despair I was expecting never set in.

The only weak moment I had was when my wife and children came to visit me in hospital. The children (5 and 6 then) had brought a “get well” card which they had prepared for their father. However, the Police Commissioner must have thought that these two young children must be accomplices in a plot to overthrow the government, and they had brought important documents central to the plot, for he refused permission for the children to show me the card, even after the attending officer had checked through the contents of the card. The weak moment came when I had to explain to two bewildered kids why they could not give their card to their father.

Two more months under house arrest, with a charge of treason filed against me in the courts. Having to campaign for an election while under house arrest, held incommunicado. Chickening out “reformers” who were terrified of contesting the majlis elections because they might suffer further at the hands of the tyrant they were trying to bring down. Only Ilyas Hussain, Adil and Furahani Shuaib defied the tyrants and contested the elections. Out of desperation, I had to convince my wife to contest the G Dh elections to try and get Abbas Ibrahim out of the Majlis. And then she had to fight against the mighty wealth of the Villa Group!

12th of August 2005. Anni went to the Square and got arrested. He was charged with both Terrorism and Treason for that effort! The Attorney General, Justice Minister and the Foreign Minister were all over public media, telling the public just how big a threat these people were to the well being of the nation, and that “they will all be held in jail until they were convicted”. Presumption of guilt? One wonders what they teach in law school these days, particularly at the doctoral levels. The Spin Doctor, I can understand, but the other Doctors?

Sometimes it amuses me to see these people trying to act out something that they don’t really believe.

The MDP was facing the biggest challenge yet. Barely formed, no clear leadership, and the front bench were already thinking of dissociating from the party and forming another one. Male’was in chaos for four days. The likes of Abbas were playing with fire (pardon the pun). If ever Qayyoom came close to regaining lost ground, that was the time. Somehow, we crossed that barrier too, and overcame that challenge.

Finally the constitutional revision is complete and ratified on 7 August 2008.

12th of August 2008. Another historic day. For the first time, the Majlis is free of Executive control. An elected member of parliament is finally elected into the office of Speaker of the Majlis! Is it just coincidence that this also happened on the 12th of August? I don’t think that many have pondered the significance of this event yet. I am so glad that I fought so hard in the Special Majlis, to get the concept of “those present and voting” enshrined into the constitution, for this is the provision which has allowed an elected MP to gain the Speaker’s Office.

The significance of this event is enormous. Finally, we have the opportunity to start working to hold the government to account. With a “people friendly” Speaker, the constitution now allows Qayyoom to be brought to the floor of the Majlis and asked to account for his actions, in front of the public. With Seena Zahir, we would never have had that opportunity. His interpretations of the Standing Orders of the Majlis always ensured that the government could hide behind the Speaker! I sincerely hope that Shihab will allow a democratic parliament to emerge.

On reflection, I feel a sense of achievement, both for myself and the country. A long, hard, fight no doubt. But it was definitely worth the sacrifices. A sense of excitement is creeping in. The end of an era is nigh, and a new one about to begin. Where will it lead us? Coincidence or not, what is certain is that the 12th of August has been etched in stone in Maldivian History.