Food For Thought

Facing reality.......

A coup d’état is usually brought about by people who are convinced that they cannot acquire power through democratic means and / or those whose vital interests are mightily threatened without power .

Monday, March 9, 2009

State of the Nation

Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members of the Majlis. It is my pleasure and privilege to address you today to outline in broad terms the state of our nation as I see it, and some important steps that I believe should be taken to steer our nation towards achieving greater prosperity, happiness and greater equality among our people.

This nation of ours has been raped and pillaged since time immemorial by opportunists and those who have betrayed the trust placed in them by the people. A carefully planned strategy of reinforcing feudal structures and controlling the small populations on each island has left our people disempowered. On the back of this structure have ridden the immoral opportunists to gain riches unimaginable, while the subjugation of our people by the authorities guaranteed a “harmonious” environment for the propagation of ever growing inequities and atrocities among and against the people.

The revising of the Constitution has given hope to our people. They have acted in showing an unprecedented disdain towards a 30 year old regime and asserting their right to change their government. In doing so, the people have given a huge mandate for public office holders to turn around the nation a 180 degrees, and to start working towards righting a million wrongs, and more importantly devising state machinery and a legal framework which will never allow a few to dominate the many in this country ever again.

Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members. I believe it is our duty to strive to attempt to realize the aspirations of the people. To design for them state machinery through a sound legislative framework and policy initiatives, which will enable them to live their lives in peace and prosperity.

Honourable Speaker. Even as I stand here, a number of Maldivian youth are injecting heroin into their bodies. Others are partaking of brown sugar, crystal meth and the like. Some perverted individuals are literally raping and molesting our children. Child pornography and child prostitution is running rampant in our nation.

Justice is being denied to our citizens either through the delaying of delivery of justice or through the incompetence of the courts or through that detestable vice, corruption. The lack of proper laws are denying our citizens the opportunity to advance their aspirations and to engage in productive public life.

The living conditions in Male’, and increasingly in other islands are seriously hampering the development and maintenance of community ties and family lives. Children are suffering as a result of this. A nation of only 300,000 is well on its way to live like rats do. Deep rooted human instincts of survival are eroding values, ethics, morals and the semblance of civilization. Survival of the fittest, in any which way it could, is quickly becoming the order of the day.

The downturn in the world economy is starting to affect us, and projections tell us that the latter part of this year or early next year is when we may be hit the hardest. We must act quickly to ready ourselves for the coming onslaught and devise strategies to weather ourselves out of this difficult period. Preserving whatever wealth and assets we have, and engaging in nationwide austerity is, I believe imperative.

The jockeying for power has opened doors in our society for various extremist elements to take root: religious, opportunistic, political and the like. Maldivians have always been moderate people, ill-disposed towards extremist positions in anything. It might serve us well to cultivate that trait in our society to keep the nation on an even keel.

Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members. In order to address the multitude of issues facing our nation, it is imperative that the economy is made more vibrant. The time for national sacrifice is here, and we have to lead the people in leaving aside personal aspirations and working towards the common good. Work harder, save and economize. This needs to be the order of the day. A restructuring of the economy is called for, and certain distribution of wealth and distribution of the means of production is essential. A carefully controlled, yet deliberate transfer of services from the public to the private sector is necessary, with the proper safety nets and consumer protection measure put in place.

To address the various social ills that run rampant in our society, rule of law has to be strengthened, and the commitment to enforce laws without fear or favour is essential.

These, Honourable Speaker, are what are required from all public office holders. The recent upheaval in the political sphere of this country has left many deep and lasting wounds in our society. We all need to let go of personal idiosyncrasies, animosities, jealousies and hurts. We all need to unite to make the changes we have brought to last. Let us all work towards setting up an equitable framework for all before we engage in bi-partisan politics. That the public united behind the Alliance, and alliance which was as diverse as could be imagined, is proof enough that the public wants us to unite and work towards those goals that they hold so dear. It is imperative, for the future of our nation, that we forget, even if we do not forgive, the past and start a healing process which will allow us to build the nation.

Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members. When the public voted for a change of government last year, they finally and unequivocally endorsed the reforms that we had been proposing. We now need to act without dragging our feet. I hope that the Honourable Members of the Majlis will give serious consideration to these issues when they are setting the legislative agenda of the Majlis for this year.

In conclusion, Honourable Speaker, I would like to declare that the nation has to come first, and that I affirm my non-partisanship in this endeavour. Thank You.

As I sat in the Majlis on the second of March, I was looking forward to hear something along the vein of the above. But this isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time I was or will be disappointed.

15 comments:

  1. This SHOULD have been the speech we heard - or something close to this...

    Instead we get, almost, the direct opposite...

    I suppose the closest we might get to working on the issues most important to the nation would be to ensure that the Majlis we send in be as bi-partisan as possible...

    Oh and another thing, I was never in any doubt when I endorsed you TWICE in the Presidential elections; in the first round it was Ibra/Nahid and in the second it was, the way I saw it, Ibra/Saeed/Gasim/Nasheed. This choice was made based on how my personal perceptions of issues/philosophy tallied with those of your ticket - emotion being but a modicum of influence.

    After reading your 'speech' I will say this. You make proud every person who voted for you. No question.

    I sincerely hope you're returned to the Majlis. We need you there - desperately!

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  2. Glad to see you're still at it, man. Oh yeah. I've been meaning to ask... now that 2008 is dead and gone, will you be changing your blog name to Ibra 2009?

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  3. Ibra, very articulate, indeed. You’ve said all there is to say about all our problems and miseries in one blog post. It is no secret that the nation has been raped by opportunistic vultures. And now, as you’ve very rightly pointed out, there is a pressing need to (i) redesign the state machinery through a sound legislative framework (ii) address the endemic drugs issue (iii) deliver the justice that has been denied (iv) excise corruption that’s going rampant (v) address the deplorable housing and living conditions (vii) prepare for the hard times ahead owing to the global economic recession (viii) contain extremism (ix) address the extreme skewdness in income distribution. While I was reading the post the phrases “survival of the fittest”, “the need to act” and “non-partisanship” struck me as particularly interesting. I can understand very well why
    “this isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time” you were or will be disappointed. Salams and best wishes!

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  4. @Shadowrunner: Glad to see you surface from wherever shadows reside even if its every once in a while.

    I have contemplated changing the blog name and even registered another. But then I decided against it, mostly because there are many regular readers with feeds into this URL etc. Also, no harm with the 2008 bit, I guess.

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  5. We need more people like you in the Parliament. People with principles.

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  6. The best politican in the parliament today! As I have always been, I sincerely admire your honesty and intelligence. Wish you all the best!

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  7. disappointing and hopeless right now. Power and politics would never be nice and according to their promises before they get elected. It is a reality we have to accept with a heavy heart. the people suffers especially the poor, less privilege individuals. counting days till the end of this five year term and the damage it would do is scary. Hoping for something better after the five year term is hopeless at the moment

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  8. Dear Ibra,

    You seem to be more occupied with exciting your pen than dealing with the grim reality of a poor and idiotic third-world island nation deep in a ghetto like environment of murder, drugs, ignorance, corruption and pedophilia.

    If that is not the case, then I've somehow missed your sincerity. My best apologies.

    Can you not get on a bigger platform and rouse the masses with your truth? I'd like that a lot. Others would, too.

    So much regards,
    Ahsan

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  9. @Ahsan :
    I am doing what I can to address those things, with the limited opportunities I have.

    As to a bigger platform; I bid for the biggest, where I could have made a difference, but the people of Maldives decided that they did not want me to.

    I resort to the pen, because at least I am able to get the message across to those of you who care enough to read what I write.

    Ahsan, the sad fact is even if I called for a public meeting to discuss these things, maybe all of 30 people may turn up. This way, I reach out to a couple of hundred. We are an apathetic lot, you know.

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  10. Ibra, I believe this beautifully sums up our pathetic situation. And I am reading in today's papers that the Majlis will offer themselves each - a reward pension of over 20,000RF each for name-calling and shouting-filth in parliament for a short period of five years. So we can only guess the state of such an arrogant Chamber.

    Good Luck and wish you sit on the next. We will atleast have one more who will be truely an MP and one that we can be proud of.

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  11. I guess ibra2008 is fine - a memorial to the date when you first appeared as an independent in the political scene.

    I've been busy conducting... social experiments (more like sociopathic)- Am glad to see you're still at it, though.

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  12. some are more equal than others. are majlis members more equal than everage citizen as far as pension is concered. how can anyone justicfy a pension package of 30000 thousand for the rest of their lives after only serving for 5 years. i have never seen this type of capitalist vulutures who are determind to destroy the whole economic foundation of a country as the current majlis members. hope you are with the people.

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  13. As precise as it can be, you have hit the nail on its head. Sadly few, or none other in the Parliament seems to acknowledge this.
    On another note, what is your stand on the proposed pension after a single term? The current Majlis elected for a salary of about Rf 7,000/- are walking away with three times as much monthly for life.

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  14. @Anonymous (Mar 12, 2:19 pm):

    Actually we were elected for a salary of Rf4,000/-. But then, one could say then (as per the prevailing practice) we were also elected to sit in session for about 14 hours per year, and raise our hands to pass a bill after 20 minutes of debate, and about 3 bills a year. Remuneration at that time and the expectations of an MP are not really comparable then and now. I truly believe this lot of MPs have truly transformed the Majlis. Proof is, back in 2003, no one would be commenting on anything the Majlis did or did not do.

    On the pension, I am against what is being proposed. In fact this should not have been included in the bill at all. Majlis members' pension or retirement benefits should be dealt with separately. I believe that an MP should be re-elected to office at least once before s/he is entitled to pension benefits. Any con artist can get elected once. But if you get re-elected, then you can claim that the public has endorsed the work that you did for them. Therefore. an MP should complete 2 terms before being eligible for a pension.

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  15. Ibra,

    You are against the proposed pension bill because it gives MPs pension after one term (5 years). If it was 2 terms then you would agree? While the rest of the country has to work for 20years to get pension?

    And you said any con artist could get elected once. The same con artist can get elected twice too. That's what con artists do right?

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