realise
Little by little you will realise Gayoom's greatnessSo now the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has got to run its own play-government, their own conference has ended in farcical circumstances. Minority groups harrumphed and walked out, mud was slung in buckets and backs were stabbed in earnest. And all this for make-believe posts with no legal recognition.
It is a ridiculous little toy show. The chief guest, Mr. James Mancham, was a changed man from two days ago. In his speech on the final afternoon, his words were patronising and his elocution had an inner mischief, his eyes mocking with a twinkle and a smile. One wonders what must have been running through his mind.
These people cannot run a fourth grade-style mini government. They certainly made a hash of coordinating things in a civilised manner among 300 odd people - all of the same political mould and for only three days. How would they fare if they had the responsibility for 300,000 lives for five years? Perish the thought.
Let us take a simple example. The candidates from Addu Atoll - who contested and lost all major positions in the party.
There are devices such as affirmative action, positive discrimination and group quotas, that can ensure minority representation in a society. Not even one Addu candidate will be elected in such an overwhelmingly Male'-dominated conference without recourse to some of these methods.
This is where the MDP has to learn. Minority rights are usually guaranteed by legislature and legal instruments enforcing the above methods. These take time to develop and the need for it must be felt before they are enacted. But there are no such laws in the Maldives - possibly because we are a young country and because no one has suggested there is a need for them - although there plainly is.
In this case, one would expect the Addu people to have become extinct by now - given the discrimination they obviously suffer from other Maldivians. But they haven't - because we have a wise and far-sighted leader in Gayyoom. He has practiced a policy of positive discrimination to ensure an egalitarian society - even without legislation forcing him to do so and even when legislators have wiled away the years, thinking nothing needed to be done.
When the MDP fatcats walk out of the congress hall patting themselves on the back, they must be starting to realise what a position of responsibility holds. What must it take to prevent Addu Atoll from demanding secession? What must it take to keep Ilyas and Yameen gouging chunks of flesh from each other's backs? What must it take to keep this country from civil war? What must it take to keep a third world country with no natural resources and the world's highest costs of transport from starvation? What must it take to make a country with the world's highest costs of production earn the region's highest GDP and graduate from LDC status? What does it take to moderate bikini flashing prostitutes and pseudo-Islamic fanatics under one nation?
What does it take to suffer a nation of 300,000 political experts and not laugh out loud at them?
Political nous, a good heart and more than a touch of greatness. History will tell.
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