mdpattackslordnaseby
Lord Naseby targeted for vilification by the MDP
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Male', Maldives 17th February 2006 (www.olhuala.com) – The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has launched a vicious character assassination campaign against the Rt. Hon. Lord Naseby after he opened the recent House of Lords debate on Maldives and Sri Lanka tsunami recovery with a ringing endorsement of the Maldivian government’s performance.
This is the first time the MDP has used, on a respected foreign figure, the tactic it uses to besmirch the record of top government officials. The official MDP website and English language media outlets carried statements from an “MDP lawyer” and international wing leader David Hardingham calling into question Lord Naseby’s good name and record in the House.
The Dhivehi (Maldivian) sections of the MDP media machinery were much more severe and published offensive and libelous material about Lord Naseby’s private life and made crude and unfounded allegations about substance dependency.
The media attacks were designed by David Hardingham and written by Paul Roberts. Hardingham is a South African immigrant who moved to the UK as the apartheid regime showed signs of crumbling in the 1980s. He also runs the UK based group ‘Friends of Maldives’, a shady organization with no legal status whose work is purely aimed at defiling and denigrating President Gayoom, his government and any individual or organization both local and foreign, who has any contact with Gayoom.
The first MDP article in English, published in Minivan News, calls into question the views expressed by Lord Naseby, who is the Chairman of the Maldives-British all-party Parliamentarian Group across both Houses, that he had been involved in Maldives’ affairs since 1963 and dismisses him as an “irritant” to the MDP and calls his statement about the MDP and democracy “funny”.
Further statements accused the Lord’s statement, and by implication the work of the All-Party Group he was representing, as “absurd” and “baseless.”
In a further, serious allegation, the MDP implied that Naseby’s statements and conduct were biased and improper because he had made several of his visits “courtesy of the government of Maldives.”
In one article, Hardingham is quoted as rhetorically asking: “If Lord Naseby has been involved in Maldives for such a long period of time, why hasn’t he brought to the attention of the UK Government the torture and human rights abuses that have taken place under the regime of both Nasir and Gayoom?”
Observers point out that Lord Naseby, does not raise the issue exactly because he knows that in truth no great human rights abuses have taken place in the Maldives. “The allegations are pure fantasy, fabricated by the MDP, and it is clear that the Lord has little time for allegations with no basis in fact. Lord Naseby is a frequent traveler to the Maldives with many Maldivian acquaintances and he is known to have an intimate knowledge of the country rarely seen in a non-Maldivian”, says Hameed Zakariyya, an ex-official at the Maldives Foreign Ministry.
“Hardingham, on the other hand, has never visited the Maldives and whatever ‘information’ he has is gathered through third or even fourth hand sources and websites of ill-repute. He has also shown a willingness to say anything his paymasters demand of him, irrespective of his own views.”
“The MDP’s official statements repeat a tiresome list of unfounded allegations. It is the fact that few people in the outside world and in the Maldives believe them that forces them to be so repetitive.
“Repetition used to work for a while, but people now are more aware that repeating a fabrication does not make it a fact. You can’t expect to fool someone like Lord Naseby.”
The article also included other factual errors such as alleging that Lord Naseby visited the Maldives in September 2005 (see screenshot above, click on the image to enlarge),
Some MDP members have expressed surprise at Hardingham’s decision to attack Naseby, who is well regarded by all parties in both Houses in the UK. A journalist with close MDP links explained: “I think Dave has made a blunder this time. How can he, who struggled to make a living, let alone support a family, before he came by MDP’s riches, expect to comment on the careers of distinguished public servants such as Gayoom and Naseby who have decades-long records of honourable, unblemished service?
“Dave will now find himself in the media spotlight. In the media climate which the MDP has put in place in the Maldives, he and the MDP will face a thorough examination.
“This time round though, he might expect something even more severe; he has picked on the wrong person, and he may be held to account to explain his words and motives.”
The MDP media machine, sensing its faux pas, was quick to pull down some of the stronger words on their websites. However it was not before the damage had been done: many news services including olhuala.com were able to grab incriminating screen shots.
Some of the Dhivehi language material on Lord Naseby distributed by the MDP, which included material too malicious and filthy to reproduce, were still in circulation in print and on the Internet last night.
Click to read full story
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Male', Maldives 17th February 2006 (www.olhuala.com) – The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has launched a vicious character assassination campaign against the Rt. Hon. Lord Naseby after he opened the recent House of Lords debate on Maldives and Sri Lanka tsunami recovery with a ringing endorsement of the Maldivian government’s performance. This is the first time the MDP has used, on a respected foreign figure, the tactic it uses to besmirch the record of top government officials. The official MDP website and English language media outlets carried statements from an “MDP lawyer” and international wing leader David Hardingham calling into question Lord Naseby’s good name and record in the House.
The Dhivehi (Maldivian) sections of the MDP media machinery were much more severe and published offensive and libelous material about Lord Naseby’s private life and made crude and unfounded allegations about substance dependency.
The media attacks were designed by David Hardingham and written by Paul Roberts. Hardingham is a South African immigrant who moved to the UK as the apartheid regime showed signs of crumbling in the 1980s. He also runs the UK based group ‘Friends of Maldives’, a shady organization with no legal status whose work is purely aimed at defiling and denigrating President Gayoom, his government and any individual or organization both local and foreign, who has any contact with Gayoom.
The first MDP article in English, published in Minivan News, calls into question the views expressed by Lord Naseby, who is the Chairman of the Maldives-British all-party Parliamentarian Group across both Houses, that he had been involved in Maldives’ affairs since 1963 and dismisses him as an “irritant” to the MDP and calls his statement about the MDP and democracy “funny”.
Further statements accused the Lord’s statement, and by implication the work of the All-Party Group he was representing, as “absurd” and “baseless.”
In a further, serious allegation, the MDP implied that Naseby’s statements and conduct were biased and improper because he had made several of his visits “courtesy of the government of Maldives.”
In one article, Hardingham is quoted as rhetorically asking: “If Lord Naseby has been involved in Maldives for such a long period of time, why hasn’t he brought to the attention of the UK Government the torture and human rights abuses that have taken place under the regime of both Nasir and Gayoom?”
Observers point out that Lord Naseby, does not raise the issue exactly because he knows that in truth no great human rights abuses have taken place in the Maldives. “The allegations are pure fantasy, fabricated by the MDP, and it is clear that the Lord has little time for allegations with no basis in fact. Lord Naseby is a frequent traveler to the Maldives with many Maldivian acquaintances and he is known to have an intimate knowledge of the country rarely seen in a non-Maldivian”, says Hameed Zakariyya, an ex-official at the Maldives Foreign Ministry.
“Hardingham, on the other hand, has never visited the Maldives and whatever ‘information’ he has is gathered through third or even fourth hand sources and websites of ill-repute. He has also shown a willingness to say anything his paymasters demand of him, irrespective of his own views.”
“The MDP’s official statements repeat a tiresome list of unfounded allegations. It is the fact that few people in the outside world and in the Maldives believe them that forces them to be so repetitive.
“Repetition used to work for a while, but people now are more aware that repeating a fabrication does not make it a fact. You can’t expect to fool someone like Lord Naseby.”
The article also included other factual errors such as alleging that Lord Naseby visited the Maldives in September 2005 (see screenshot above, click on the image to enlarge),
Some MDP members have expressed surprise at Hardingham’s decision to attack Naseby, who is well regarded by all parties in both Houses in the UK. A journalist with close MDP links explained: “I think Dave has made a blunder this time. How can he, who struggled to make a living, let alone support a family, before he came by MDP’s riches, expect to comment on the careers of distinguished public servants such as Gayoom and Naseby who have decades-long records of honourable, unblemished service?
“Dave will now find himself in the media spotlight. In the media climate which the MDP has put in place in the Maldives, he and the MDP will face a thorough examination.
“This time round though, he might expect something even more severe; he has picked on the wrong person, and he may be held to account to explain his words and motives.”
The MDP media machine, sensing its faux pas, was quick to pull down some of the stronger words on their websites. However it was not before the damage had been done: many news services including olhuala.com were able to grab incriminating screen shots.
Some of the Dhivehi language material on Lord Naseby distributed by the MDP, which included material too malicious and filthy to reproduce, were still in circulation in print and on the Internet last night.
Click to read full story