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MDP refuse to condemn cartoons mocking Islam
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Moonisa Easa, Political Analyst
Male’, Maldives, 4th February 2006 (www.olhuala.com) – Deliberations among the MDP’s leaders and their foreign backers have led to the decision to refuse or delay a formal condemnation of the publication of cartoons which insult Islam. The Maldivian government and the other political parties were quick in denouncing and condemning the publication by Danish and other European newspapers.
The party is faced with a dilemma: they have to issue a condemnation to appear respectable to Maldivian eyes, but such a condemnation flies in the face of their international message of ‘freedom of expression with no limits.’ While leader Ibrahim Ismail and most of the leadership were reported to be in favour of issuing a press release, it appears that David Hardingham and Chairman Mohamed Nasheed (Annie) have prevailed for the moment.
The Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) ordinary membership has always expressed concern about the excessive influence foreign nationals and groups exert on MDP policy. Annie takes advise almost exclusively from David Hardingham, owner of the MDP mouthpiece Minivan Group and founder of Maldives Aid the British charity, and director of the unregistered ‘Friends of Maldives’. He is also reportedly in constant dialogue with evangelical groups to secure funding for the MDP.
It is also widely understood that the MDP’s chief strategist is Nicholas Grace, a man who works with Annie and Hardingham as ‘an expert in psychological warfare’, and not Ibra, Annie or anybody in the shadow cabinet or the national executive.
Olhuala.com understands that Ibra has agreed to a ‘wait and see’ approach to how the row develops. For the moment, the party is keeping to its usual practice of concerning itself only with the issues facing the party’s most powerful individuals.
However, increased media pressure is expected to force the MDP’s hand within the next few days.
The publication of cartoons in the Danish press, which have since been reproduced in newspapers in Germany and France among other countries, has led to a great furore. Muslim communities in Europe and populations in Middle Eastern countries have held demonstrations denouncing the European Press.
While this issue has taken center stage, pushing politics to one side, even in the Maldives, the MDP’s lax attitude is taken by locals as indicative of its lack of commitment to the preservation of religious values.
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