05 January 2004
By Mohamed Nasheed

The economic loss from the Tsunami disaster to the Maldives seems comparatively higher than most other countries affected by the tragedy, mainly due to the fact that more than 70% of the Maldives’ economic activities are in one way or another related to tourism.

Bed capacity utilisation since the Tsunami is at an all time low of 10% to 15%. Tourism revenue is heavily hit. Damage to public property and livelihoods are extremely high. United Nations agencies in the Maldives report that more than half the inhabited islands of the country have substantial damage to harbours, sewage systems, sea walls, and other basic infrastructure; 8% of the population are being evacuated and as more than 19% of the population are without drinking water

People desperately need help, Maldives

While rebuilding the damage with out international assistance will of course be outside the scope of a small state such as the Maldives, simply rebuilding the existing physical structures - without building democracy - will be inviting further disaster upon the people of Maldives.

During the past 25 years the country has experienced some very impressive economic growth. This economic achievement was facilitated by the growth of an organised tourism industry; nevertheless, the industry itself is controlled by the ruling elite through a complex system of patronage and reward. Alluding to this reality, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in its December 2004 assessment on the Maldives pointed out that, “Patronage relationships are strongly engrained throughout the country, particularly in the public sector. The reach of the government, and individuals connected with the government, effects lives and livelihoods either directly or through family or business arrangements.”

The present regime has, in the past suppressed all forms of dissent, held a very firm grip on society and defined behavioural norms in accordance to their single party thinking, coining pluralistic democracy as “chaotic democracy”.

On the margins of these power games a new middleclass has sprung up, and more alarmingly a many fold expansion of an underclass is crippling the society with drug related crimes and juvenile delinquency. The exponential increase in the number of political activists hungry for change, is of course related to this reality. The extent and the manner of their empowerment to obtain tools and methods of achieving change are worthy of many studies.

The past few years have seen some wide ranging political developments in the Maldives. The country has seen the birth and the growth of a pro democracy freedom movement demanding greater political reform and the establishment of pluralistic democracy. In many instances the exiled Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has been spearheading this movement.

Blind assistance to the government of Maldives runs the risk of propping up an ailing single party apparatus without which the people of the Maldives would do better in their reconstruction efforts.

With out political parties, governance in the Maldives remains closed and therefore prone to abuse and corruption. The NDI delegation to the Maldives, based on their interviews, “believes that the support for genuine political change within the county is both broad and deep, extending well beyond the opposition MDP and the opposition leaders that have been detained by the government.”

MDP remains unregistered in the Maldives. The government of Maldives maintains that the reason is legal while the MDP maintains that it is more political.

NDI in its “Assessment of the Opportunities and the Challenges to the Development of Political Parties in the Maldives” subscribes more to the MDP position. In the report NDI states that “The assessment team met a wide number of lawyers during the assessment mission. Privately, virtually all indicated that the decision not to allow the registration [of MDP] was driven by politics rather than law.”

Before bankrolling the reconstruction of the Maldives – and inadvertently propping up a crumbling dictatorship - the international community must use its newfound power as the ‘lender-of-last resorts’ in the Maldives to demand an opening up of the political system and the granting of registration to the MDP.