Gayoom’s grave message

On that day when President Nasheed was sworn into office, though Gayoom was smiling at the ceremony, I knew that a bloody dictator like Gayoom could never leave the Maldives presidency alone.

And I was right. According to new evidence, it is emerging that Gayoom “stepped down gracefully” on that day in order to set an international legacy that he was a dictator who accepted his end peacefully.

A person like Gayoom on whom Egyptian nationalist Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Libyan dictator Qaddafi, Iraqi dictator Saddam, and Egyptian dictator Mubarak made an impression as a youngster can never be expected to leave power so easily and in such humiliating manner. We all know that ‘humble’ isn’t a word that belongs in narcissist Gayoom’s dictionary.

So yesterday, this Haveeru news item, which has not been translated into English (any particular reason?), has given us more than a hint that Gayoom is not ready to accept CONI’s report on the 30th if it’s not in his favor. We have such puppets as Adhaalath Party’s President Sheikh Imran Abdulla (the one who infamously impregnated his sister-in-law) now even warning the Human Rights Commission of Maldives of “consequences from the CONI report” – of what nature he did not elaborate, making his remark sound more ominous. Perhaps a dire warning that Gayoom is willing to shed reformists’ blood just to cling onto power?

But an Australian friend of mine who lives in the Maldives today told me over telephone that he believes that “Gayoom may not be the singular great force behind the coup because Gayoom’s current criticism of Waheed gives the impression that Waheed is not a puppet and has a mind of his own.

“The coup was more like all anti-Nasheed elements operating independently on their own, like Al-Qaeda cells, with a single focus on overthrowing him.

“But whatever happens, Gayoom would definitely want to become the next presidential candidate (from the coalition) and not Yameen as some might expect because Gayoom is delusional enough to believe that he is the only one capable of running this country – not to mention that Gayoom’s children are more loyal to his brother-in-law Ilyas Ibrahim and at loggerheads with Yameen’s and Hameed’s side of the family.

“However, Gayoom is too old now to be taken seriously. No one from the younger generations of Maldivians gives any prominence to him anymore. And the Maldivian public now knows of his torturous past. So nobody takes him seriously anymore. It’s only Waheed’s government which approves of itself while the Maldivian public largely is backing the MDP.

“It’s like we now have two governments operating side-by-side in the Maldives; one belonging to Waheed who is recognized as President by only coup supporters while the rest of the Maldives still regard Nasheed as the real President and even continue to address him as ‘President Nasheed’”.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2012 at 2:31 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.