(S)Election of a leader

mdp elects a new leader. a leader who would lead us to a post maumoon era. let me personally congratulate ibra for winning this vote and all others for securing their seats within mdp.
As I was saying in my previous post about the division within mdp, that is between the addu runners and the male' elites are obvious-i dont want this widening gap between the two factions to become the demise of this party. I am not trying to recapitulate what people have written on other pro government websites. but I agree to the fact that none of the addu candidates were elected, this does say a lot in terms of the popular creed within mdp ledership and where mdp is heading. I have become more and more wary of mdp dealings now that the results are public. how did mdp, fighting for the very ideals of democracy end up looking so skewed?
I do not say that the votes were rigged. this was a fair election unlike all of maumoon's elections done in 26 years.... However one should not only stress about the working procedure of the election but also the system it use..this election clearly unmasked the flaws of democarcy. how could a small nation like us try to mimic a western style democracy from letter to letter? How could 200 or so voters represent the ideals of a whole population. yes yes..they were representatives, i agree. But does the people representing these people have a say on what these representatives voted for? this would have worked in a mature democracy where these representatives were really "representatives" of a certain distict. I also do not think that the populations of rural islands knew what was going on... why did mdp not hold a country wide poll in electing the positions.. this was one time that this nation could have been proud to elect a leader and really nullify maumoon's farcical elections? how could mdp even think that this population is mature enough to have a party election in such a scurry and suddenly elect a LEADER? no one doubts that this is how its conducted in other democratic nations.. but as I have been saying in all my posts,, we are different, we need a system that suits us.. and the way mdp elected the party leaders are unfair and undemocratic.
I am pretty sure mdp knew this.. yes they knew.. yet they went ahead cause they wanted specific individuals to hold certain positions... and their excuse was that this was the way it was done in other countries. what a cheap excuse. I am utterly disgusted that the members of mdp had not voiced out their concerns regarding their own party's conduct. true empowerment is when one could critically be self reflexive and look at her/his own self and own party to root out flaws. anyways may be I am the only one sweating about this and this was really the popular yearnings of the people.. As for me I will still hold on to what I have said and from this day will not support mdp...

In my quest to figure out which party to sign up, I have been able to eliminate .. drp and mdp as my choices.. however anni will still remain as my hero regardless of his position in mdp.

anyways enough grousing.. I was also pondering why Dr. waheed did not get elected. he certainly seemed popular, definitely amongst mdp general public. my only impression is that people want someone with louder rhetoric unlike waheed who seems to be much more prudent. Having said that, days of diplomacy with maumoon is over and looks like ibra is the kind of person who can drag maumoon down- diplomatically or not.. I will be waiting to see Dr. Waheed's next step. Funny thing is that Ibra being the mdp leader is so much better for drp as well. Dr. waheed would have killed drp by absorbing the educated force who are still reluctant to join mdp. During the run up to the mdp elections, I was reading the government websites and was surprised to see all the vilification of ibra on their sites. At that time I was pretty confused as I thought their aim would be to revile Dr.waheed since he is a much bigger threat in the long term. Now I know.. they were just playing the game and I think the government knew all along that the person they disparage would be gettin better support from the mdp public. Now both DRP and MDP are happy with the elected individuals..

at the end of the day I think its adduians who suffered greatly in this mdp election. I also think that mdp knew that if they have held a nation wide poll the party will be filled by adduians since most of their members are from this atoll. I think the DRP wanted anyone but Dr.waheed and they got their wish.

The above post are just my random ponderings regarding the mdp election. The thoughts are not necessarily true or factual. I urge the readers seek their own truth. for those who email me about the factual errors in my writing and those who email slander on issues they do not agree, please do not email me as I will not reply, you are more than welcome to correct the error by leaving a public feedback.

A Leader is not a man...Its a Concept

less than a weeks before mdp will have its general election. I wonder how this will turn out? It looks like a clear division has started to form within mdp. this division is not really along party lines but rather amongst the people (mdp and drp) who are fighting to bring "adduans" in to the maldives political forefront and those faction that want to retain the power within the male' elites. hence waheed, i think will be the sure winner as the majority of the players want to retain the power in the hands of male elite. sick, i know.. one wonders the very essence of democracy, not to say that adduans being in power would be good or bad but the fact that the very people who are fighting to bring true democracy to this country is laying its foundation through undemocratic means. than again may be that’s democracy, maybe its all about how good you are able to sell your product to the masses rather than the actual product itself. In any case for now people just need anything but the current government so the masses don’t really care if the power is retained in male or addu. this whole addu vs male might seem an over blown comment but if one looks deep in our history there has always been a struggle and a fight between the male' elites (who most of them are adduians too) and the addu community in the south.
Adduans in spite of their hardship seem to be one of the most progressive atoll in maldives. Most people will argue this is because of the British naval base during the 1940's. However to think that a few years of a naval base to have such a profound impact for a few generations might be too superficial. I am no historian or know anything about this atoll, but i am pretty sure there must be other historical reasons. anyhow..
the above paragraph was written a few weeks back and never got to finish it.. so i will try to continue here.. it looks like the division is between waheeds camp and iburas camp are widening. personally i do not know any of these two people and i have not signed for any party. but after much debate i have chosen to support waheed, not that i will actively support him or join mdp. but just reiterating my preference. this is of course subject to change. i have reasons too. it looks like the male' elites and the business community want to elect ibura. these include the drp, the illyas and yaamin gang. let me deviate a little here. when i say drp illyas and yameen i do not mean there is a division amongst the drp. as long as maumoon is in power these three forces will feed each other irrespective of their desire to come/remain in power in a post maumoon era as they all exist because of each other. anyways back to waheed and ibura. as far as i can see they want to bring ibura to power in the hope of easy manipulation or easy buy out (please note that i am not saying that ibura is as such.. i am just noting the reason behind drps choice of promoting ibura). waheed on the other hand has had a lot of experience in the international stage as a leader which is the reason why i have decided to support him. long before any of the other contestants, waheed was fighting for reform many years back and was driven out of this country. in a way waheed holds a sort of nostalgic memory. i remember when i was a kid and saw the thumbs up sign all over male' and was sure the fruit of revolution was near. years has passed...and the new kids on the block will have the same jubilant ecstasy this time too.. i just hope this generation will taste the fruits that we never got to taste... regardless of who come to power.
drp has also gone on the offensive. sure enough their support seems to be increasing too..
oh one more thing.. i heard maumoon and sappes interview on bbc radio.. gosh both these people were pathetic. they were like two little kids complaining to big daddy.. for crying out loud.. GROW UP GUYS... maumoon must have been on a special diet to egoistically claim that he initiated reform..doesnt the president know that each president takes over from the predecessor for the very purpose of reform. If not than where is the progress.. I guess this is the admission that for more than 20 years we have been stagnant.. than came sappes chance.. he just ranted and finally said there is progress made and this was because of peoples power.. dear sappe that is democracy.. and that admission renders all your previous statements false.. let me tell you something.. Nothing has changed at the very deeper level. Yes party system, and all that have been formed but those are very superficial elements of a democracy.... what is at the root of any society is their deeper ideological values, thinking and aspirations. This has not changed..and maumoon is doing all he can to maintain this and bring about cosmetic facelift to please international communities who are too eager and happy to play along as long as their corporations can operate the maldivian resorts...at the same time to think that displacement of maumoon will solve all our problem is fictitious. The social matrix and our societies power system is so intertwined with our ideologies that to think muamoon as a single man holding the power is naive...let me quote this.. you are agree or not…Power, according to Foucault
“must be analyzed as something which circulates, or rather as something which only functions in the form of a chain. It is never localized here or there, never in anybody’s hands, never appropriated as a commodity or piece of wealth. Power is employed and exercised through a net-like organization… [Individuals] are not only its inert or consenting target; they are always also the elements of its articulation. …Individuals are the vehicles of power, not its points of application” (Power/Knowledge, 98). i fear maumon’s demises will result in the birth of another dictator and the power matrix will remain un-rattled.