As Christmas draws near, The Maldives is bracing for another showdown between the traditional, democratic Maldivian Islamists and those who hold extreme views on Islam.
And, according to a top source, The Maldives believes there is Pakistani money helping the extremists.
Last Christmas, trouble erupted after a restaurant decorated itself for Christmas. Under Maldivian law, no religion barring Islam can be publicly practised. The buntings were pulled down in no time but as news spread, protesters filed into the capital, Male, and ended up fighting pitched battles with the police. Tourism during the season took a serious knock after the protests.
The religious extremists, growing in numbers despite international efforts to preserve the Maldivian brand of tolerant Islam, have called for a protest on December 23. The Opposition has backed the protests. One official told The Hindu that the protesters had received support from both Pakistan and the former Maldivian President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Against the backdrop of religious protests over the past few weeks, and the vandalism of SAARC monuments, the government has made it clear that it will stand up to the attempts to push the country into the hands of fanatics.
Ahead of the religious protest, President Mohamed Nasheed defended Islam as practised in the Maldives. In his weekly radio address on Friday, Mr. Nasheed said “in the name of protecting Islam, the real call of these religious protestors is to initiate the implementation of Islamic penalties such as stoning, amputations and execution in the Maldives.”
Speaking at a rally on Saturday, the President also defended traditional cultural practices such as playing and listening to music. He also defended the role of women in society, noting that “women have been in the Maldivian workforce as long as men.”
The President said political parties must publicly state which form of Islam they support, “the Islam we have been practicing in this country for several hundred years… or a new faction of Islam.” The President said he wanted the traditional version of Islam to continue to be practised in the Maldives.
A release said the organisers of the protest have been questioned by the police after posting messages on the homepage of their official website, 23December.com, calling on people to “fight against all un-Islamic ideas”, “take the life” of anyone who challenged Islam “regardless of their party affiliation”, and “slaughter anyone against Islam”.
Protest organisers Sheikh Imran Abdullah, President of the Adhaalath Party, and Abdullah Mohamed, head of a coalition of religious NGOs, were questioned by police.
The Adhaalath Party initially told local media that the violent messages were uploaded because of “a mistake on the [website] technical teams' side.” However, senior Adhaalath Party member Shiekh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed later said the messages of violence had been posted by “spies.”
Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said on Monday: “Former President Gayoom, the Adhaalath Party and religious extremists are whipping up hatred, intolerance and xenophobia for political purposes. They hope to topple the government from the streets because they can't defeat it through the ballot box.”
But not all agree with the government view. Vocal protestors who have occupied every fora, including the Internet insist that the protest is to inform people and force the government to “reverse every un-Islamic thing” done, “stop trying to bring freedom of religion, gay rights and also dealing with Israel.” One writer, venting on the Minivan News website, told Mr. Nasheed: “Choose honest people who fear Allah (swt) and has no love for Israel. Also tell the U.N. that our current constitution is perfect the way it is and we do not need a non-Muslim coming to tell us how to live when they cannot solve their own problems in the UN. From what I last recall, United Nation is still not a democracy.”
Keywords: The Maldives, Pakistan, Maldivian Islamists, extremism
Maldives is still a very young country. It hasn't undergone the harsh realities and violent outbursts India has gone through. So people are still pretty intolerant and ignorant. My deepest apologies to Indians on what Nadheed has said. Though probably dressed as the prophet (or because of that), people like him have forgotten to be like the prophet on the inside too. The Prophet has clearly told us not to insult those of other religions, fearing that this would put our own religion at stake. It saddens me that such people exist among us. My deepest apologies. Please don't judge all of us to be like Nadheed. I have a beard myself but I'm no extremist. India has taught me much and I'd like to visit the place more.
We never had very good support to Adaalath (islamic) party here in Maldives at the begining. The previous election results are the proofs. We actualy never had a problem of extremism. Several people have been killed on the streets of Male in gang fights. While hundreds of Tourists walks around Male everyday in mini skitrs and bikinis, we never had experienced any sort of attack or harrasment to them as well. Thereofre, it is clear that we never had any religous extremism here until today. The 23rd demonstration is not simply by Adaalath party. It is supported by all political the parties and non-political organizations. So the popularity and capability of the present governmnet is questibale. After all, the president has announced that he will go with his supports (which is fewer in nubers and many are criminals just released from prisons after he hastaken over the government) on the street on the same day dto demonstrate against the opposition demonstration.
To sahil:
regarding why it only happens to muslim majority nations... why does
Indian government have to protest against banning of Gita in russia?
India officially is a secular republic and the matters of religion
within another state is of no concern to india? Why did india have to
protest over alleged harrasment of malaysian tamil hindus who had no
relation to india whatsover... why didnt india protest over banning of
hijab in france or belgium? . The point being that people in general
reach out to their religious brethren, the indian government attitude
shows itself acting as an hindu government rather than a secular
government and similarly if some sections of pakistani government acts
as a muslim agency. why all the fuss?
On a side note if the indian government can pump money into
afghanistan and translate indian tv programs into pashtu for free so
as to make people subscribe to india rather than pakistan, even
pakistan would do the same where ever possible.
India and Indian are becoming a pain in daily lives of Maldivians.India is trying to snatch our daily bread.Leave us alone India.Look at your backyard and do the correction.You have the most corruption. Clean your backyard my friends.
I urge the foreign media to look at facts and figures and commissioned reports. I urge the international community to refer to our economic situation. The impending riots are not even close to being religiously motivated. Islam is the language used to articulate the frustrations of the Maldivian people this time around. Human Rights was the fashionable one in 2008. The fact of the matter is since the 2004 Tsunami, the Maldivian people have been experiencing rising inflation and loss of spending power. This led to more introspection thereby hammering home the actual situation of the Maldives. Poor housing conditions, malnutrition, an education system with no connection to the job market and erratic consumer behavior coupled with an expanding government. These are the actual reasons behind the 2008 vote. NOT HUMAN RIGHTS and NOT THE MDP. What the people voted for was a chance to change their life for the better.
The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, allowed Christians to pray in their own fashion inside his mosque, so these Maldivian Muslims should follow the example of their prophet. They should not take down any Christmas decorations.
The Holy Quran states: There is no compulsion in religion. Consequently, they cannot tell Christians that they cannot make a show on their holy day.
This is the condition of minorities in almost all muslim countries. Organized religion is the bane of mankind as evident from history and even present. That's why one sane person says, "Evil people will do evil under any excuse, but it takes religion for normal people to do evil."
We heard Saudi poured money into Pakistan and made it more extremist state. We see Malaysia becoming more fundamentalist state and deviating from its impression of being fairly secular country. And now we hear how Pakistan can pump money into Maldives and make people subscribe to more extremist ideology.
I wonder why does this happen only to muslim majority nations. I am not pointing anything against religion, but isn't it a fair question to ask?
India should have attacked Maldives long time back and merged it into
us. Now Pakistan making influence. But anyways no problems we will
handle Pakis.
I dont understand why you relate religious extremism with 23rd december protest. It is just a peacefull rally organised by Adalath Party. Gayoom is not in the Maldives even at the moment. how can we organise the protest? i dont understand why indian news papers get into our internal matters. i guess your religeous and non-religious parties have a protest almost everyday? we never talk about it here in the Maldives.
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