Thursday, September 12, 2013
November 03 Attacks and Some Facts
Maldives: November 3rd, 2012 marks the 24th anniversary of the bloody
massacre that left the blackest of stains on Maldivian hearts and
history. Nineteen innocent Maldivians were slaughtered and several
injured. Hundreds were held at gunpoint for hours, many later taken away
as hostages. Immense damage was given to public and private property.
Maldives was rescued by troops sent by Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi. The
leader of the failed coup was a man called Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku, a
man who had previous convictions for coup attempts against previous
governments. The coup leader's nephew, Mohamed Nasheed, was installed as
President in 2008, at the head of a political party whose top
leadership comprised of family members and others involved in the 1988
November 3 massacre.
Nasheed's cabinet, senior political advisors and state ministers
included terrorists convicted for their involvement in the November 3
massacre. As Nasheed denounces the current government of Dr. Mohamed
Waheed Hassan as having usurped power in a military coup, it is timely
to look at a real coup, the November 3 armed attack on Maldives, and its
intricate links to Nasheed and the Maldivian Democratic Party. This
article is the first in a series of articles which attempts to throw
light onto these links.
Perhaps the most accurate classification of the November 3 coup was that of Nasheed's Chief of Staff Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel. Moosa Jaleel, then a Lieutenant in the armed forces, had led an armed troop of 10 servicemen out of the military headquarters within which the military were pinned down by the mercenaries in their surprise attack.
In an interview to the daily paper Haveeru on 4 November 2010, Major General Jaleel said, "It wasn't a coup to overthrow the government of the time. November 3 was a massacre of the Maldivian people. I say this, because, if it was an attempt to overthrow the Government, then why did they fire at unarmed civilains? Why did they shoot unarmed civilians with guns held at their head, innocents who had no military or government involvement?".
He pointed out that the armed Maldivians and their mercenaries used their military weaponry to fire at innocent unarmed civilians, civilians who were going about their daily lives. "The attackers were acting in a war syndrome", Major General Jaleel said, "Their mentality was to kill any moving thing that could move from one place to another".
Although the PLOTE (Sri Lankan People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) mercenaries were led in the field by only two Maldivians, investigations later revealed their masters and others who had participated in the coup. The attack leader was an escaped convict called Abdulla Luthufee, of H. Haajaraage. His paymaster and coup leader was Sikka Ahmed Ismail (Bodu Sikka), Nasheed's uncle. As was the case with Sikka Ahmed, Luthufee too had been convicted on a previous attempt to smuggle in guns to kill the then President Ibrahim Nasir. Luthufee was the man assigned the task of shooting President Nasir.
In the November 3rd court case against him, Abdulla Luthufee testified
how he was paid and kept in Colombo by Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku. It was
revealed that all Luthufee's expenses from a young age had been met by
his "benefactor" Sikka Ahmed Ismail. From a very young age, Luthufee was
engaged in a homosexual relationship with Sikka Ahmed Ismail. Sikka
Ahmed was well known in local circles and in Colombo as a homosexual who
kept various young boys as bed partners at various locations in Male'
and Colombo.
Former President Nasheed was another young man whose expenses were looked after by Sikka Ahmed Ismail, on the largesse Sikka Ahmed received from tourism resorts and permits given by his two assassination targets, Presidents Ibrahim Nasir and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed's British education, his years in Sri Lanka and later his "opposition" activities in Male' were funded by Sikka Ahmed whose objective was to project a close family member into Maldivian politics. His choice, a militant nephew, with a family history of coup attempts, Mohamed Nasheed.
Nasheed's father Kerafaa Abdul Sattar was also a member of the Nasir
assassination plot.
Kerafa Abdul Sattar was tried for attempting to assassinate the
President and sentenced to imprisonment during Nasir's Presidency.
Kerafa Abdul Sattar's father Kerafa Dhon Maniku (Umar) (Nasheed's
grandfather) was also a convicted coup leader, who attempted to
assassinate then President Mohamed Amin Didi.November 3rd coup leader
Sikka Ahmed Ismail is married to Kerafa Dhon Maniku's daughter Kerafa
Zameera (Nasheed's father's sister).
Sikka Ahmed Ismail solicited the business backing for Nasheed, through Ali Abdulla (Aliya), Gasim Ibrahim (Villa),Go-Go Latheef and others, some based in Colombo and India (more on these links in the next article).
Eleven of the group of Maldivians who brought about the hundred or so Tamil terrorists to seize the Maldives were captured, tried and sentenced. Some local leaders of the coup group escaped justice and still roam at large. Sikka Ahmed Ismail was arrested, and sentenced to death by the High Court. However, using powers vested in the President under the Constitution, President Gayoom granted him a stay of execution and his sentence was commuted to a life term. Gayoom pardoned him in 1994 in humanitarian grounds, due to cardiovascular conditions said to be as a result of his heavy drinking. Sikka Ahmed Ismail was reported to be living in self-imposed exile near Ja-ela, Sri Lanka, until his nephew Nasheed became President.
Luthufee was also sentenced to death for his role in the massacre of 19
innocent Maldives, but Gayoom commuted the sentence to life
imprisonment. Keeping up a barrage of requests for medical treatment
Luthufee managed to travel to Sri Lanka and India under Government
funds, before finally escaping his captors in Sri Lanka. No attempt was
made by the Nasheed Government to bring him back to serve his sentence,
and Luthufee was allowed to roam freely, even giving media interviews to
Sri Lankan Papers (The Island, November 3, 2011) with Nasheed's version
of the November 3rd coup.
The most direct five links of the Nasheed presidency to Sikka Ahmed Ismail and his lifelong work to gain the presidency are five individuals who were all directly involved in the November 3 coup: Ibrahim Hussain Zaki (Nasheed's Special Envoy), Foreign Minister Kerafa Ahmed Naseem (Nasheed's second cousin), his Defence Minister Ameen Faisal (convicted terrorist for his involvement in November 3 coup), Minister of State for Defence Abdulla Shahid (convicted terrorist for his involvement in November 3 coup) and Faruhath Shaheer (Vice Chief of Staff, Defence Ministry). An indirect but equally powerful link is via Aminath Jameel (Nasheed's Minister of Health under whom large scale corruption occurred in the Ministry). Mrs Jameel was the wife of Sikka Ahmed's younger brother, Sikka Mohamed Ismail Maniku (Kuda Sikka).
Zaki, Sikka's close personal friend and drinking buddy, forged the link
between PLOTE leader Uma Maheshwaram and Sikka's coup team. Zaki, who
was associated with Uma Maheshwaram, arranged for a meeting between
Sikka's assistant Abdulla Luthufee and Maheshwaram in Colombo in 1986.
At the meeting, Luthufee put forward Sikka's plan for toppling the
Maldivian Government and offered Maheshwaram a tourist resort, training
grounds for PLOTE cadres and Maldives as a route to supply PLOTE with
military arms. Upon Maheswaram's agreement to provide mercenaries for
Sikka's armed attack, Sikka provided Maheshwaram with free lodging at
his house in Colombo for the one and a half year period leading up to
the November 3 attack. Luthufee also lived at the same house.
Maheshwaram was introduced to Maldivian visitors as Mohamed, a Malaysian
business partner of Luthufee's.
Zaki's involvement in the November 3 coup was reported by Sikka Ahmed, Luthufee and Karo Abbas (a retired serviceman who provided military details to Luthufee and Maheshwaram). However, Zaki's name was struck from the records upon direct instructions from the Commander in Chief Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, for reasons unstated in military records. Zaki, hailing from a prominent family with a past history of attempts to usurp the country's top posts, was at the time the Foreign Secretary. Military records however reportedly include a photo of Zaki standing with Uma Maheswaram at a PLOTE military camp during preparations for the attack on Maldives.
Zaki's next involvement with Sikka's political machinations came with the move to register the Maldivian Democratic Party. At that time, the lead was taken by the business group above mentioned. Zaki, then Minister of Planning, and Attorney General Dr. Mohamed Munawwar, had secretly met with the MDP group and agreed to provide support to the petition in cabinet and in Parliament. As the nascent MDP print media reported at the time, Zaki had in fact vowed to resign from his cabinet post if the party was not registered and had then reneged on his agreement. Zaki later went on to be installed by Nasheed as the interim President of the MDP, a post he held for over two years without election.
Since Nasheed swore in as President on 11 November 2008, November 3rd has not been marked by the Maldivian Government. On the contrary, it made concerted efforts to wipe-out the massacre from Maldivian minds by providing various spin. Zaki, Ameen Faisal and Faruhath Shaheer, three men deeply involved in the coup, together with Mohamed Aslam (Nasheed's Housing Minister) led the attempted whitewash. Zaki attempted to justify the coup, with various media interviews, while Ameen and Shaheer attempted to provide false information on the events.
His cousin Kerafa Naseem (son of Nasheed's grandfather's brother
Kerafa Mohamed Kaleyfaanu) was also involved in an attempted military
coup in 1980. He hired nine British Special Air Services (SAS) Commandos
to kill then President Gayoom. The team arrived in Maldives, smuggling
in their light arms under the guise of diving equipments. However, they
did not attempt to discharge their mercenary contract upon finding out
that the Maldivian Government had been tipped off about the planned assassination. In the inquiry, they
reported the individuals involved leading to
the arrest of Naseem and his partners in the coup attempt. Naseem was convicted and exiled.
Naseem too was pardoned by Gayoom and served in senior posts in the Gayoom administration, including that of Director of Foreign Investments at which post he is alleged to have engaged in large scale corruption and graft. Kerafa Ahmed Naseem's family background too is well documented fraud, corruption and attempted political assassinations, with most damning being where his father Kerafa Mohamed Kaleyfaanu robbed his brother Nakhudha Hassan Kaleyfaanu's wealth upon his death.
In October 2011, State Bank of India filed several cases agains Naseem and his family, for non payment of a large number of loans, totalling over Mrf 27 million. The case was filed against Naseem and other heirs of his mother Mariyam Ismail: Naseema Mohamed, Saleema Mohamed, Waseema Mohamed, Asima Mohamed, and Umaima Mohamed. The case was also filed against other guarantors: Ali Saleem of Henveiru Hikifinifenmage; Abdul Aziz of Maafannu Athassaagiri; and Mohamed Shiyam of Henveiru Maabadeyri Aage.
Perhaps one of the most accurate pictures of Nasheed's particular brand of "political activism" is best seen in the events of February 8th as Nasheed led rampaging mobs in an attempt to wrest the Presidency back, within 48 hours of his resignation from office.
Perhaps the most accurate classification of the November 3 coup was that of Nasheed's Chief of Staff Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel. Moosa Jaleel, then a Lieutenant in the armed forces, had led an armed troop of 10 servicemen out of the military headquarters within which the military were pinned down by the mercenaries in their surprise attack.
In an interview to the daily paper Haveeru on 4 November 2010, Major General Jaleel said, "It wasn't a coup to overthrow the government of the time. November 3 was a massacre of the Maldivian people. I say this, because, if it was an attempt to overthrow the Government, then why did they fire at unarmed civilains? Why did they shoot unarmed civilians with guns held at their head, innocents who had no military or government involvement?".
He pointed out that the armed Maldivians and their mercenaries used their military weaponry to fire at innocent unarmed civilians, civilians who were going about their daily lives. "The attackers were acting in a war syndrome", Major General Jaleel said, "Their mentality was to kill any moving thing that could move from one place to another".
Although the PLOTE (Sri Lankan People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) mercenaries were led in the field by only two Maldivians, investigations later revealed their masters and others who had participated in the coup. The attack leader was an escaped convict called Abdulla Luthufee, of H. Haajaraage. His paymaster and coup leader was Sikka Ahmed Ismail (Bodu Sikka), Nasheed's uncle. As was the case with Sikka Ahmed, Luthufee too had been convicted on a previous attempt to smuggle in guns to kill the then President Ibrahim Nasir. Luthufee was the man assigned the task of shooting President Nasir.
Former President Nasheed was another young man whose expenses were looked after by Sikka Ahmed Ismail, on the largesse Sikka Ahmed received from tourism resorts and permits given by his two assassination targets, Presidents Ibrahim Nasir and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed's British education, his years in Sri Lanka and later his "opposition" activities in Male' were funded by Sikka Ahmed whose objective was to project a close family member into Maldivian politics. His choice, a militant nephew, with a family history of coup attempts, Mohamed Nasheed.
Sikka Ahmed Ismail solicited the business backing for Nasheed, through Ali Abdulla (Aliya), Gasim Ibrahim (Villa),Go-Go Latheef and others, some based in Colombo and India (more on these links in the next article).
Eleven of the group of Maldivians who brought about the hundred or so Tamil terrorists to seize the Maldives were captured, tried and sentenced. Some local leaders of the coup group escaped justice and still roam at large. Sikka Ahmed Ismail was arrested, and sentenced to death by the High Court. However, using powers vested in the President under the Constitution, President Gayoom granted him a stay of execution and his sentence was commuted to a life term. Gayoom pardoned him in 1994 in humanitarian grounds, due to cardiovascular conditions said to be as a result of his heavy drinking. Sikka Ahmed Ismail was reported to be living in self-imposed exile near Ja-ela, Sri Lanka, until his nephew Nasheed became President.
The most direct five links of the Nasheed presidency to Sikka Ahmed Ismail and his lifelong work to gain the presidency are five individuals who were all directly involved in the November 3 coup: Ibrahim Hussain Zaki (Nasheed's Special Envoy), Foreign Minister Kerafa Ahmed Naseem (Nasheed's second cousin), his Defence Minister Ameen Faisal (convicted terrorist for his involvement in November 3 coup), Minister of State for Defence Abdulla Shahid (convicted terrorist for his involvement in November 3 coup) and Faruhath Shaheer (Vice Chief of Staff, Defence Ministry). An indirect but equally powerful link is via Aminath Jameel (Nasheed's Minister of Health under whom large scale corruption occurred in the Ministry). Mrs Jameel was the wife of Sikka Ahmed's younger brother, Sikka Mohamed Ismail Maniku (Kuda Sikka).
Zaki's involvement in the November 3 coup was reported by Sikka Ahmed, Luthufee and Karo Abbas (a retired serviceman who provided military details to Luthufee and Maheshwaram). However, Zaki's name was struck from the records upon direct instructions from the Commander in Chief Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, for reasons unstated in military records. Zaki, hailing from a prominent family with a past history of attempts to usurp the country's top posts, was at the time the Foreign Secretary. Military records however reportedly include a photo of Zaki standing with Uma Maheswaram at a PLOTE military camp during preparations for the attack on Maldives.
Zaki's next involvement with Sikka's political machinations came with the move to register the Maldivian Democratic Party. At that time, the lead was taken by the business group above mentioned. Zaki, then Minister of Planning, and Attorney General Dr. Mohamed Munawwar, had secretly met with the MDP group and agreed to provide support to the petition in cabinet and in Parliament. As the nascent MDP print media reported at the time, Zaki had in fact vowed to resign from his cabinet post if the party was not registered and had then reneged on his agreement. Zaki later went on to be installed by Nasheed as the interim President of the MDP, a post he held for over two years without election.
Since Nasheed swore in as President on 11 November 2008, November 3rd has not been marked by the Maldivian Government. On the contrary, it made concerted efforts to wipe-out the massacre from Maldivian minds by providing various spin. Zaki, Ameen Faisal and Faruhath Shaheer, three men deeply involved in the coup, together with Mohamed Aslam (Nasheed's Housing Minister) led the attempted whitewash. Zaki attempted to justify the coup, with various media interviews, while Ameen and Shaheer attempted to provide false information on the events.
Naseem too was pardoned by Gayoom and served in senior posts in the Gayoom administration, including that of Director of Foreign Investments at which post he is alleged to have engaged in large scale corruption and graft. Kerafa Ahmed Naseem's family background too is well documented fraud, corruption and attempted political assassinations, with most damning being where his father Kerafa Mohamed Kaleyfaanu robbed his brother Nakhudha Hassan Kaleyfaanu's wealth upon his death.
In October 2011, State Bank of India filed several cases agains Naseem and his family, for non payment of a large number of loans, totalling over Mrf 27 million. The case was filed against Naseem and other heirs of his mother Mariyam Ismail: Naseema Mohamed, Saleema Mohamed, Waseema Mohamed, Asima Mohamed, and Umaima Mohamed. The case was also filed against other guarantors: Ali Saleem of Henveiru Hikifinifenmage; Abdul Aziz of Maafannu Athassaagiri; and Mohamed Shiyam of Henveiru Maabadeyri Aage.
Perhaps one of the most accurate pictures of Nasheed's particular brand of "political activism" is best seen in the events of February 8th as Nasheed led rampaging mobs in an attempt to wrest the Presidency back, within 48 hours of his resignation from office.
2009 Parliamentary election
Main article: Maldivian parliamentary election, 2009
| Party | Votes | % Votes | Seats | % Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party | 40,886 | 24.62% | 28 | 36.36% |
| Maldivian Democratic Party | 51,184 | 30.81% | 26 | 33.77% |
| People's Alliance | 8,283 | 4.99% | 7 | 9.09% |
| Dhivehi Qaumee Party | 5,854 | 3.52% | 2 | 2.60% |
| Republican Party | 7,001 | 4.22% | 1 | 1.30% |
| Adhaalath Party | 1,487 | 0.90% | — | — |
| Social Liberal Party | 674 | 0.41% | — | — |
| Gaumee Itthihaad | 518 | 0.31% | — | — |
| Islamic Democratic Party | 214 | 0.13% | — | — |
| Maldives National Congress | 119 | 0.07% | — | — |
| Poverty Alleviating Party (DFP) | 50 | 0.03% | — | — |
| Independents | 49,835 | 30.00% | 13 | 16.88% |
| Total | 166,105 | 100.00% | 77 | 100.00% |
Maldivian presidential election, 2008
Presidential elections were held in the Maldives in two rounds on October 8 and 28, 2008. No candidate gained more than 50% of the vote in the first round on October 8; incumbent president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom fared best with about 40%. A runoff was thus held on October 28 between Gayoom and second-placed Mohamed Nasheed. Nasheed won the election, unseating longtime incumbent Gayoom.
The election was the first one held democratically in the history of the Maldives.
The incumbent, President Gayoom, in power since 1978, ran for another five-year term. According to the new Constitution, which came into effect on August 7, 2008, Gayoom had served the maximum number of terms allowed (two). He argued that since the election was held under a new constitution, the previous terms did not count toward the limit. The Supreme Court agreed that the limited terms were to be served "under this Constitution" and that Gayoom was therefore eligible to run in the election.
On August 25, 2008, the Maldives National Congress and the Adhaalath Party announced that they would support Republican Party candidate Qasim Ibrahim. On September 3, 2008, the six candidates participated in a televised debate.
Voters went to the polls on October 8, 2008 starting at 09:00 local time (04:00 UTC), and expecting to end at 20:00 (15:00 UTC). The elections were peaceful, though voting irregularities prevented some voters from voting. Lines to polling stations were long on some islands, with waits sometimes exceeding six hours. A number of citizens, especially of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), were found to be not on the voter lists, even though they had registered, and some islands did not even receive voter lists. Later, the election committee said that anyone could vote, as long as he or she showed an ID card that was valid. A handful of riot police were deployed after 300 protesters gathered around the central vote-counting location, Nasandhura Palace.
Ahmed Shaheed, the independent vice-presidential nominee said, "It's a disaster... I think there is deliberate tampering." MDP chairwoman Mariya Didi, who incidentally registered but was not on a voter list, echoed similar concerns: "We hoped that once in our lifetime we could vote freely, but today we are being denied our right to vote."
Election observers from the Commonwealth of Nations issued an interim report stating that the first round of the election was "reasonably credible" but that there were some problems with the voter list and training of officials and educating voters.
Voting progressed fairly peacefully, though there were some problems, such as people being not registered, preventing them from voting.
The election was the first one held democratically in the history of the Maldives.
Background
The election was initially planned to be held on October 4, but had to be delayed after the Majlis (national assembly) did not pass necessary reforms on time.The incumbent, President Gayoom, in power since 1978, ran for another five-year term. According to the new Constitution, which came into effect on August 7, 2008, Gayoom had served the maximum number of terms allowed (two). He argued that since the election was held under a new constitution, the previous terms did not count toward the limit. The Supreme Court agreed that the limited terms were to be served "under this Constitution" and that Gayoom was therefore eligible to run in the election.
On August 25, 2008, the Maldives National Congress and the Adhaalath Party announced that they would support Republican Party candidate Qasim Ibrahim. On September 3, 2008, the six candidates participated in a televised debate.
Voting
First round
There were 208,252 eligible voters in the Maldives in the first round, which is roughly 60% of the population. There were a total 396 polling stations throughout the country. Additionally, registered Maldivians living in Colombo, Thiruvananthapuram, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were permitted to vote in Maldivian embassies and consulates.Voters went to the polls on October 8, 2008 starting at 09:00 local time (04:00 UTC), and expecting to end at 20:00 (15:00 UTC). The elections were peaceful, though voting irregularities prevented some voters from voting. Lines to polling stations were long on some islands, with waits sometimes exceeding six hours. A number of citizens, especially of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), were found to be not on the voter lists, even though they had registered, and some islands did not even receive voter lists. Later, the election committee said that anyone could vote, as long as he or she showed an ID card that was valid. A handful of riot police were deployed after 300 protesters gathered around the central vote-counting location, Nasandhura Palace.
Ahmed Shaheed, the independent vice-presidential nominee said, "It's a disaster... I think there is deliberate tampering." MDP chairwoman Mariya Didi, who incidentally registered but was not on a voter list, echoed similar concerns: "We hoped that once in our lifetime we could vote freely, but today we are being denied our right to vote."
Election observers from the Commonwealth of Nations issued an interim report stating that the first round of the election was "reasonably credible" but that there were some problems with the voter list and training of officials and educating voters.
Second round
In the second round, 209,294 people were eligible to vote. There was a total of 403 polling stations across the Maldives. Registered voters were also able to cast ballots at Maldivian embassies and diplomatic missions in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom.Voting progressed fairly peacefully, though there were some problems, such as people being not registered, preventing them from voting.
Results
First round
Six candidates competed in the first multi party election ever held in the Maldives. Early results indicated that there would be a runoff between Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed and his running mate, Dr. Waheed.; on the morning of October 9, 2008, the results showed Gayoom ahead with 40.3% against Nasheed and Dr. Waheed's 24.9%. Those results stayed the same, and the four other candidates were eliminated, so a runoff between Gayoom and Nasheed was necessary. Although Gayoom failed to win in the first round, as he had hoped, he expressed satisfaction with his score. According to Gayoom, the results showed that he was the Maldives' "most popular public figure", and he said that he was poised for victory in the second round.Second round
Following the first round results, it was announced that the second round would be held on October 29, although election law provided for the second round to be held within 10 days of the first. Election| Party | Candidate | Running mate | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | ||||
| Democratic-Alliance | Mohamed Nasheed | Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik | 44,293 | 24.91% | 97,222 | 53.65% | |
| Dhivehi Rayyithunge | Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (inc.) | Ahmed Thasmeen Ali | 71,779 | 40.34% | 82,121 | 45.32% | |
| Independent | Hassan Saeed | Ahmed Shaheed | 29,633 | 16.67% | |||
| Republican | Qasim Ibrahim | Ahmed Ali Sawaad | 27,056 | 15.22% | |||
| Islamic Democratic | Umar Naseer | Ahmed Rizwy | 2,472 | 1.39% | |||
| Social Liberal | Ibrahim Ismail | Fathimath Nahid Shakir | 1,382 | 0.77% | |||
| Invalid or blank votes | 1,235 | 0.69% | 1,861 | 1.03% | |||
| Totals | 177,802 | 100.00% | 181,204 | 100.00% | |||
| Voter turnout | 85.38% | 86.58% | |||||
List of Presidents of the Maldives
- Parties
| # | President | Took office | Left office | Party | Vice President | Term | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanized | Picture | ||||||||
| Presidents of the First Republic (1953–1954) | |||||||||
| 1 | Mohamed Amin Didi (1910-1954) |
 |
1 January 1953 | 2 September 1953 | Rayyithunge Muthagaddim Party | Ibrahim Muhammad Didi | 1 | ||
| — | Ibrahim Muhammad Didi (Acting) (?-1980 ) |
 |
2 September 1953 | 7 March 1954 | Rayyithunge Muthagaddim Party | vacant | — | ||
| Post abolished[4] | |||||||||
| Sultanate of Maldives (1954–1968) | |||||||||
| — | Muhammad Fareed Didi (Sultan) (1901-1969 ) |
 |
7 March 1954 | 11 November 1968 | The Royal Family | — | — | ||
| Post restored[5] | |||||||||
| Presidents of the Second Republic (1968–present) | |||||||||
| 2 | Ibrahim Nasir (1926-2008) |
 |
11 November 1968 | 11 November 1973 | Independent | vacant | 2 | ||
| 11 November 1973 | 11 November 1978 | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (1937-) |
 |
11 November 1978 | 11 November 1983 | Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (formerly Independent) | vacant | 4 | ||
| 11 November 1983 | 11 November 1988 | 5 | |||||||
| 11 November 1988 | 11 November 1993 | 6 | |||||||
| 11 November 1993 | 11 November 1998 | 7 | |||||||
| 11 November 1998 | 11 November 2003 | 8 | |||||||
| 11 November 2003 | 11 November 2008 | 9 | |||||||
| 4 | Mohamed Nasheed (1967- ) |
 |
11 November 2008 | 7 February 2012[3] | Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP-Itthihaad Coalition) | Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik | 10 | ||
| 5 | Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik (1953-) |
 |
7 February 2012[1] | Incumbent | Coalition with DRP only | Mohammed Waheed Deen | — | ||
MALDIVIAN HISTORY
HISTORY
Since very ancient times, the Maldives were ruled by kings (Radun) and occasionally queens (Ranin). Historically Maldives has had a strategic importance because of its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean. Maldives' nearest neighbors are Sri Lanka and India, both of which have had cultural and economic ties with Maldives for centuries. The Maldives provided the main source of cowrie shells, then used as a currency throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast.
After the 16th century, when European colonial powers took over much of the trade in the Indian Ocean, first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, and the French occasionally meddled with local politics. However, these interferences ended when the Maldive became a British Protectorate in the 19th century and the Maldivian monarchs were granted a good measure of self-governance.
Maldives gained total independence from the British in 1965. However, they continued to maintain an air base on the island of Gan in the southernmost atoll until 1976. The British departure in 1976 at the height of the Cold War almost immediately triggered foreign speculation about the future of the air base. Apparently the Soviet Union made a move to request the use of the base, but the Maldives refused.
The greatest challenge facing the republic in the early 1990s was the need for rapid economic development and modernization, given the country's limited resource base in fishing, agriculture and tourism. Concern was also evident over a projected long-term rise in sea level, which would prove disastrous to the low-lying coral islands.
Comparative studies of Maldivian oral, linguistic and cultural traditions and customs confirm that the first settlers were people from the southern shores of the neighbouring Indian subcontinent.
These first Maldivians didn't leave any archaeological remains. Their buildings were probably built of wood, palm fronds and other perishable materials, which would have quickly decayed in the salt and wind of the tropical climate. Moreover, chiefs or headmen didn't reside in elaborate stone palaces, nor did their religion require the construction of large temples or compounds.
Despite being omitted or just mentioned briefly in most history books, the 1,400-year-long Buddhist period has a foundational importance in the history of the Maldives. It was during this period that the culture of the Maldives as we now know it both developed and flourished.[3]
Buddhism probably spread to the Maldives in the third century BC, at the time of the Mauryan emperor Aśoka the Great, when it extended to the regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest border, as well as South to the island of Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands. Serious studies of the archaeological remains of the Maldives began with the work of H. C. P. Bell, a British commissioner of the Ceylon Civil Service. Bell was shipwrecked on the islands in 1879, and returned several times to investigate the ancient Buddhist ruins.
The Buddhist Stupa at Kuruhinna in Gan Island (Haddhunmathi Atoll). Western Side
Early scholars like H.C.P. Bell, who resided in Sri Lanka most of his life, claim that Buddhism came to the Maldives from Sri Lanka. Since then, new archaeological discoveries point to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist influences, which are likely to have come to the islands straight from the Subcontinent. An urn discovered in Maalhos (Ari Atoll) in the 1980s has a Vishvavajra inscribed with Protobengali script. This text was in the same script used in the ancient Buddhist centres of learning in Nalanda and Vikramashila. There is also a small Porites stupa in the Museum where the directional Dhyani Buddhas (Jinas) are etched in its four cardinal points as in the Mahayana tradition. Some coral blocks with fearsome heads of guardians are also displaying Vajrayana Iconography. All these relatively recent archaeological discoveries are today exhibited in a side room of the small National Museum in Male' along with other artifacts.
Buddhist remains have been also found in Minicoy Island, then part of the Maldive Kingdom, by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in the latter half of the 20th century. Among these remains a Buddha head and stone foundations of a Vihara deserve special mention.
Following the Islamic concept that before Islam there was the time of Jahiliya (ignorance), in the history books used by Maldivians the introduction of Islam at the end of the 12th century is considered the cornerstone of the country's history. Islam remains the state religion in the 1990s. And yet the Maldivian language, the first Maldive scripts, the architecture, the ruling institutions, the customs and manners of the Maldivians originated at the time when the Maldives were a Buddhist Kingdom.
Buddhism became the dominant religion in the Maldives and enjoyed royal patronage for many centuries, probably as long as over one thousand and four hundred years. Practically all archaeological remains in the Maldives are from Buddhist stupas and monasteries, and all artifacts found to date display characteristic Buddhist iconography. Buddhist (and Hindu) temples were Mandala shaped, they are oriented according to the four cardinal points, the main gate being towards the east.Since building space and materials were scarce, Maldivians constructed their places of worship on the foundations of previous buildings.
The ancient Buddhist stupas are called "havitta", "hatteli" or "ustubu" by the Maldivians according to the different atolls. These stupas and other archaeological remains, like foundations of Buddhist buildings Vihara, compound walls and stone baths, are found on many islands of the Maldives. They usually lie buried under mounds of sand and covered by vegetation. Local historian Hassan Ahmed Maniku counted as many as 59 islands with Buddhist archaeological sites in a provisional list he published in 1990. The largest monuments of the Buddhist era are in the islands fringing the eastern side of Haddhunmathi Atoll.
In the mid-1980s, the Maldivian government allowed the popular Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, to excavate ancient sites. Despite the clear evidence that all the ancient ruins in Maldives are Buddhist, Heyerdahl claimed that early "sun-worshiping seafarers", called the "Redin", first settled on the islands. Keeping up with his sensationalist style, Heyerdahl argued that 'Redin' were people coming from somewhere else, whereas an ancient Maldivian poem (Fua Mulaku Rashoveshi) says: "Havitta uhe haudahau, Redin taneke hedi ihau". This poem gives us the clue about the name 'Redin'. According to Magieduruge Ibrahim Didi, a learned man from Fua Mulaku, it was merely the name which the converted Maldivians used to refer to their infidel (ghair dīn = 'redin') ancestors after the general conversion from Buddhism to Islam.
It is generally said that the conversion of the Maldives to Islam was peaceful, but historical evidence suggests the contrary. For example, the 12th century copperplates found at Isdhoo Island state that the monks (Sangumanun) from the monastery at that island were brought to Male' and beheaded.
The interest of Middle Eastern peoples in Maldives resulted from its strategic location and its abundant supply of cowrie shells, a form of currency that was widely used throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast since ancient times. Middle Eastern seafarers had just begun to take over the Indian Ocean trade routes in the 10th century AD and found Maldives to be an important link in those routes.
The importance of the Arabs as traders in the Indian Ocean by the 12th century AD may partly explain why the last Buddhist king of Maldives converted to Islam in the year 1153 (or 1193, for certain copper plate grants give a later date). The king thereupon adopted the Muslim title and name (in Arabic) of Sultan (besides the old Divehi title of Maha Radun or Ras Kilege or Rasgefānu) Muhammad al Adil, initiating a series of six Islamic dynasties consisting of eighty-four sultans and sultanas that lasted until 1932 when the sultanate became elective.
The person responsible for this conversion was a Sunni Muslim visitor named Abu al Barakat. His venerated tomb now stands on the grounds of Hukuru Mosque, or miski, in the capital of Malé. Built in 1656, this is the oldest mosque in Maldives. Arab interest in Maldives also was reflected in the residence there in the 1340s of the well-known North African traveler Ibn Battutah.
It is worth noticing that compared to the other areas of South Asia, the conversion of the Maldives to Islam happened relatively late. Arab Traders had converted populations in the Malabar Coast since the 7th century, and the Arab invader Muhammad Bin Qāsim had converted large swathes of Sindh to Islam at about the same time. The Maldives remained a Buddhist kingdom for another five hundred years (perhaps the south-westernmost Buddhist country) until the conversion to Islam.
The document known as Dhanbidhū Lōmāfānu gives information about the suppression of Buddhism in the southern Haddhunmathi Atoll, which had been a major center of that religion. Monks were taken to Male and beheaded, The Satihirutalu (the chattravali or chattrayashti crowning a stupa) were broken to disfigure the numerous stupasm and the statues of Vairocana, the transcendent Buddha of the middle world region, were destroyed; and the destruction was not limited to sculptures. The wealth of manuscripts probably written on screwpine leaves that Maldivian monks in their Buddhist monasteries must have produced was either burnt or otherwise so thoroughly eliminated that it has disappeared without leaving any trace.
18th-century map by Pierre Mortier of The Netherlands depicting with detail the islands of the Maldives.
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Dutch, who had replaced the Portuguese as the dominant power in Ceylon,
established hegemony over Maldivian affairs without involving
themselves directly in local matters, which were governed according to
centuries-old Islamic customs.
However, the British expelled the Dutch from Ceylon in 1796 and included Maldives as a British protected area. The status of Maldives as a British protectorate was officially recorded in an 1887 agreement in which the sultan accepted British influence over Maldivian external relations and defence. The British had no presence, however, on the leading island community of Malé. They left the islanders alone, as had the Dutch, with regard to internal administration to continue to be regulated by Muslim traditional institutions.
This first elected president of the country introduced several reforms. While serving as prime minister during the 1940s, Didi nationalized the fish export industry. As president he is remembered as a reformer of the education system and a promoter of women's rights. Muslim conservatives in Malé eventually ousted his government, and during a riot over food shortages, Didi was beaten by a mob and died on a nearby island.
Beginning in the 1950s, political history in Maldives was largely influenced by the British military presence in the islands. In 1954 the restoration of the sultanate perpetuated the rule of the past. Two years later, the United Kingdom obtained permission to reestablish its wartime airfield on Gan in the southernmost Addu Atoll. Maldives granted the British a 100-year lease on Gan that required them to pay £2,000 a year, as well as some 440,000 square metres on Hitaddu for radio installations.
In 1957, however, the new prime minister, Ibrahim Nasir, called for a review of the agreement in the interest of shortening the lease and increasing the annual payment. But Nasir, who was theoretically responsible to then sultan Muhammad Farid Didi, was challenged in 1959 by a local secessionist movement in the southern atolls that benefited economically from the British presence on Gan. This group cut ties with the Maldives government and formed an independent state with Abdullah Afif as president.
The short-lived state (1959–63), called the United Suvadive Republic, had a combined population of 20,000 inhabitants scattered in the southernmost atolls Huvadu, Addu and Fua Mulaku. In 1962 Nasir sent gunboats from Malé with government police on board to eliminate elements opposed to his rule. One year later the Suvadive republic was scrapped and Abdulla Afif went into exile to the Seychelles, where he died in 1993.
Meanwhile, in 1960 Maldives allowed the United Kingdom to continue to use both the Gan and the Hitaddu facilities for a thirty-year period, with the payment of £750,000 over the period of 1960 to 1965 for the purpose of Maldives' economic development.
In 1973 Nasir was elected to a second term under the constitution as amended in 1972, which extended the presidential term to five years and which also provided for the election of the prime minister by the Majlis. In March 1975, newly elected prime minister Zaki was arrested in a bloodless coup and was banished to a remote atoll. Observers suggested that Zaki was becoming too popular and hence posed a threat to the Nasir faction.
During the 1970s, the economic situation in Maldives suffered a setback when the Sri Lankan market for Maldives' main export of dried fish collapsed. Adding to the problems was the British decision in 1975 to close its airfield on Gan in line with its new policy of abandoning defense commitments east of the Suez Canal. A steep commercial decline followed the evacuation of Gan in March 1976. As a result, the popularity of Nasir's government suffered. Maldives's 20-year period of authoritarian rule under Nasir abruptly ended in 1978 when he fled to Singapore. A subsequent investigation revealed that he had absconded with millions of dollars from the state treasury. However there has been no evidence so far and as a result it was believed that it was act of the new government to get their popularity and support among the civilians.
Despite the popularity of Gayoom, those connected to the former President hired ex-SAS mercenaries in 1980 to carry out a coup to oust him. The attempt was sponsored by Ahmed Naseem, brother-in-law of Nasir and former junior Minister and was supported by a handful of Nasir loyalists. Naseem had objected to the emergence of Gayoom and had vowed to depose him within 6 months. Naseem's disaffection only increased when the parliament began investigating financial irregularities under Nasir as well as the murder of inmates and torture in Villingili Prison in the early 1970s, which implicated his brother-in-law, the erstwhile strongman Abdul Hannan Haleem who was Nasir's Minister for Public Safety.
The small group of mercenaries arrived in the Maldives smuggling their light arms in diving equipment, but did not carry out the mission because Gayoom had been tipped about their arrival and they found that they had been misinformed about the popularity of Gayoom.
In 1983, a local shipping businessman, Reeko Ibrahim Maniku made a bid to win the parliamentary nomination by offering bribes to members of parliament and to High Court judges. Reeko Ibrahim remained in self-imposed exile, returning to Maldives only in 2006 and has since registered a political party, Social Democratic Party.
Despite coup attempts in 1980, 1983, and 1988, Gayoom served three more presidential terms. In the 1983, 1988, and 1993 elections, Gayoom received more than 90% of the vote. Although the government did not allow any legal opposition, Gayoom was opposed in the early 1990s by Islamists (also seen as fundamentalists) who wanted to impose a religious way of life and by some powerful local business leaders.
Whereas the 1980 and 1983 coup attempts against Gayoom's presidency were not considered serious, the third coup attempt in November 1988 alarmed the international community. About 80 armed Tamil mercenaries belonging to PLOTE [1] landed on Malé before dawn aboard speedboats from a freighter. Disguised as visitors, a similar number had already infiltrated Malé earlier. Although the mercenaries quickly gained the nearby airport on Hulule, they failed to capture President Gayoom, who fled from house to house and asked for military intervention from India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi immediately dispatched 1,600 troops by air to restore order in Malé. Less than 12 hours later, Indian paratroopers arrived on Hulele, causing some of the mercenaries to flee toward Sri Lanka in their freighter. Those unable to reach the ship in time were quickly rounded up. Nineteen people reportedly died in the fighting, and several taken hostage also died. Three days later an Indian frigate captured the mercenaries on their freighter near the Sri Lankan coast. In July 1989, a number of the mercenaries were returned to Maldives to stand trial. Gayoom commuted the death sentences passed against them to life imprisonment.
The 1988 coup had been masterminded and sponsored by a few disgruntled businessmen, chiefly Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku and Abdulla Luthufi, who were operating a farm in Sri Lanka. Earlier, the two of them had also been caught in an attempt to assassinate Nasir when he was president and had been tried and imprisoned before being released in 1975. The captured mercenaries and their paymasters were put on trial. Sikka Maniku and Luthufee were sentenced to death in 1989, but Gayoom commuted their sentences to life imprisonment. In 1994, Gayoom pardoned and released Sikka Maniku on humanitarian grounds as he had developed cardiovascular complications, and Maniku went into self-imposed exile in Colombo.
Ex-president Nasir denied any involvement in the coup. In fact, in July 1990, President Gayoom officially pardoned Nasir in absentia in recognition of his role in obtaining Maldives' independence.
Since very ancient times, the Maldives were ruled by kings (Radun) and occasionally queens (Ranin). Historically Maldives has had a strategic importance because of its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean. Maldives' nearest neighbors are Sri Lanka and India, both of which have had cultural and economic ties with Maldives for centuries. The Maldives provided the main source of cowrie shells, then used as a currency throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast.
After the 16th century, when European colonial powers took over much of the trade in the Indian Ocean, first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, and the French occasionally meddled with local politics. However, these interferences ended when the Maldive became a British Protectorate in the 19th century and the Maldivian monarchs were granted a good measure of self-governance.
Maldives gained total independence from the British in 1965. However, they continued to maintain an air base on the island of Gan in the southernmost atoll until 1976. The British departure in 1976 at the height of the Cold War almost immediately triggered foreign speculation about the future of the air base. Apparently the Soviet Union made a move to request the use of the base, but the Maldives refused.
The greatest challenge facing the republic in the early 1990s was the need for rapid economic development and modernization, given the country's limited resource base in fishing, agriculture and tourism. Concern was also evident over a projected long-term rise in sea level, which would prove disastrous to the low-lying coral islands.
Comparative studies of Maldivian oral, linguistic and cultural traditions and customs confirm that the first settlers were people from the southern shores of the neighbouring Indian subcontinent.
These first Maldivians didn't leave any archaeological remains. Their buildings were probably built of wood, palm fronds and other perishable materials, which would have quickly decayed in the salt and wind of the tropical climate. Moreover, chiefs or headmen didn't reside in elaborate stone palaces, nor did their religion require the construction of large temples or compounds.
Despite being omitted or just mentioned briefly in most history books, the 1,400-year-long Buddhist period has a foundational importance in the history of the Maldives. It was during this period that the culture of the Maldives as we now know it both developed and flourished.[3]
Buddhism probably spread to the Maldives in the third century BC, at the time of the Mauryan emperor Aśoka the Great, when it extended to the regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest border, as well as South to the island of Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands. Serious studies of the archaeological remains of the Maldives began with the work of H. C. P. Bell, a British commissioner of the Ceylon Civil Service. Bell was shipwrecked on the islands in 1879, and returned several times to investigate the ancient Buddhist ruins.
Buddhist remains have been also found in Minicoy Island, then part of the Maldive Kingdom, by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in the latter half of the 20th century. Among these remains a Buddha head and stone foundations of a Vihara deserve special mention.
Following the Islamic concept that before Islam there was the time of Jahiliya (ignorance), in the history books used by Maldivians the introduction of Islam at the end of the 12th century is considered the cornerstone of the country's history. Islam remains the state religion in the 1990s. And yet the Maldivian language, the first Maldive scripts, the architecture, the ruling institutions, the customs and manners of the Maldivians originated at the time when the Maldives were a Buddhist Kingdom.
Buddhism became the dominant religion in the Maldives and enjoyed royal patronage for many centuries, probably as long as over one thousand and four hundred years. Practically all archaeological remains in the Maldives are from Buddhist stupas and monasteries, and all artifacts found to date display characteristic Buddhist iconography. Buddhist (and Hindu) temples were Mandala shaped, they are oriented according to the four cardinal points, the main gate being towards the east.Since building space and materials were scarce, Maldivians constructed their places of worship on the foundations of previous buildings.
The ancient Buddhist stupas are called "havitta", "hatteli" or "ustubu" by the Maldivians according to the different atolls. These stupas and other archaeological remains, like foundations of Buddhist buildings Vihara, compound walls and stone baths, are found on many islands of the Maldives. They usually lie buried under mounds of sand and covered by vegetation. Local historian Hassan Ahmed Maniku counted as many as 59 islands with Buddhist archaeological sites in a provisional list he published in 1990. The largest monuments of the Buddhist era are in the islands fringing the eastern side of Haddhunmathi Atoll.
In the mid-1980s, the Maldivian government allowed the popular Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, to excavate ancient sites. Despite the clear evidence that all the ancient ruins in Maldives are Buddhist, Heyerdahl claimed that early "sun-worshiping seafarers", called the "Redin", first settled on the islands. Keeping up with his sensationalist style, Heyerdahl argued that 'Redin' were people coming from somewhere else, whereas an ancient Maldivian poem (Fua Mulaku Rashoveshi) says: "Havitta uhe haudahau, Redin taneke hedi ihau". This poem gives us the clue about the name 'Redin'. According to Magieduruge Ibrahim Didi, a learned man from Fua Mulaku, it was merely the name which the converted Maldivians used to refer to their infidel (ghair dīn = 'redin') ancestors after the general conversion from Buddhism to Islam.
It is generally said that the conversion of the Maldives to Islam was peaceful, but historical evidence suggests the contrary. For example, the 12th century copperplates found at Isdhoo Island state that the monks (Sangumanun) from the monastery at that island were brought to Male' and beheaded.
The interest of Middle Eastern peoples in Maldives resulted from its strategic location and its abundant supply of cowrie shells, a form of currency that was widely used throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast since ancient times. Middle Eastern seafarers had just begun to take over the Indian Ocean trade routes in the 10th century AD and found Maldives to be an important link in those routes.
The importance of the Arabs as traders in the Indian Ocean by the 12th century AD may partly explain why the last Buddhist king of Maldives converted to Islam in the year 1153 (or 1193, for certain copper plate grants give a later date). The king thereupon adopted the Muslim title and name (in Arabic) of Sultan (besides the old Divehi title of Maha Radun or Ras Kilege or Rasgefānu) Muhammad al Adil, initiating a series of six Islamic dynasties consisting of eighty-four sultans and sultanas that lasted until 1932 when the sultanate became elective.
The person responsible for this conversion was a Sunni Muslim visitor named Abu al Barakat. His venerated tomb now stands on the grounds of Hukuru Mosque, or miski, in the capital of Malé. Built in 1656, this is the oldest mosque in Maldives. Arab interest in Maldives also was reflected in the residence there in the 1340s of the well-known North African traveler Ibn Battutah.
It is worth noticing that compared to the other areas of South Asia, the conversion of the Maldives to Islam happened relatively late. Arab Traders had converted populations in the Malabar Coast since the 7th century, and the Arab invader Muhammad Bin Qāsim had converted large swathes of Sindh to Islam at about the same time. The Maldives remained a Buddhist kingdom for another five hundred years (perhaps the south-westernmost Buddhist country) until the conversion to Islam.
The document known as Dhanbidhū Lōmāfānu gives information about the suppression of Buddhism in the southern Haddhunmathi Atoll, which had been a major center of that religion. Monks were taken to Male and beheaded, The Satihirutalu (the chattravali or chattrayashti crowning a stupa) were broken to disfigure the numerous stupasm and the statues of Vairocana, the transcendent Buddha of the middle world region, were destroyed; and the destruction was not limited to sculptures. The wealth of manuscripts probably written on screwpine leaves that Maldivian monks in their Buddhist monasteries must have produced was either burnt or otherwise so thoroughly eliminated that it has disappeared without leaving any trace.
Portuguese
In 1558 the Portuguese established a small garrison with a Viador (Viyazoru), or overseer of a factory (trading post) in the Maldives, which they administered from their main colony in Goa. They tried to impose Christianity on the locals. Thus, fifteen years later, a local leader named Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Azam and his two brothers organized a popular revolt and drove the Portuguese out of Maldives. This event is now commemorated as National Day, and a small museum and memorial center honor the hero on his home island of Utheemu on North Thiladhummathi Atoll.Dutch
However, the British expelled the Dutch from Ceylon in 1796 and included Maldives as a British protected area. The status of Maldives as a British protectorate was officially recorded in an 1887 agreement in which the sultan accepted British influence over Maldivian external relations and defence. The British had no presence, however, on the leading island community of Malé. They left the islanders alone, as had the Dutch, with regard to internal administration to continue to be regulated by Muslim traditional institutions.
British
Britain got entangled with the Maldives as a result of domestic disturbances which targeted the settler community of Bora merchants who were British subjects.[when?] Rivalry between two dominant families, the Athireege clan and the Kakaage clan was resolved with former winning the favour of the British authorities in Ceylon, who concluded a Protection Agreement in 1887. During the British era, which lasted until 1965, Maldives continued to be ruled under a succession of sultans. It was a period during which the Sultan's authority and powers were increasingly and decisively taken over by the Chief Minister, much to the chagrin of the British Governor-General who continued to deal with the ineffectual Sultan. Consequently, Britain encouraged the development of a constitutional monarchy, and the first Constitution was proclaimed in 1932. However, the new arrangements favoured neither the aging Sultan nor the wily Chief Minister, but rather a young crop of British-educated reformists. As a result, angry mobs were instigated against the Constitution which was publicly torn up.The First Republic
Maldives remained a British crown protectorate until 1953 when the sultanate was suspended and the First Republic was declared under the short-lived presidency of Muhammad Amin Didi.This first elected president of the country introduced several reforms. While serving as prime minister during the 1940s, Didi nationalized the fish export industry. As president he is remembered as a reformer of the education system and a promoter of women's rights. Muslim conservatives in Malé eventually ousted his government, and during a riot over food shortages, Didi was beaten by a mob and died on a nearby island.
Beginning in the 1950s, political history in Maldives was largely influenced by the British military presence in the islands. In 1954 the restoration of the sultanate perpetuated the rule of the past. Two years later, the United Kingdom obtained permission to reestablish its wartime airfield on Gan in the southernmost Addu Atoll. Maldives granted the British a 100-year lease on Gan that required them to pay £2,000 a year, as well as some 440,000 square metres on Hitaddu for radio installations.
In 1957, however, the new prime minister, Ibrahim Nasir, called for a review of the agreement in the interest of shortening the lease and increasing the annual payment. But Nasir, who was theoretically responsible to then sultan Muhammad Farid Didi, was challenged in 1959 by a local secessionist movement in the southern atolls that benefited economically from the British presence on Gan. This group cut ties with the Maldives government and formed an independent state with Abdullah Afif as president.
The short-lived state (1959–63), called the United Suvadive Republic, had a combined population of 20,000 inhabitants scattered in the southernmost atolls Huvadu, Addu and Fua Mulaku. In 1962 Nasir sent gunboats from Malé with government police on board to eliminate elements opposed to his rule. One year later the Suvadive republic was scrapped and Abdulla Afif went into exile to the Seychelles, where he died in 1993.
Meanwhile, in 1960 Maldives allowed the United Kingdom to continue to use both the Gan and the Hitaddu facilities for a thirty-year period, with the payment of £750,000 over the period of 1960 to 1965 for the purpose of Maldives' economic development.
Independence
On 26 July 1965, Maldives gained independence under an agreement signed with United Kingdom. The British government retained the use of the Gan and Hitaddu facilities. In a national referendum in March 1968, Maldivians abolished the sultanate and established a republic.Nasir
The Second Republic was proclaimed in November 1968 under the presidency of Ibrahim Nasir, who had increasingly dominated the political scene. Under the new constitution, Nasir was elected indirectly to a four-year presidential term by the Majlis (legislature). He appointed Ahmed Zaki as the new prime minister.In 1973 Nasir was elected to a second term under the constitution as amended in 1972, which extended the presidential term to five years and which also provided for the election of the prime minister by the Majlis. In March 1975, newly elected prime minister Zaki was arrested in a bloodless coup and was banished to a remote atoll. Observers suggested that Zaki was becoming too popular and hence posed a threat to the Nasir faction.
During the 1970s, the economic situation in Maldives suffered a setback when the Sri Lankan market for Maldives' main export of dried fish collapsed. Adding to the problems was the British decision in 1975 to close its airfield on Gan in line with its new policy of abandoning defense commitments east of the Suez Canal. A steep commercial decline followed the evacuation of Gan in March 1976. As a result, the popularity of Nasir's government suffered. Maldives's 20-year period of authoritarian rule under Nasir abruptly ended in 1978 when he fled to Singapore. A subsequent investigation revealed that he had absconded with millions of dollars from the state treasury. However there has been no evidence so far and as a result it was believed that it was act of the new government to get their popularity and support among the civilians.
Gayoom
Elected to replace Nasir for a five-year presidential term in 1978 was Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a former university lecturer and Maldivian ambassador to the United Nations (UN). The peaceful election was seen as ushering in a period of political stability and economic development in view of Gayoom's priority to develop the poorer islands. In 1978 Maldives joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Tourism also gained in importance to the local economy, reaching more than 120,000 visitors in 1985. The local populace appeared to benefit from increased tourism and the corresponding increase in foreign contacts involving various development projects.Despite the popularity of Gayoom, those connected to the former President hired ex-SAS mercenaries in 1980 to carry out a coup to oust him. The attempt was sponsored by Ahmed Naseem, brother-in-law of Nasir and former junior Minister and was supported by a handful of Nasir loyalists. Naseem had objected to the emergence of Gayoom and had vowed to depose him within 6 months. Naseem's disaffection only increased when the parliament began investigating financial irregularities under Nasir as well as the murder of inmates and torture in Villingili Prison in the early 1970s, which implicated his brother-in-law, the erstwhile strongman Abdul Hannan Haleem who was Nasir's Minister for Public Safety.
The small group of mercenaries arrived in the Maldives smuggling their light arms in diving equipment, but did not carry out the mission because Gayoom had been tipped about their arrival and they found that they had been misinformed about the popularity of Gayoom.
In 1983, a local shipping businessman, Reeko Ibrahim Maniku made a bid to win the parliamentary nomination by offering bribes to members of parliament and to High Court judges. Reeko Ibrahim remained in self-imposed exile, returning to Maldives only in 2006 and has since registered a political party, Social Democratic Party.
Despite coup attempts in 1980, 1983, and 1988, Gayoom served three more presidential terms. In the 1983, 1988, and 1993 elections, Gayoom received more than 90% of the vote. Although the government did not allow any legal opposition, Gayoom was opposed in the early 1990s by Islamists (also seen as fundamentalists) who wanted to impose a religious way of life and by some powerful local business leaders.
Whereas the 1980 and 1983 coup attempts against Gayoom's presidency were not considered serious, the third coup attempt in November 1988 alarmed the international community. About 80 armed Tamil mercenaries belonging to PLOTE [1] landed on Malé before dawn aboard speedboats from a freighter. Disguised as visitors, a similar number had already infiltrated Malé earlier. Although the mercenaries quickly gained the nearby airport on Hulule, they failed to capture President Gayoom, who fled from house to house and asked for military intervention from India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi immediately dispatched 1,600 troops by air to restore order in Malé. Less than 12 hours later, Indian paratroopers arrived on Hulele, causing some of the mercenaries to flee toward Sri Lanka in their freighter. Those unable to reach the ship in time were quickly rounded up. Nineteen people reportedly died in the fighting, and several taken hostage also died. Three days later an Indian frigate captured the mercenaries on their freighter near the Sri Lankan coast. In July 1989, a number of the mercenaries were returned to Maldives to stand trial. Gayoom commuted the death sentences passed against them to life imprisonment.
The 1988 coup had been masterminded and sponsored by a few disgruntled businessmen, chiefly Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku and Abdulla Luthufi, who were operating a farm in Sri Lanka. Earlier, the two of them had also been caught in an attempt to assassinate Nasir when he was president and had been tried and imprisoned before being released in 1975. The captured mercenaries and their paymasters were put on trial. Sikka Maniku and Luthufee were sentenced to death in 1989, but Gayoom commuted their sentences to life imprisonment. In 1994, Gayoom pardoned and released Sikka Maniku on humanitarian grounds as he had developed cardiovascular complications, and Maniku went into self-imposed exile in Colombo.
Ex-president Nasir denied any involvement in the coup. In fact, in July 1990, President Gayoom officially pardoned Nasir in absentia in recognition of his role in obtaining Maldives' independence.
Nasheed
Mohamed Nasheed won the 2008 Presidential election, resulting in Gayoom having to step down as President.Waheed
Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn in as President of the Maldives on 7 February 2012, in connection to the resignation of President Nasheed amidst weeks of protests and demonstrations led by local police dissidents who opposed Nasheed’s 16 January order for the military to arrest Abdulla Mohamed, the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court. Dr. Waheed opposed the arrest order and supported the opposition that forced Mohamed Nasheed to resign. A day later, Nasheed stated that he was forced to resign at gunpoint through a police mutiny and coup. There have been allegations that Dr. Waheed was involved in planning the coup, though Dr. Waheed has denied involvement.
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