President Nasheed – a benevolent (loving) dictator!

When President Nasheed declared Muleeaage as the official residence of the President, political critics such as Dr. Hassan Saeed said that it is unconstitutional to do so without amending the law. Wasn’t it Dr. Hassan who said that we could hold the Parliamentary elections even without ratifying the Elections Law? Wasn’t it Dr. Hassan who said that we can deal with drug addicts in contravention to the law because he felt that it was an ethical thing to do?

When it is convenient for Dr. Hassan, he says that it is alright to overlook the constitution and when someone else does so he is quick to criticise. If one follows the letter of the law to its full extent then it could be argued that President Nasheed should have waited for the amendment to the law before unilaterally deciding to move to Muleeaage. But we have to look at the spirit of the action. I’m sure that Dr. Hassan too would probably have moved to Muleeaage if he were elected President.

The same is true about the criticism coming from political foes such as Dr. Hassan regarding the declaration of provinces. We all agree that these things need to be incorporated into the law, but sometimes, depending on the political climate, the leadership of the country needs to move faster than the parliament who often drags its feet.

I would like to believe that we have embarked on a journey of “change” that needs daily – if not hourly – action and that we can’t wait for a Majlis who thinks that they are above everything (including the people of this country).

Judging from the signs I see, I think that President Nasheed is a benevolent dictator – the type of dictator that is actually good for a small country such as ours. Before you start shouting at me, let me give two examples of benevolent dictators. Number one that comes to mind if Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. He sometimes stifled his political foes but above everything else he worked hard and brought prosperity and sincere goodness to Singapore. Not a single Singaporean will argue that Lee Kuan Yew was a bad leader even though he was sometimes “dictatorial”.!

The second example of such a leader is former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed – two very similar leaders who put country first. Look at the results of their labour. Singapore is now officially a “developed” country, and Malaysia is expecet6d to be a “developed” country by 2020.

At a time when the Maldives and the Maldivians aspire to be the “Singapore of South Asia”, we have to have a decisive leader who doesn’t get entangled on the legal mumbo jumbo and rather take action first and worry about the consequences later. Such a leader would instinctively know what’s best for his country and act accordingly. We can never reach such height if we have legal fanatics such as Dr. Hassan or (Kutti) Nasheed at our helm.

Shout at me or verbally attack me for what ever you like, but I’m willing to stand on one limb and defend this controversial argument of mine. If you disagree with me it’s your problem, not mine.

As far as I’m concerned President Nasheed is a benevolent dictator – the type that we should welcome and trust. I agree that he is a bit rusty. But who wouldn’t be in the situation he finds himself in. Give him time and I believe that he would make us the next Singapore and put us really on the world map – not as an environmental casualty that Gayyoom portrayed us to be, but rather as a country with a solid economy and a dependable social support system and an ethical population that trusts in each other.

By the time we reach that level we would have ended our preoccupation with politics (as the Singaporeans have done) and start concentrating on economics and hard work and reaping the fruits of our labour. That’s our destiny, and I believe we have a leader who can take us there.