Build Trust and Increase Tolerance

This year Maldives has marked the International Day of Democracy, a day observed on the 15th of September each year. The UN member countries are expected to commemorate the International Day of Democracy to increase awareness, to respect and promote the values of democracy and human rights.

In his message on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy, Coeur-Bizot, the United Nations resident coordinator said, “Public confidence and trust in the new government and the democratic institutions need to be strengthened through reinforcing strong mechanisms for transparency and accountability.” He also called to strengthen the civil society as well as the free media- an important institution in a free society that has the task to scrutinise and debate public policy reflecting the views of the people. He went on to point out that both the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs and on the Freedom of Expression and Opinion have noted the absence of the freedom of religion in the Maldives.

In a statement from the government marking the day, vice president Mohamed Waheed said, “First of all, it is very important that political philosophies of parties become clear,” he said. “Today what we are seeing from most parties is that they are formed around their leaders.” He also said different philosophies of political parties should be known to the public for it to be debated and built upon.

The declared ideology that all political parties hold in Maldives is that Maldives must remain an Islamic state and that all Maldivians must be Muslims as required by the constitution. Maldives is on the path of building a democracy with the separation of powers and independent institutions. Presently political parties do not engage the citizens in any meaningful dialogue regarding any political philosophy or the various issues facing the country. There is no bipartisan agreement among the lawmakers while crafting policies to tackle the nation's problems.

Although we are following the US model of the presidential system of governance, we do not follow the civil decorum that we see in the US Congress. On few occasions in our parliament chamber, members' heckling and unruly behaviour became so bad, the speaker had to call off the session. Our parliament needs to determine what is their acceptable decorum and make it a more productive institution.

We are a nascent democracy trying to find our foothold in a fast changing global world.

As Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and third United States president said, "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."

Therefore, the people of Maldives have to be empowered and kept informed, enabling them to keep a watchful eye on their government while trusting the elected leaders to do their job and deliver the results. An unbiased free media has an important role to play to achieve this objective.

A lot depends on the elected officials to create a more equitable system to distribute wealth even within the context of the capitalistic free market economy. Lot of work also needs to be done to move beyond the political apathy which is so widely prevalent in our society, build trust within the community and with the leaders and become a more tolerant society.