Mohamed Nashid
Maldives- Biography of Mohamed Nasheed
- From Political Prisoner to President
- A Unique Nation with Challenges
- Environmental Challenges
Biography of Mohamed Nasheed
Mohamed Nasheed was born on May 17, 1967, in the capital of the Maldives, Male. He is a Sunni Muslim by religion. After a long struggle for democratic rights, he came to power with 54% of the votes from the electorate. The previous president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, received only 46% of the votes in that race. Nasheed faces a multitude of challenging issues that lie ahead for the Maldivian Republic.
From Political Prisoner to President
Curiously, during the tenure of the previous president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nasheed had been imprisoned more than 20 times and subjected to torture. However, Gayoom himself dug his own political grave. In August 2008, the Maldivian government adopted a new constitution, according to which the president of the country is now elected through a nationwide vote rather than a secret ballot by parliamentarians. This became the main reason for the decline of Gayoom's political career. The people chose Mohamed Nasheed as the opposition candidate, and on November 11, 2008, he assumed the position of the first democratically elected president of the Maldives.
A Unique Nation with Challenges
The Maldives is a highly unique nation consisting of 1,200 islands that stretch 800 km in the Indian Ocean. Over the course of 30 years, the former president Maumoon Gayoom transformed the underdeveloped island nation, where not a single road had been built, into a tourist paradise. However, the external image for tourists and the reality of life for the population do not align. It is believed that the main income from tourism did not reach the country's population but was embezzled by Maumoon Gayoom and his close associates. Moreover, under the previous government, until 2008, autocracy flourished in the country. Gayoom ruled with the help of the police, the army, and the courts, opposition parties were banned, and despite an average monthly income of $4600 per person, most people earned around $30 per month, with an unemployment rate of 20%. Amidst poverty, strict discipline and order imposed by countless police officers prevailed, and dissenters were sent to camps, tortured, and public flogging was considered normal. In this atmosphere, it is not surprising that Mohamed Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the country, as he suffered for the truth more than others. Some still refer to him as a "former political prisoner" or an "ex-convict."
Environmental Challenges
Nasheed's presidency is marked by the need to tackle various difficult issues facing the Maldives. One of his first decisions was to allocate a certain percentage of the country's budget for the purchase of land in the future. This is because the highest point in the Maldives currently stands at 2.3 meters above sea level, with the average island height being only 1 meter. According to scientists, by 2100, the global sea level will rise by 59 centimeters, which means that the inhabitants of the Maldives will lose part of their land. Mohamed Nasheed is already considering accumulating funds to buy desert land from a number of countries. In parallel with this initiative, he is trying to seek financial support from the international community. Nasheed believes that the Maldives is suffering due to the activities of larger industrialized countries. The violation of ecology by other countries leads to global warming, which could result in parts of the Maldivian islands being submerged underwater. As part of the state program, Nasheed plans to clean up the islands from garbage, build hotels on uninhabited islands, and improve the quality of services. Encouraging hotel owners to use eco-friendly technologies to prevent global warming is also part of his agenda. Nasheed intends to showcase this example to all countries in the international community in order to draw attention to the environmental problems of the Earth. It can be said that the main task of the new president is to align the glossy image of the Maldives as a tourist destination with the reality of the country for its residents. Only time will tell how he will manage this.
