Reflections from exile

Introduction: 1991
Had it not been for Anni ( Mohamed Nasheed ) life may have taken a different course.

I was at the back of the shop with my colleague Ibu when Anni poked his head around the partition where we did our printing. The front was our show-case and retail outlet. 'Nice Guys' as the name board outside read was on Faamudheyri Magu, a busy section of the so-called Singapore Bazaar in the Maldives' capital, Male'.

"Hi guys."

"Hello," replied Ibu, glancing up from the drawing he was working on.

It took a while for Anni to get to the point. Anni, small made and in his early twenties had recently returned home after completing his studies in UK.

"We are registering a weekly paper…, said Anni to no one in particular.

"And what makes you think your paper would be any different from the rest of the stuff published locally. This is not a country where you can voice opinions publicly," I said. The topic interested me.

"Aha. Then you haven't been listening to the news. In a televised interview President Gayyoom has stated his commitment to broadening the role of the press. This means our views could be aired openly without running the risk of getting prosecuted."

"Our paper is going to be called 'Sangu.'

I couldn't help but smile. 'Sangu' was the local name for the conch shell. It was traditionally used to summon the masses together and up until the early seventies it was used widely in the fishing villages. The conch makes a loud noise when blown. Well…, the voice of the people gotta be loud if it's to be heard, I surmised. It sure sounded appropriate.

"We're going to cover the political issues of the times," said Anni.

I was becoming more and more curious.

"Who and who are involved?" I asked.

"Sappey (Mohamed Shafeeq – Group X) is going to be the editor. Maizan Hassan Manik and Ahmed Abbas are the cartoonists. I too will be writing for the paper."

Maizan Hassan Manik and Ahmed Abbas were the artists who created the latest bank notes. They designed the current issue of the Rufiyaa, the local currency. If they were involved this whole venture of Anni's sounded like serious business.

"Why don't you write for us too," said Anni as a parting shot, while walking out of 'Nice Guys.'

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I wrote just one article about the inequality running rampant in the Maldivian society; how it was tearing apart the very fabric of our society, quoting examples from the November 3rd armed attack by Tamil guerillas against the Maldivian army and its aftermath and about the disillusionment of the army. It was enough.

The kooks came crawling out of the woodwork. The disillusioned and the damned. People whose voices had been stifled for over a generation. This was their chance to be heard. People I didn't know met me, talked with me, encouraged me to continue writing. I was to champion the cause of the downtrodden masses.

Sangu was an instant success. Overnight it became the fastest selling paper in the country breaking all previous records. Anni and Sappey became instant local heroes. And the government was becoming worried.

For one thing the government hadn't envisaged the extent of the peoples' thirst for the truth. And they had little control over the youngsters involved. Further, the success of Sangu led to the birth of two more weeklies. Both by equally radical elements. Government issued public statements warning the populace of the dangers inherent in the radical ideas propagated by the news media. Cabinet Ministers talked openly, calling into question the credibility of our young writers, all of whom were in their early twenties.

The next weekly to get registered was 'Hukuru' with the same political agenda as Sangu. The weekly Hukuru was written and published by the Addu intelligentsia, representing the interest of the southerners. They too may have been surprised by the overnight success of their efforts.

Nearly two months had passed. Sangu had honed in on Ilyas Ibrahim, the brother-in-law of President Gayyoom who held a variety of portfolios in Gayyoom's cabinet. The man was a power unto himself: he was in charge of the Ministry of Defense and National Security in addition to being the Minister of Trade. Furthermore, the largest state controlled business conglomerate in the country was managed personally by the man and the number of Ilyas's cronies getting rich by State awarded contracts and kickbacks was a well known public secret. Up until Sangu no one had dared to voice the stories of corruption. Hukuru too, jumped into the bandwagon and began targeting Ilyas.

The third paper to hone in on the excitement was 'Manthiri.' Manthiri was the Maldivian name for the queen in the chess game. Aptly named, for the queen is the most powerful player in the chess game. The idea behind was quite obvious. Someone was out to checkmate President Gayyoom.

The man behind Manthiri was Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, the Male' member of Parliament. Manthiri – before it could commence its play on the nation's political chessboard faced a host of problems. Their biggest concern was nobody was willing to print the magazine. Everyone knew the axe was going to fall for certain: the only question was when it was going to happen. The country as a whole supported the newly born democratic movement, the heretofore unknown freedom of the press, but were personally unwilling to put their necks on the line. Manthiri finally did go to press with their first issue; only they had to get their printing done in neighboring Sri Lanka.

When all the excitement reached the peak I was in Trivandrum in India, trying to garner overseas support in the Indian papers, specifically the Indian Express, the second largest daily in India.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Indian Express bureau chief, Mr. Madhavan Kutty. He made me submit a few notes about the prevailing political winds in the Maldives and promised he'd fax the material to New Delhi with a request for publication approval as editorial policy was set in New Delhi.

I hung around in Trivandrum – killing time. It was an Indian friend by the name of Roderick who told me I was being followed. It wasn't I who had told him about my involvement with the Indian Express, but obviously someone had, for he was privy to all my doings since I arrived in India.

"Thanks for the tip. Let me know if it gets serious," I told him.

Outwardly I still maintained my cool but I knew this was getting serious. If I was being tailed – and there was no reason for Roderick to lie – it meant only one thing. The Indian intelligence was involved. I had had no previous experience with spooks but from what I had read and heard about the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of the Indian Defense Department, I had cause to worry.

It took about 10 days for Madhavan Kutty to call back. He had some surprising information for me. According to him, he had telexed a copy of my article to his Head Office in New Delhi and instead of approving it for publication he had received an assignment to cover the Indian Prime Minister Pratap Singh's visit to the Maldives scheduled two weeks ahead.

Mr. Kutty asked me to set up appointments with the people involved in the free press movement in Male' and I promised to oblige him. I was happy, because here was the opportunity to express our views in print in a foreign paper.

Through Roderick I was able to secure a seat on the weekend flight to Male'. I was excited to be involved and contributing something significant to help shape the destiny of my nation. Idiot that I was, little did I realize that I'd have to pay for the consequences of my misguided enthusiasm.

During the two months I was away in India, events had taken a bizarre turn in Male'. The government had gone to the extent of providing national TV coverage of the press interviews. And Anni had already become a household word, not only in Male' but in the provinces as well. His fearlessness in asking direct and pointblank questions of Cabinet Ministers about the way their Ministries were run – the sort of questions that had been taboo until then – made him the scourge of all upper-level government officials. And the results had been more than successful.

As a result of the misuse of public funds by high level government officials – no government department was immune from corruption – and particularly Anni's efforts through the media, led to the investigation of corruption charges against one Mr. Abdul Sattar Ali – more popularly known as Satto – the Deputy Director of the State Trading Organization. Subsequently Satto was arrested and charged with misappropriation of government funds. He was expected to finger Ilyas for whom he had been fronting.

It was around this time Fahmy met me at home one day. For Fahmy, who had been a victim of the government, having undergone the worst kind of tortures at the Dhoonidhoo detention center, this was a heaven sent opportunity to even the score with the government and with Ilyas in particular. He had been most active: he had written for both Sangu and Hukuru and he had made some choice comments about Gayyoom's regime.

"Look," said Fahmy. "Manthiri has found a Sri Lankan publisher willing to undertake the printing. You gotta give us something for the issue."

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During the same period, President Gayyoom had made clear in a speech that he was unwilling to protect traitors anymore. Quite naturally, the whole nation assumed he was making an indirect reference to his brother-in-law Ilyas, who was involved head over heels in the corruption issue.

Having been a former employee of Ilyas at the State Trading Organization I was aware of the people he used to manage his personal finances. There was one chap in particular: a Swiss named Marco Odermatt. His involvement with the Maldives began with the setting up of a diving base at Kurumba Village, a holiday resort formerly owned by one Mr. Naseem, brother-in-law of former President Ibrahim Nasir.

Shortly after Gayyoom had come into power, it was alleged that Naseem, with the help of Odermatt, had tried to recruit members of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) to launch a coup against Gayyoom. The coup had failed in part because Odermatt had been secretly in touch with Ilyas, providing the Defense Ministry with details of Naseem's plans. Naseem and and almost his entire family was arrested and his family wealth which included a number of resorts, confiscated by the government. Thereafter, it did not take long for Odermatt to amass the millions he did. Ilyas provided him with a lot of lucrative business contracts, and he in turn managed Ilyas's Swiss portfolio of skimmed public funds. It did not take long for Odermatt to be appointed the Honorary Consul in Switzerland by the Maldivian government, providing him with diplomatic cover for his activities.

It was about the Odermatt connection I wrote. In the letters column of Manthiri, I made an appeal to the readership to call for the investigation of Satto/Ilyas/Odermatt connection. If this line was followed, I argued, the real traitors would be found.

It would have led not only to the missing funds, but would have unearthed a hornet's nest of double dealing by people closest to President Gayyoom including the top brass of the National Security Service. The one exception was Moosa Jaleel. I had been guessing that the 3rd November '88 armed attack by Tamil guerillas were financed by Ilyas and this very same Odermatt had played a major role in setting it up. As events later proved, my guesses were right on target. It was Ambaree Abdul Sattar, Ilyas's successor at the Defense Ministry who inadvertently let slip I had been right all along.

Just about a week after my tete-a-tete with Fahmy – all sorts of rumours about Satto, who was still in jail and Ilyas was making the rounds in the capital – Ilyas suddenly flew the coop. One fine morning he commandeered an Air Maldives aircraft – Ilyas held the post of Chairman of Air Maldives in addition to his many other portfolios – and simply flew away to neighbouring Sri Lanka with his wife. From there he took a commercial flight to London.

President Gayyoom, in a statement broadcasted nationally explained to the public that Ilyas had left without the permission of the government and he, as President, was henceforth dismissing him from public service.

President Gayyoom had achieved his objective of removing Ilyas from the scene. He had orchestrated it with the help of the media. The media was no longer needed.

Sangu was de-registered and Hukuru was told to close up shop in no uncertain terms.

The editor of Hukuru was a southerner living in hired premises in Male' and quite suddenly he found himself served an eviction notice.

The first issue of Manthiri, published in Sri Lanka, did not see the light of day. It was confiscated by the Air Port Customs.

Ilyas, on reaching London, had not remained idle. Through his sister Nasreena, the First Lady, he had begun negotiations with President Gayyooom. Approximately 3 months after he fled the country, he was back. Obviously he had obtained iron-clad guarantees and was certain Gayyoom was not going to touch him.

President Gayyoom, in the meantime had to come up with a public explanation for both Ilyas's absence and presence. In another public broadcast, he explained away the incident: the man hah had a sudden bout of sickness. It was the reason for his sudden departure.

No one was fooled. Least of all the public. However, the Maldives was not a place where you voiced your opinions openly. If you had disagreements you kept it to yourself. Or else you may find yourself facing criminal charges.

In the midst of all these happenings bombs began to go off in the capital. The first explosion took place on the grounds of a rarely used mosque. The next one went off in a beached speedboat on a slipway in the east of the city.

A fire started on the first floor of the Alia Building, the second tallest structure in the capital. The army was called in to help put out the fire: nevertheless the entire building was consumed in the fire.

The largest hardware store in Male', Dimms, was set alight during early dawn one day. Once again in the presence of army fire fighters the entire building was consumed by the fire. The arsonists were later apprehended: they turned out to be a few unruly youngsters out for a night's fun or so the investigation revealed; their real motives or the key players behind the incident – if there were any such persons – were never found.

It was around this period I came to know Mr. Kutty, a short dapper man with a comical walk. He worked at the Indian High Commission. Though he was the First Secretary at the High Commission, I believed that it was a cover for other activities.

I cannot exactly recall whether it was he or me who initiated the conversation in a chance meeting at a café near our shop, but talk we did, with Kutty promising to obtain a copy of the Indian Express article covering Mr. V.P.Singh, the Indian Prime Minister's visit to the Maldives.

Kutty even invited me to his home, a flat leased by the Indian Embassy in Male'. During a political discussion at his home, he introduced the subject of political parties.

"In a recent interview to the Indian press – in answer to a reporter's question concerning the non-existence of political parties in your country – your President had stated that political parties are not banned by law in the Maldives, they're in fact very much legal, except that no one has approached the government with a proposal to register a political party," said Kutty.

I could not help laughing.

"It may be true. It's possibly because no one wants to commit suicide. Even a hint of active interest in politics – leave alone political parties – is enough to get you into trouble with the authorities."

"Don't you think it may be a worthwhile idea to give it a try. Perhaps the political climate is changing."

"It's an interesting idea. I'll talk it over with a few people. See how they react."

I discussed the idea with Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and a couple of others. They were all skeptical about the outcome. Nevertheless, I went down to the Home Ministry, obtained the necessary forms for the registration of a political party. I too was interested in seeing the outcome of such a proposal.

A couple of days later – I had yet to submit the forms – the President gave an interview to Haveeru, the largest selling daily newspaper in the Maldives, expressing his personal feelings about a multi-party democracy for the nation. He felt the country was too small for the type of factionalism that would be generated by the existence of political parties. Rather than go for a multi-party system, he felt a multi-candidacy democracy would be more suitable: whatever that was.

Immediately I forgot about political parties. If I wished to remain healthy, it was imperative I kept away from politically oriented discussions. There was a message there in the President's words.

I had this uncanny feeling that I, or rather we had been manipulated. Using the offices of the Indian High Commission, the President had very neatly managed the scenario to finally nip our plans in the bud.

Once again Ilyas was re-instated back in power, this time he was given the much coveted portfolio of the Minister of Atolls Administration. Those who unwittingly played along with the President in ousting out Ilyas was definitely going to be hit; and sure enough, the axe did not take long enough to fall. Shortly before Ilyas's appointment to the Atolls Ministry, my father tried to convince me to join the government. I refused. I had been in the government earlier and it hadn't worked out.

Anni and Sappey, the editor of Sangu was charged with the terrorism act along with a handful of others. The guys from Manthiri fared no better. They too were charged under the same terrorism act. According to the government, these people were responsible for the recent bomb blasts.

I, who had foreseen the axe about to fall, did some quick thinking and got in touch with Ambaree Abdul Sattar, Ilyas's successor at the Defense Ministry. In a phone conversation, he asked me whether I had any information about those blowing bombs in the city. As a matter of fact, I was never aware who was responsible. I had only a few vague ideas.

"I personally feel Ilyas is responsible for all the agitation. He certainly has the most to gain from the unrest."

He wished to know how I had rationalized and arrived at this conclusion.

I told him about my letter to Manthiri, about Ilyas's involvement in the armed attack of 3rd November '88.

He had seen Manthiri.; obviously he had known about Ilyas's involvement long before: they had merely wanted to find out how it was done and I had unwittingly revealed the Odermatt connection without being aware of the consequences.

So, dear reader, as you can imagine I was by now on someone's hit list; a very powerful someone. And that's how I came to face charges of drug trafficking and ultimately having to spend eleven and a half years – the best years of my youth – in exile, criss-crossing the island nation and landing up in jail in between. Well now, here's the story…

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by Ali Rasheed, 14 October 2007