Thoughts

This was a comment I made to a friend's status, regarding the contentious issue of Addu City.  Ahmed Nadeem   I am really pissed-off when people don't think about consequences of the ruling by civil court yesterday. I am really pissed-off when I see people, otherwise so blunt and indifferent about the rule of law and upholding the constitution, sud denly finds this as something to be proud of and how this one decision is going to make the judiciary so free and fair in all its actions. I am pissed-off when I find people talking about services or the lack of it as the sole basis for making Addu a city, bloody ignorant on the decentralization act and the authorities vested in the city council and the people through the act. I am pissed because none of the people who talks so proudly about city council with "ma ves city akah addu hadhan beynun, but ganoonai ehgothah" tagline have not read the act itself; have not understood why the people actually NEEDS a city council....

Today’s Civil Court ruling reminded me of a conversation I had with a staunch DQP supporter some years ago—someone who tried hard to convince me to vote for Hassan Saeed, not because of policies or ideology, but because  he was from Addu . His argument was simple (and I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday):  “If we want to expedite the development of Addu, we need a president who is from Addu—someone who loves this place enough to make it the second Malé.” Their campaign was thick with nationalism— “Vathanee”  was the theme. The undertone? Electing someone from Malé (like Mohamed Nasheed) would only repeat the neglect Addu suffered under Maumoon. They even went so far as to brand Anni with labels and religious slanders, using fear as a campaign tool. But fast forward to today, and that same individual could not offer a consistent argument when I raised the contradictions between what they believed then and the political realities now. He ended the conversation a...

In the Maldives, we’ve developed a dangerous habit—everyone wants to speak, but the people who should be talking the most remain silent. Experts, professionals, and those with insight into complex issues often choose to stay behind dollar curtains, away from public scrutiny and uncomfortable debates. Meanwhile, the loudest voices in the room are rarely the most informed. To make matters worse, what's left of the media landscape acts more like a tabloid factory than a fourth estate. Instead of investigating, contextualising, and educating the public, they amplify noise. The news is often a string of unverified opinions packaged as reporting—designed not to inform but to sell. It’s not journalism; it’s curated gossip with a byline. A glaring example is the article published on Haveeru Daily ( link ). It reads more like a Facebook comment thread than an actual news report. No in-depth research, no evidence-based argumentation—just a few cherry-picked quotes presented as if they reflec...