“I was arrested – I was jailed – I was on hunger strike”
This statement is a very frequent statement that we are hearing in the past few days from our national TV “TVM” during the so called debate of the candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election. During the debate, majority of the seconds given to each candidate is used on throwing dirt on the other candidate. There was a time when I thought, are we contesting for a seat in the fish market or local market where one or the other is trying to sell their products by going to an extreme where by they don’t have a clue of what they are saying or doing.
When I see any candidate, be it from any party or any constituency – going through a speech during the campaign, they make sure that they could possibly talk less about what they have in them but rather abuse or criticize the other candidate and then pile up a whole lot of day dreaming and present it towards the general public of that particular constituency.
Moving back to a normal citizen life, when a citizen try to approach a interview and when he/she pass through the hardships, they have been asked to do a medical checkup and more importantly provide a police report – certifying them of been good and loyal citizens of the country without any offence in their past history.
Then come a situation whereby, if a citizen during his juvenile days if committed a crime and if that is in the police report – chances are high that he may loose the job irrespective of going through all the hardship of the interview process and medical checkup. Sometimes they are able to go through also after considerations but then also once you enter the premises of the jail, you have already got that big stain on your body which could not be washed off easily in our society.
Moving forward with the current situation, we see most of the parliamentary candidates promising, abusing and negotiating every other day. But then it is politics, I also understand that politics is known as the “dirtiest game” in the world after mud fight. But then again, it’s time that we don’t learn things from countries around our isles but we implement a few role models to other countries.
Normally a habit is that we always implement things that we see in other parts of the world and other societies and try to implement those activities directly into our society without doing any analysis or cross examination or alterations which is suitable to our society. But now it’s time that we shall not repeat the same mistakes all over again, its time that we not only observe what and how others are doing but bringing in our own culture into it and then try to adapt into our society.
From what I have observed, I see that most of the candidates are following the Indian ongoing election process and learning from there. But that’s the second largest populated country and our total population is just as small as one of those villages of that country.
When Varun Gandhi gave an anti-secular speech against Muslims favoring Hinduism, he was arrested and jailed. But then now when he is released he has come out more matured and with vengeance but not the guilty feeling that India is one of the most secular country and his remarks on the minority was a real drawback. Now BJP is using him as the tool for the election. But then again there is something else also we could learn from that country, When Mahatma Gandhi was fighting for India’s freedom he was arrested, he was abused and he was jailed several times but then again you won’t find him using that as the qualification for him to fight for a cause or a reason. Whereas he never mentioned about it and moved on with his own non-violence means of struggle to freedom and by the end he got freedom for India.
When we look into our society, we already have a messed up youth and young generation who have lost the trails or the paths of what is right and what is wrong. We already have a situation where we are not been able to control them and every other day we are able to hear some or the other stories.
“Few believe that it’s the influence and some says that its parenting and I believe its both”
Now in a situation where the normal citizen are tackling all this problems of getting too much exposure to the western culture or eastern or southern or even northern and the conflict of controlling the emotions is on high rise – comes this new high selling mechanism of the candidates “I was arrested – I was jailed – I was on hunger strike”
This statement by them had given me a feeling that well in this country, to be a politician and to contest for any seats – first thing I need to do is get jailed for some or the other reasons (political, drug, prostitution, terrorism, pedophile etc) and when I come out I would get my PG. politics (Prisoner of Graduation in Politics) and this would be first qualification. Followed by abusing all the other candidates, followed by the ultimate way of showing unrealistic & unreliable high dreams to the voter class of that particular constituency.
Why do we need this heads or Members of Parliament? To let the high authorities above them who are running the government turn the ship out of the whirlpool and to anchor it in safety? Or to cut the anchor and cheer the country ship into the whirlpool and then sinks our culture and society and makes profit out of it?
Some say that most of the candidates who have out rightly spoken about the getting imprisoned during their past history were to get the basic citizen rights be heard and change those prevailing situations to the present situation? I might agree with those few who really did get imprisoned for this but those others who were jailed for other purpose but now using it as a tool to campaign. What about them?
Anyhow – my ultimate concern in one sentence is:-
When candidates are speaking about been jailed or going to jail or been arrested and been manhandled by the police on national TV and other mass media or during rallies or speeches are giving a very wrong picture to the already messed up society where by youths are already loosing their rightful paths.
I just hope from the bottom of my heart that the present generation of our society doesn’t take this as a role model and think “ITS COOL TO GO TO JAIL” or commit a crime. Instead these candidates should be talking about what they can do realistically or what an MP means and what an MP can really do.
* I haven’t aimed at any particular candidate – it is in general context.
f i Я a s said,
April 20, 2009 at 1:49 am
Jinan, you’re contradicting yourself here… you adviced us NOT to look at India’s example, but then you took Mahatma Gandhi’s example… and you’re exactly right in doing so! Gandhi had millions of followers who could cripple the Brittish Empire in the country with non-violent sit downs and strikes… and you ARE hailing Gandhi here for being jailed and tortured, even though Gandhi himself never mentioned it…
in Maldives, people did use the pen, paper and their tongues to try and make the public aware of the government’s injustices, but whenever they did they were jailed and tortured… until the movement grew so large that they couldn’t do it anymore, and eventually fell on the basis of these injustices…
our culture and tradition, especially those regarding rulers and governance, has always been a culture of discrimination and social injustice, which we will have to abandon and get rid of… and in this struggle, people will get arrested, hurt and killed…. some may choose not to talk about it (like Gandhi) while others may use it to remind the people of their past struggles….
Hussain Jinan said,
April 20, 2009 at 3:12 am
I don’t think I am contradicting in any means, whereas I feel that you have once again taken the wrong perception or wrong meaning out of the whole thing.
When I mentioned Gandhi, I meant to say that he used his experience behind the bar as a motivating factor for himself rather than making a hue and cry around the globe saying that all by himself “I WAS JAILED – I WAS Tortured or I was abused”. He never said that, because he knows he is leading a movement of revolution and if he follows a path whereby he himself think that he is the supreme being. He also understand the fact that his followers could be mislead if he starts saying about all that. But rather he preferred to work for freedom forgetting the past done on him nor he preached any young guys or told anything of that sort as which we are hearing.
As for your comment in general – All i could say is that you are using “PAST TENSE” and now the era is ours and we have brought the so called change from the wrong doings as we believed. So now why?
Isn’t it the time to move forward leaving past? isn’t it time to build a new house or renovate the damaged house? isn’t it the time to change the wrong? The power is in us and no matter what – there is nothing the past could come present unless and until we create it.
It’s time to “let go” and rebuilding the nation but for that you dont have to look back but straight ahead. Hence why mentioning about the time spend in jail?
Don’t mislead the mass and don’t mislead the generation ahead of us – that is my concern and nothing more.
The change has been brought it and it’s time that we accept the fact that now it’s our time to MOVE ahead and not refresh the past every other minute
f i Я a s said,
April 20, 2009 at 6:33 am
Jinan… we can’t move forward without learning from the past… if we don’t hold them accountable, then this government has every right to get away with similar crimes in the future as the previous governments… in fact it paves the way to do so… as you said, politics is a dirty game and will get even dirtier if it goes unchecked… so what gives you the idea that we should forget the way Gayyoom’s government handled public funds, neglected our youth and persecuted even the slightest dissent?
again you can’t generalise in these things… going to jail fighting for a just cause is simply not the same as going to jail for murder or rape… in fact, going to jail fighting against a dictator is something that has always been held in high regard in human history…
i’ve seen quite a few of the debates on TV, and most of the candidates who did mention that they’ve been jailed or tortured did back their claims with the reasons for which they went to jail for, such as fighting against Gayyoom’s brutality… no candidate, so far, has claimed that he/she went to jail for child abuse or theft….
Hussain Jinan said,
April 20, 2009 at 6:58 am
Like the present government you are also lost – trust me there is a much better message in the whole article other than getting the ass beaten up by the previous government which is my least concern. All I am trying to say is that don’t give ideas to the young generation.
Try to get the message in the article and please DONT GET CARRIED AWAY DUDE!
I agree they all said that but do you know that there are few candidates who went to jail for some petty thefts and when not released out shouted at then government and became revolutionaries also. There are few who sacrificed their life for our freedom – I don’t deny it but I don’t know why the politicians are selling them even now with the same sentiments. Gone are those days and please dont publicly out rightly speak about which in return the already lost youth might think is a COOL thing.
Don’t make it a trend and one more question do you know all the candidates who said they have gone to jail – why and how and when? deep in details? irrespective of whichever party they are from – if not ! then don’t even worry about it.
f i Я a s said,
April 20, 2009 at 8:09 am
Jinan those days are NOT gone… the days that you’d have to be prepared to go to jail for a just cause will never be gone, EVER!
Governments always try to suppress any form of activism… especially political activism…. that’s how most of today’s candidates went to jail…
yes i know quite a few of the candidates who went to jail and got beaten up… and i call upon today’s youth to be prepared to get jailed when the times comes to oppose today’s government’s wrong doings….
or we can choose to do the easy thing, sit back and relax at home and do nothing… but there always will be people going out on the street demanding their rights…. and they will get arrested in the process… but it is their work that will bring about the changes that we will eventually find ourselves enjoying….
and in today’s political scene in maldives we’ve seen this happen….
^_^ said,
April 20, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Wooow… So your saying that the youth should’nt be given such examples? In that case, completely agree with you Jinan… as they are the most vulnerable one…
Going to jail for a cause is not bad… as Firashbe’ has said few years back, a lot of ppl were jailed for expressing their view… and a lot of innocence were jailed for offenses which they never even dreamt of committing, just coz some ministers niece/daughter/sister/aunt have repoerted it… it totally sucks…
whether its a minister or the president himself, their speech should’nt stress that they were jailed and have suffured a lot… let the people decided tht, whether hez worth or not… after all Maldives is a small place n its not tht hard to peek into somebodys history…
Giving an impression like going to jail is cool n all is gona creat a hell of mess… today people r jailed for the crimes they commit… let it dont happen tomorrow tht they aiming for the Jail, n commit crimes…
The old man who was throw out wasnt tht bad too… he have done a lot of thing for the public… his government was for the people, of the people.. just tht he never made it by/of the people… he never gave the freedom to express… and those who expressed their views were throw into jails n punished… people hate him for tht… and people support Anni not coz hez the angel or the perfect dude, hez the one who made it possible… now his government is of the people, by the people… just tht i m not sure abt the for the people part… :S they r always too busy pointing the old man mistakes than make some real change… hez chosen for a change… now i just PRAY tht he do something really good tht at least people who voted for him feels proud for choosing him
f i Я a s said,
April 21, 2009 at 12:12 am
ok…
to PRAY is not to stand back and look… to PRAY is to make sure that Anni is in the right track… and when we criticise Anni for any of his wrong-doings, it is highly possible that we’ll end up getting framed for things we never did and thrown into jail… such is the dirtiness of politics… therefore it is an ongoing process…
who is the old man? Maumoon? Yes, we are overshadowed by a dark cloud left by him, and he continues to be THE biggest obstacle to the development and progress of this nation…. i refuse to acknowledge that what he did were mistakes, but they were rather carefully thought out plans to suppress the people….
the Auditor General, in his recent audit reports, did not point out to the mistakes made by Maumoon and his cronies, but they quite clearly highlighted the financial CRIMES committed under his direct watch…. if these charges go uninvestigated and unchecked, then it paves the way for this government and the governments that follow to do exactly the same….
that is how, i believe, we can put the past to rest and move forward….
i think this is the right time to revisit this story, which i posted on the eve of the start of the current presidency (i.e. end of previous one)….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/firax/3018008661/