http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=3007
The Pitiful State Of Maldivian Web Media By the editorial team March 11, 2007 I feel I ought to comment on the debate about the debate in the Maldives. Adam Cooper has made the point that Fact Maldives and Dhivehi Observer lower the tone of the political debate. The tone is already pitifully low. There is hardly any analysis and anyone with any insight and wit generally likes to keep their head below the parapet. Instead we get a bunch of barely literate thugs leading the debate, mostly by victimising and abusing each other. It is not politics, it is just petty private arguments carried out in public. Fact Maldives in particular, is aimed at bullying people into submission, so they stop their resistance of the government. The most recent example in English is the victimisation of Fathimath Shiuna. They have detected a weak spot and think they can bully her into stopping her support of the MDP. It is pathetic. It is also sad. It is about time people realised that the Maldives has a chance, at last, to be governed with the interests of the people at heart. Until now it has been governed truly cynically, with the government working to serve itself, and make its own supporters rich, whilst neglecting the people. The neglect has resulted in abysmal public services, like an education system which actually educates very few. Instead the rich go abroad to get a decent education. The rest have to put up with terrible standards. But at last, Maldivians have an opportunity to sit down and resolve these problems. Petty squabbles do not help that aim. The other thing I do not understand is why people are so keen on Fact Maldives and DO. Both portray their respective political groups terribly. Fact Maldives, which just about everybody believes is run by the police, with its bullying and exposés of 'sluts' and ferocious loyalty to the government, makes the Gayoom regime and the police look like a bunch of sinister, violent scumbags. What's more, its elementary use of English makes them look like a load of barely literate fools. Their response to Adam's 'Lowering the Tone' article was one called 'Increasing the Tone.' You cannot increase a tone - you raise it. One more example of the illiteracy of the FM thugs. Ibrahim Shafiq's response also said, "You can call me a terrorist, but I will not wait to see our nation being run by a gang of foreigners like you, who also claim to be Friends of Maldives. I swear that I will not hesitate to chop their heads for the betterment of this nation." Illegal? Look at Ahmed Abbas' trial. What he said was far less violent. But somehow I feel this illiterate thug will not be brought before a court for what he has written. So Fact makes the government and its supporters look like thugs and illiterates. When I first arrived here I got a bit of attention of Faskaaf.com. I sent it to my friends who found it laughable. It was a simple example of how the hate sites simply serve to make the government look violent, sinister and without any responsibility to the outside world. It was my friends' first exposure to Maldivian politics. Did it give them a good impression? I doubt the sites get more than about 500 readers a day either. Is it really worth it? DO also makes the MDP look like a bunch of not-fit-to-govern buffoons. They are not, but the site often makes them look that way as articles descend into petty rants against some other government crony. At least they want to improve the system of government, instead of the ultra-conservatives who just want to preserve their unjustified over-privileged positions in society. But isn't it time people actually started to give some thought towards how to reform the country so it actually works? This article was written by Will Jordan, editor of Minivan News
