Little did we know beforehand what a tumultuous place the Maldives is, at least when it comes to politics. But these past few days we’ve become more immersed in the Maldivian politics than we ever wished for, and we can tell you one thing for sure –things are far from peaceful here!!

A few days ago we got word that the cabinet had resigned, out of the blue. All 13 members left their resignation letters at about 5 p.m. on June 29, the reason being that they felt they couldn’t do their jobs properly –not with he parliamentary members obstructing their every move. And that’s because the majority of the parliament members belong to the opposition party, DRP, and they seem to object everything the ministers do, sometimes just for the sake of objecting. (Most of the ministers belong to the ruling party, MDP).

On the same night that the ministers resigned, three opposition parliamentary members were arrested on corruption charges. Only two were taken to court in the end though, and they got their verdict the next day —a whopping THREE days of HOUSE ARREST! Uhhhm… since when has lazing at home for a few days been considered a punishment?? On top of it all, these two “convicted criminals” will still be allowed to attend the sessions at the People’s Majlis, i.e. the parliament, during their house arrest…. so wow, what a tough punishment! This really makes me fear the Maldivian justice system, hah. :)

Ever since this whole craziness started, there have been demonstrations and protests on the streets and at the beach. (Unlike you might think if you read this CNN article, where they quote the former attorney general, Husnu Suood, as saying there is “no social unrest in the country because of the current political standoff.” Weeeeellll… that’s not exactly how we would put it… if there’s a chance one may get teargassed, I’d say the situation is at least a little restless).

On the first night of this “telenovela” we rushed to the artificial beach, when we heard there might be a demonstration by the opposition party’s supporters (who were angry that their reps had been jailed). Tons of people were gathered outside the opposition’s headquarters, most of them semi-aggressive looking men. Motorbikes zoomed by in groups.

On the other side of the street a group of about 20 women wearing headscarves took turns in yelling and screaming loudly, and some people were eating popcorn while they waited for the action to begin. (Confirming our belief that following national politics is the local past time as there’s no proper movie theater around…hehe.)

Our reporter friend from DhiTV took us inside the opposition headquarters and introduced us to the opposition politicians as “student journalists.” Well, I guess it hasn’t been that long since graduation… :)

The opposition guys jumped at the opportunity to speak with Western journalists (even ones that weren’t on assignment…). We were taken to a little room, where three members of parliament practically spoke on top of each other as they frantically tried to explain to us how upset they were that their colleagues had been arrested. They accused President Nasheed of in fact requesting the ministers to resign, just so the army could take over the Maldives and then he, as the army chief, could run the country as a dictatorship. They also said they have proof of the president bribing politicians to take his side, and of him looting state funds. (Whether that’s true or not, we wouldn’t know at this point.) These opposition parliament members were also angry about Nasheed’s recent airport privatization plans, saying they country shouldn’t be sold to foreigners.

Phew, these guys were talking our ears off and we diligently took notes and snapped photos, all the while thinking whether any of it would be useful information at all…(unfortunately our media contacts around the world haven’t been too eager to hear about Maldivian politics in detail… Most seem content just running a little blurb about what’s going on, like this short AP piece here, by a writer based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.).

Back outside by the beach we met some local journalists who described to us how the political demonstrations usually go in Male’: people gather at the beach for a few hours, choose a prompt time to start the riot (this time it was 11 p.m.), spread the word and in the meantime boo/cheer as politicians drive past with their motorbikes. This time it was the members of parliament that represent the ruling party that drove past. The opposition supporters ran after the bikes, yelling and screaming for a while and then giving up and retreating back to their spots by the street.

Usually once the riot officially starts, people get even more revved up and start angrily marching towards the president’s palace (a place legally off-limits for protesters). They chant for a good while and march forward, and then eventually the police throws teargas to disperse the crowd before things get really crazy.  I was advised to keep water handy, as it helps lessen the stinging of the eyes after you are attacked with tear gas. But this time we failed to experience this carefully orchestrated theater play of local politics. Boohoo! :( The riot’s starting time of 11 p.m. came and went, and people started to disperse on their own without major drama. This was mostly because, unlike people had expected, the two arrested PM’s weren’t taken to court that night after all (and how was that a surprise –what kind of a court starts a hearing at midnight??).

We still walked towards the court house to see if anything was going on (flashing my CUNY press pass got me past the police guards! Yep, the NYCity News Service is here to report on Maldivian politics! Hehe). But nope, nothing was happening. So we called it a night and went home, exhausted from hours of waiting. The next day we rushed out at a moment’s notice after hearing there was a protest at the People’s Majlis, i.e. the parliament house, by the ruling party’s supporters. These guys want to see the government throw even more of the opposition MPs to jail for corruption. We could only stay a little while though, as we had workshops to conduct at the College of Higher Education. Later on that night we went to the court house again, where we hung out with our local journalist friends and waited for the two arrested MP’s to receive their judgment. However, after three hours (!!) of just sitting around and waiting, we gave up and went home. Of course it was only five minutes later when the two walked out. They reportedly gave interviews to the media and talked about their “tough” punishments (the three days of house arrest I vented about earlier).

Oh well. We’d had more than our share of Maldivian politics by that point and we weren’t on assignment anyway. Since that day we haven’t attended a single demonstration, though there have been plenty of choose from. Just like movies at a movie theater. :P

**since writing this post, we found out that the arrested opposition MPs have been sentenced for another 15 days of house arrest. Ohhhh, that’s going to be tough. :P Let’s hope these guys have all the Desperate Housewifes seasons on DVDs so that they won’t be bored. Not that they’d have time to watch them all –there’s talk that the judge may still change his mind about the extra punishment days (in a typical Maldivian fashion). Stay tuned.

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