Plans to discuss democratic reform in the Maldives were put on hold indefinitely on Monday, after the tiny resort island nation declared an emergency and rounded up activists following a rare mass demonstration.
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Asia's longest-serving leader - announced a programme of political liberalisation in June, less than a year after a riot in the capital, Male, highlighted discontent with his autocratic rule.
A special assembly called to debate the changes had been due to convene on Monday, but several of its members were taken into custody following the crackdown.
"So far none of the parliament members who were arrested have been released," said a resident of Male who was involved in the demonstration and asked not to be named for fear of reprisals in the nation best known as a holiday paradise for its coral islands dotted through the Indian Ocean.
Opposition politician Mohamed Latheef, a Sri-Lanka-based member of the Maldivian Democratic Party - which says it cannot function in the Maldives - called for a tourism boycott in the country where arrivals hit a record high of 500,000 last year in the nation of only 300,000 citizens.
"I am very angry with the Western world. They see all the reports in the papers and they are not taking enough action," Latheef told a news conference.
"We are very clearly asking Western countries to warn their people ... where you are resting on the beach, there is blood."
Activists said they gathered last Thursday to press Gayoom to make good on reform promises, but the government accused demonstrators of attempting to destabilise the country.
"These people didn't have a single demand to make. They were asking for the release of certain criminals. This kind of demand the government cannot accede to," said government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed.
He said the crackdown did not mean an end to the reforms, which envisage strengthening parliament and the judiciary, allowing political parties to operate and limiting the terms of the presidency.
About 160 people involved in the demonstration were in custody, Shaheed added, but said they were only being questioned about their role and denied reports of police brutality.
"Police used minimum force and maximum restraint," he said.
But the Male resident said casualties were coming into hospitals after being beaten by police, and that he had not returned to work since the protest, fearing arrest.
Latheef said his three children has been arrested and taunted in public, and one of his daughters hooded and beaten.
"It has always been a police state and now it is more so than ever," he said.
He said the reform agenda could not be pushed forward as long as Gayoom, who has led the country since 1978, was in power.
"This man Gayoom has got to go. There is no way otherwise to have constitutional reform."
Comments
Comments are closed.