WE
DEMAND IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF GASIM IBRAHIM
By
Maldivian Students in Malaysia - Saturday, 14th August 2004
Malaysia
is one country where lots of Maldivian students are in its colleges and
universities. We are group of students in Malaysia and we are not supporters of
any political party or any group. What we know is we love our country and
we are writing to express our concern regarding the current situation in Male'.
It’s a pity that today whenever we get to meet
fellow Maldivians we express our hatred and disgust towards the government
especially the president, Gayyoom. We never expected
this from a president of ours, to use brutal force against his fellow citizens.
Arresting and beating the people who truly work for the good of the
Maldives.
In
fact Maumoon was the president at the time of our
birth and we have never seen a new face in the position of our president so
far. It’s again a pity to mention here, we don’t see
much
progress and development in his 26 years of autocratic rule in Maldives. And its amazing how Maumoon hinders
the prosperous life and the development of Maldives by arresting and beating
the citizens who truly love Maldives and those who try to show patriotism. Last
Thursday and Friday nights we were unable to sleep, as our spirits are never
separated from Maldives, where we all were born. It’s our
future, its our life and its
our hope. Its development is our own individual development and its every single success is our own success.
We
would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Dhivehi Observer
for providing us with what’s really going on in Male'. As
long as we are Maldivians our souls cannot remain calm not knowing what’s
really happening in Male'. It’s our brother and sisters being
beaten harshly by Maumoon's very faithful NSS. Gayyoom controlled media in Maldives was not able to provide
anything regarding the protest or the riot that followed, other than some
lies downplaying the situation and confusing the citizens outside Male'.
Some
might say why we should worry about politics! But little do they understand
that our future depends on the hands of what these politicians do. For example
if the millions dollars spent by Maumoon for his own
lavish life is invested on the development of atolls, the people of atolls need
not spend high amount of money to go Male' for medical purposes. How many of us
think about things like this? If Maumoon is not
corrupted it’s an obvious fact that the Maldives would have
being much better than this. We always dream for a better Maldives. A
better Maldives will never be born if we have a corrupt government like as Gayyoom's. So fellow Maldivians lets open our eyes and do not say
politics is not our business.
Our
of main concern is the arrests made last night, which includes prominent people
like Gasim Ibrahim, Zaki
and Dr. Munnawwar. Gasim
Ibrahim is someone loved and admired by the whole Maldives. He is not a selfish
person like Gayyoom. He works for the betterment of
Maldives. This may be the very reason he was arrested last night. Gasim uses his money on people whereas Gayyoom
uses peoples money for his own lavish life and
comforts. Imagine the big difference! In fact we are all very concerned about
the arrest of Gasim. The main reason is, it is Gasim who is providing
education for us! He is the one who thought to educate the people of his
country on his own money. A lot of Maldivian students abroad are concerned
about the arrest of Gasim Ibrahim. Now we don’t have
a single bit of trust on Gayyoom and he is ready to do anything for the sake of
power and richness. Any harm to Gasim is a harm to us and hence the
Maldives as a whole. WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE AND THE UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF GASIM
IBRAHIM. OUR FUTURES ARE DEPENDANT ON THE WELL-BEING OF GASIM