Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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It was as if the collective mood of optimism had a fragrance, and it wafted through the narrow streets of Male, bringing the Maldivian citizenry to its feet. People thronged to the picturesque Republic Square that overlooked the presidential jetty. Saturday was a day of monumental change in this tiny Indian Ocean-nation of 1,192 islands. After five years of the Abdulla Yameen government, and a disconcerting drift into what many Maldivians felt was the stifling embrace of China, the people exercised their right to franchise on September 23 and voted resoundingly for a coalition of pro-democracy parties, bringing to power a government led by the Maldives Democratic Party. Their new President, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, is considered by India to be a friend, and the man who will be advising him closely, Mohamed Nasheed, has a staunch pro-India outlook. The immediate challenges are twofold: political and economic. Politically, the question is whether the multiparty alliance will hold in the face of the immense pressures that the nation faces. Only time will tell if Mr. Nasheed’s belief, that Mr. Solih has “the ability and the capacity to… make sure that all parties stick together, that everyone is able to compromise”, will be realised. Second, complex economic challenges arose from the Yameen administration’s headlong plunge into the vortex of Chinese expansionist ambitions. The nation rapidly racked up massive debts linked to infrastructure investments. What was initially thought to be in the range of $1.4 billion is now suspected to be closer to $3 billion, if not higher. So, how does the country engage the dragon? Mr. Nasheed, and presumably Mr. Solih, have a simple answer: they will pay back what they owe, but will audit every single project, and will call for international arbitration where a proper procedure was not followed for the initial allocation. The greatest problem that confronts the Maldives today is, however, neither economic nor relating political parties, but in the realm of Maldivian citizens’ social contract with their leadership.
