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Editorial
4 July 2006
8
July 2006
Yesterday was the first anniversary of the London Tube bombings.
It
was interesting that Dhivehi Observer (DO), which
operates out of the United Kingdom, failed to write anything
in remembrance of those who were killed by Muslims in the
London Tube bombings. DO is at the forefront of the propaganda
war in Europe aimed at seeking support to topple the government
of the Maldive president of the republic Maumoon Gayoom. While
the British mourned, it was business as usual at DO. For these
people and their readership, anything that may be seen as
assigning culpability to co-religionists of killing infidels
is anathema. This is yet another example of the breach of
the Golden Rule.
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Recently an outfit based in New Mexico, sent an invitation to this
web site asking us to place a link to their new web
site on the Maldives. The outfit is called the Bridge
Academy Amnesty Group. The web site is operated by a certain Abu
Munir Winkel and his wife Ely Winkel. It is hosted by the
British-based online publication Dhivehi Observer, which
is a close affiliate of the Maldives main opposition the Maldivian
Democratic Party (MDP).
Abu Munir and Ely Winkel claim to have secured “ring seats”
in what they call "The Struggle for Freedom in the Maldives".
In an email that remains unanswered, we asked the Winkels the
question as to whether it is a struggle for genuine freedom or
simply a struggle for a coup d’état.
As we see it, none of the factions in Maldive politics today are
committed to working towards establishing internationally recognised
norms of human rights or acceding to the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. In fact, it is only the Maldive
president of the republic, Maumoon Gayoom's spin doctors who are
so much as paying lip service to the latter commitment. Mr Gayoom's
Maldivian People’s Party, DRP’s manifesto (written
only in the Divehi language) says the following:
Born in Manhattan,
Abu Munir Winkel lived in Geneva, Switzerland as a grade
school pupil attending the International School. At Haverford,
then Pennsylvania, then the University of South Carolina,
he undertook eclectic studies, mostly religion at first,
focusing on spiritual matters, then later including political
science and numerous languages to enable study of religious
and spiritual texts written in Sanskrit, Greek, Coptic,
Tamil, Arabic, besides French and German. An Ibn Arabi
scholar, Winkel taught at the Malaysian medrassa
Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Petaling Jaya and was a
senior scholar in Islamabad, Pakistan. He has a young
son, Munir, in Atlanta. Abu Munir Winkel now lives in
New Mexico with his wife Ely, whom he married in the Maldives
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"Whilst there is pulse in our bodies, we
shall not permit a place to any religion other than Islam on this
soil."
In their web site, the Winkels have published profiles of and
interviews with well-known activists in the MDP. Section 3.3 (a)
of the MDP constitution (again written only in Divehi) states
that the party shall endeavour to protect and preserve the "esteemed
religion of Islam" and that the party shall not permit any
religion other than Islam.
Both the Maldive government and its
main opposition are in agreement on this point which contravenes
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article
18.1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It was reported by Abu Munir and Ely Winkel’s hosts Dhivehi
Observer on 22 June that an MDP delegation headed by the latter’s
Editor-in-chief Ahmed Moosa had accompanied a certain Ali Shafeeg
to make representations to various British politicians and others.
Mr Shafeeg was a member of the ruling DRP who defected to the
opposition when he failed in his bid to defeat Mr Gayoom as leader
of the DRP. Evidently Mr Shafeeg travelled to the UK to prove
to the British that Mr Gayoom “will never be able to convert
to a democrat.”
The Winkels and their students.
According to their web site, the woman wearing the jihadi
costume is currently awaiting trial in the Maldives for allegedly
attempting to recruit Islamic suicide bombers to be sent abroad
for jihadi training. Without giving any evidence,
the Winkels allege that this charge against the woman is fabricated
by the Maldive authorities. |
In a Divehi language letter
published in Dhivehi Observer on April 18th, Mr Shafeeg
promised his party’s membership to do all he could in order
to preserve the exclusive status of Islam in the Maldives. Among
Maldivians, this is usually a reference to doing the utmost to prevent
the accession to Article 18.1 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
Maldivians are quite happy to accept aid, receive international
tourism revenue and ask the West for assistance in preserving the
elite's positions of privilege. When it comes to acceding to international
norms of human rights, that is another story altogether.
One has to read the fine print in Divehi language documents to realise
that no Maldive politician representing any political persuasion
is interested in implementing either these norms of human rights
or genuine democracy. To labour this point is a dangerous and lonely
exercise and as far as we are aware, our site is currently the only
publication that explicitly puts this point of view across in public.
While Abu Munir and Ely Winkel have invited us to link to their
web site, we noticed that they have omitted to include our site
in their recommended reading list. Their web hosts Dhivehi Observer,
recently censored out a long standing link to our web site because
of our continual highlighting of this point. Perhaps this is a sign
of things to come after the coup d’état!
Taliban-style mullahs officiate
at MDP meeting |
Mr Gayoom did not commence his censorship until after he gained
power. The key players in what the Winkels have called "The
Struggle for Freedom in the Maldives" appear to have already
begun censorship in earnest.
British and European politicians from all sides appear to be entertaining
a continual stream of deputations from the Maldive government, the
opposition and disaffected exiles. The Maldivians hope that currying
favour with the Western powers would bring about transition or preserve
the status quo in the Maldives in their favour.
Do any of the Europeans query the Maldive delegations on their
commitment to democracy as we know that concept here in the West?
Do they realise that a bunch of Indian Ocean islanders are out to
pull wool over their faces in order (a) to wrestle power, in the
case of the opposition and (b) to hold on to power in the case of
the government? These islanders who come knocking on Western doors
are already entrenched in immensely privileged circumstances in
comparison to the vast majority of their compatriots or the majority
of Western taxpayers.
From what the Maldive opposition and the government have committed
in writing (in their native tongue, lest the West becomes aware
of the deceit), it looks as though either party’s least interest
lies in implementing universal norms of human rights.
There will be no democracy without respect for the rights of those
who hold minority views and beliefs; a dictatorship of the majority
is not democracy at all.
Maldive politicians do not seem to acknowledge that what is good
for the goose is good for the gander. While living in or visiting
the West as members of an ethnic and religious minority, Maldivians
expect the full guarantees provided for in the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. At the same time they make written
commitments to withhold the freedoms in the Maldives, that they
demand for themselves when living in the West as a minority. To
this end, they appear not to have any qualms over using what they
see as gullibility of Western politicians to help them grab or hold
on to power.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you”. Does
not this Golden Rule mean anything to these people?
Regent's Park Mosque, London
Feedback
After reading
this editorial, one of our regular site-visitors in Malaysia,
Zainal Abidin bin Haji Ibrahim sent us the following link
to an article that appeared in a Malaysian online publication
called HarakahDaily.Net in February. Mr Ibrahim wanted
to find out if a similar situation existed in the Maldives.
Click
here for the original Malay language article.
A translation of part of the article is given below. This
web site cannot guarantee the accuracy of the translation
but it looks accurate enough:
Tue | Feb 14, 06 | 06:15:44
PM
Oleh Ekmal Yusof IPOH, 14 Feb (Hrkh)
Chief Mufti
of the State of Perak Mufti Dato' Seri Haji Harussani
Haji Zakaria announced that there are close to 250,000
Muslim apostates in the country.
This figure includes about 100,000 Malay Muslims who have
declared themselves Christians.
This announcement was made on a TV Forum entitled "Pekerti
Islam" in the State of Kedah recently which was aired
by RTM at 2 pm this evening.
Another 100,000 Muslims are in the process of filing for
apostasy while the rest are filing to have their Muslim
name changed to "other religion name"
"This figure does not include individuals who don't
do solat, don't fast and break all the tenets of Islam"
he said.
Breach of
the Golden Rule in the UK
"While
those who convert to Islam, such as Cat Stevens, Jemima
Khan, and the sons of the Frank Dobson, the former Health
Secretary, and Lord Birt, the former BBC Director-General,
can publicly celebrate their new religion, those whose
faith goes in the other direction face persecution. Mr
Hussein, a 39-year-old hospital nurse in Bradford, is
one of a growing number of former Muslims in Britain who
face not just being shunned by family and community, but
attacked, kidnapped, and in some cases killed. There is
even a secret underground network to support and protect
those who leave Islam. One estimate suggests that as many
as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have lost
their faith, which would mean that in Britain there are
about 200,000 apostates." >>Read
full article on Times Online (5 February 2005)
Feedback
from a Maldivian
The following
is extracted from an email from a highly educated Muslim
Maldivian, who contacts the site editor from time to time.
This is someone whose self description is “proud
to be Muslim”. The person's identity is withheld
to save them from being victimised, harassed and ostracised.
"Interesting Article. You have brought out real valid
points that seem to be escaping debate all the time.
" For me personally I don’t see a reason why
Maldives should remain a 100% Muslim nation in name. I
think they should let people chose what they want. You
can't force a belief on anyone. But then again, it’s
only my opinion.
" For some reason, this article is different than
most, maybe because for once we agree on something!"
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"Muslims who don't hate America sin..... As long
as there is no [American] intention to fight us and Islam
continues to grow there can be peace. This is the doctrine
of Islam. Islam can't be ruled by others. Allah's law
must stand above human law. There is no [example] of Islam
and infidels, the right and the wrong, living together
in peace."
- Abu
Bakar Bashir
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