Freedom, liberty and Maldivian ownership: President Solih’s Independence Day address
The speech heavily emphasised freedom as an inalienable right.
27 Jul 2019, 9:00 AM
In his first Independence Day address since assuming office, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Friday pledged to protect fundamental freedoms and vowed to prevent foreign ownership of Maldivian territory.
The Maldives remained a sovereign nation since gaining full independence on July 26, 1965 – after 77 years as a British protectorate – but individual liberty and personal freedoms were threatened in recent years, Solih observed in a thinly veiled rebuke of the previous government.
“I do not believe that this country should a face a single moment where the people are deprived of fundamental rights and the related freedoms guaranteed by the constitution,” he avowed in the televised address, which heavily emphasised freedom as an “inalienable birthright.”
The Maldives faced a widely condemned “authoritarian reversal” under former president Abdulla Yameen, whose administration jailed political opponents, restricted constitutional rights and suspended parliament.
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