"We were forced to come out": voices from the MDP protest

At least 70 MDP supporters traveled by speedboat from Lhaviyani atoll. A man arrived on crutches. Businessmen spoke of economic collapse, civil servants of frozen salaries.

"We were forced to come out," was the common refrain.

The Maldives Independent spoke to protesters before they moved to Majeedhee Magu, where a three-hour standoff with riot police would unfold.

Many asked to remain anonymous.

We came to Malé around 11am today. [We came] because of the loss of a lot of the people's rights. Because the council is also being restricted. 

They are claiming past corruption to hide their own corruption. 

I am joining from Malé. I came to the protest to see if things could go our way. As I see it, how things are going is not good. That is the main reason. 

I have a food-related business. My business has gone down a lot. We are facing a lot of difficulties. Financial difficulties are a big challenge. We pay rent, when we pay MVR 89,000 (US$ 5,770) as rent, we are no longer able to manage it anymore. When we add the rent of the business, it gets higher and goes even beyond MVR 100,000. As our income decreases, the cost of living becomes more unaffordable. 

I am joining from Malé. I joined because I felt how the government currently operates is not good and [the need] for a change. 

Corruption exists in every party in reality, but when it exceeds the limit, that's when things need to be reformed, when we have to come out. 

I work at a government office. We came here because we were forced to.. We also voted to bring this government. But things are now getting out of hand. The country’s treasury is sinking day after day. It’s not moving forward. So us young people have to come out. That’s why we came.

It’s one thing if the country is moving forward, but things are going backwards. They are not doing what was in the manifesto. I voted because I thought they could do a lot, but they are not able to. So we don’t have a choice but to come out like this.

Our salary is also going down, never up. That’s why we are here. Because there's no other choice actually. 

It’s actually true that there is always corruption in the government. Government offices are also negatively impacted by this. For example, I’m working in an office for six or seven years in the same level. But there are people who come to higher positions using political powers. It’s common in the Maldives. You could say that it has reached an extreme now. I’m very opposed to it. We don’t get any promotion but people come and get the positions. It's not right. Everyone should be treated fairly and equally, so we are here to fight for that equality as well. 

I am joining from Malé. I joined this protest because I cannot bear Muizzu’s tyranny. He is emptying out the Maldivian people’s tax money. He is spending it on flights here and there and wasting our money. The people are going without food, the people are starving. But he keeps going on trips abroad. He is not receiving any [grant] aid from anywhere. There is no place in the world that accepts him. So I am coming out to overthrow him. 

[Allegations of corruption during the MDP administration] are blatant lies. If there was any corruption during the MDP government, why haven’t they investigated it within the past two years? All blatant lies. [Former] Fenaka [managing director Ahmed] Saeed was sentenced directly against the law. That is what I believe. Against the law. They are stealing, even now [ruling party lawmaker Ibrahim] Shuja has MVR 40 billion. The next person also has billions. These are things I know. They are going about stealing and stealing, everyone is stealing, even the person in charge is stealing. This is why we are forced to come out.

What has been given to us or where is the service they owe to us over 65-year-olds? We are receiving the same MVR 5,000 [old age pension] that Anni [former president Mohamed Nasheed] gave us. It's been two years to his [Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s] presidency, but there is nothing he has given to any citizen. He said he will give MVR 200,000 for every Hiyaa flat, where are things like this? 

I come from Hulhumalé. I am a private businessman. There has never been a period where the economy has been this bad. I had to come even with my leg injury because of this. It's been seven months since my leg broke from an accident, but I had to come here.

I understand the difficult situation that a lot of Maldivians, especially ordinary people, are in right now. Ordinary people are forced to come out to the streets like this because of government negligence. The government needs to take care of a lot of things. Especially because the government’s political decisions have failed. The government is top-heavy. There is no economic productivity and we don’t want to see Maldivians suffering difficult times. That’s why we came out tonight. 

Government bodies in charge of taking action against corruption have failed. That is why corruption is so widespread. Ordinary people have to come out and do what's necessary to get rid of corruption and to bring the people responsible in front of justice.

The truth is everyone who talks about corruption makes it out to be a common thing. People don't understand how dangerous corruption is for the country. Maldivians need to understand that corruption could be a pit that we may never escape from. The whole country has been sold to a hundred people. There’s not a piece left for our children’s children.

Maldivians are now not even able to get a job. The young people who finish studies now are unable to get a job. When there’s a job announcement, there are thousand and two thousand applicants. Ordinary people are now waiting for any job, blue collar or white collar. Our country is in this situation because our whole country has been sold off with corruption. We have to come out and fight this. We don't believe that corruption should be normalised and that the government should use the parliament to stop the power of the pen and tongue, to keep people quiet.  We want to break free from this.

I have always worked for reform and supported MDP. But today I came out because even though the president was elected by the people, there are a lot of things that are unconstitutional. This is the first time I have come out for something like this since this administration began. I had to come out because things have gone a bit too extreme now.

At the very least we are now not even able to talk about the things that are going wrong. We are getting to a level where we wouldn’t even know if wrongs are being done. On top of that, our economy is now crumbling. Small and medium businesses are not able to get the payments they are owed. Now President Muizzu has said, "I will give the money due to the people by November." So I believe he is giving payments to those he wants and is misusing state funds by holding them.

People are now in a dire state, that’s why we had to come out. I am doing F&B and construction-related work. It’s clear to see how people are struggling with finances if we look at the sales of food and beverage businesses. On average, businesses who were easily making MVR 7,000 or MVR 8,000 two years ago are now down to MVR 2000. I’m saying that because the usual customers come to have a tea or a coffee but the amount they spend is less because what they have as disposable income is less. People who used to drink Lavazza coffee have now changed to Nescafé. Everyone wants to spend on food and drinks but they are not able to because they are not able to make ends meet on their income. 

We know that the tactic is to make it appear a certain way by pressing charges against some people. Former Fenaka MD Saeed who was recently convicted is a friend of mine. I know it’s an unjust ruling because he was sentenced for something that started before Saeed went to Fenaka.

Things that need to be investigated should be investigated by this government or any other government. But we know this is intimidation because they keep saying we’ll take action against the head of every place. They said they will raise charges against the former finance minister [Ibrahim] Ameer too. If they wanted to take action against misuse of government resources, they could have filed complaints to the institutions back then, too. But I don’t accept it when they do it when they have the executive power.