'Dictator' Nasir and 'Reformist' Zaeem.

We all know that Gayom really really hates Ibrahim Nasir. More than anything, it is the personal hatred because he was jailed and banished by Nasir. He later spread many stories of how much he was tortured - the truth of which i am not certain of. But until Nasir left the country to live in exile; Gayom was speaking very nice of him. In his first speech as president, Gayom praised Nasir as a hero, a great leader who did so much good to our country.

But after he left the country, things started to change. Allegedly there was an attempted coup (to get back his power) after which demonstrations and horrible anti-Nasir songs were recorded and distributed. Some songs were even played on national radio; people say. There were cartoons of Ibrahim Nasir on the roads, on news papers. These songs and cartoons were used in the demonstrations.

Gayom revoked Nasir's 'Kilege' title and a stone in the Male' international airport -which stated that airport was officially opened by Ibrahim Nasir- was thrown in to the sea, and was later replaced with something about Gayom reopening the airport. The prison where Gayom was allegedly tortured was destroyed and made in to the Biggest mosque in country and the center for brainwashing the people with the new version of Islam Gayom brought from Egypt. The hero of Maldives' independence was pushed aside and on independence days we hear only the semi- mythical holy jihad tales from olden days . Gayom often make sure he does not to even mention Nasir's name in his speeches.

No matter how jealous Gayom is with Nasir, or how much he hates him; history will have lot more good things to say about Nasir than about Gayom. Not that he did not do anything bad, but he is actually the father of modernization and development in Maldives, he laid the foundations of almost everything gayom failed to develop. Maybe that is why Zaeem hate him. Because he did everything Zaeem could have done (and take exaggerated credit along with titles and awards) if it wasn't already done.

Now we are seeing the same kind of thing against Gayyoom. But still (being civilized maybe?) i think we are unable to top Gayyoom and his reformists in that. DO lava party is nothing compared to the auguraana, death threats..etc in those songs. Koto is nothing when compared to those cartoons. Demonstrations of that caliber have never been held against Gayom. But it is said that 'history repeats itself'. Lets just hope it stops repeating from the point a new government is formed.Coz we don't want another golhaa.

and now... ; handhaanaai thaareehuge therein:

Demonstrations

Cartoons

....and Songs.

Download the songs:

Naifaru Dhohokko:

1. haraamee bandu
2. hithuge rahumeh
3. thanah foolhu
4. thelhey hithaameyaa
5. velaanaagey karukuru

Holhudhulloa (aka gaumee guraa):

1. aniyaage baaraa
2. aniyaverizaalim
3. athaafaige baaru
4. baaqeenge therey shaamil
5. dhannaashey
6. dhashuleethaa

Haaburi (the master of auguraana songs):

1. aadhe bohkalhu dheulhi
2. anan thoey foareegaa
3. baagee choaru
4. baageeney nubai
5. baageeveriyaa gennanvaane'
6. baaraa makaru
7. baathilvee dhey aniyaa
8. dheefaey aniyaa
9. dhivehidhidha vattan ulheny
10. dhivehinge thi firuauney
11. dhogu hadhanee
12. dolarah dhahivethi
13. dolaru madheehey
14. eyrun kaaku fai modedheynee
15. hannaanaa naasiraa
16. polio and bulhiboa

[Note: Thanks to MaldivianDigital.com and the members who shared the songs, pics taken from DhivehiObserver.com ]

inauguration of the national seminar on history and heritage.

Seen here is the 'Tharaagandu' at K.Atoll Kaashidhoo(Picture taken from kaashidhoo.net)..It is said to be the remains of a Buddhist monastry which dates back to 12th century AD.

Archaeological excavations of this Buddhist temple/monastry , by a research team, from the
University of Oslo, Norway, was begun in 1996, on the island of Kaashidhoo.These extcavations were continued in 1997 and 1998. The team was led by Professor Egil Mikkelsen of Norway. After the excavations, the ruins were covered by plastic, sand and stones to protect them from destruction.

Ivisited the place just when they discovered some corpses there .I heard that the research team will be leaving soon.that means the work will no be continued.Again after an year i went back to kaashidhoo and discovered that it was a play ground for children.they would go and pee in to the ancient well there.they would break parts of the historical remains of the temple(some kids even brought it to the house i was staying in).I was not shocked. because my house is not far from ali rasagefaanu Ziyaarai (in Male') ,which was a junk heap until it was renovated and opened for tourists in October 2002.And he was mulim mujahid..... no wonder they wont give a damn about the remains of a Buddhist temple!!

There are several other Ziyaarais or shrines of Maldivian saints and heroes which have been neglected and even destroyed by the government.You all will know the area called Lonu ziyaarai kolhu, no more ziyaarai is there now.They even stopped Maldivian cultural festivals like Maaloodhu.My said that the giraavaru people practiced their traditional thaarajehun and vajidhuvun until it was banned by the government.

And then there is Dhivehi language.so many words used in different islands..are lost day after day...i dont think any effort is made to collect these words and document em(even jaa have done more than what they do by giving us the radheed free).and i thnak maldivesroyalfamily.com and maldivesculture.com for all the information ive got from them about my country,its culture and heritage.

Bodu beru is some thing almost all maldivians like...but no work is done to promote it.,they keep on saying youth are going more and more western and no one is interested in maldivian culture.

talking about history..i guess yo will know that maldivian history is re-written in a way some one wanted it to be.ive already mentioned what he did to maldivian historian , shafeeq.

and.i dunno.i was just watching TVM there was this seminar about culture going on.The brother in law of Gayom; Abbas Ibrahim -who is the 'president' (lol) the National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research thanked gayom for many things and then awarded him something, apparently for being the savior of maldivian culture.After sometime the gayom himself was speaking about maldvian culture.he started by saying that Quran Mushaf (printed copies of the Quran) are the biggest maldivian heritage as we are muslims...and after sometimes i thought i was in Islam class.he was talking about mushaful uthman and mushaful imaam and about how the Quran was revealed and how it was collected.how some prints of the Quran were burnt and one single copy was made the canonical print.and how it was sent to syria,egypt,and many other countries.and i dunnno what happened next i have started writing this post by that time.

phew!so much about maldivian history,heritage and culture..If you are interested in maldivian heritage, I think you would find this [pdf] interesting.