He has since shown a striking sureness of action, though his short reign has not been without its critics. His remarks in Manchester last week, aimed to gee along his centre-right allies, together with his plans for underwater Cabinet meetings and for moving the entire population to a promised land free of the threat of inundation, have led to accusations that he is a little light on political substance and too gimmicky for his own good.
Nasheed is scaring off investors, say opponents who include his predecessor, Gayoom.
“This man is so hellbent on hogging the media limelight that he is forgetting to do his job, which is to run the country,” a spokesman for the former president said.
While such criticism reeks of sour grapes, the question is just how far Nasheed can go for his country. Just who will sell him the land where he can build his New Maldives? And just what good will it do to make his nation carbon-neutral? Providing answers to these questions will not be easy, though in many ways they distract from the real purpose of Nasheed’s plans.
We are all Maldivians, he argues. Every nation on the planet is threatened today by global warming. The Maldives and its inhabitants just happen to be first in line for the great calamity when it arrives. They may survive more than 100 years, if rises in sea level remain modest. However, the oceans will continue to rise throughout next century and probably the one after it, scientists warn. The islands will therefore have to face their watery fate either in the 21st century or the 22nd, or even in the 23rd.
The actions of Mohamed Nasheed are therefore aimed at stimulating action by the West in the hope his country can reap some collateral benefit when a program for dealing effectively with climate change is eventually hammered out.
As he said: “If scientists are not able to save the Maldives, then they won’t be able to save the world.”
RSS