Imagine: Someone walks up to me and says, "would you like to have a Coke or a Pepsi," and I tell him no. He starts trying to convince me that I should chose one.
This has been my plight today. People are trying to tell me that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I should exercise my right to vote. They fail to understand that in any referendum that there are three choices for the citizen. He can either vote yes or no; have the right to to say no to the referendum. To vote yes or no is actually saying yes to the referendum.
When the people have elected their representatives to revise the constitution and are paying them b…f… millions (which the people cannot afford), and these elected representatives have failed to deliver, they should pay for it. Now they are being rewarded for it. The MDP parliamentarians will say all the suffering of the people are because they voted for a Presidential System. The DRP guys will say it was because the people supported the Parliamentary System that there is so much chaos and instability. This whole referendum is an escape strategy – by design or not.
[Interestingly, the parliament that gave us Maumoon for thirty years; and are condemning and telling the world that it was wrong to have him rule us for thirty years – were quick to denounce and attack Dr. Shaheed when he made a factual statement. They are immune even from the very public who they have pledged to serve! Any citizen of any constituency represented by an MP should have the right to take him to court on how the MP represents the people. That would be good governance. We don’t have to see how it is done in the most industrialized nations to decide what is good for us.]
There should have been a system where by those who want to bring this gross wrong to the attention of the public are able to do so. That would be a vote against the referendum; a referendum that is wrong.
Should I not have the choice of not drinking either Coke or Pepsi; and should I be denied from making my choice known in a referendum. Most of us seem to be followers of a cult by my definition. We are tribal by design and don’t seem to be able to think for ourselves.
Smile and Let Smile 
Mohamed
August 18, 2007 at 8:46 am
Yes, u do have that right.
Corporate control, foreign hegemony and extent of public participation are modern challenges of initiating and developed democracies.Why are we stuck at the basic simple issues? British system is this and American system is that. Can’t we, since we have all the experiences of all democracies to start with, come up with something better than all?
I should say "Boys and girls; if you are to take one take a challenge worth taking".