This morning I was watching the Ten O’clock News on TVM. One of the news items on the bulletin was the meeting by a team comprising of youth and members of island committees with the atoll chief Mr. Ahmed Moosa of Fuvah Mulah. The team had told the atoll chief that they wanted to have the SAFF Championship trophy brought to island. Their meeting was held following a petition by a number of youth to stop the trophy being brought onto the island.
What struck me was that this is the championship trophy that “united the whole nation” in the run up to the final in Colombo. We were so “blinded” by the taste of winning that we spent over 7 million US Dollars in Colombo over just two days and over 100 million Rufiyaa in a month, to support and celebrate the success of the national team. This symbol of this very event that united the nation in “a single dream” has now divided it. It seems to be like a bad omen. I for one atleast, wish that we had never won this doomed Championship. The Indians would have celebrated the success in a more civilized manner! A championship should be won by a nation who deserve it. An undeserving nation would not even have the capacity to celebrate it in a civilized manner.
The Maldives today, is a nation looking for highs. We like to be “hypnotized” by something. We have to have a reason to fight. We have to have a reason to forget our miseries and our pathetic conditions. We are Muslims but no longer able to identify with Islam. We feed ourselves from tourism revenue, but no longer the hospitable people nor the peaceful paradise that attracts the traveler.
The petitioners who object to the Championship trophy’s tour around the country, including the petitioners from Fuvah Mulah say that they are concerned with the unnecessary expenditure it involves, in a time when the country is facing great economic difficulties. Everyone seems to be an expert on the economy, on reform, on democracy and good governance. That is the beauty of Maldives. We are all experts, but hardly anyone can deliver on anything. We have big ideas and wonderful dreams, but wish that God would execute and deliver those ideas and dreams. That’s how we have been brought up through centuries – ultimate responsibility lies with God!
Smile and Let Smile 
muiz
August 1, 2008 at 2:51 pm
The SAFF championship trophy united us like it never did before and gave us a pure moment of national togetherness. But, when power hungry selfish politicans rule things would tend to get sour, as it has happened in this case. However, I disagree with you in the point that one has to become “experts” in a certain field to realise very basic things. Anyone with the irght frame of mind will agree that the massive spending done following the winning of the trophy, including this round the country tour, is a wastage given the terrible state of our economy. Nevertheless, I believe that a majority of us, specially the educated mass, are extensively fallign behind in becoming active and doing anything positive for the future of the country. It is really regrettable that the intelligensia of the country do not seem to care about the future of the coutry! I sincerely call upon the educated mass of the country to start becoming active in adressing the various important naitonal issues.