Dear Mr Kutti Nasheed,

First of all forgive me for addressing you in your nickname. I have no intention of belittling you, especially as you are a government minister now. However, there are so many Mohamed Nasheeds in our political sphere that it is rather confusing. There is Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) who is the Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party and then there is the Member of Special Majlis, Mohamed Nasheed (Colonel). It is heartening that all three Mohamed Nasheeds’ have got nicknames to differentiate them. Or else it would have been an unbearable burden on the Maldivian public.

I wonder who is the most famous of all three but I am sure that Colonel is no longer basking in fame. He was once a celebrity when he was writing columns for Minivan Daily proclaiming that he had not sold himself and never would. I am not sure if he has sold himself but there are certainly rumours that he has sold the resort he has won, Kanifushi, to another party. Anni was once a fan of his namesake and played a vital role in Colonel’s win in the election as MDP candidate. However, when Colonel quit MDP Anni branded Colonel as the biggest traitor to the people of Male’. Such is the complexity of politics. Forgive me for deviating from the topic, but I was trying to justify why I am addressing you in your nickname.

I have to admit that it never crossed my mind before to write a letter to you as you were not an important figure in my life. However, things have changed recently. I would like to inform you that most of my life revolves around cyberspace and I have felt your presence there. You have become the new hot sensation in the Maldivian blogosphere. Even though I have never seen photographs by you in Flickr, I have come to notice that you have become a commandeering influence over Maldivian photographers using Flickr as well. These recent developments made me to start typing this letter to you, unable to escape from your dominating presence in my life. I must also confess that I don’t normally watch Television Maldives (TVM) or listen to Voice of Maldives (VOM) so I have been quite illiterate on what your Ministry has been trying to tell us Maldivians. But when you started your blog, there was no escape because I cannot switch off the computer just like I would switch off television, even though there are on and off buttons in both devices.

I hope that you would not mistake me for a virtual being in cyberspace. No, I do not reside in Second Life, so I have no intention of visiting the new Maldivian Embassy there. Besides I am sure Abdulla Shahid reaped a handsome commission out of the deal. I have this gut feeling that even our beloved President (I hate the term Golhabo) would have received some percentage out of it. Buying and selling properties in Second Life is a hot business trend now. I am not forgetting that Maldives bought property but I am sure our public money must have been spent with a commission to those involved. I wonder why Mr Shahid, who is an obscure State Minister in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all of a sudden starts giving interviews about this opening of a virtual embassy. Shahid has always been a faithful real estate agent for our President, securing him properties in Singapore and elsewhere. Shahid also has a reputation for receiving fat commissions (the word bribe is a bit harsh and I prefer not to use it) out of resort bidding processes and other resort deals.

Mr Kutti Nasheed. A blogger has come to the conclusion that a certain Mr Hill is behind your blog. While I do not dispute your academic capabilities and intelligence, I have also noticed a suspicious pattern in the way your Ministry is using the blogosphere to promote Gayoom’s so-called reform agenda and the way you are using your blog to promote yourself. When I am on the toilet seat, a time when I see patterns out of the daily confusion, I often wonder if all this is not part of a sinister game plan devised by an infamous public relations firm from UK; a firm I would rather not mention here because they are associated with the devil and in our superstition it is not wise to name evil spirits.

I can still remember you as a TV anchor bringing fresh news to the Maldivian audience. I can also remember you as the presenter of that famous TV programme ‘Spot Light’ in the early 1990s. It was a time when the airwaves were still dominated by the 80s songs such as ‘Walk of Life’ and ‘La isla bonita’. I must admit that as a young boy I was a fan of yours. I must stress that I was never a fan of Munko or Inthi, even though Namza is a totally different story. I could marry Namza and have children, and we could all visit the Children’s Garden and watch the crocodile. But I wouldn’t want the children to have the same accent as hers.

I also remember you visiting Majeediyya School to meet with Mr Midhath Hilmy, the history teacher. Now I realize that you were very ambitious and you were trying to secure a means to higher education, even if that meant establishing good relations with Mohamed Zahir Hussain. I applaud your efforts because through your determination you were able to study in the International Islamic University (IIU) in Malaysia and become a successful lawyer. Now when I think about it, those two individuals that I mentioned, Zahir Hussain and Midhath Hilmy, have a rather odd connection with Malaysia. The former studied for his doctorate in Malaysia and is also accused by some people for cutting a deal with Naluri Berhad to manage Air Maldives. The latter is a very popular Ambassador to Malaysia now.

After continued frustrations while working in Attorney General’s Office you built yourself a good career in the Parliament Secretariat even though you mention that “Dr Munavvar had told me that my transfer from the AG office was the end of my career.” I can vouch that you tried to bring several favourable changes to the Majlis even though it was an archaic establishment. “Some people there played cards to pass time,” is how you have described the place in your blog.

You established a good law firm, Axis Chambers, in the Maldives and earned a reputation as a smart lawyer, securing contracts even from foreign parties trying to invest in the Maldives. I am sure it must have been very difficult for foreign parties to invest in the Maldives without giving a ‘commission’ to the Trade Minister of the time, Yameen, who had Foreign Investment Services Bureau (FISB) under his tight control. Faced with frustrations over investing in the Maldives, the foreign parties must have sought good legal counsel from an expert lawyer such as you.

Mr Kutti Nasheed. In the Parliament Secretariat, as well as in law practice, you led a very sheltered life, away from controversies. I don’t remember you appearing on television or writing in newspapers praising our President. In fact, your comments published in Dhivehi Observer on how the Speaker of People’s Majlis, Abdulla Hameed, handled the appointment of a Speaker to Special Majlis in July 2004 were not biased.

“First of all, I as a person, as a lawyer, and as a member of this Maldivian Nation, sincerely believe that the chair could have been more accommodating on 19 July. Members should have had the time they wanted to speak and express their views, and at the end of the debate he could have gone for a vote on the two opinions that had been shaped on the Majlis floor. I have worked with the current chair for the past 10 years, and I have not seen a sad day like that,” you said.

Reflecting on that day, I wonder why the same members, who had so bitterly argued for a secret ballot to elect Speaker of the Special Majlis, did not do same while electing a new Speaker recently. I also fail to understand why Mr Qasim Ibrahim, who walked out of the Majlis in protest in July 2004, did not do the same while he was being elected as Speaker of Special Majlis this time, without holding a secret ballot. Perhaps he is too busy signing currency notes that he doesn’t have time for political stunts.

Your appointment as Minister of Information and Arts on Bastille Day in 2005, changed you from an ambitious civil servant to one of the strongest defenders of the corrupt system in the Maldives. Even though this appointment was made on Bastille Day, it had nothing to do with freedom or the rights of the underdogs. On 2 July 2005 Gayoom invited you to his office and asked you to sit with him on the same settee because he needed fresh young blood to salvage his regime. Under the advice from his public relations firm, the name of which eludes my mind, he wanted a young Information Minister to tell the world and Maldivian public that the old President is reform-minded and to unveil the New Maldives illusion. Apparently replacing his wife’s brother-in-law Samarey with Ahmed Abdulla was not working well.

After you became the Minister of Information you have supposedly made some announcements which earned ridicule from the public. One such announcement is bringing TVM to the level of BBC within 100 days. I know that you have always been overambitious but the appointment as Minister must have changed your character to such an extent that you failed to distinguish between logic and fantasy.

Come to think about it, I feel you are still living in a fantasy. TVM is loathed by the public for presenting biased news. The illusions of press freedom that your Ministry is trying to sell to the world are not really sold. And now you lash at international media watchdogs for supposedly producing reports that are “unbalanced and only offer readers a one sided view.” Do you think that the international community will believe what you have to say more than the words of established international organisations in the media sector?

“As expected, every person able to write became a journalist, a writer, and a columnist. And as also expected, instances of irresponsible journalism reached alarming proportions,” your Ministry’s document says.

Mr Kutti Nasheed. Since you are educated, famous, rich and powerful you have a tendency to look down upon ordinary folk. When a company you owned started publishing an advertising and business magazine named ‘Baazaaru’ a few years ago, we did not question if the owners or journalists were qualified or not. It is ironic that Baazaaru was shut down by the Ministry of Information the very day the ministry amended a regulation to facilitate shutting down of several magazines. In the comments section of one of your posts you have also talked about this.

I may have been educated in law. But I am not new to media and journalism. I have had my own papers called baazaaru which began as an ad magazine and got converted into a business magazine towards the end of its life, and rankolhu a children’s magazine. I could not continue because Information Ministry cancelled my registrations for both the magazines for not being regular.

It is ironic that you have become a blogger while at the same time refuses to recognise the right for every individual to become a writer or a columnist. Let me inform you that this is the age of citizen journalism, and people like me and my friends, an ignorant and uneducated bunch, will write no matter how much you protest. No, we don’t have journalism degrees from prestigious universities, but we also know how to start a blog, and we know how to power it with Blogger, Wordpress or even Movable Type. Don’t you understand that your boss Gayoom, who has been ruling the country since you were a kid, and had already completed 17 years of rule by the time you were married, is to blame for lack of trained journalists in Maldives? He has made journalism such a risky and fearful profession that most people have been shying away from it.

When I read your blog I see the young man in his 20s presenting the Spot Light programme. I see the same young man craving for attention and fame. Your ambition has brought you to a very high level but you must understand that at the moment your position is ruining your reputation and making you very unpopular. I can understand why you chose not to be in a ship at the harbour but if baffles me as to why you opted to be in a sinking ship. Let me assure you that our future will not be shaped by DRP or any remnants of the current regime. The notorious public relations firm would not ultimately be able to salvage the regime. By having your blog as a tool for conning the people into believing in the so-called Reform Agenda of Gayoom, you are earning more hatred and unpopularity.

I can see you asking the question about what you should do then. A Minister at a very young age, almost reaching the dreams you have always had. What options are there, you may ask. Of course I know you will cringe at the idea of joining MDP. There have been so many nasty articles in the opposition media about you that I am sure you will find that option disgusting. Let me assure you that I myself do not like such articles. The photos and cartoons showing Attorney General Hassan Saeed as a person who had undergone a sex change operation is not humour of good taste.

The option for you now is to resign. You are rich and famous. You can take a break and return to your ambitions after this regime falls. But if you choose to fall with it, then I would consider that a very premature fall.

I regret for not being at the Central Hotel terrace for the Flickr meet up but I hope we can continue the dialogue through the blogosphere.

Yours sincerely,

The Oracle.