Yesterday and last night, following the death of the former president Ibrahim Nasir, a number of reports appeared on Maldivian media. I have learnt a lot of new information and historical facts that I wasn’t aware of before. Black and white photos and videos from Nasir’s period were shown on TVM. Historical researchers were interviewed about Nasir’s years of ruling and his achievements. All those things made me wonder why they couldn’t do it before.
Why couldn’t TVM show those reports and videos before or during last 3 decades that has passed after Nasir’s era. Now only they are acknowledging that Nasir was the real founder of the modern Maldives. Three decades has passed and many younger generations of Maldivians has finished their official education without even learning a single fact mentioned on those reports or by the analysts who were interviewed yesterday. It’s my belief that two or three decades in our history were purposely ignored by the government that succeeded after Nasir.
According to the limited literature and information available on the public domain regarding Ibrahim Nasir and his years or ruling, one can truly understand that he laid the foundation of the modern Maldives. He was the head of the government when we gained independence in 1965. He undertook the construction of Hulhule’ airport, under those challenging circumstances. We had the number one shipping line in Asia when he was the president. As per my knowledge atoll councils and atoll chiefs were elected democratically during a particular period in his years as a president. Though I can’t mention all those things, the list goes so long and indicates that he initiated most of the things or developments we see today including tourism. He laid the foundation and started those things even though they were further developed by the government that came after him.
So we should give credit to him for these good things he had done for us. We should learn about this period in our history. It’s not when he is dead we have to talk about it. We should have been learning about these things in our social studies when we were in grade 6 and 7.
May Allah bless his soul with eternal paradise and grant patience and strength to his family.
