Saeed and his predictable repertoire of blame

I extend a bundle of fresh blooms to our Economic Minister, Saeed, though they arrive dripping with pure irony. As a former political ally who traveled the exact road you laid out up to this precise hour, I speak with an authority few others hold. Unlike you and your obedient circle, I have never prostrated myself before Muizzu, nor do I dance to every casual whim that enters his head. I need nothing from his pocket, nor do I owe him a solitary favor. That gives me absolute license to fire these plain, blistering truths directly across your bow, completely aware that this exact fury will land inside the presidential chamber itself.

Let me be clear that your endless blunders and total administrative paralysis do not shock me in the least. Why waste breath over things that warrant no serious thought? I have no desire to rehash the loud, brassy parade that rolled out the bunkering operation in Kulhudhuffushi, nor do I feel compelled to catalogue the millions hemorrhaged on an alleged Development Bank whose entire output consists of appointing people to desks. I will intentionally ignore the fairytale transit networks, including that suspended monorail supposed to link Funadhoo, Malé, and Hulhumalé, just as I will bypass that theatrical foundation stone planted in Hulhumalé by an imposter royal.

What I refuse to swallow quietly is the incessant, whining narrative you trot out whenever your shortcomings are exposed to sunlight. You scramble to scapegoat anyone nearby, shrieking that unseen adversaries are sabotaging your economic vision. You plead that manufactured deceit and coordinated fabrications are frightening away deep-pocketed foreign backers who would otherwise flood our treasury. You insist the outside world is being fed deliberate untruths solely to undermine your mega-deals.

Take a seat, Saeed, and confront reality. Cast your mind back to the MDP administration we spent years trying to tear down. Did their failures ever rival the sheer magnitude of the trainwreck you oversee today? Did they ever resort to the venomous propaganda playbook we perfected against them? Consider the endless smears we threw against that government. We stirred public hysteria by claiming they were importing non-believers to strip the Maldives of its Islamic fabric. We screamed that our faith, heritage, and social harmony were being annihilated in broad daylight.

We turned the color yellow on a visitor’s headwear inside a mosque into undeniable evidence of heresy, and we weaponized the very shade of paint on religious sanctuaries. We stirred paranoia over silenced calls to prayer, newly erected churches, and secret casinos rolled out for international tourists.

Recall how we convinced people that our international airport was being physically tied up in heavy cords and dragged straight out through the Gaadhookolu channel into foreign ownership. Whenever maritime borders were discussed, we rallied the masses with claims that the president had thrown himself into foreign laps for a fat check, surrendering the motherland outright.

Look at how we exploited the presence of foreign uniforms. We shouted that foreign troops had hijacked the domestic military establishment and were calling every operational shot from within. We even orchestrated the spectacle of dispatching Rohit directly to the coastal military base rising at Uthuru Thila Falhu. There was no gutter too deep for us to crawl through. We stooped so low as to accuse our rivals of sharing a mattress with Prime Minister Modi, marching through town with insulting effigies and vulgar caricatures to drive the point home.

As someone who once marched beside you, I will save us the final shred of modesty and cut the list short, but one issue cannot slide. I stand in furious opposition to your scheming to bring Zionist elements into Ras Malé through Alabbar, an established ally of those very interests. Your irritation and the sneers of your allies mean nothing to me. Neither your office nor the administration has managed to share a solitary fact demonstrating how this grand initiative serves our nation, opting instead to finalize this gargantuan transaction behind closed doors in absolute secrecy.

While I can only speak for myself, any rational individual from our camp holds this very conviction. Posing as righteous statesmen and issuing grandiose declarations is an insult to everyone's intelligence. Today's critics have not uttered a single insult we did not coin first, nor have they adopted a tactic we did not invent.

Regardless of your political gymnastics, the public will never swallow an occupation-backed foothold on our soil. I will not be involved in this charade, and I will place my whole body on the line to resist it.