We are witnessing the disintegration of the Maldives sports system. The system was based on direct government management. Such practice however is no longer recognised by global sport bodies such as the IOC and the FIFA. International best practice in this day and age is the management of sports through civil society. This has never been the case in the Maldives. I believe this will be a necessary structural adjustment to enhance the growth of sport in the Maldives.
The urge for governments to intervene in sport development in their respective countries is not necessarily un-common. The point however is, how much "interference"? In our SAARC region, all governments have a stake in national sports development in a more direct manner than most European societies.
Sport is very much a European phenomena and as such, they have shown us how they have perfected this art. In Europe, sport developed principally through civil society mechanisms with governments mostly as helpful partners who recognised it's value to society. The Football Leagues of Europe are examples. In the US, the government actively pursued the development of sport through legislation. They eventually came out with their flagship sport product, a more commercial version, most recognised as "franchises".
Our region is way behind in institutionalising sport development. It has been governments and not civil bodies that have directly initiated national strategy and coverage through policy and funding. India has a government funded national Sports Authority. They however leave much of the policy and management to their civil society national associations. In the rest, more uncomfortable democracies, there is more government interference. For example Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have required FIFA intervention to settle disputes. The IOC intervened in Nepal. National sport associations have been shaky with their civil society credentials. Maldives appear to have a pretty bad record. The undemocratic culture of our sports system is rapidly getting exposed in this people driven reform project.
The case of the Maldives
We are not looking at re-inventing the wheel! Experiences of best practice in countries outside of our region, have shown us systems of sport that have worked well. The defining features of these systems have been democracy and autonomy. That is independence from direct government interference and therefore the freedom to pursue funding not only from government, but also from public and other commercial ventures.
The general guideline is to let sport be a people thing and an activity that may not be used as a campaign tool for national leadership. It is time President Gayyoom stopped the abuse of the SAFF Trophy for his Presidential campaign. Ten island communities have protested against the Trophy tour as I write.
I believe sport can be more successfully moulded as a peoples' activity rather than a government activity. This is however possible, if the form of government in the country is a multi-party democracy. In one party dictatorships sport end up being part of the government machinery. The Communist system is a classic example. Wow! China is hosting the Olympics! Isn't it so complex!
What we are witnessing a process where a 30 year old one party dictatorship is placed under pressure to transform into a multi-party democracy. Documenting and analysing our sports experiences during this phase of rapid change will help us, if not others, understand the pitfalls of such transition.
The Experience
Our experience in this project have been both encouraging and bitter. We are encouraged that the government actually declared their intention to free up national sports associations. The declaration came in the form of the amended Article of Association or Law No. 1/2003 of of May that year.
The irony however is that this new law was not really meant to free up civil society. The real reason for getting this Law through was to replace the previous Articles of Association (No. 26/82). The problem with the previous Law was that it mentioned "parties" in addition to clubs and associations. The single party rule of President Gayyoom felt threatened that a group of reformists proposed to register a political party under the old 1982 law. The new law was therefore enacted to enable the government to erase all hints that a civil society association could be registered with the express objective of a classical political party.
There is ample evidence that amending the Articles of Association of 1982 had nothing to do with freeing up civil society. The amended Law of 2003 mandated associations already registered under the previous law to transit as per the new law within 12 months of ratification. The one year deadline expired in May 2004. Four years later (after a local court ruling in 2006 and the FIFA intervention in 2007) government registered NGOs such as national sports associations are conducting hurried elections with absolutely no regard for the new law. The government appointed Sports Council chaired by the Minister of Sports is overseeing elections! The Registrar of Clubs and Societies is not aware that elections are being held. Well...how about that! The whole thing is an eyewash. Deception... and a complete farce!
The single party government of President Gayyoom hoped to block the creation of political parties in the country. He hoped to mute reformist calls for system change. The Articles of Association ensured the separation of the concept of political parties from the usual issue specific civil society organisations. Political pluralism was the feared enemy!
The Result
The result however was not what the government had actually hoped for! The old Gayyoom government soon faced the biggest shock of its 30 year rule! In walks a young reformer in the name of Mohamed Nasheed (Anni). President Gayyoom had hoped the 2003 Articles of Association would make up for not allowing the formation of political parties. Within weeks of Nasheed's arrival from self exile in early 2005, the Maldives Parliament ratified a Presidential Decree to allow political parties.
A number of people expressed their concern that while issue specific meaningful civil society organisations were legalised through legislation, political parties were only "legal" through a mere Presidential Decree. This was however enough for the dynamic Nasheed to push his concept of multi-partyism into the heads of Maldivians. Political parties emerged! The incumbent government rushed to claim they too were a party. It was Kick-off...big time! The heat was on!
Where are we now?
We are now at the gates of transition. We are impatiently waiting for the ratification of a constitution that would guarantee us a multi-party democracy. It is within this transitional environment that the national associations that had been held back by government control are being forced into the public domain. The shock appears too much! The government machinery were unable to strategise a smooth transition. The hard fact is engraved in the simple logic that it is impossible for a Dictator to usher in Democratic Reform. This would be signing his own death warrant!
The remains of the Gayyoom one party state apparatus cringed! Entrenched government officials immediately scrammed to devise ways of holding onto these associations hoping it would help their political survival. The largest government sport association, the national FA ended up in the FIFA's lap for breaching it's Statutes. We welcomed this third party intervention. We hoped they would help us curb this governmental interference in sport.
We were rudely disappointed. The FIFA Official Dato' Paul of Malaysia unilaterally decided to maintain the status-quo and manipulate the FAM elections to ensure that only a mere 11 votes were counted out of over 90 valid votes. He then went ahead and endorsed the elections on behalf of the FIFA! Mind you, this was in breach of the FIFA Statutes! (Article 17). What was the good Dato's interest?
In the meantime our National Olympic Committee is merrily getting ready for the Olympics. We are not hearing about an election. The IOC seems content with the Maldives while they harp on about Iraq's government interfering into the affairs of their NOC.
Role of the International Sports Community
We are doing our bit. We have passed laws consistent with international best practice. We have gone out on the street to protest undemocratic FIFA backed elections of the FAM. It is time the International Sports Community recognised their obligations to ensure the rights of Maldivian sports bodies to operate without government interference in this country.
We need more "responsible" engagement. We call on the International Sports Community to live up to their fashionable claims of "corporate social responsibility"!
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7 comments:
Isn't it an irony that you were the general secretary of the Football Association your talking about and You couldnt do anything at all to bring the reforms.
And now when there is an election and you and your 'monkey' anni wants all the credit and since you could not participate in it, your trying to make everything worse. Why can't you just shut up and continue with ur political agenda. DOnt mix politics with sports.
thank you!
G'day Hamid,
Above has well said, dont mix sports with politics. You were the closest to Samaray when matters really got worsened by distancing the managements of the first division clubs and other sports personalities from FAM. You did as you wished, ask any official of that time, honestly speaking they would not deny - you knew all, they would recall of your arrogance, the remarks you made and the decisions you took without any consultaion. You as an educated sports instructor involved in the administartion of the Assiciation was a mistake. We all know about it. Further it was a mistake to gte a Minster as the Chairman of rthe Association when the Association itself was under another Minister, that is not the way to go about administering the loved sports of the Maldivians.
You ought to look back and think of the things you had done and how it had contributed to deteriorate the assocation. You can not hide facts, you have contributed to the mismanagement of teh Association.
You are once again, this time from teh other side of the fence, mixing up sports and politics, if you mena anything well for the game in particular and sports in general, stay away from it, the maldivian sport will benefit.
Thank you from a former Maldivian Sportsman
ah! those days....hehe, in a funny way i thought it was hamid who organised the first FAM elections when maumoon changed the minister to Raashidaa. Victory n NRS was against Samaray and ultimately i think samaray pushed hamid out and brought in Boday..all very personal like the comments
All very good comments, i have to say. After reading your article i wonder what you are writing about? Politics or Sports?? What i can gather from your article is that, nothing is right if doesn't go the way you say or want it to go. Now you blame the FIFA? Yout think you are better than FIFA?? my God. What an ego you have. i think too much politics has gone to your head and you need some therapy, as the westerners say.
sounds like haamid has touched a few nerves by diving into the fundemental basis of sport organisation in our country...change is confusing for some!
This article moves us out of the box and therefore confuse those stuck in the box (old sports order!). Oh what innocence! We are still so "awed" by whatever the dhon meehun or beyru meehun says. Hamid, if you know so much why did'nt you face the FAM elections?
So am I accused of mixing sport and politics? But where is the basis? It appears we are still having a problem with the distinction! What I have done here was to merely lay down the recent history of the Laws on civil society (26/82 and 1/2003) and the events that prove the government was (a)not sincere about freeing up civil society (b) yes! that it was a wider political stimulus that led to changing the Law (this is where a political leader comes in to the picture) and (c) the impact of the political pressure...bingo!..elections!. I am quite open to a critique that would prove otherwise. On the question of the FIFA it may do those serious enthusiasts good to look up Article 17 of the FIFA Statutes, readily downloadable from the FIFA website. It is written in black and white.."Any Member’s bodies that have not been elected or appointed in
compliance with the provisions of par. 1, even on an interim basis,
shall not be recognised by FIFA." I would like to talk serious business. I would like to help! I would also like to base our observations on solid evidence...facts..I am all ears!
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