Article on MIADHU Daily, 10th Nov. 2007

On the question of Liberal Democracy or an Islamic Democracy, MIADHU has quoted, my friend Anni from MDP saying that I do not understand the meaning of 'Liberal'.

I was little surprised to read this comment from Anni, as I have studied many books and papers discussing this issue. So just to reconfirm my understanding of the word 'liberal' I quickly searched my Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary and found the following meaning in relation to politics.

Liberal: POLITICS, Page 740
'wanting or allowing a lot of political and economic freedom and supporting gradual social, political or religious change.'

Please note the word 'religious change', and this is exactly why I oppose the name 'Liberal Democracy' in the Maldives. Instead a more appropriate name would be 'Islamic Democracy'.

Umar Naseer
President, IDP

WECOME to my Blog!

Everyday I receive several sms from people around Maldives on different political issues. They want to know where I stand on certain issues. I make it a point to answer them in 24 hours. My secretary's first job in the morning is to send all the sms answers: SMS which I personally read and direct the answers to my secretary.

Since I have been slightly 'out of touch' with the internet community I thought I will open this blog in addition to the sms, so that my policies and my stands on different issues can be more understood by the people.

Please feel free to write me anything, for or against my policies described in my Presidential Manifesto 2008.

Umar Naseer
President, IDP

For SMS comments:786 6666