The Low Growl: Maldivian Gen-Z Are Waking Up To Their ‘Kleptocratic’ State
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The Low Growl: Maldivian Gen-Z Are Waking Up To Their ‘Kleptocratic’ State
MALDIVES
On Sept. 25, an editorial in the Maldives Independent wondered if the country’s youth was as politically apathetic as it seemed. “Political ‘youthquakes’ have rocked Bangladesh, and now Nepal,” it wrote. “(Here), there is no denying that Gen Z is rapidly becoming more politically apathetic with each passing day – they admit it themselves.”
A few hours later, protests broke out. And young Maldivians came out in force.
The protests in the capital of Male, which kicked off after the legislature passed a new law restricting the media, soon broadened in early October to include complaints about corruption, the expansion of presidential powers, mismanagement of state enterprises, and the restrictions on basic freedoms.
Police arrested eight people after clashes broke out between protesters and security officials, with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, which had initially organized the protests, complaining of excessive force.
At the center of the protests was a measure passed by parliament known as the Maldives Media and Broadcasting Regulation Bill, which the government says will create a body to oversee broadcast and online media to “safeguard the constitutional right to freedom of expression.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Khaleel said on X that the bill will establish “clear standards and a code of conduct” and will also “address the challenges of misinformation, disinformation and coordinated manipulation of content.”
However, critics, which include journalists and human rights organizations domestically and internationally, say the new rules are essentially a “war” on free speech.
“The Maldivian parliament has passed a draconian bill that seeks to muzzle dissent online and offline, both on traditional media and social media,” Ahmed Naaif, the secretary-general of the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), told Al Jazeera. “We journalists will stand together in defiance against this takeover of the media…”
The bill also grants the new commission – to be appointed by the government and media organizations jointly – broad powers to fine and suspend journalists and news outlets if they produce coverage the commission believes violates the country’s religious norms, national security or public order. The government said a judicial order will be needed before a news organization can be closed down.
However, critics say that the judiciary has been recently remade by the government to become its rubber stamp.
Earlier this year, the legislature, in which the president’s party, the People’s National Congress, holds a firm majority, overhauled the country’s Supreme Court, suspending a judge and firing two others on allegations of abuse of power, moves that the former judges say was done to influence the outcome of several cases.
Fueling the crackdown on the media and social media, say government opponents, are scandals that have been erupting since late last year involving top officials in President Mohamed Muizzu’s administration: They have been implicated in fraudulently awarding coveted plots of land, diverting welfare funds to operate a pro-government TV channel, and boosting the ruling party’s membership through identity theft.
“In all of the cases, whistleblowers exposed damning evidence through an anonymous X account, an unfiltered and provocative outlet for ‘citizen journalism’ that has been playing an increasingly consequential role in Maldivian politics, wrote the Diplomat.
The tensions in the country that are spiking this year – a nation of around half a million people spread across more than 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean – center on the erosion of democratic gains the country has made since it ended 30 years of authoritarian rule and held its first multi-party democratic elections in 2008, say analysts.
But even as there is growing tensions in the country under Muizzu, elected in 2023, the issues facing the country go beyond one leader, says Eva Abdulla, a former legislator and the current head of the Maldives Policy Think Tank.
She pointed out how no Maldivian leader has lasted more than one term in almost two decades: Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader, was toppled in a coup. Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who governed with an iron fist, was rejected at the polls after one term. It was the same for Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Now, Muizzu faces widespread discontent even before reaching the halfway mark of his term.
She says the problem lies in the flaws of the 2008 constitution: “The drafters envisioned a delicate balance of powers with robust checks and balances in theory, but in practice, presidential power has steamrolled through constitutional guardrails,” she said. “They never anticipated scenarios where presidents would command parliamentary majorities of upwards of 80 percent, resulting in a system with nominal checks on presidential authority.”
“What began as a promising democratic experiment has unraveled through successive election cycles, culminating in today’s reality of rampant corruption and unprecedented economic decline…” she added.
At the same time, young Maldivians have been waking up to the realities of a corrupt and a “free-for-all” kleptocratic state, say commentators.
Himal Southasian magazine pointed to youth-led protests earlier this year, including one that lasted for more than a week in early May that erupted over the fall of a young woman from a nine-story building. The case led to allegations of gang rape, a police cover-up due to political interference, and drug-fueled parties attended by appointees of the ruling government and their family members.
A cousin of the injured woman reflected the crowd’s fury when she told protesters, “Justice is not for the poor. It is for the nepo babies,” referring to the children of the elite and a term that has become a rallying cry at protests across Asia.
Regardless, the multiple youth-led protests erupting this year show that Gen Z Maldivians are less apathetic than some believe, observers say.
“Already the largest explosion of discontent since Muizzu won power in 2023, these protests represent a new generation raising its voice against the Maldives’s entire political culture, putting to rest earlier notions of the political apathy of young Maldivians,” Himal Southasian wrote.
The discontent with the system has not disappeared even though those protests died down after a heavy-handed crackdown, it added: “There’ll be a flashpoint at some stage.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Stalemate as Dutch Liberals and Far Right Are Tied in Elections
NETHERLANDS
The centrist-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party and Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV) were locked in a near tie in the Dutch parliamentary elections, in a result that signals a shift back toward the political center after a year of populist rule, the BBC reported.
With 99 percent of votes counted, Thursday’s projections showed both parties winning 26 seats in the 150-seat parliament. Early exit polls had given a narrow lead to D66 and its leader, Rob Jetten, a former energy minister who ran on a message of stability, economic renewal, and European cooperation.
Meanwhile, the PVV suffered a major setback, losing 11 seats compared with the November 2023 elections, when it topped the polls with 37 seats. Wilders conceded the result was “not what he wanted” but called it his party’s second-best performance.
Political analysts cited voter fatigue with Wilders’ anti-Islam rhetoric and the collapse of his short-lived coalition in June. They expressed skepticism at his chances of forming a new governing coalition as other parties have ruled out working with him.
Instead, Jetten, 38, is now considered the frontrunner to lead the next government, potentially becoming the youngest prime minister in Dutch history, the Financial Times noted.
His campaign tapped into voter concerns over affordable housing, energy, and tackling migration in the Netherlands. He has also vowed to improve the education system and move the country towards more pro-European and greener policies.
Observers explained that Jetten could help restore the Netherlands’ role as a consensus-builder in the European Union after years of populist turbulence.
Still, challenges remain.
The young leader will need to form a stable coalition, which most likely will include the conservative-liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Christian Democrats, and possibly the GreenLeft-Labour alliance.
Together, the new coalition could secure a comfortable majority of 86 seats in the lower house.
Still, coalition talks are expected to stretch well into 2026 – the last round of negotiations under Wilders took seven months to conclude.
Police Fire on Protesters in Tanzania During Post-Election Rallies
TANZANIA
Clashes erupted in Tanzania on Thursday after demonstrations broke out following elections this week, with protesters disputing the results, Al Jazeera reported.
Following a low-turnout election on Wednesday, in which the most prominent opposition candidates were disqualified, protesters took to the streets, burning a bus and a gas station, attacking police officers, and vandalizing polling facilities, the Associated Press wrote.
In response to the unrest, the government shut down the Internet, deployed the military on the streets, and imposed a curfew on Wednesday evening in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where most of the demonstrations took place. However, protests continued late into the night, with police firing tear gas and gunshots at crowds defying the curfew.
A civilian and a police officer died during the rallies, according to Amnesty International. The organization called for an investigation into the police’s use of force against protesters.
The government requested public servants to work from home on Thursday to limit the movement of non-essential staff. Roadblocks staffed by the Tanzanian army were set up across the country.
Hundreds of demonstrators also breached security barriers to reach a road leading to the country’s main airport, but were stopped from entering it.
The turmoil was set off by actions by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, or CCM party, in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961, which attempted to retain office in Wednesday’s election by banning candidates from the two main opposition parties from running. Incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan ran against 16 candidates from smaller parties who carried out limited election campaigns.
With vote counting still ongoing, the electoral commission has put Hassan in the lead in many constituencies, prompting fears of further tensions in the country, the BBC noted.
The European Union called the vote a “fraud” that had been “unfolding for months.”
Tanzania’s election is the latest on the continent to trigger unrest among voters, angry over attempts by longtime leaders or parties using repression to stay in power. For example, protests are ongoing after Cameroon’s recent elections, where leader Paul Biya won his eighth term at age 92.
France Enshrines Consent in Rape Legislation
FRANCE
French senators passed changes to France’s rape law this week to add consent to the legal definition of sexual assault and rape, a move spurred by a mass rape trial last year that outraged many in the country, Reuters reported.
Until now, rape or sexual abuse was defined by French law as “any form of sexual penetration committed with the use of violence, coercion, threat or surprise,” the BBC noted.
Under the amended law, all sexual acts performed on another person without consent amount to rape.
An initial version of the amendment was adopted by the National Assembly in April, but was delayed. On Wednesday, the Senate adopted the bill, with 327 votes in favor and 15 abstentions. The law is pending President Emmanuel Macron’s signature to take effect.
The change stems from a cross-party, years-long debate that gained new urgency following a notorious and widely followed rape trial last year, in which 50 men were convicted of sexually assaulting or raping French woman, Gisèle Pelicot, while she was drugged into unconsciousness by her husband, Dominique Pelicot.
Many of the accused based their defense on the argument that they could not be guilty of rape, as they said they were not aware that Pelicot was not in a condition to give her consent.
The new law could weaken these kinds of arguments by specifying that consent must be “free and informed, specific, prior, and revocable,” and cannot be assumed from “silence or lack of reaction.”
Legal experts said the new measure would make securing convictions easier. Previously, they added, rapists could not be convicted unless they used violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.
Critics of the law have expressed concern that it could turn sexual encounters into “contracts” and might force rape victims to prove the lack of consent. Some women’s rights activists had warned that focusing on consent could shift scrutiny onto the victim’s behavior rather than on the attacker.
The passage of this amendment makes France’s legislation more aligned with other European countries. Sweden, Germany, and Spain are among those that already have consent-based rape laws.
DISCOVERIES
In-Flight Snack
During their yearly migration, many songbird species travel at night, partly to avoid daytime predators.
Night skies, however, have their own hunters, and bats are among the most skilled and most lethal.
After more than two decades of research, a new study has described how Europe’s largest bats hunt and capture small birds more than half a mile above the ground, eating them without even landing.
“We know that songbirds perform wild evasive maneuvers such as loops and spirals to escape predators like hawks during the day – and they seem to use the same tactics against bats at night,” study author Laura Stidsholt said in a statement. “It’s fascinating that bats are not only able to catch them, but also to kill and eat them while flying.”
Researchers attached high-resolution biologging tags to the backs of 14 greater noctule bats (Nyctalus lasiopterus), documenting two of them attempting to catch prey. These instruments track the bats’ movements, acceleration, altitude, and sounds, including echolocation calls, revealing their hunting techniques.
One of the two bats successfully secured itself a snack. It was observed climbing to an altitude of almost 4,000 feet while it used its low-frequency, ultrasound echolocation calls to locate the bird. Unlike some insects, birds cannot hear the bats’ echolocation calls and might only notice danger when it’s too late.
The bat then plunged vertically downwards, flapping its wings faster and harder to triple its speed while emitting a rapid series of short echolocation calls in a hunt that lasted almost three minutes and ended close to the ground.
The bird, identified as a European robin (Erithacus rubecula), emitted 21 distress calls before going quiet. Then, the microphone recorded 23 minutes of chewing sounds from the bat as it flew at a low altitude.
“While it evokes empathy for the prey, it is part of nature,” study author Elena Tena said in the statement.
“We knew we had documented something extraordinary,” she added. “For the team, it confirmed what we had been seeking for so long.”
Combined with X-ray and DNA analysis of songbird wings collected below the bats’ hunting grounds, the study indicates that bats kill their prey by biting them. Then, they bite off the wings, likely to shed weight and reduce drag, stretch it between their hind legs to form a pouch and begin snacking.
“A bird like that weighs about half as much as the bat itself – it would be like me catching and eating a 35-kilo (77 pounds) animal while jogging,” said Stidsholt.