BBC, Et al., why doth you presume so much?

Unsurprisingly during the Maldivian Presidential Elections we were squarely in the crosshairs of the world media. BBC, Al Jazeera, Washington Post and even the Cristian Science Monitor (please pause for the irony to sink in), have taken time out to inform us why we, Maldivians, are voting for a particular candidate. 

The mainstream media and their distant cousins who view us through the stained lens of their biases, have discharged their duty, and even today, ‘their burden’ to educate us. They presume to tell us that our ballot decisions were in reality a referendum on global politics. Not of the lived life of the locals who voted. Perhaps the ‘best’ of these many articles is by BBC’s South Asia Analyst and Editor, appropriately titled ‘Maldives: The presidential poll with India and China on the ballot’ published on 27 September. Maldives: The presidential poll with India and China on the ballot - BBC News

The geographic location of Maldives will not change. Given our location, the prevailing winds of global geo-politics will visit our shores, cosy up to our politicians, and look to fashion our policies. There’s no doubting or denying that. There’s also no doubting, that global high politics influence the strategic direction of our neighbours in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and elsewhere too. To pretend otherwise would be naïve and foolish.  

All over the world, after a period of glacial calm, geo-political tectonic plates are experiencing tremors. There’s a subtle yet definite stirring of the global oceanic currents. Those currents do lap our shores and those of our neighbours too. How the global political landscape will be transformed, only time will tell. These changes, minor as they may be presently, are highly unsettling to those who thought they ruled life and soul high from Mount Olympus. They and their scribes have to expend extra energy to preserve the polarity of their world view. That much is understood. 

Yes, Maldivians are indeed aware of the influence of geo-politics. We do want the power of self-determination preserved. We do not look forward to our civics being decreed by our Indian neighbours. Nor do we look forward to our destination being bound by the exigencies of the Chinese Belt and Roads Initiative. We would want to be friends and allies to both. We hope that they, and the rest of our Western ‘friends’, respect, advice and inform us. Then allow us to forge our own destination. That’s true.  

Let’s be clear about that. 

However, the ballot decisions of Maldivians are determined mostly by our daily grind, the lived life of our citizens. Essential housing. The opportunity to be employed and to earn. The exploitation of our limited natural resources. The utter waste of the meagre state resources, even while the average ‘Aadhanu’ is unable to pay rent and utilities. Blatant excessive corruption, denial of basic rights, transgressions of politicians and their in-laws not being punished. Would they continue and become a cultural milieu particular to us? 

These are the issues that determine much of our ballot choice. 

I write this piece, after having been sought out and interviewed by two international news channels during this election period. After a ‘random sample’ of sorts, I dare say, I have a faint glimmer of what those who take helicopter trips during these periods are looking for. They are, I believe, looking to flavour their report to sooth the taste buds of their editors and ‘their’ global audience.  

Ours is an informed and educated population. Of course, geo-politics do matter. No one denies that. But when our daily grind is belittled and the ‘analyses’ of our elections is designed to be ‘clickbait’, then it is the languor of the analyst that is on display. None of these headlines are flattering about the intelligence of the editors and readers too. I dare say.