Throughout its history, the Maldives had been a battle-ground for power among the various influential elites. These power hungry elites were divided into extended families. If the power could not be attained through peaceful means, it was gained by force.
It was usual for the losers to request for help from foreign powers or mercenaries to restore their previous privilege. These family feuds and acts of trying to preserve one family’s dictatorial rule was the juncture where the independence and sovereignty of the nation became threatened in the past. It often occurred that either the dictatorial ruler or those who opposed him paved the way for foreign intervention.
Among the first Maldivians who made foreigners to meddle with the Maldivian affairs was Sultan Kalhu Mohamed who was dethroned in 1510 AD.
In a move to recapture power, he went to Cannanore (Kannur, India) and came with Alhi Raja’s fleet. On the way to Maldives, he faced attacks from a group of Portuguese pirate ships. In order to avoid a real confrontation, Kalhu Mohamed promised them a good fortune if they helped him to capture Maldives. So, the Portuguese also joined them, and soon he was able to reinstall himself as King of Maldives.
As a reward, the Portuguese were allowed to trade in Maldives. But in 1517 AD, all of them were killed, most probably upon Kalhu Mohamed’s orders. He was a very ruthless man who ruled Maldives with an iron fist.
Kalhu Mohamed’s action of bringing foreign troops had a disastrous effect on the Maldives politics. Sometime later, Sultan Hassan IX, when he was dethroned, fled to Portuguese occupied Goa and became converted to Christianity to regain power with the help of the Portuguese. Hassan IX was just 19 years of age then, and had little or no knowledge of Islam, as such was an easy prey for Jesuit Missionaries led by Francis Xavier. In 1558 AD, the Portuguese, burning with revenge quickly accepted Hassan IX’s offer to capture the Maldives for him. After many unsuccessful attempts to capture Malé, the Portuguese sent a much stronger fleet laden with war equipments.
The invading attack was led by Andreas Andreas, a half Portuguese who grew up in Male’. Sultan Ali VI was shot and killed while fighting to defend Maldives. Afterwards, the whole country fell into the hands of the Portuguese.
The Portuguese appointed Andreas Andreas to rule the country ‘on behalf of Hassan IX’. During his 15 years and 6 months of rule, terror reigned the country. Their persecution of Maldivians knew no bounds. The Portuguese sent priests and armed men to various parts of the Maldives to forcefully convert people into Christianity. Those who slightly opposed to them were tortured or killed, their homes burned and their wives and daughters openly raped.
Mohamed Thakurufaan and his two brothers from the island of Utheemu organized resistance against the Portuguese occupation and waged a guerilla war for 8 years. In the end, the Maldivians were assisted by people of Minicoy and Kerala Muslims to launch an attack on Portuguese garrison in Malé. The attack coincided with the night that Andreas Andreas gave an ultimatum for all the people of Malé, including children, to convert to Christianity or face death. It was arranged that by next morning all Maldivians must gather at a certain spot in Malé, and after that wine and the Cross be brought and whoever refuses to drink wine and bow to the Cross be immediately put to death. On that very night the mujahedin led by Mohamed Thakurufaan landed on the northern shores of Malé. In the battle that followed, Andreas Andreas was shot and killed by Mohamed Thakurufaan and most of the Portuguese soldiers were killed (1 July 1573). However, the Portuguese attacks continued until the seventeenth century but without any success.
In 1752, the two brothers, sons of the famous historian Hassan Thajuddin whose names were Al Khateb Muhiyyuddin and Mohamed Shamsuddin invited Alhi Raja of Cannannore to conquer Maldives for them. Soon a group of Malabars invaded Male’, kidnapped the Sultan Mukarram Mohamed Imaduddin and burned down the Sultan’s palace at Malé. The Malabars refused to handover power to the two Maldivian brothers. They killed the two traitors by drowning them in the sea and ruled the country for 3 months and 20 days before Dhon Bandaarain (Hassan Manikfaan) liberated the country with a series of battles.
In the year 1887, lots of Shia merchants from western India known as Borahs exercised a strong influence due to their trade monopoly over Maldives. Their actions and attitude caused political disturbances because they took sides with rival powerful officials in the government. These Borahs and the King’s Prime Minister, Ibrahim Dhoshimeyna Kilegefaan gave the British the green light to intervene in the affairs of Maldives.
The Borahs wanted their properties in Maldives to be safe from attacks or destruction as previously happened. Prime Minister, Ibrahim Didi wanted to get rid of his rival Mohamed Ranna Bandeyri Kilegefaan, who was competing with him to become the Sultan’s favourite. The Sultan Mohamed Muin-ud-din II wanted to secure his own position as King of Maldives, because his authority was being challenged by some unknown gangsters who created havoc in Male’ sometime earlier by acts of arson, stone throwing at night and blood curdling threats etc. There was widespread suspicion that some leading personalities in Male’ were behind the mischief mongers.
In a situation like this, the British had an ample opportunity to intervene and persuade the Sultan to accept the solution they offered. Besides, it was the moral obligation of the British to protect the rights of the people of their colonies (Borahs).
The British at once put forwarded a letter to the Sultan to be signed by both the parties as a treaty. The letter was written in a manner as if it was written by the Sultan of Maldives. Though the Sultan declined to sign in it, he wrote and signed a letter almost similar to the one presented to him by the British.
Let us look at the so called ‘Protectorate Treaty’ singed between the Maldives and the British. At first, the treaty or agreement was just a letter written by Sultan Mohamed Muin-ud-din II, then king of Maldives, begging for help from the British Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to help him preserve his autocratic rule at the expense of the independence of Maldives. It could also be argued that the whole of South Asia then remained under the British and the best thing for Maldives was to seek their protection. Below are the wordings of the letter signed by Sultan Mohamed Muin-ud-din II which was later translated into Arabic and signed again by both the parties. It was so because the British believed that the official documents of the state of Maldives continued to be written in Arabic in the past.
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“His Highness the Sultan of the Maldive Islands to Governor the Hon. Sir A.H. Gordon GCMG.
Whereas it has been customary for a long time with the Sultans of the Maldive Islands to pay tribute to the English Government of Ceylon; and whereas the Government of the former has been under the protection of the Governor of Ceylon, we too are paying tribute annually to the Government of Ceylon:
Now we Sultan Mohamed Muin-ud-din, beg that the English Government, through the Governor of Ceylon, may protect us, our islands, from the molestation of foreign powers, and have this filed of record.
Further, we firmly promise that we will not enter into an agreement with any of the other powers but the English, and will not be friendly with them.
We beg also that the Sultans of the Maldive Islands may be protected from internal difficulties by the English Government of Ceylon.
We beg further of the Government of Ceylon that we may be recognized as the Sultan of the Maldive Islands and installed as such and that our successors may be similarly dealt with.
We are prepared to add any further terms to this agreement if the Government of Ceylon should desire it.
Written at our palace in Male’ on the 16th of December 1887.”
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(From: Faithoora: No. 200 .... 1987, Published by the National Council for Linguistic and Historical Research) Maldives.
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In 1910, when the country had spent almost 22 years under the British domination or ‘Protectorate Treaty’, during which the ruling king Mohamed Shams-ud-din III remained as a British surrogate, a group of rebel-bandits mobilized a mercenary force of Patan irregulars from Peshawar (Pakistan) to seize power. The guerillas were under the command of Velanage Mohamed Didi (Godi Raja). They first invaded the northern atolls and continued to loot people’s property before they finally reached Malé. Even though the British did not intervene, it was a struggle that ended in a fiasco for the insurgents.
One must consider that according to the 1887 ‘Protectorate Treaty’, the British were under obligation to defend Maldives from all external aggressions or foreign enemies. The 1910 aggression could not be dismissed as a purely internal matter of Maldives. Therefore, it could be pointed out that the British committed the first breach of the Protectorate Treaty in 1910 by abandoning the people of Maldives in the event of a foreign aggression. The second breach of the Treaty came in the late 1950’s when the British began to interfere into the internal administration of the country and the fuelling of rebellion in the south.
By 1932, the institution of Sultan became weak and some educated people wanted to reform the political system. Sultan Sham-ud-din III was forced to introduce the First Constitution under British supervision. Two years later, Sultan Shams-ud-din was deposed and exiled for plotting against the constitution.
During the Second World War, the years between 1939-1945, the British operated two airstrips in Maldives. One in the northern island of Kelaa and the other at Gan, Addu. Mohamed Amin Didi, a man who kept an extremely close relationship with the British administered the country after Sultan Hassan Nooraddin resigned during the war.
On 24 April 1948, the revised agreement to grant the Maldivian people supremacy on internal matters was signed at Male’. Under the new agreement, the Maldives was not required to pay the annual gifts or tributes to the British. Also, Britain would only protect and govern the external affairs of Maldives. Signed on behalf of Maldives were Mohamed Amin and Ibrahim Famuladheyri Kilegefaan.
When independence was granted to Ceylon in February 1948, the British decided to shift the Royal Air Force base to Gan (Addu). In 1957, then Prime Minister Ibrahim Famuladheyri Kiegefaan signed a symbolic agreement in Colombo to lease Gan and Maamendhoo (part of Hithadhoo) to the British for 100 years. He believed that Maldives being a small country without resources could only survive under the protection of a world power. However, the cabinet and the People’s Majlis refused to endorse it. Soon he resigned on 11 December 1957 because of disagreements.
The British construction work at Gan had already begun before the People’s Majlis convened to debate the issue. The new Prime Minister, Ibrahim Nasir wanted Britain to stop the construction work in Gan and start negotiations to grant full independence to Maldives. This led to a secret encouragement from the RAF (Royal Air Force) to the people in southern atolls to rebel. In January 1959, the three southern most atolls, Addu, Fua Mulaku and Huvadhu joined to declare a separate state named United Suvadive Islands.
The Prime Minister, Nasir was very cautious in dealing with the situation. It would be a nightmare if Britain decided to arm the rebels. Therefore, he strengthened the relationship with the British by a revised treaty in 1960. The treaty allowed Britain to establish an RAF base at Gan for 30 years, starting from 1956. In the same year, the Maldivian Government took military action against the secessionist rebels to quell the uprising, but the separatist state lasted until September 1963. However, the separatist leader Abdulla Afeef Didi was so much disappointed when their United Suvadive Republic was not recognized by Britain or any other country. In the end, he and his family were given political asylum by the British in Seychelles. In the few years preceding independence, disagreement and trouble began to erupt with the British representative Humphrey A. Arthington-Davy who arrived at Malé to stay on a permanent basis.
By this time, Britain had decided to have a joint British-American military base at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands, south of Maldives. On 26 July 1965, at 10.00 a.m., the agreement to grant full independence to Maldives was signed in Colombo by the British High Commissioner, Sir Michael Worker. Ibrahim Nasir, then vazeerul-auzam (Prime Minister) signed the agreement on behalf of the Maldives. On 29 March 1976, eleven years after independence was granted to Maldives, Britain closed up the RAF base at Gan, ten years before the agreement expired.
The events in the past have to be remembered as a lesson that power hungry elites would not hesitate to jeopardize the sovereignty of this beloved nation of ours for their worldly gains.
__________________________________________________________________ Picture: Ibrahim Nasir, the Prime Minister of Maldives signs the Independence agreement with the British High Commissioner in Colombo.
__________________________________________________________________ Written by: Ibrahim Nazim
3 September 2010
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