The Rise and Fall of the First Republic

The Presidential Elections 2018 has recently ended in the Maldives marking the Sixth President of the Second Republic. Ever wonder why the Maldives commemorate the second republic? It is no doubt that the Maldives had a year-long run of the first-ever presidential rule in 1953, but the fall of the republic in 1954 rests in a tomb in Vihamanaafushi (Today: Kurumba Village).

After Sultan Abdul Majeed Didi passed away, the Maldivian parliament succeeded the throne to Amin Didi who proposed to hold a referendum to choose between a republic and a constitutional monarchy. Republic garnering most votes, Al Ameer Mohamed Amin Dhoshimeyna Kileygefaanu became the First President of the Republic of Maldives. 

President Amin Didi was known for his pro-socialist and his focus to modernize the Maldivian community beyond the rural and island-ish ideology. He, as an educator wrote hand-wrote textbooks and urged a more extensive education in schools. He also openly empowered feminism and women rights. Women were granted their civil rights including the right to word exclusively during the Amin Didi’s presidency. He also had banned the import and use of tobacco smoking.

It was right after World War II and at the epitome of the cold war, the Maldives was already victimized being part of a large famine. Still living the emotional trauma, not many appreciated the little changes brought by the president, as the economy fell poorer and poorer. While the president was away in Colombo for medical treatment, there was a coup in the Maldives. While he lived in exile in the nearby Dhoonidhoo, he was tricked by his own colleagues to visiting the capital. An angry mob of people brutally beat Amin Didi leaving him bound and jailed in Gaafaru, Kaafu Atoll. As his health deteriorated, he was brought back to Vihamanaafushi where he died shortly after. The republic fell and the constitutional monarchy continued from 1954 to 1968 until the rise of the second republic which we see today. 

President Amin Didi is highly praised and honoured among the Maldivian people today, as a father-figure to education, literature and feminism. His talent in English and Dhivehi literature is considered to be one of the latest artistic legends of the Maldives. Forever remembered as the First President and the Rise and Fall of the First R epublic.