It is shameful to be against protecting our own ocean territory: President

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said that it is a shameful act to protest against and mock his comments regarding the aim to ensure that Maldivians ourselves protect the country's Exclusive Economic Zone around the clock.

Speaking at his first Presidential Address in parliament on Monday, the President said that he believes the Maldivian military needs efforts to further strengthen modern military capabilities so as to protect the Maldives via land, air or sea, pledging to undertake these efforts.

"God willing, we have commenced efforts to achieve this. The Maldivian National Defence Force will, god willing, soon possess the capability to monitor and protect the 900,000 square kilometers of the Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone ceaselessly, 24 hours," he said.

However, The Democrats' member and former Deputy Speaker MP Eva Abdulla dismissed these comments as unrealistic and impractical.

"We cannot protect our borders through the use of massive weaponry."

"The Maldives is a nation who has always offered safe passage to cargo, people, goods and protected our borders. Unless we re-establish those peaceful conditions, we cannot guarantee the security of our borders," Eva said.

Speaking in Veymandoo last night in his current trip to Thaa Atoll, the President stated that the 970,000 square kilometers of the Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone had not been properly monitored any time in the recent past.

The President said that although the zone is dedicated for Maldivians to get economic benefits from, the area has not been properly utilized even for fishing as of today. He said that if widening fishing activities through out the zone is accomplished, it will prove beneficial to the tourism sector as well.

The President asserted that it is crucial that the area is properly monitored and protected in order to ensure the country's independence and sovereignty remains intact.

"Something that needs to be done for these purposes, do the citizens want this to be done through the help of some other people? I am sure that is not so. The question is, the territory inside the walls of our property, do we want to depend on someone else to protect it, or do we want to build capacity and ensure we can do it ourselves?"

The President described the acts of mocking this decision as shameful, questioning if people engaging in such rhetoric could be considered patriotic people who had love for the country.

"People who do not care what happens, and who have been seen to work along those lines even before may engage in such rhetoric," the President said of critics.

President Dr Muizzu maintained that he has no intention of working against any particular country. He said that his administration's policy is to be on good relations with all countries, and to work alongside all those countries that respect the independence and sovereignty of the Maldives.

"Those who do for us what is economically beneficial, who do not interfere with our national security, who do not consider us inferior based on our size and guarantees the same rights to us as to the biggest nations, who accept that our borders are ours and do not attempt to exert undue influence...we will maintain friendly relations will all those accept these," the President said.

President Dr Muizzu insisted that he did not intend to make an enemy out of any particular country, alleging that there are those in the political spectrum who are trying to distort the truth to indicate this.