"My thinking, both then and now, is that the State or a representative of the State must not be allowed to systematically inflict any undue abuse on a person or a family they pinpoint," MP Ibrahim said.
With members of the 20th People's Majlis having taken their oath of office on May 28, 93 new parliamentarians are now serving the public.
The Edition sat down with one of these 93, MP Ibrahim Mohamed (Ibbe Janaab) of North Mahchangolhi constituency, to have a chat about his journey into politics.
Ibrahim has professional training as a Criminal Lawyer. He has fought cases in courts as well, but was coaxed out of the career and into the wider world of business by close associates and friends.
Since then, he has spend much of his career travelling for procuring, imports, and related work.
But throughout all of this, a spark of interest for politics and justice forever kindled in his heart.
"I came into political arena in the 80s…in 87…I recall I was around 8 or 11 years old at the time. That is, soldiers came to our home and apprehended our father. As things turned out, this happened during Isha prayers, so we were praying at the time when the soldiers apprehended him. They took 82 people that day from the house. People in the prayer hall. And one of my own siblings, a four year old, was also taken. We were also of school age then. From that point we wanted to make it so that the State could not inflict such abuse or hindrance against any person. From then on, we became interested in jurisprudence," Ibrahim recalled difficult events from his childhood.
"From then on we observed political actions of people, began taking notes, reading books, and creating connections," he said, adding, "so my thinking, both then and now, is that the State or a representative of the State must not be allowed to systematically inflict any undue abuse on a person or a family they pinpoint. I have been at this since then, and today I am at this point".
Ibrahim is MP of the very constituency where he grew up in, and is the brother of First Lady Sajidha Mohamed. This means he has a personal connection to many of the families and residents of the area. But, in his modest manner, he does not boil down his electoral success to just his familiarity with the area and its people.
"Firstly, I want to thank the President [President Dr Mohamed Muizzu] and Madam [First Lady Sajidha]...It is the constituency in which Madam grew up, Saji Madam has a close connection with families so there was this personal connection as well. And as it is our own constituency, there is friendship and familiarity, and acquaintance through each other. Together with that, there is a strong hold of the party as well who will support us. So trust in the party, and as a government candidate, everyone made this decision this time. [The success] is a result of all these factors mixed together, I would say."
Above all, he expressed gratitude to Allah for his significant win. Followed by thanks to the residents of North Mahchangolhi for the trust they placed in him.
Some of Ibrahim's strongest critics loudly proclaimed that Ibrahim held regressive views when it came to women's rights. With him serving as a representative of the people, a large part of which is women, this question had to be put to him.
"That is a lie. My wife is a professional derma doctor, UK graduated. She is working. So even if someone says so, Ibrahim is not someone who thinks against women," Ibrahim dismissed the claims.
"I am actually a very pro-woman person. I want good things to happen for women," he asserted.
"In the case of women, I believe, they should be given all the rights they are guaranteed under jurisprudence, they should be given all the privileges they are granted. This is under jurisprudence. When we say jurisprudence, we are referring to it in the religious sense, ‘shar’ui’ itself is an Arabic word, an Islamic word in Islamic jurisprudence," Ibrahim explained.
"So, no religion provides more protection to women than Islam. Men should protect them, give them allowance, there are many other discounts. We always advocate for that. But then, there are some things in society that may be harmful to them. We always warn against that."
"I am an ordinary person. I have never been the sort to meet some people or not meet other people."
Ibrahim announced that he intends to set up an office, where regular meets up will be held with his constituents. He also said that he will respond to calls and messages as much as is possible.
"I have some major responsibilities. Firstly, our mandate is to create laws. Like I said, I believe there are some laws that need to be made in the Maldives since way before. Laws that can be made to make life easier for the people, and if there are laws existing now that pose hindrances to the people, then that is my primary goal."
The overarching belief that Ibrahim holds is that all MPs, regardless of party, should work together for the benefit of the country.
"We are all the same people, in the end. Even if there are some issues in ideologies, even if there are some stark differences, there is no reason why we cannot for this nation as a family. For example, in sports, even if we lose one match, we don’t hold it against them for life, do we? So even in life, we shouldn’t hold grudges for life like that. When you lose, you lose. Once again, you gather everyone and work for the greater good."
Sign In
