It's politics being exercised when you choose to selectively take action

I saw the photo they shared. A man, broken and asleep on the hot pavement, used as a prop. His humanity stripped away, reduced to a campaign point. We all know this scene. We’ve walked past it on the streets of Malé, averting our eyes from the pain that’s become part of our landscape. But to take that private suffering and broadcast it for political gain? That’s a different kind of hurt. It makes you wonder who they’re really trying to help. They talk about rehabilitation, about cleaning up our society. But the message feels hollow when the action is so selective. When it’s only ever your opponents who are the ‘drug addicts,’ and your allies who are the ‘reformers.’ We’ve heard these promises before. ‘Jewlani also said that before coming to power.’ The names change, the faces rotate, but the game remains the same. It’s always about scoring points, never about genuine healing. What does it say about us when we allow our most vulnerable to become political ammunition? The sea breeze that used to carry the scent of salt and community now carries the stench of opportunism. We watch from the sidelines as the same cycles repeat, the same tactics employed with a fresh coat of paint. The real addiction might not be the one they’re photographing. It might be the addiction to power, to the spectacle, to dividing us against ourselves. Maybe true rehabilitation has to start with ourselves. Not with a camera, but with compassion. Not with an agenda, but with action that doesn’t need a spotlight. We’re tired of being part of someone else’s political exercise. We just want to see our people lifted up, not used as stepping stones.