Mariya Ahmed Didi
Mariya Didi is the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Maldives. She is the first female Minister of Defence of the Maldives. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was sworn in on 17 November 2018, made the bold and historic move of appointing the nation’s first-ever female Minister of Defence.
Mariya Didi | |
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| މާރިޔާ ދީދީ | |
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| Minister of Defence of Maldives | |
| Assumed office 17 November 2018 | |
| President | Ibrahim Mohamed Solih |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 18, 1962 |
| Nationality | Maldivian |
| Political party | Maldivian Democratic Party |
| Children | 1 daughter, 2 sons |
Mariya Didi, in her capacity as Minister of Defence, oversees a total of 8 critical institutions, namely Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Immigration, Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM), Anti-Trafficking in Persons (Anti-TIP) Office and Maldives Hydrographic Service.
In the first year of her tenure, Mariya Didi led a very determined and tangible mission to professionalize, modernize and depoliticize the nation's defence forces, with a view to restoring much-eroded public trust and confidence in MNDF and fortifying civil-military relations. In this regard, some landmark steps include guiding the formulation of MNDF's Capstone Doctrine, designing multiple programmes and endeavours geared towards building MNDF's professionalism, operational capacity and interoperability, setting up MNDF's first-ever military justice system, empowering MNDF’s grievance mechanism, launching multiple soldier welfare initiatives, and encouraging forums for democratic debate and dialogue in the armed forces. Despite constraints posed by COVID-19, at least 60 percent of MNDF soldiers were trained, both locally and internationally, reflecting Mariya Didi’s commitment to building a highly professional and well-trained force. Chief of Defence Force Major General Abdulla Shamaal, known for his intellectual prowess and scholarly disposition, describes Mariya Didi as “possessing the right combination of well-seasoned politico-civilian experience and education rooted in a strong legal background, wisdom, positivity and charisma, generating an unprecedented level of synergy to guide and steer the MNDF leadership, whilst intelligently striking the correct balance and dynamics of civil-military relations.”
Mariya Didi is driven by her belief in the importance of information-sharing as a key to ensuring peace and security in a hyper-globalized world. As such, Mariya Didi instituted the tradition of engaging regularly with the MNDF leadership and defence sector agencies through weekly plenary meetings and multi-agency sit-downs, where the latest information and updates are exchanged in cross-sector settings.
For the first time in Maldivian history, Mariya Didi opened up the defence sector's doors to the press in the spirit of public transparency. Prior to the move, defence sector institutions such as the MNDF had long been known for their limited, only-on-needs-basis interactions with the press, resulting in the defence forces being viewed with mistrust and sometimes accused of harboring a culture of secrecy. In her bid to democratize the forces, Mariya Didi broke MNDF’s alleged tradition of secrecy, for the first time in national history, by obliging to the summons issued by the parliament’s National Security Services (241) committee and their inquiries, in order to respond to the allegations and aspersions cast on the integrity of the nation’s defence forces. Flanked by MNDF Generals at these meetings, Mariya Didi was noted for her commitment to the democratic spirit of public accountability. Mariya Didi is an avid believer in the fact that no nation alone can ensure peace, security and stability in an ever-changing climate of globalization. In this regard, Mariya Didi is known for working closely with the National Security Advisors of fellow member states India and Sri Lanka, to set a Charter for the Colombo Security Conclave, which began as a trilateral security framework with 4 pillars for security cooperation among the 3 countries.
Mariya Didi is widely known for her role in raising the operational capacity and efficiency of the Maldivian defence sector through several meaningful engagements and historic agreements with international strategic partners.
In November 2021, Mariya Didi became the first Minister from outside India to officiate the Passing Out Parade (POP) - Autumn Term at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala - Asia's largest naval academy.
A recipient of the US State Department’s International Women of Courage Award for her commitment to democracy and human rights, Mariya Didi is widely celebrated for her work to ensure gender equality in the armed forces. At no time in the MNDF's 130-year long history, and in over 3 decades since female soldiers were first recruited to the apex military organization, had its Advisory Council ever had female membership. This changed when Mariya Didi initiated the restructuring of the Council to allow membership of Lieutenant Colonels and thereafter appointed 2 female Lieutenant Colonels to the Council for the first time. These landmark steps were taken as part of her mission to ensure female representation at the highest level of MNDF’s decision-making, following the promotion of 3 female officers to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Breaking further with tradition, Mariya Didi mandated that all internal committees of MNDF shall have at least one female soldier. In August 2021, MNDF appointed its first-ever female Information Officer. In early 2021, Lieutenant Firushana Thaufeeg, the first-ever female Maldivian officer cadet to have been sent to the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK returned home to much fanfare, having attained the Best International Student Award from the Short Commissioning Course.
It is interesting to note that today, female soldiers are taking on roles traditionally reserved for their male counterparts and gaining increasing visibility as Sergeant Majors, Personal Security Officers (PSOs), Special Protection Group (SPG) agents, honor guards, shooters and firefighters.
Mariya Didi’s Cabinet colleague, Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services Honorable Aishath Mohamed Didi describes Mariya Didi as “a pillar of strength for women - standing up for us women and lifting us women up at every step of the way, be it in Cabinet or elsewhere”.
Mariya Didi is known for her commitment, both vocally and in action, to the Solih administration’s efforts to counter Terrorism and Violent Extremism in the country, through the enforcement of its Zero Tolerance Policy on Terrorism and Violent Extremism. Ever since the Solih administration took the initiative in November 2018 to publicly acknowledge the threat of Terrorism and Violent Extremism for the first time, many proactive steps have been taken at all levels of governance and policy-making to tackle this difficult challenge, including the formulation of the National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. Under Mariya Didi’s watch, the National Counter Terrorism Center played an instrumental role as the Maldives’ national lead agency for coordinating efforts to prevent Terrorism and Violent Extremism through a 'whole-of government' and a 'whole-of-society' approach. The past 3 years, in particular, has seen the Center’s national footprint expand and evolve, as evidenced by the many seminars, workshops and mobile intervention programs, in collaboration with local and international partners.
In December 2019, Mariya Didi was handed the reins of the Maldivian government's anti-human trafficking portfolio, which had been placed on the policy backburner for years by the previous administration. In the first 2 years, Mariya Didi oversaw a series of unprecedented developments including the setting up of the nation's first-ever [rotational] shelter for Victims of Trafficking, its first-ever Anti-Trafficking in Persons Office and the accompanying appointment of a Director of Anti-Human Trafficking, the allocation of federal funding for the anti-human trafficking cause, the formulation of Maldives National Anti-Human Trafficking Action Plan 2020-2022, and the alignment of the 2013 Anti-Human Trafficking Act with the UN Palermo Protocol, among others. These prompt-yet-substantive changes contributed to the Maldives' upgrade to Tier 2 in the 2021 US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, after several years of being relegated to "Watchlist" status.
Mariya Didi, under the guidance of His Excellency President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, became a leading face of the Maldivian government's COVID-19 containment effort in early 2020. From March 2020 when the State of Public Health Emergency was first declared up until it was scaled down to a Health Emergency in July 2020, Mariya Didi chaired hundreds of critical “Emergency Cell” meetings at NEOC and oversaw the setting up of many facilities nationwide to deal with the pandemic.
Hisan Hassan, Chief Executive of National Disaster Management Authority, which was tasked with setting up the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) in Male’ for COVID-19 containment operations, calls Mariya Didi his “source of strength and inspiration especially during the containment operations against COVID-19”.
A former Member of People's Majlis and a leading human rights activist, Mariya Didi is the first female lawyer of the Maldives. As an elected Member of Parliament for 4 consecutive terms, she sat in the Drafting Committee of the 2008 Constitution. In 2007, she was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the US Secretary of State in recognition of her contribution to democracy and human rights in the Maldives.
She was elected as Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the largest political party in the Maldives. It was under her chairmanship that the party won the first-ever multiparty democratic presidential elections held in the Maldives in 2008. The preceding 30-year-old authoritarian regime, marked by human rights abuses and restrictions on civil and political freedoms, was toppled, and Maldivians officially welcomed democracy to their shores.
On 7 February 2012, the then-President Mohamed Nasheed of Maldives resigned suddenly in a “Coup d'état”. On the day of the President's resignation and on the day after, Mariya Didi was badly beaten by some rogue members of the security forces, who had allegedly joined hands with the then Vice President, who succeeded the President under dubious circumstances.
In the 2018 presidential elections, Mariya Didi was the spokesperson for President Solih’s campaign, and headed its crucial Male’ constituency, where half of the Maldivian population live. The campaign was run at a time when space for democratic expression and political activity was severely constricted, under President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s regime, deemed more, if not equally, authoritarian in character than that of his half-brother. The regime unlawfully arrested Supreme Court justices, opposition political figures, and detained and disappeared journalists, crushing the nation’s democratic institutions and by extension, public confidence in state institutions. Trust in MNDF reached an all-time low as citizens watched soldiers in riot gear storming Majlis chambers, and crudely forcing opposition MPs out of parliamentary sittings. Mariya Didi, an MP then, soldiered on with her mission, unfazed. MDP went on to score a resounding victory in the 2018 election, bringing the draconian rule of a dictator to a decisive end.
Award-winning local journalist and former member of Maldives Media Council Shifza Mustafa describes Mariya Didi as “a strong-willed character.”
Mariya Didi has a bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) (Hons) and a master's degree in Law (LLB) (Hons) from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom. She completed her professional qualifications in England and is among the first two Barristers to be called to the Bar of England and Wales, and is a Barrister of the prestigious Gray's Inn, England, having done her pupillage at Albion Chambers, Bristol. Mariya Didi believes that her studies laid the foundation for her conviction that in order for a country to become a nation of laws and enjoy all freedoms that come along with it, democracy and the rule of law have to be introduced, nurtured and allowed to flourish. Over the years, Mariya Didi has succeeded in translating her conviction to concrete action, through her street and social media activism, proactive involvement and guidance in sowing the seeds of democracy, fostering its institutions and cementing its principles in the collective consciousness of the Maldivian people. Mariya Didi is married to Mr. Mohamed Amir. She has one daughter and two sons.
"As you embark on your professional lives [as Naval Officers], make these solemn words the eternal signposts of your careers. When the horizon seems hazy, there can be no better compass to guide you. When the ground shifts beneath you, there can be no firmer anchor to hold you. And when the swells roil around you, there can be no fairer wind to fill your sails. Duty, Honor, Courage." - Mariya Didi to graduating cadets at INA Ezhimala, 27 November 2021