At last night’s MDP rally, the first MDP gathering after the Elections Commission officially accepted his candidacy for the September presidential election, Nasheed said (English translation here): “If one tries to clothe oneself with an insufficient piece of cloth, then one’s nakedness will be revealed.”

Nasheed used the word “foogelhun” (Dhivehi translation here) from the old Maldivian saying or metaphor. From my travels to Maldivian remote islands in the 1980s when most men wore sarongs there, foogelhun means, before climbing a coconut tree, arranging the sarong in a sumo type of way (see here) so that the man’s butt cheeks are seen and only the asshole itself is covered (traditional rustic Maldivians never considered the butt as nudity). If Nasheed in this instance says that an “insufficient” amount of “cloth” is used to do “foogelhun”, then this means that the person’s asshole itself will be revealed to the public. Haha! I couldn’t think of a better insult to these homophobic political opponents who have been making comments like this about me. Thank you Nasheed.

via Hilath Rasheed