10 May 2010

More Resorts, More Burugas

There are a few things you can be sure of when you return to the Maldives. There will be more resorts, Male will be more cramped and more women will be wearing headscarves. I want to talk about the latter and relate it to the former.

The buruga describes all the varieties of headscarf worn in the Maldives, except for the full-body cover that may or may not reveal the eyes only. The niqab and burka have never been, as far as I can tell, a part of the Maldivian tradition. Yet today you will see Maldivians in these black all-concealing garbs. And the increasingly frequent burugas are getting longer and blacker. There is a general sense, coming from above and from peers, that a woman should be veiled in order to be 'good'. Not to be veiled is becoming the decision, rather than to be veiled. It is almost a stand, a position against the prevailing winds.

The re-emergence of a strong religious drive tied to nationalist sentiments is also found in American Christianity, Indian Hinduism and Sri Lankan Buddhism. Islam has a pan-nationalist sentiment, led today by Arabs in general and Saudi Arabia in particular.

The effect of extreme positions, or fundamental positions, is to pull the middle out. The radical positions held by Islamists in the Maldives has shifted the consensus of what is correct practice. A more conservative and illiberal interpretation is becoming the new middle ground. The spread of burugas most obviously reflects this.

On the one hand, Maldivians, aware that they live in an isolated nation of small islands, have welcomed visiting Islamic scholars, sought to keep them and learn from them. When Ibn Battuta arrived in Male in 1344, for example, he was showered with presents and promises by the Sultan, for he was an Islamic scholar who had studied in Cairo and Mecca. He was persuaded to take up the post as Chief Qadi of the country.

On the other hand, Maldivians have an ancient cultural heritage retained and influenced by their isolated island existence. And like all islanders, they are both very hardy and suspicious of, and resistant to, change.

Former president Gayoom was himself a scholar of Al Azhar University of Cairo and, as such, was equipped to argue with and control the qadis if they overstepped their cultural and religious realms into the political one. The context - the social and political milieu - was also one that leant itself to control. With the coming of the Maldivian Democratic Party and Free Speech, those holding extreme views have been able to proclaim them vociferously, though they sometimes impinge on the democratic rights of others and even stray into hate-speech. Counter-arguments are made in the cafes, on banners, on websites, blogs and comments to online articles.

The extreme Islamist views come with Arab cultural mores that are out of place in the Maldives (the burka, for one obvious example, extreme physical punishments another). President Nasheed has spoken up against intolerant speeches. More tellingly, when he returned from the United Nations climate conference he said in plain language that the Maldives was a mature country able to make its own mind up and take its own decisions. He said, when referring to the Maldives' recognition of Israel, that there are Arab issues that are not Maldivian issues and do not need to be.

The shift from a traditionally moderate religious consensus has not had an impact on tourism yet. Having said that, a member of parliament last month tabled a bill to outlaw the importation of alcohol and pork. It was a peculiar and futile gesture that was quickly rejected. But though 53 members voted against the bill, 15 voted for it and 4 abstained.

With alcohol, pork and bikinis restricted to resort islands, all is well; straightforward and uncontentious. But new tourist developments muddy the water. Guesthouses are now free to open on any inhabited island, 'City Hotels' are to open on a few such islands, as are Training Resorts. There are tourist establishments associated with new regional airports, there are two 'Lagoon Resorts' by inhabited islands and there are marinas planned.

Cognisant of the possible problems, and under pressure from the already open Holiday Inn on Male, the government published a new alcohol regulation on the Ministry of Economic Development's website back in November '09. It was withdrawn 5 days' later. It was reissued, unchanged, in February this year. After nightly rallies and emotional speeches in Male, it was once again withdrawn after a few days.

Under the regulation, tourist hotels in inhabited islands with more than 100 beds (that is, all the City Hotels and Training Hotels but not the guesthouses) would be allowed to sell alcohol to foreigners. The regulation also allowed the sale of alcohol in bars of international airports (not domestic airports), picnic islands and yacht marinas. All very reasonable, you would have thought. And the regulations for the bar in the Male Holiday Inn were frankly draconian (passports at the door, cctv, breathalisers). But reasonable or draconian, nothing has been found to be acceptable. Whether or not the anger and outrage displayed represents the will of the majority, it has been enough.

So there we are, tourism is expanding into inhabited islands just as the inhabitants are becoming more religiously conservative.