Before I read The
Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy, I did not know much about
these islands other than that they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean and were
in the tropics. J.J. Robinson's 300-page book on The Maldives' odd politics and
history was well-researched and based on Robinson's first-hand experiences on
the island as the editor of a newspaper. It provides a story of paranoia,
despotism that was shrouded in attempts of democracy, and politics that would
make our own current affairs blush in embarrassment.
The book spends much of its time in the years the author
worked on the island, talking about its experiments in democracy, the battle
between establishment politics and democratic forces that rankled the prior
power players, and the battle over the role of Islam in the nation's affairs. Historical context is provided to shape how the Maldives became a hodgepodge
of an archipelago - "inhabited" islands where local customs and faith
dominated and "uninhabited" islands where resorts and a cultural
diaspora of tourists roam - all the while showing the struggle between
tradition and democratic progress while the author traversed the nation's many
islands.
The author does a very solid job weaving between
politics, custom, and tradition. He speaks explicitly from a Western point of
view, having lived in the U.S., England, and his native Australia, and talks
about the challenges of adapting to a uniquely different country whose
tropical paradise covered for a nation whose politics were anything but
paradise. It's a well-written, at times humorous, read into a nation few know
much about.
MY RATING - 4
