The Third Rail

If you believe that "news is what people are talking about" the biggest story here is the preaching of Dr. Zakir Naik. He's a Muslim scholar from India, and he would be comparable to the late Billy Graham in terms of his ability to fill a stadium for his talks on religion. Over two days, about one-fourth of the population of the capital city came to hear him, and the event was televised live on state-run TV Maldives. What you didn't see on TV was a Maldivian man who admitted he no longer believed in Islam. TVM didn't show the "huge brawl" that broke out, as the crowd proceeded to beat the man. Islamic law requires that a Muslim who becomes a non-believer must be hanged, but there's no death penalty in Maldives so a lengthy prison term is more likely. There's already a Facebook group dedicated to his punishment and a crowd gathered outside the police station where he was being held, demanding his beheading!
The Maldives constitution requires that all citizens be Muslims. TV coverage of this consisted of taking a picture of the relevant phrase in the constitution. I tried to help a young reporter develop the story with pictures of people worshipping and talking about the importance of their religious faith, but in a city where thousands answer the call to prayer five times daily in dozens of mosques, he came back with video of buildings, not people, and it was too late to make the news.
Dr. Naik also criticized Maldivian resorts for profiting from the sale of alcohol, which is "haram" or forbidden by the religion. He suggested that the resorts instead cater only to Muslim tourists and stop serving alcohol. To give you some idea of the huge profits involved, I paid $14 for one glass of Australian table wine on my resort visit. But the idea of doing a TV story on the revenue produced by alcohol sales was dismissed as too controversial. Religion is definitely the third rail for politicians here. An attempt to allow alcohol sales to foreign visitors on the roof of the new Holiday Inn backfired by causing the repeal of ALL liquor permits for foreigners in the capital city. On the rooftop of Male's highest building, with its infinity pool and sweeping view of the airport island and nearby resorts, you would swear you were at a Hollywood club, except that the drinks are "mocktails."