The month-long visit of Saud King Salman bin Abdul Aziz to
East Asian countries raised several eyebrows. The powerful king embarked on an
official visit to Asian countries-Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Japan,
and Maldives to bolster economic links with this region under its “vision 2030”
doctrine. A humongous entourage of more than 1000 which included Princes,
Diplomats, Clerics, Officials carrying 459 metric tons first landed in Malaysia
in a grandiose style. Slump in crude oil markets have in recent years forced
Saudi Arabia to diversify its investment. Armed with twin objectives of
strengthening economic ties with this region and to deepen religious ties with
Muslim-majority nations Sauds are making forays into East Asian region. With
flustering of bilateral ties with the US, Saudi Arabia is making rapid strides
to reach out to China and Japan, the largest buyers of Saudi Oil. Saud King, so far has inked several pacts to
make investments in Malaysia, Indonesia, defence agreements with China and
sought joint collaborations with Japan and China in transportation and
infrastructure development. Besides, Saudi Arabia has extended financial aid
for religious studies and issued visas for pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina to
citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia.
While the trip has many dimensions to it, the last leg of
King Salman’s visit to Maldives for two weeks stands postponed. His state visit
to Maldives was cause of intense trepidation for India. As per the original
itinerary, two entire resorts were booked for the King Salman and his
entourage. International media was rife with reports of President Yameen’s
plans of selling-off Faafu atolls to Saudi Arabia. Maldives, lying along the
major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean has a great geostrategic
significance. The archipelago comprising of twenty-six atolls spanning over 1000
kilometers in the Indian Ocean is extremely popular among the international
tourists for its blue lagoons and myriad beaches. Faafu atolls, a collection of
19 low-lying islands, 120 km from the capital Male and inhabited by 4000 people
to Saudi Arabia. The government simply dismissed denied the reports of selling
entire atoll and claimed that Saudi Arabia is planning to set up $10 billion
(roughly equal to three times the GDP of Maldives) SEZ which includes medical
infrastructure, educational institutes besides, resources for promoting
high-end tourism. on Faafu atolls to promote tourism and downplayed the
concerns of the opposition. But an
alleged audio leak two ahead of King Salman state visit revealed President
Yameen’s intentions of selling the atolls to Prince Mohammed “who would own the
islands for perpetuity”. This audio leak had triggered massive protests across
the archipelago leading to postponement of King’s visit. Though the Maldivian
government blamed the postponement on the outbreak of Swine flu. A series of
events like detention of journalists, confinement of opposition leaders and
confiscation of material related to protests, bribing officials into silence
clearly suggest that media reports about Faafu atolls are indeed true. With
details of the project shrouded in anonymity geostrategic experts are visibly
disconcerted. Further chilling reports of brewing radicalization in Maldives in
the past four past years had fueled anxiety of India watchers.
Former Maldivian president in exile Nasheed is openly voicing
concerns about the dubious Saudi Arabia-Maldives collaboration and questioned
absence of transparent bidding process. Nasheed came to power in 2008 ending
three-decade long dictatorship of President Mahmood Gayoom but soon Nasheed’s
rule was cut short by a palace coup staged by supporters of Gayoom. Nasheed
unlike his predecessor tried to foster bilateral ties with India and the West
and strongly believed in democratic credentials. He was largely seen as a
pro-Indian leader. But he was thrown out of power in 2012 and country plunged
into an unrest. In the ensuing elections, he won and laid claims to power. But
soon he was soon shunted out of power and jailed by his political opponents on
fictitious charges. Later President Abdulla Yameen, half- brother of Gayoom
assumed the reins in November 2013. Like his brother Gayoom who declared Maldives
as 100% Muslim country, built mosques to spear head Islamization, Yameen deepened
relations with Saudi Arabia. Days into power, he revamped the liberal
democratic credentials of the government. This included blocking of all
religions except Sunni Islam, adherence to principles of Islam, legitimization
of the fatwa, mandatory study of Koran in schools and made Arabic language a
compulsory subject. Yameen extensively travelled to Saudi and signed an
agreement with Saudi Arabian Muslim Scholars Association to obtain huge grant
for construction of mosques, facilitating the travel of Arab clerics, and
awarding scholarships for studying Islam. He throttled democratic voices,
restricted freedom of press and passed a constitutional resolution making Islam
the state religion. In the same stride, he rolled out red carpet to China, who
is supporter of the 54-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). In
short, Yameen brought about a radical change in its foreign policy by embracing
China and allowing the Saudi Arabia to spread the radical Islam tenets. Saudi
Arabia eventually set up embassy in Male. Even the number of flights operating
between Riyadh and Male had doubled.
Located south of the Lakshadweep Islands, Maldives is in
India’s backyard and robust indoctrination of Maldivians is a grave threat to
India. India and Maldives share a historical connect with reports indicating
transmission of conservative Wahhabi ideology to Kerala. In 2007, Indian police
arrested Maldivian youth accused in Male bomb blast in Kerala. Maldives tryst
with Islam began quite early since its location served as a stopping point for
the seafarers and traders of West Asia. The Island thus had become a fertile
ground for Islam. Till 2008, despite Gayoom’s hard-core Islamic credentials,
the island profusely exuberated syncretic culture. But after losing power,
President Gayoom joined hands with Islamic hardliners to topple liberal
democratic regime of Nasheed paving way for the resurgence of radical Islam. By
2012, Maldives witnessed a sudden rise of hard-core Islamists. Demonstrations
carrying the black flag of IS and chants against democracy became more common.
Post 2014, number of mosques sprang up across the Island, adoption of
headscarves and burquas by women and movement of youth to Syria and Iraq to
fight along IS increased tremendously. According to a latest estimate 200 to
300 Maldivians travelled to Syria to join the IS ranks. These startling figures
compared to its miniscule population of 400,000 indeed sends warning signals.
The IS being driven from the Middle East, is seeking new havens for renewing
the process of radicalization. With uninterrupted flow of funds and ideologues
from Saudi Arabia, Maldives is bound to turn into breeding ground for Wahhabi
Ideology. While Maldives vainly attempts to dispels fears of churning out
radicals, Saudi Arabia and China are all set to capitalize on its strategic
geographical positioning.
China identified Maldives as an important part of its
strategic “String of pearls” and began deepening its relations with the Island
to have a foot hold in the Indian Ocean. Ever since China has been proactively
clinching infrastructure development projects on the island. In December 2016,
Maldives quietly leased out an Feydhoo Finolhu, an uninhabited island closest
to Male for 50 years to a Chinese company for $4 million. Maldivian government
has tactfully amended its law in July allowing government to bypass competitive
bidding. Earlier in 2014, China won a contract worth $210 million for construction
of Friendship bridge connecting Male’s eastern edge to western corner of island
Hulhule where international airport is located. Indeed, China has also agreed
to build a runway for airport at Laamu, south of Faafu atolls. Interestingly,
Saudi Arabia too have larger plans for Maldives and in 2014, just before
President Xi’s visit King Salman as Crown Prince pledged $1.2 million to build
mosques, donated $1.5 million to health sector and $1 million to Islamic
Ministry’s Waqf Fund. Saudi Arabia used soft power as a bait to gain strategic
benefits from Maldives. Saudi Arabia followed similar strategy before
announcing construction of a base at Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa. Saudi’s
declaration came six weeks after China’s announcement of setting up military
base in Djibouti. This major announcement can’t be mere coincidence.
Saudi Arabia and Chinese relations took a new turn when
President Xi broke neutrality and supported Saudi stand on Yemen. Ever since
bilateral military cooperation intensified and counterterrorism forces of both
countries conducted joint military exercise recently. Saudi Arabia in a bid to
lessen its reliance on America, agreed to be part of OBOR too. Strategic
experts are now speculating that China and Saudi Arabia might perhaps join
hands to build military base in Maldives as both countries want to “safe guard
trade routes-their oil routes-to their new markets, to have strategic
installations and infrastructure”. As of now Saudi Arabia is busy greasing
hands of the protesters in Maldives to annihilate any residual opposition. Till
recently, former President Nasheed harangued that climate change would threaten
the existence of the archipelago. But
now he is vociferously campaigning against leasing out of Faafu islands raising
serious concerns about the impending fall out on Maldivian sovereignty. Unfortunately,
coaxed by the Ultra-conservative Islamic ideology and mired by 70% external
debt to China, Maldives might eventually concede the atolls. India can hardly
ignore the developments in Maldives due its geographical proximity and deep historical
connect with radical Islamic groups in Kerala.
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