Balancing democracy and official Islam

MALE - Can a nation that considers itself 100 percent Muslim also be a democracy without risking its Islamic identity and ideals?

That's what this tiny island nation off the southern coast of India is trying to do. Two years after the country embraced democracy, a literary festival imported from the West shows the promise -- and peril -- of that experiment.

This weekend the Maldives hosted the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, originally a Welsh event that has branched out to other countries, including Lebanon, Kenya and now, the Maldives.

President Mohamed Nasheed, a moderate Muslim who has won Western acclaim for his environmental activism, offered his retreat island, Aarah, as the Hay Festival venue; the festival plans to return in 2011 and 2012.

Every year, an estimated 700,000 tourists flock to this postcard-perfect chain of about 1,100 islands. Before they can hit the beach, however, they must complete a customs form that includes a list of "prohibited and restricted" imports, including "materials contrary to Islam," "idols for worship," pork products and alcohol.

The Hay festival, which Bill Clinton once described as "the Woodstock of the mind," will also face rigid religious censorship, project director Andy Fryers said. British novelist Ian McEwan, Chinese author Jung Chang and other speakers have been briefed on the censorship laws.

The restrictions are lingering vestiges of the 30-year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a conservative authoritarian who yielded power in the country's first democratic elections in 2008.

Yet even with the change in government, there's been little desire for a change in policy on religious restrictions.

READ THE FULL STORY IN THE HUFFINGTON POST.