36 Alla
The MaldivesThe other
contagion
MAL~
The puadise islands are battling
jihadism u well u oovi.d""19T
HB AllRIVAL of covicl-19 in the Maldives
was hardly surprising, since i.sm tour-
ists from all around the world visit the In-
dian-Ocean archipelago every year. By
March t8th 13 foreigners had been cledared
.infected, although there have not yet been
any confirmed cases among locals.
But a no less dangerous contagion-
Muslim atremism-is also afflicting the
islands. on February 4th three foreigners
were stabbed in a suburb of Mal~. the capi-
tal. (They survived.) Muslim militants
claimed responsibility. It-was the filst inci-
dent of religious violence against foreign-
ers since 20fY/, when jihadists set off a
bomb in a park in Mal~. injuring12 tourists.
Days after the stabbing. footage of a bellig-
erent British visitor being manhandled by
thepolicefordressingtooscantilywentvi-
ral, neatly illusttating the devoutly Muslim
country's awkward reliance on bllcinl-clad
sun-worshippers for its prosperity.
For the past dozen years, the islanders
have been buffeted between authoritarian
rulers peddling piety and more tolerant,
democratic leaders. In 2008, after 30 years
incharge,MaumoonAbdul Gayoom, a con-
servative, was defeated in the islands' first
truly free election and replaced by Mo-
hamed Nasheed, a secular modernist. Four
years later Mr Nasheed was ousted in a
coup. Mr Gayoom's half-brother, Abdullah
Yameensubsequentlytookcharge.
For the next six years the government
tumeda blind eyetogrowingextremism.A
prominent member of parliament, Dr
Afrasheem Ali, was murdered. so was a
journalist, Aluned Rilwan Abdulla, and his
friend Yameen Rasheed, an intl.uential
blogger. Meanwhile the government jailed
opponents and wiuked as an al.anning
number of islanders headed to Iraq and
Syria to join Islamic State. In 2018, however,
Ibrahim solih, an ally of Mr Nasheed,
pulled off a surprising election victoi:y.
Under Mr SOlih, investigations have
been launched into unsolved political
murden and into the corruption that bad
spread under Mr Yameen, who has been
sentenced to five years in prison for mon-
ey-laundering. A presidential commission
has concluded that groups linked to al-
Qaeda spent a decade bent on radicalisa-
tion, recruitment and murder. A police re-
port reckons that 423 Maldivians tried to
join jibadists in Syria and IJaq in the past
decade or so, 173 of them successfully. It
says that some i.,400 Maldivians (out of aThe Economist March 21st 2020Sperm wail
OMIHACHIMAN
Japan tries to atop forel1nera copylns ltl eow11
''WAGYUISNarjustmeat.Ifsall
things that Japan is famous for:
tladition and quality and conviction."
That is how a Western chef describes
Japan's fatty marbled beef. But to the
government, wagyu is a valuable asset, at
risk of being pilfered by foreigners. In
January the farm ministry proposed a bill
to criminalise unauthorised export of
wagyu eggs or sperm. Smugglers could
spend as long as ten years in jail, or pay a
fine of up to '110m ($92,000).
Raising wagyu is a booming business.
Japan exported 4,339 tonnes last year,
worth a total of'129.7bn-abouttbree-
and-a-balf times the volume and value it
shipped just five years prior. Demand is
risingasA&iagrowswealthier. Thenou-
vmu riche in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and
increasingly in 1bailand and Macau, are
paying exorbitant prices to dine on wa-
gyu. (rbe biggest importer, surprisingly,
is Cambodia Analysts reckon that im-
ports are re-exported to China., which
until recently banned Japanese beef after
an outbrealcof mad~owdisease in 200L)
Moreover, foreign cattlemen areThe farmer has a beefpopulation of 350,000) were radicalised to
a point where they "would not hesitate to
take the life of the person nm to them". A
growing number of imams preached not
only violent extremism but also the taking
of child brides.
The new government has hesitated to
crack down, for fear of offending the de-
vout. Instead, in December it shut down a
local human-rights NGO, the Maldi'Vian De-
mocracy Network, which had exposed in-
justices under Messrs Gayoom and Ya-definitelyttying to muscle in on the
market. In 2018 two men were caught
tlyingto smuggle morethan10osamples
ofwagyu DNA into China. Buttlyingto
protect the industry by banning semen
exports is like slamming the barn door
after the bulls have-well, never mind.
Australia, whose cattle farmers began
crossbreeding Japanese and local cows in
the198os, already exports seven times
morewagyu than Japan.
To purists, moreover, only purebred
beef from Japan is truly worthy of the
namewagyu. It is not just genetics that
mark it out, but the way in which it is
reared. some Japanese cattle-farmers
soak feed in beer and give their cows
regular massages (relaxation, along with
the marbling, is thought to keep the beef
tender). Foreign versions do not "taste at
all like wagyu bred in Japan·, says Thierry
Voisin, a Michelin-starred chef. To Su-
neya Masahiko, wboheadstheJapan
Livestock Products Export Promotion
C.Ouncil, foreign wagyu is "inauthentic•.
He sees the legislation as a chance to
Introduce ftproper wagyu• to the world.meen. The authors of a report issued by the
NGO have tied the country, after receiving
death threats. Meanwhile the courts have
failed to prosecute jihadist ringleaders,
months after their identities were exposed.
The attackers of Yameen Rasheed are the
only exbe1nlsts to have been taken to court
so far. Witnesses have been promised ano-
nymity, but there have been endless delays.
The collapse of tourism thaoks to covid-i.9
will bobble the economy. That will do
nothing to calm the febrile mood. •