Newest Republic

The familiar strains of Auld Lang Syne swelled up from a sprawling cluster of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean last week, but the singers were not celebrating the New Year; they were merely singing their own national anthem. After years of autocratic rule under Sultans known as the Golden Feet,* the Maldive (rhymes with small hive) Islands had just become the world's newest republic. Queen Elizabeth herself sent the Moslem islanders a message from another island, wishing them "good luck, fair winds and calm waters." A British cruiser stood by to fire a salute, and thousands of soft-eyed, coffee-colored Maldivians--the men in sarongs, the women in Mother Hubbards--crowded on to the main island of Male to join the festivities.

The Maldives (pop. 90,000) had waited some 800 years for their republic, but the struggle for self-government had been as placid and uneventful as most of life on the islands. It came about largely because the islands' Sultans themselves got tired of ruling. Huddled together far from the world's highways, some 400 miles southwest of Ceylon, protected first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British, the little Maldives long knew few of the blessings and none of the curses of civilization.

Murder is still all but unknown; infrequent crimes like pilfering are punished by public whipping. The gentle Maldivians are among Asia's best-fed, cleanliest and healthiest people. Once a year every good Maldivian Moslem voluntarily undertakes an act of national service--i.e., whitewashing a government building.

But in time the sons of the Sultanate, sent abroad to Ceylon or Egypt for their education, began to chafe at the strict Sunni Moslem laws which kept them virtual prisoners at home once they reached the throne. When the old Sultan died in the 19305, the islanders decided to do away with hereditary rule and elect new Sultans by popular vote. The first elected Sultan promptly abdicated. His successor, Prime Minister Amir Didi, was perfectly willing to run the government, but he chafed at the travel restrictions. So did his nephew, Amin Didi, who was designated to succeed him.

Last year the islands voted 99 to 1 to abolish the Sultanate altogether and establish a republic. Amin Didi was unanimously elected first president. Amin, 43, who visits London twice a year and rules with a firm but fair hand, accepted the job because, as he himself said, he could find no one else as worthy.

* Because one 12th century Sultan's wife was so fond of golden slippers that she threatened to cut off the feet of anyone else who dared wear them.

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