The tsunami's healing touch

Bitter political differences have been swept aside

That's where the protests happened, says the hotel employee who does not want me to use his name. He is pointing to the tiny square ahead as we dock at the jetty in the Maldivian capital Male, where protests erupted in 2003 and were as swiftly suppressed.

A small group led by an Islamic teacher at the university had whipped up a rebellion that threatened to tear through the peaceful facade of Maldivian society, already fraying after prison riots in which several reportedly died.

Walking past the so-called high security zone, only a stone's throw away from the square, the tour guide gently guides you away, and actively discourages pictures. "There is no democracy here," says another hotelier later ,"it's an authoritarian state, it's always been like that but people are now clamouring for change."

President Mohammad Abdul Gayoom has overseen the country's explosive growth from a little known backwater popular among Italian spearfishing enthusiasts to a South Asian success story. There is no room for dissent. Although, despite Gayoom fatigue, recent countrywide elections have shown that the Islamic nation shows little inclination of handing power into the hands of the right-wing.

Gayoom won but in a signal that he is willing to loosen the shackles, under pressure perhaps from neighbouring India and the EU, he has promised democratic reform, the setting up of an independant judiciary and a multi-party system. Any citizen can submit a bill for discussion in the Constituent Assembly. But it's only since the election that Gayoom submitted a bill, raising people's expectations of change.

The tsunami, curiously has swept bitter political differences aside. Gayoom released many prisoners in a goodwill gesture and has set up a body of National Reconstruction that diplomats say is the president's opportunity to bring about a seismic shift in Maldivian politics. Unlike other countries where the natural disaster has only sharpened divisons, the tsunami in the Maldives has come as a healing touch.