The May 6 Incident and the Roots of Maldives’ Violent Politics The May 6 attempt on the life of former President Nasheed COLOMBO: The Maldives, which is an Indian Ocean archipelago, is a tiny country of only 530,000 people. Its politics is dominated by a few elite families, many of whom are related to each other. Yet, it is intensely faction-ridden and violence-prone, to boot. Added to the combustible mixture is Islamic radicalism. According to the US State Department, an estimated 200 Maldivians, were fighting in Syria and Iraq in 2019, making their country the world’s second largest supplier of foreign fighters per capita, after Tunisia.