Rastafarians in Maldives

Some argued that the dependency in our societies is caused mainly due to the import based economy. From the basic needs to the entertainment we have been depending on other countries. The songs, movies even the way we dress shows aspects of the other cultures. These days I do not see a Maldivian unique culture and it is hard to explain a foreigner where we are located without telling them about India and Sri Lanka. It is true that there is no country free from the influence of their neighbouring cultures but unlike other nations, we have finally achieved the importation of cultural aspects from the other end, African countries. The recent of which is Rastafarian. The young teenagers of Maldives have idolised the way of Rastafarians. It began with the music of Bob Merely. The music then leads to the use their life style and recently caught the attention due to the speech given by current president where he talked about ‘Ganga’.
The Rastafarian or Rastafarianism is a new religious movement emerged in 20th Century in Jamaica, where the people accept that spirit of Jesus had been incarnated in Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie is seen as a Messiah among the believers. The other characteristic includes the use of cannabis, rejection of western society, and afro social life style like dreadlocks, and political aspirations. The Rastafarian claims that when they use drugs such as Cannabis, they are able to pray more close to the god.
Hence, I want to believe that the Rastafarians in Maldives are simply the supporters of the Bob Merely’s music, if so then they should stop calling themselves Rastafarians to avoid symbolising them as followers. Otherwise if they are more involved than just music, the days of violence are not so far. The history of new religious movements has not been very successful other than few of them like scientology. Maldives should give a thought to these fan groups when it is in its beginning stages. As a Maldivian I am worried about the ignorance of our society.