Muizzu's defence, T-GST repeal and arson joke

President Muizzu defended the Rasmalé deal, saying claims of foreign land ownership and religious compromise were “baseless allegations deliberately engineered by political figures to incite public fear”. Speaking on the President’s Office podcast, Muizzu said properties would be leased for 99 years with no automatic renewal and that buyers would have to sell them back to the state when the lease ends. Buyers of any single nationality will be capped at 25 per cent of properties, with no limit for Maldivians. Israeli nationals will be legally barred from buying, he said, adding that no non-Islamic places of worship or schools would be allowed. Muizzu put total investment, including associated developments, at US$30 billion, and said the project would create about 14,000 permanent jobs. A dedicated law governing the project would be submitted to parliament, he said.

The government proposed legislation to repeal the provisions extending GST to foreign tour operators, travel agents and booking platforms, three weeks after they took effect. The changes, ratified on 31 August and in force since 1 October, were projected to bring in MVR1.6 billion a year, but prompted some European tour operators to suspend bookings to the Maldives. Tourism Minister Mohamed Ameen said earlier this month that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had decided to amend the law urgently.

Hassan Zihan, a former deputy minister and ex-MNDF first lieutenant, was arrested in Fuvammulah after posting on Facebook that it would be "fun" if people could set fire to the Supreme Court, President's Office and parliament, sharing a news report about protesters torching Albania's Supreme Court. Zihan, who has been publicly critical of the government since his dismissal in 2024, was arrested the same evening police confirmed they were investigating the post.

Police arrested an Indian national and a Bangladeshi national on suspicion of operating an unlicensed foreign currency exchange business and selling foreign currency at inflated rates. The two were arrested following a tip-off through a dedicated hotline.

President Muizzu and First Lady Sajidha Mohamed departed for a three-day official visit to Pakistan at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Shareef. The visit, marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, will include their first high-level bilateral meeting in a decade and the signing of agreements to strengthen cooperation across several sectors.

The gender ministry told parliament's human rights committee that 14 children in state care were placed with foster families last year while 22 were reunited with their own families, but 18 new children were taken into state care, with 37 children under state protection by the end of the year. The ministry also reported receiving over 1,800 child welfare cases and 711 cases of domestic and gender-based violence in 2025.

The opposition MDP said the drug treatment system had collapsed, accusing the National Drug Agency of being “in a coma” since it was moved from the health ministry to the homeland security ministry. Mohamed Sobree, head of the party’s public policy committee, said the agency had no psychiatrist, that its urine testing machine had been broken for a long time and that test kit stocks were poorly managed, while the National Drug Control Council had stopped meeting. He also claimed the agency’s chief executive did not meet the qualifications for the post. The government says its anti-drug efforts are succeeding and that the treatment system will be strengthened.

The Privatisation and Corporatisation Board appointed three directors to state-owned company boards: Mohamed Areesh to Maldives Post Limited, Ismail Faruhad Ahmed to the State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation, and Ahmed Imdah Mohamed to the State Trading Organisation. Areesh, who was appointed Under Secretary at the President’s Office last month, is a former Malé City councillor elected on an MDP ticket who later joined the ruling PNC.