KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed law on house arrest will only apply to inmates under remand in prison who are involved in non-serious crimes, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pic).
The assurance given by the Home Minister puts to rest the concern that the law, if passed, would allow for home detention involving individuals such as former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“It is for the remand case. It is not for convicted cases,” he told The Star.
He was asked to clarify whether Najib would be eligible for house arrest, as the former premier was serving his halved sentence at the Kajang Prison.
According to Saifuddin Nasution, the proposed House Arrest Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the July meeting next year.
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“Right now, the Home Ministry and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) are drafting the matrix and framework of the Bill.
“The next engagement will be with the parliamentary special select committee and stakeholders.
“The Home Ministry is expecting (to table this Bill) in the July meeting next year,” said Saifuddin Nasution.
He said that currently, there were 28,000 detainees under remand, while prisons had a capacity of only 74,000 inmates.
“Of the 28,000, 8,000 of them are serious cases and are not eligible to be considered for house arrest,” he said, adding that these inmates were involved in heinous crimes.
Earlier, during his winding-up speech in Parliament on the Supply Bill 2025, Saifuddin Nasution said inmates with prison sentences over 10 years for serious crimes would not be eligible to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.
“If the House Arrest Bill can be implemented, our hope is for the courts to weigh in and decide whether remand detainees should be detained at home and fitted with a (monitoring) device,” he said.
Saifuddin Nasution said convicts on death row or life sentences would not be entitled to House Arrest.
Apart from that, serious offences that involve national security, Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, imprisonment of 10 years and above, domestic violence and offences involving children and those sentenced to mandatory caning will not qualify for House Arrest.
“We are targeting remand detainees and they are not convicted under the offences I mentioned. The courts have the discretion to let them be on house arrest,” he said.
He said the Cabinet had approved the Bill in principle, and engagements with stakeholders would be held on it.
“For now, our intention (for house arrest) is for individuals ordered by the courts to be remanded until their trial dates.
“For those convicted above 10 years in prison, they will not be eligible to be considered (for house arrest). This shows how serious we are,” said Saifuddin.
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Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu) questioned the need for a new law, as Section 3 of the Prison Act already gave the minister the power to declare a house, building or place as a prison.
Meanwhile, Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor) asked whether Section 3 of the Prison Act would be repealed.
Saifuddin Nasution said the law currently did not recognise monitoring devices as a restraint device with only handcuffs being recognised as such.
“Due to this, the AGC suggested that we table a new law instead of amending the Prison Act. When we have the new Act, we need to harmonise with the existing Act,” he added.
Takiyuddin and Ramkarpal asked whether Najib would be allowed to serve the remainder of his prison sentence at home.
“On Najib’s case, he has been convicted and sentenced. Will the proposed house arrest apply in that case?” Ramkarpal asked.
Najib has been serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42mil from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
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The former premier filed for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, resulting in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence from 12 years to six years and reducing the fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.
Takiyuddin then pressed Saifuddin Nasution further, asking if the alleged addendum on house arrest linked to Najib’s partial pardon existed.
In response, Saifuddin Nasution said the courts had already ruled that the alleged addendum was merely hearsay.
“If there is a dispute between the government and the people, the courts will make a decision. If the courts ruled that it was hearsay, then you should know what it means.
“Your view is that this matter should be answered by the government. But, because there is a dispute here, we should leave it to the courts to decide,” he said, adding that the ministry would discuss with the AGC the development of the Bill’s matrix.
It will later be brought to the relevant Parliamentary Special Select Committee.
The Court of Appeal has set Dec 5 to hear Najib’s appeal over the dismissal of his leave application for a judicial review regarding an alleged addendum on the house arrest.
The 71-year-old former prime minister’s application was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 3, 2024, which found that the four affidavits supporting his claim, including those from Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay.
