House arrest for quinoa rice and nightly snuggles

House arrest for quinoa rice and nightly snuggles

R Nadeswaran
Published: Oct 20, 2024 11:32 AM


COMMENT | It was earth-shattering news. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed in an affidavit that he sighted an addendum to the Pardons Board’s decision to allow disgraced former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to serve his remaining jail sentence under house arrest.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Najib’s application. Judge Amarjeet Singh ruled that the affidavits by Zahid and Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail were mere hearsay and did not show direct knowledge of the existence of the supplementary order.

Thereafter, the Umno juggernaut rolled on, albeit in reverse. If they had previously cried “Justice for Najib” and then moved to “house arrest”, the court ruling compelled them to return to the original cry.

When Malaysians thought that the issue of house arrest had been dead, buried, and entombed because no such provisions existed in current legislation, a resurrection of sorts took place.

On Friday, during the tabling of Budget 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government would draft a new law allowing house arrest as an alternative sentence for certain offences.

In a twist of sorts, such a significant matter was not mentioned when Anwar delivered the budget speech, but the plans were included in the printout of his remarks released by the Finance Ministry.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivering the Budget 2025 speech in the Dewan Rakyat

This had tongues wagging if this new law was explicitly what outspoken PKR lawmaker Hassan Karim pondered as an attempt to start the groundwork for regulations to be amended to “lighten the sentence for certain elite groups”.

The dictionary definition of house arrest is “being legally forced to stay in one’s own house while in prison”.

This means you can have the freedom to move about in your own home with your regular dose of quinoa if it is part of a dietary regime recommended by doctors. You will also have all the time to admire your million-ringgit timepieces, not forgetting the snuggles at bedtime every night.


A house arrest law

Is there something in our system called “house arrest”?

Legal experts said no prisoners in Malaysia can apply for house arrest as the country’s legal system does not provide for such a provision.

Section 8 of the Prisons Act empowers the commissioner-general of the Prisons Department to establish a “temporary prison” should there be overcrowding or an infectious disease outbreak.

But the proposed new law is different.

“The offender will be required to be at a place deemed suitable, such as a residential home, a care home, or a workers’ hostel throughout detention, under set conditions, and observed by a Prisons Department officer,” Anwar said.

Hassan may be right. Why would a new set of laws be necessary when a simple amendment to the act would suffice? So, this is not precisely house arrest.

Anwar did not specify the offences, but it would be acceptable if it covered petty theft, shoplifting, traffic offences, and other breaches under the Minor Offences Act?

However, if this is extended to more serious offences, as many fear, it will mock the country’s law-and-order system.


Tendency to compromise

For example, someone convicted of corruption, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering should never be considered, primarily if he or she has been found guilty of stealing from the public purse.

If done, it will make a mockery and blow to smithereens the campaign of the Madani government against corruption and its continued pledge to be transparent and accountable.

But for political expediency, many unexpected twists and turns have taken place. There will be temptations, requests, and demands to bend the law for the advantage of a selected few.

There has always been the tendency for some of our leaders to compromise in such situations for political survival.

And this is taking into account the current abang-adik (big brother-little brother) situation after all the name-calling and abusing each other in the lead-up to the last election.

So, Malaysians who have experienced it and seen it all will attest that nothing is impossible when political manoeuvring supersedes people’s needs.

R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com