Home Ministry: House arrest Bill set for tabling later this year, stakeholders currently consulted to draft law
The Home Ministry is aiming to table the law on house arrest in the Parliament later this year. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
Tuesday, 18 Feb 2025 10:46 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 – The Home Ministry is in the process of finalising a draft Bill on house arrest to be tabled later this year, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Parliament.
The draft Home Detention Bill is currently being refined, with several engagement sessions already held with relevant stakeholders, he said in a written reply.
“The ministry is conducting workshops and stakeholder engagement sessions to ensure all views and inputs are considered in the drafting process,” he said in a reply to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.
The Pakatan Harapan MP had asked whether the ministry will consult civil society, the public and the Parliamentary Select Committee before tabling the Bill.
“The draft Bill must go through several stages before it can be finalised and presented in the Parliament,” he replied.
“This includes engagement with stakeholders, a legal review by the ministry’s legal advisers and the Attorney General’s Chambers, and Cabinet approval.”
Addressing concerns about prison overcrowding, he said the primary objective of the bill is to alleviate congestion, particularly among remand prisoners.
During Budget 2025 in October last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government plans to introduce a new law that will enable convicts to serve out their imprisonment sentences at home instead of in prison.
Saifuddin said in the reply today that the decision was made by the Cabinet on September 3, 2024.
Malaysian law currently does not include house arrest as a form of punishment.
However, Section 3 of the Prisons Act 1995 grants the Home Minister the power to declare any house, building, enclosure or place, or any part thereof, to be a prison for the imprisonment or detention of persons lawfully in custody.
Recommended read:
Tailor made for freeing Najib
ReplyDelete