Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s surprise announcement on a proposed new law to allow house arrest in his Budget 2025 speech on Friday has raised eyebrows.

At present there are no legal provisions allowing prisoners to serve their sentences under house detention.

Anwar however said the government was looking at the new law which will allow offenders to remain in designated locations such as their homes, care centres or worker dormitories for the duration of their sentence.

He said this could be an alternative form of punishment for certain offences, without going into details about the proposed new law.

On Saturday, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail gave more details on this proposed house arrest law, saying that it has ben given the go-ahead by the Cabinet, and that a bill was being drafted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Prisons Department.

Saifuddin also said the bill will be tabled in Parliament next year.

The sudden decision of the government to introduce such a house arrest element raises questions of political manoeuvring, especially with the manner the announcement was dropped in the midst of the budget speech.

More so when one particular high profile convict is harping on being allowed to serve the remainder of his sentencing under house arrest.

Is the proposed bill aimed at getting Najib Razak out of prison and grant him his wishes of serving his remainder sentences at the convenience of his luxurious home?

Earlier this year, Najib lost his bid to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest after he had claimed that a royal addendum to his royal pardon had granted him that privilege.

High Court judge Amarjeet Singh, in dismissing the former Pekan MP’s bid, said all affidavits filed to support Najib’s case, including those by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay.

Zahid, who is the deputy prime minister, had claimed the addendum order by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong was shown to him by former Selangor Umno treasurer Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz at his house near Country Heights on January 30.

Najib is presently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison since August 23, 2022, after being convicted of embezzling RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

On September 2, 2022, he filed a petition for a royal pardon. The Pardon Board reduced Najib’s prison sentence from 12 years to six years, while the fine was reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.

PKR lawmaker Hassan Abdul Karim said he found it bizarre that Anwar touched on the issue of house arrest in his Budget 2025 speech.

The Pasir Gudang MP questioned if this was an attempt to start the groundwork for laws to be amended to “lighten the sentence for certain elite groups”.

It is a fact that Anwar relies heavily on the backing of Zahid, who was instrumental in ensuring the PKR president achieved his long ambition of becoming the prime minister.

Despite Umno suffering its worst defeat in the last federal polls, Zahid still managed tightened his stranglehold on power by sacking a list of prominent leaders ahead of party polls.

Zahid now knows that he has to deliver his promise to Umno members that he would ‘get justice’ for Najib.

Getting a new law to allow house arrest for the disgraced former prime minister would grant Zahid goodwill from his party members and party warlords aligned to Najib. – October 20, 2024.