House arrest allowed under existing Malaysian law, confirms Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR: House arrest is permitted in Malaysia, and no new laws are necessary for its implementation, according to Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (pic), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms).

Azalina clarified that, per the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), Section 3 of the Prisons Act 1995 allows house arrest as a form of punishment.

“This Section also grants powers to the Minister in charge of prisons, which is the Home Minister, to declare any house, building, or space as a ‘prison’ to detain those sentenced to jail.

“In other words, the Minister has the power to declare a home as a legitimate place to detain prisoners, subject to provisions under the Prisons Act 1995,” Azalina stated in a written parliamentary reply dated March 5.

Azalina was responding to Lim Lip Eng (PH-Kepong), who inquired whether Malaysian laws accommodate house arrest.

Lim also asked if the meeting minutes of the Federal Territories Pardons Board discussing Najib’s house arrest application can be declassified.

In response, Azalina said the meetings have been declassified after Najib filed a judicial review to compel the government to execute a supplementary decree issued by the former King.

“The document has been declassified in January this year,” Azalina added.

Najib, 71, began serving a 12-year jail term in August 2022 for offences linked to the misuse of public money from former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) unit SRC International. The sentence was later halved by the Pardons Board.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had mentioned in his Budget 2025 speech last year that the government would draft a new law allowing house arrest as an alternative punishment for certain offences.