Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) lauds the Unity Government’s efforts to modernize the Malaysian Penal and criminal justice system with the introduction of the House Arrest Bill 2025.
Prison overcrowding is a major issue in many developed and developing states around the world. Most countries have looked to non-custodial sentences or house arrest, especially for minor offences and for inmates who are critically ill or pregnant.
However, the timing of the enactment of the long-mulled bill has the Rakyat cautious and anxious. After the pardon that was purportedly granted to a former prime minister last year in respect of his corruption case, with little to no closure from the government and the Pardons Board over the decision, perceptions are justifiably rife as to whether the timing of this new legislation is meant to benefit certain individuals.
TI-M urges the government to go beyond mere promises and transparently implement mechanisms that will prevent the possible abuse of the house arrest legislation to benefit VIPs and convicts involved in serious crimes and public interest offenses, for political purposes. Potential pardons and VIP treatment for the abuse of power, grand corruption and money laundering will definitely give rise to negative perceptions amongst the public and civil society on the Malaysian government’s commitment to the National Anti- Corruption Strategy and certainly adversely affect the government’s ambitions of reaching the top 25 in the CPI by 2033.
Therefore, when the Bill is drafted or proposed, TI-M appeals that both corruption and money laundering cases and other specific offences should be excluded from the House Arrest Bill regardless of whether the convict is a senior citizen, a former government servant or is of any other status. Failure to ensure this is explicitly addressed when the bill is drafted and if convicts of such cases are allowed to get jail terms converted to house arrest, then the government will be seen to have effectively undermined the prosecution and the MACC for all the hard work they have done to bring such criminals to book, said TI-Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan.
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Note to Editors: For clarification on any and all official statements from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to its President, Dr Muhammad Mohan (mmohan@transparency.org.my)
