KAJANG: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says he will clear the air on the proposed House Arrest Bill and silence its critics in Parliament this Thursday (Nov 7).
He said this was necessary as recent criticism of the proposal made it seem as though it centred on "a particular individual".
"I believe that my explanation... will help to clear the air.
"(I will touch on) some of the views put forth which I noticed seem to be only about a particular individual.
"That is why I feel that a clarification is needed.
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"The best platform will be during my ministerial wrap-up in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday," he told reporters after attending a town hall session at the Prisons Department Complex here on Tuesday (Nov 5).
The proposed house arrest legislation was among the prison reforms mentioned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when tabling Budget 2025 on Oct 18.
Eligible offenders would be required to stay at designated places such as a residential home, care facility or workers’ dormitory throughout their detention period.
The proposal drew flak from several quarters with some linking it to former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak's recent legal suit regarding an alleged addendum on house arrest.
On Oct 22, the Court of Appeal set Dec 5 to hear Najib's appeal against the dismissal of his leave application for a judicial review regarding the alleged addendum.
Najib claimed that the addendum was issued by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong to allow him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case under house arrest.
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However, he said it would take some time to finalise the draft Bill.
"The ministry will have to conduct numerous engagement sessions with those involved.
"Only then will we come out with a draft Bill for... the House Arrest Act," he added.
Earlier during the session, Saifuddin took a swipe at those who criticised the proposed house arrest Bill.
"If there is a whiteboard in front of them, they will just (focus on) one black dot on it but not see how white the rest of the board is," he said.
He said several criteria would be put in place for consideration to be placed under house arrest, and it would not apply to those convicted of serious offences.
He said there were about 87,000 inmates in prisons throughout the country.
Of this number, he said about 5,000 are on parole under several programmes including the Corporate Smart Internship (CSI) programme.
"The capacity for our prisons is 74,000 inmates.
"This means our prisons are overcrowded by 11%," he said.
