House arrest law: What is the status?

The Home Ministry is in the midst of fine tuning a draft bill on house arrest, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

“At this point, the ministry is fine tuning the draft bill through a series of engagement with stakeholders to ensure all the input and views are taken into consideration in the making of the House Arrest Bill.

Based on the sessions, the ministry is focused to table this this law to resolve prison overcrowding due to remand detentions,” he said in a written response to Teresa Kok (PH-Seputeh).

Kok had asked for the status of the bill as an alternative punishment. She also queried whether the ministry had discussions with the civil society, public and parliament select committee before the bill was tabled in parliament.

Earlier on Saifuddin explained that the cabinet had agreed in principle to have a new law regarding home detention during a cabinet meeting held on Sept 3 2024.

The bill was first mentioned during the tabling of Budget 2025.