Malaysians divided over home detention plan for prisoners; Has tolerance gone too far?

Malaysia’s plan to ease prison overcrowding through a proposed house arrest law is causing a strong public backlash as authorities and lawyers weigh the financial and social benefits with fears of over-leniency towards convicts.

This comes in light of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announcing plans to introduce a new law allowing home detention as alternative punishment for certain crimes during the presentation of the 2025 budget in October.

The plan has sparked speculation that it could also allow jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve out the remainder of his sentence in the comfort of his Kuala Lumpur mansion.

However, the government insisted that this was to bring common sense to the penal system.

Malaysia currently houses more than 87,000 inmates in its prisons, which are over 17.6 percent over capacity; this level is unsustainable and well above the global average.

In a rare statement last Tuesday, the prison department approved the proposed legislation, citing the high costs of maintaining an overpopulated prison system designed for 74,000 inmates.