Mat Sabu calls for law to make house arrest available to all convicts

Legislation must be drawn up to allow convicts to serve half of their prison sentences under house arrest, agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu said today, adding that justice cannot be the “exclusive right of certain groups”.

He said he was prepared to donate his entire ministerial salary for the rest of the current parliamentary term to fund NGOs campaigning for such legislation.

Mohamad, the Kota Raja MP and Amanah president, said his stance was not motivated by any personal grievance with former prime minister Najib Razak.

“The principle of equality before the law must not be compromised on the basis of position, political influence or family ties. The law must be fair to all. Malaysia cannot practise a two-tiered justice system,” he said in a statement.

The High Court issued an order yesterday allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028.

Najib was jailed in August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million in SRC International funds.

He was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million. In January 2024, then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah halved the prison sentence and reduced the fine to RM50 million as part of a royal pardon.

In September this year, the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, granted Najib a further conditional pardon, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, subject to payment of a RM50 million fine and compliance with other stipulated conditions.