‘Proposed house arrest to reduce prison overcrowding, not to free Najib’
IPOH: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail yesterday slammed reports that claimed the implementation of the Licensed Prisoner Release Programme (PBSL) through house arrest was an effort to free former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Instead, the proposal is a government initiative to reduce overcrowding in all 43 prisons across the country that currently house 80,000 inmates, he stressed.
“I want to refute the mischievous narrative played by a handful of media purportedly to put Najib under house arrest.
“They cannot see the perspective of reducing prison overcrowding, especially for certain categories, there is a panel to evaluate them for the type of offences we recommend, only if they are sentenced to less than four years in prison,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Last Saturday, he was reported saying that the government had agreed in principle to start PBSL through house arrest for prisoners serving sentences of four years and below as an effort to reduce prison overcrowding.
Saifuddin was reported as saying that the KDN is currently in the process of examining the method of implementing the initiative from the point of view of relevant legal provisions to ensure whether existing acts and regulations need to be re-enacted or not.
Earlier yesterday, he witnessed total of five replacement ID card applications processed and submi ed to the residents of Rumah Seri Kenangan Ulu Kinta.
The Mekar programme with the residents of Rumah Seri Kenangan Ulu Kinta is a periodic programme organised by Perak National Registration Department (JPN) for welfare and protection homes to deal with the issue of identity document dropouts and facilitate the registration or replacement of Mykad documents.
JPN’s Mekar programme is a field programme where the issue of identity documents such as MyKad and birth certificates are provided to people with disabilities (PwD), the elderly, homeless patients, and those living in the interiors. — Bernama