UNCHARTED LEGAL TERRITORY
According to legal experts, Najib is likely the first convicted prisoner in Malaysia to have his sentence commuted to house arrest.
This leaves questions over how the arrangement will be implemented and what restrictions home detention will entail.
Constitutional lawyer Lim Wei Jiet pointed to a December 2025 High Court ruling that dismissed Najib’s judicial review application over an addendum order that purportedly allowed him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence at home.
Judge Alice Loke had said the house arrest order was not able to be executed under existing Malaysian law, noting that the statutory power to release a prisoner on licence rests with the Commissioner-General of Prisons alone.
“I really do not know the details, or limitations imposed on the convict (on house arrest). This is really uncharted territory,” said Lim, who runs law firm LWJ Advocates and Solicitors.
Criminal lawyers previously told CNA that Malaysia lacks specific laws to implement home detention, although the Home Minister has the exclusive power to decide and designate any location as a detention centre under the law.
An explainer by Malaysia’s New Straits Times on Friday quoted criminal lawyer S Sivananthan as saying that house arrest could involve stationing prison officers at Najib’s residence, electronically monitoring him and imposing specific restrictions on visitors.
According to Sivananthan, no prisoner in Malaysia has previously been allowed to serve a sentence under house arrest. Najib’s case, he said, could prompt other prisoners – particularly those convicted of white-collar offences – to seek similar treatment.
“This is going to open the floodgates. People serving sentences for white-collar crimes may ask, ‘Why not me?’” he reportedly said.
Questions have also been raised over the conditions attached to Najib’s house arrest and how any potential breaches would be monitored or enforced.
Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli, who left the government last year to lead the Parti Bersama Malaysia, called on Anwar to “announce in detail the conditions” of Najib’s house arrest so that “action can be taken if any of those conditions are breached”.
