COMMENT | It was earth-shattering news. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed in an affidavit that he sighted an addendum to the Pardons Board’s decision to allow disgraced former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to serve his remaining jail sentence under house arrest.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Najib’s application. Judge Amarjeet Singh ruled that the affidavits by Zahid and Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail were mere hearsay and did not show direct knowledge of the existence of the supplementary order.

Thereafter, the Umno juggernaut rolled on, albeit in reverse. If they had previously cried “Justice for Najib” and then moved to “house arrest”, the court ruling compelled them to return to the original cry.

When Malaysians thought that the issue of house arrest had been dead, buried, and entombed because no such provisions existed in current legislation, a resurrection of sorts took place.

On Friday, during the tabling of Budget 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government would draft a new law allowing house arrest as an alternative sentence for certain offences.

In a twist of sorts, such a significant matter was...