THE Prisons Department has reduced the rate of reoffending parolees to 0.44% via its rehabilitative programmes, said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.

The home minister said the character development programmes, parol system and rehabilitative efforts under the “Pendekatan Korektif Yang Memberi Sinar Baharu Kehidupan” initiative were behind the success.

“The rate of reoffenders was an average of 0.44%, or 17,081 parolees, from 2008 to June this year,” Zahid said at a Home Minstry assembly in Putrajaya this morning.

He compared California, which saw 68% of parolees falling back into crime, with Malaysia, saying this was usually under-reported as Malaysians and the media had no interest in “good news”.

“If the story is about a convict escaping the country, the story will spread like wildfire, but if it is about the reduction in the rate of reoffenders, there won’t be any stories about it.

“The bad things that happen make for a story, but the good things that happen, don’t.”

Zahid, who said he had visited prisons to monitor what inmates did, invited the media to “enter prison” and give convicts more coverage.

“I myself went in and saw what is happening in prison… I invite all the reporters who usually cover the Home Ministry to visit prison with me – and exit, of course – to see what prisoners actually do.

“Did you know that the best pineapples (in the country), as recognised by the pineapple board of Malaysia, are from prison?”

Convicts who undergo the Prisons Department programmes are equipped with skills that help them reintegrate into society upon their release.

Some of the skills taught include cooking, baking, tailoring, creating handicraft, agriculture work, and spa and facial services.

Products made by the inmates are marketed in numerous hypermakets in the Klang Valley.

V. Arun, 39, a former convict who was jailed at Kajang Prison for four years for gang robbery, is one of the many who benefited from the programmes.

“I have a degree in electrical engineering from Nanyang Technology University Singapore. But today, I am working at a pineapple plantation under Tengku Hasmuddin Tengku Othman.

“He came over for a visit (during one of the programmes) and was quite happy (with what he saw), and he offered me a job right after I was released.

“I am now the supervisor of a 20-acre plantation in Sri Menanti, Negri Sembilan. I have a place to stay at the farm, and things are going well,” said Arun, who was at the Home Ministry assembly.

He said prison had changed his life and he only realised how important freedom was when it was too late.

“I used to have a few bad habits, mixing with the wrong company, and I got ‘lucky’ one day and was arrested in 2012 in Shah Alam.

“It was a gang robbery that went wrong. I had two other gang members with me. But, I have no contact with them now.

“What changed my life in prison… it was tough, there were a lot of physical requirements and the food will ‘kill’ you,” he joked to reporters.

“These programmes are good. I never thought that I would be planting pineapples and become a farmer.

“I have no idea about society’s perception of me, but I think if I were to apply for other jobs, it would be hard because job application forms ask whether you have been convicted in court.

“They are going to be suspicious of you and very hesitant, but luckily for me, I don’t have this problem.”

He said he hoped that Malaysians would give convicts a second chance as there were many like himself who wanted to turn their lives around.

“A lot of us want to improve in life and become better, but this calls for society to accept us. Yes, we have made mistakes, but we want to change.” – August 28, 2017.