THE Home Ministry admitted that negligence and weaknesses in its system resulted in a case of mistaken identity related to a prisoner who died at Sungai Buloh Hospital on March 3.

Its minister, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, said he would immediately set up a committee to investigate the matter.

“There can’t be any compromise on the aspect of negligence, we will always take steps in improving this identification system,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2023 in Dewan Rakyat today.

In the incident, a family preparing the funeral rites for their son’s body was surprised to be informed that their son was still alive by Sungai Buloh Prison.

The incident caused dissatisfaction with the Prison Department, leading them to lodge a report at the Jinjang police station on March 4.

Saifuddin Nasution said that his ministry was ready to pay compensation for the expenses incurred by the family, estimated to amount to RM20,000, within 48 hours.

At the same time, touching on the issue of the exemption given to Umno according to Section 70 of the Societies Act 1966, Saifuddin said the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and ministers are subject to the Societies Act 1966.

He said the law governed the essential duties of ROS, which is to ensure that any organisation complied with its laws, and protected the interests of its members.

“Section 70 of the act specifically gives the minister the power to make a number of exceptions, and the decision I made was directed to the exception of compliance with section 13 of the same law,” he said.

He added if there were any parties who felt disatisfied that the minister had exceeded the limits of his authority, they could take the issue to court.

“Before I gave the relevant exemption, I had obtained views from the relevant parties,” he said.

Yesterday, Saifuddin Nasution, in a statement, said that the Home Ministry had granted an exemption to Umno from complying with Section 13(1)(c)(iv) of the Societies Act 1966, for the resolution barring contests for its top two posts in the coming party elections. – Bernama, March 8, 2023.