KLUANG, Sept 24 ― An inmate at Simpang Renggam Prison here feels his character has changed from being an individual who has transgressed from the path of religion to a person who wants to improve his way of life.

Known as Din, 62, is proud of his achievement as he has completed reciting the Quran 10 times during his 25 years in prison after committing an offence under Section 4 of the Firearms Act (Heavier Penalties) 1971.

He is now being detained at the pleasure of the Sultan (TLS) after also being punished with six strokes of the cane, and can only be released upon a royal pardon.

"When I was young, I was an aggressive and hot-tempered person who liked to follow my heart, but now I am quite calm besides enjoying the pleasure of doing worship, including reading the Quran and its translation almost every day, something I have never done before.

"Be careful in choosing friends and parents need to give the children a good religious upbringing to enable them to distinguish between good and bad,” he told reporters when met at Simpang Renggam Prison today.

Earlier, the prison held a ‘Jalinan Kasih’ outreach programme at the Prison Inmate level which was launched by Simpang Renggam Prison director Abdul Kadir Jailani Ismail.

Meanwhile, another prisoner also serving a TLS prison sentence, known as Lee, 30, admits he has regrets after choosing the wrong company of friends that eventually saw him ending up imprisoned in 2008.

He said his real intention was only to help a friend who became an ‘along’ (illegal money lender) by apprehending an individual who had an outstanding debt but unfortunately, the individual died while in his care.

"After that, I was arrested and will be in prison until I am pardoned later. The saddest thing is when my mother often asks when I would be pardoned as I don’t have an answer for that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Kadir Jailani said at the programme, a total of 35 inmates including those serving TLS sentences, had the opportunity to meet about 300 of their family members.

"With a programme like this, inmates will be able to meet their families they miss terribly and their family members can give encouragement and support to them,” he said. ― Bernama