KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition lawmakers have expressed concern that the rights of the Royal Malay Institution may be at stake when the Federal Government acceded to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Kepala Batas member of parliament Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican questioned whether the process to accede to the statute violated the rights of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Malay Rulers, which are enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Reezal claimed that the move by the government to accede to the statute was unconstitutional.
“We repeatedly asked him (Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah during his winding-up speech in Parliament today) whether the move was consented to by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“He asked us to refer to Article 159 (of the Federal Constitution).
“The article, however, refers to the amendment of the Constitution. What we want to know is the process (adhered by the government to accede to the Rome Statute),” Reezal said at the Parliament lobby.
Present were Datuk Ahmad Maslan and several opposition MPs.
Established in 2002, the ICC is governed by the Rome Statute.
The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court, with the objective of ending impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community — genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
“All these serious crimes have their own interpretation, which need to be deliberated and discussed in Parliament. However, this has never happened,” he said.
On Saifuddin’s statement that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, despite being the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, was not liable to the Rome Statute because he could not declare war according to Article 41 (of the Federal Constitution), Reezal said the article needed to be read together with Article 44.
“The First List of the Ninth Schedule of Article 44 states that Parliament has the right to declare war.
“Parliament is made up of three components and the first component is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“Hence, that will not spare the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (from the Rome Statute),” he said.
He also cast doubts on the press statement issued by Wisma Putra dated Mar 4 entitled “Malaysia Accedes to the Rome Statute of the ICC”.
Reezal said the press statement only stated that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had been informed of the Cabinet’s decision to accede to the statute.
The statement also stated that the prime minister had previously written to His Majesty acting Yang Di-Pertuan Agong on Dec 26, last year, informing the latter of the Cabinet’s decision on the matter.
“However, there was no indication that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong consented to the decision,” he said.