KUALA LUMPUR: The former Barisan Nasional (BN) government was prepared to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This was revealed by Attorney-General (AG) Tommy Thomas at a public forum entitled ‘Malaysia and the Rome Statute’ at Universiti Malaya, here, today.
“The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government only decided to implement the decision made by the previous administration,” he said.
The AG, who was one of the six panelists at the forum, said the previous government had decided in March 2011 to ratify the statute, but it was not implemented.
Thomas said there was pressure on those responsible for administering justice to carry out their responsibilities accordingly in the event the government decided to ratify the statute.
He said the ICC would only be triggered when either the police did not investigate or the country’s public prosecutor did not prosecute those who committed crimes as provided for by the statute in court.
“If the Malaysian public prosecutor prosecuted (the) person (who committed crimes covered by the statute in Court), that is the end of the matter. The ICC in a sense is a back-up,” he said.
Former research, treaties and international law department director-general at the Foreign Ministry, Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin, who was directly involved in the preparation of the cabinet paper for Malaysia to ratify the statute in 2011, said the paper was sent to all relevant agencies for comments and feedbacks.
“All agencies (that received a copy of the cabinet paper) agreed, except for the AG’s Chambers at the time, who were vehemently against it.
“Eight years ago, on March 2011, the department prepared the instrument of accession to be deposited with the United Nations secretary-general.
“Unfortunately, the foreign minister at the time never signed the instrument until he left office after the defeat of BN on May 9 (14th general election) last year,” said Noor Farida, who was also the ambassador of Malaysia to the Netherlands.
The other panelists at the forum were constitutional law expert Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, activist Dr Syed Hussin Ali, lawyer and legal expert Lim Wei Jiet and student activist Asheeq Ali Sethi Alvi.
All of the panellists were in favour of Malaysia’s accession to the statute, and agreed that the government should not withdraw from the ICC.
Asheeq said the PH government should take the responsibility
for its failure to address issues related to the Rome statute, ICC and related matters raised by the opposition.
He said the failure of the government to address issues of public interest and refute lies fabricated by irresponsible quarters had affected unity among Malaysians.
“I have never seen such disunity among Malaysians, especially after May 9 last year,” he said.