The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, during the opening of the second session of the 14th Parliament in Kuala Lumpur March 11, 2019. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Amid growing controversy over the Rome Statute, several Opposition lawmakers today asked the government to clarify if the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong had given his royal assent prior to Malaysia’s signing of the international treaty.
They were dissatisfied with Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah’s assertion in the Dewan Rakyat earlier that Malaysia need not be anxious as no leader will commit any of the four heinous crimes listed under the Rome Statute for which he or she would be tried in a world court.
“Did the Yang di-Pertuan Agong assent to the Rome Statute being signed?” Kepala Batas MP Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican asked Saifuddin.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmaker also asked if the government would bring the matter for tabling in Parliament, similar to previous international agreements such as when Malaysia was to be a member of the now defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
The Rome Statute is an international treaty adopted by 120 countries on July 17, 1998 that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) that prosecutes individuals who commit genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
It is a “court of last resort” as the ICC takes action when a government refuses or is unable to prosecute an individual on any of those four crimes.
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