Opposition MP insists royal consent needed for Rome Statute

Reezal Merican Naina Merican (BN-Kepala Batas) has insisted that the government should have sought consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong before acceding to the Rome Statute.

"In the Federal Constitution... it states that the Agong and the Conference of Rulers should be consulted first because the Rome Statute involves issues of the rights and liabilities of the Agong, the country's leader," he said to reporters in a press conference outside the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was reiterating similar points which he had raised earlier in the Dewan Rakyat to Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, on whether the government had received the Agong’s consent before acceding to the Rome Statute.

Saifuddin had said that under Article 159(5) of the Federal Constitution, only nine matters require the consent of the Conference of Rulers.

The Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court (ICC), does not fall under these nine matters, he said.

"Under the Federal Constitution, the consent of the Conference of Rulers is needed to amend the constitution and this involves nine matters.

"But in the context of the ICC, it is not included in the nine matters which involves the amendment of the constitution," Saifuddin had said.

The minister had been giving his wrapping-up speech of the debate on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.

However, Reezal said the Rome Statute is a matter of policy and not an amendment to the constitution.

"If we invoke Article 38, which explains that the Conference of Rulers can deliberate on questions of national policy such as immigration policies, this (Rome Statute) is also a policy, what more when it involves the liability and rights of the Agong," he responded to Saifuddin in the Dewan Rakyat.

He pushed Saifuddin to give a “yes” or “no” answer to his question on whether the government had received the Agong's consent to accede to the Rome Statute, but the minister insisted he had already answered the question.

In his press conference later, Reezal said this answer by Saifuddin makes it seem as though the government did not get the Agong's consent to accede to the Rome Statute.

Saifuddin had previously explained on March 13 that Article 80 of the Federal Constitution, read together with Articles 39 and 74, says that matters pertaining to signing and implementing international instruments which concern foreign affairs come under the federal government's executive powers.

He also said that he had met with the Agong to explain Putrajaya's ratification of the Rome Statute, and the king had in turn decreed the publication of the pertinent issues.

The ICC tries four core international crimes, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Malaysia acceded to the Rome Statute on March 4. To date, 124 countries have become signatories. - Mkini