PM says 'good' will be kept, 'funny' rejected with UN treaties

Amid criticism over Malaysia acceding to the Rome Statute and the attempt to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that only the "good" will be absorbed from international treaties.

The prime minister also said the "funny" values enshrined in these international treaties will be rejected.

"We want to ratify, (but) subject to our conditions," he said at a press conference after launching the Love MY Palm Oil campaign at Pulau Carey today.

"In this country, there are certain thing they want to do under the Rome Statute, which we cannot do in this country. For instance, the Rome Statute gives absolute freedom to everybody to do all kind of things. 

“There are now men who marry men, women who marry women. I don't know what they do when they marry, but they are very funny people. We don't want to be funny people like them, that we don't accept, we accept only good ones."

While the Rome Statute governs the International Criminal Court (ICC) which tries four core international crimes – genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crime of aggression – the example Mahathir cited is an argument commonly put forth by those opposed to Icerd.

In his birthday message yesterday, Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar accused Putrajaya of violating the Federal Constitution by signing the Rome Statute.

Sultan Ibrahim claimed that this, along with the attempt to ratify Icerd, had touched on the monarchy, Malay privileges, and the sanctity of Islam.

It was reported earlier this month that Malaysia acceded to the Rome Statute.

Wisma Putra said Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on Feb 15 was informed about the cabinet's decision to accede to the Rome Statute of ICC.

The ICC was established in 2002 and is governed by the Rome Statute.

The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court, with the objective to end impunity against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.

Malaysia is not yet a signatory country of the Rome Statute.

[More to follow] - Mkini