'Cabinet made collective decision to withdraw from Rome Statute'

The cabinet made a collective decision at its weekly meeting today to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong.

Given the fact that a collective decision has been made, Liew said all parties should abide by the decision regardless of their personal views on the matter.

"We had made a collective decision today in the Cabinet this morning. We cannot disagree with it because it's a collective decision.

"So our private views on that matter will remain private," he said during a press conference in Bangi.

Liew had been asked to comment on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's announcement of the decision to withdraw from the treaty this afternoon.

Pressed for further details on cabinet discussions which led to the decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute, Liew merely said: "I think you better ask the prime minister on that."

Mahathir told a press conference in Putrajaya earlier today that Malaysia was withdrawing from the Rome Statute "because people are easily misled on emotional feelings". 

On March 4, it was reported that Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah had signed the Instrument of Accession to the Rome Statute.

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

The Rome Statute has been adopted by more than 100 countries in 1998 during a conference in Rome, which established the ICC.

The ICC came into force in 2002 and aims to end impunity against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes. - Mkini