Minister: We lost 'golden opportunity' to refer MH17 to ICC

Malaysia has lost the opportunity to refer the MH17 tragedy to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by withdrawing from the Rome Statute, said M Kulasegaran.

The Parliamentarians of Global Action (Malaysia chapter) chairperson told reporters that the government had previously failed in its attempt to get an international tribunal established to investigate the July 2014 incident.

"We must not forget that by us not ratifying the ICC, we have lost the golden opportunity of addressing the issue of those affected by MH17,” he said.

He touched upon Russia’s vetoing of the attempt by Malaysia and other countries to establish the tribunal, a year after the disaster.

"When the government announced five or six years ago that they want to go to the United Nations to set up a special tribunal to investigate MH17, I said that it is a done deal.

"(However) It cannot be done. The reason given is that Russia is a member (of the UN Security Council). […]

"What they should have done was refer the matter to ICC, which has the expertise to investigate this matter," he told reporters on the side of a seminar on the Rome Statute in Kuala Lumpur today.

Kulasegaran, who is also human resources minister, was invited as the event's special guest to give its keynote address.

MH17 was a Malaysia Airlines flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which was carrying a total of 283 passengers and 15 crew members. The plane was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile in the airspace of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

Among those killed were 43 Malaysian passengers, 193 Netherlands nationals and 27 Australians.

Worth 'revisiting' Rome Statute?

Kulasegaran suggested that it may be worth ‘revisiting’ the Rome Statute to seek justice for those affected by the tragedy.

"I think the justice for MH17 (victims) is a pertinent issue which must touch the consicence of many people.

"We may have unknowingly overlooked addressing this issue, and I think it is not wrong to revisit this treaty again," he said.

The minister added that by withdrawing from ICC, Malaysia had also lost the moral authority to refer crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians, as well as crimes committed against the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced Putrajaya's decision to withdraw its accession to the Rome Statute, due to “the political confusion raised” over the matter.

He further claimed that an unidentified party had tried to pit the royalty against Putrajaya over the statute’s ratification.  - Mkini