Selangor Umno to send sultan protest memo on Rome Statute

Selangor Umno will be submitting a memorandum of protest to the Sultan of Selangor soon against the government's decision to ratify the Rome Statute.

Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the memorandum would be submitted as soon as possible, and that no decision has been yet made on whether they would mobilise another protest rally in the near future.

"We will submit a memorandum to the Selangor Sultan to show our protest against this move.

“... as soon as possible, if the sultan grants us an early date (for an audience), the sooner we will submit it,” Ismail, who is also Selangor Umno chief, said at a press conference after chairing a special meeting of Selangor Umno state liaison committee.

According to him, the Federal Constitution clearly provides the government with the power to create a special court to hear cases linked to the Malay rulers.

The Bera MP claimed that if the Rome Statute is ratified, the Malay rulers could be subjected to trial before the International Criminal Court and that this would also undermine national sovereignty.

"We view the government's move to ratify the Rome Statute without agreement and consent of the Malay rulers as going against Article 38(4) and Article 159(5) of the Federal Constitution," he added.

Article 38(4) states that "No law directly affecting the privileges, position, honours or dignities of the Rulers shall be passed without the consent of the Conference of Rulers."

Article 159(5) states that "A law making an amendment to Clause (4) of Article 10, any law passed thereunder, the provisions of Part III, Article 38, 63 (4), 70, 71 (1), 72 (4), 152, or 153 or to this Clause shall not be passed without the consent of the Conference of Rulers."

'Rome Statute a more complex issue'

Asked whether Umno would mount a public rally as it had done to protest against initial plans to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), Ismail merely said, "We don't know yet."

He explained that this was because Icerd clearly touched on special rights of the Malays and position of Islam, while the Rome Statute is a more complex issue.

"Even in terms of understanding the Rome Statute, it is still unclear… compared to Icerd.

"That was why, initially, many people were confused. But now, after being briefed by certain lawyers in Umno, it is clear to us about the consequences of ratifying the Rome Statute," he added.

As the parliamentary opposition leader, Ismail yesterday said a motion has been filed for the government to withdraw as a member of the Rome Statute.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah previously said that under Article 159(5) of the Federal Constitution, only nine matters required the consent of the Conference of Rulers and that the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court (ICC), is not one of the nine matters.

Saifuddin also said that he had met with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (photo, above) to explain Putrajaya's ratification of the Rome Statute.

Wisma Putra also announced on March 5 that Malaysia had acceded to the Rome Statute and that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was informed of this on Feb 15.

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 to it, including constitutional monarchies such as Belgium, Cambodia, Denmark, Japan, Jordan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Samoa, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. - Mkini