YOURSAY | Rome Statute: Hypocrisy over human rights

YOURSAY | Pragmatism and fairness have deserted this country long ago.

Malaysia shot itself in foot over Rome Statute, rue ex-DAP reps

FellowMalaysia: It is truly farcical, as former DAP assemblyperson P Ramasamy and former DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago pointed out that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the country's leaders are engaged in an all-out effort in support of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli forces attacking their homeland when the country has failed to rectify the Rome Statute.

We are seen by the world powers as adopting an absurd and hypocritical stand on the war currently raging in Gaza.

Please stop talking about defending human rights when, at home, you don't even have the volition to end decades of negligence and abuse of your very own countrymen.

Koel: Agreed. Those bleeding hearts now want to go running to the International Criminal Court (ICC) but have no standing because ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the Rome Statute was spun as "loss of rights" for some here.

Ironic, right?

Ratifying meant you couldn't go around behaving like "some are more equal than others". Yes, a reference from George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, but isn't that what we are seeing in Gaza?

Isn't that what ‘ketuananism’ and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's version of nationhood also promotes?

But now it seems the leaders are sensitive to the lack of equal rights for people suffering overseas.

How strange when they feel nothing for a poor minority child here who stands up to ask for equal opportunities to receive an education. Hypocrisy much?

Now we have this group in Taman Medan getting worried about a Hindu temple coming up in their neighbourhood.

Enough with the hypocrisy and selective compassion.

Kilimanjaro: There are two issues to be highlighted, and there were legal implications highlighted to the rulers by legal persons. Dr Mahathir Mohamad then highlighted that it was the pressure from the rulers that he had to abandon the go-ahead in ratifying the Rome Statute.

The reasons given were that the rulers were concerned about the implications against them, and they were concerned about Malay rights.

It was a heart-breaking moment for the non-Malays and Malaysians. Implicit in their decision was that the rulers were vulnerable to actions against them on account of similar crimes committed elsewhere in the world.

Was it a lack of confidence in themselves as we had always rulers who have been of marvellous service to the people and so why the doubt that the Malaysian people would defend at all costs their rulers should such a predicament arise? That is the level of trust that exists.

And why the rights of Malays only? What about the rights of non-Malays and indeed all Malaysians? As much as there is this constitutional requirement to protect the rights of Malays, the constitution also states that non-Malay rights are also protected by the rulers. Put yourself in the shoes of a non-Malay and you would realise the pain of a stepchild and that was how it seemed then.

Contrary to what these former DAP reps are saying, it is certainly not a case of "shooting in the foot". It is a clear-cut case of opportunism and not far-sighted. Pragmatism and fairness have deserted the shores of this country long ago.

It all boils down to being a Malay and Muslim. Well, we are sorry that this feeling grips us too often but that is how Malay and Muslim society had fortified itself to rain against the non-Malays.

Being a Malay and Muslim is not the problem as there have been leaders and people who have transgressed those boundaries but unfortunately, we were never endowed with one in this country.

Coward: If you look at the result, which is that Israel got referred, we got the expected result without Malaysia's involvement, and neither did Malaysia's non-involvement is going to change the outcome of this referral.

As far as the country is concerned, our non-involvement does not change anything.

The only person who shoots themselves in the face is those who opposed it and now want to use it to refer Israel to the ICC.

It is also self-inflicted because if they don't bring it up, others will not slap them.

KK Voter: The ICC came out of the blue and blew up when Mahathir was leading the government for a second time.

No one even talked about wanting to rectify it during the recent general election campaign nor was it part of any manifesto, so it seemed more like his agenda to stir up racial discontent rather than a sincere attempt to rectify it then.

You can't say Malaysia shot itself in the foot since there was no sincere attempt to rectify it in the first place.

MaoTuckTeng: Get real - Malaysia is a small fry in the international scheme of things. As they say - like a dog barking at an elephant.

Anwar’s bombast is not going to get Malaysia anywhere in the Gaza humanitarian plight.

Malaysia can’t even get a call through to the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

We have Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir and ambassador to the US Nazri Abdul Aziz who lack the diplomatic nous to get meaningful messages across Malaysia.

Anwar is better off giving its money to the International Red Cross and Mercy Malaysia to bring some relief through their ground connections in Gaza.

China is making sense in the United Nations. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres is rendered powerless by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies in the UN.

Even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be toeing Netanyahu’s line.

BlueShark1548: Many Asian nations and the majority of Asean nations have not signed the Rome Treaty.

China has put forward some valid legal arguments against signing the treaty and Malaysia should not rush to sign it now just because of the Palestinian issue.

We had not clamoured to sign the treaty when MH17 was shot down over Ukrainian territory by Russian separatists.

AnthonyChan: If the ICC can bring Netanyahu to justice for his war crimes, I am sure many other countries who are part of the system can and will do it.

No need to wait for Malaysia to cry over spilt milk. Nevertheless, I think the ICC is just another tool for the Western powers to manage others, not themselves.

Spinnot: UN route is not ideal (always vetoed by US), but neither is the ICC route.

In March 2021, the ICC initiated an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Palestine since 2014 and Israel's establishment of settlements in the West Bank and annexation of east Jerusalem.

Israel responded by saying the ICC had no jurisdiction to conduct the probe in Palestine and would not cooperate in the investigation.

The US secretary of state issued a statement in support of Israel saying the US firmly opposed and was deeply disappointed by the ICC's decision to open a war crimes investigation in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, and that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the matter.

It would be good if Malaysia had signed up to the Rome Statue but that would not help in getting the ICC to investigate Israel's war crimes.

KCAmpang: The Rome Statute and ICC are a double-edged sword, which allows international jurisdiction, which could be manipulated by certain countries, to impose a legally binding judgment on our country, which is equal to partially surrendering our sovereignty.

Even superpowers like the US, Russia and China are cautious and refuse to rectify the Rome Statue.

So far, the ICC has only investigated and convicted African leaders and issued arrest warrants for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Prominent cases of impotence in enforcement were investigations of war crimes by Israel in Palestine and the war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan, which was dropped due to pressure from the US.

As such, the Rome Statute and ICC had become a tool to incriminate developing countries but remained toothless to the powerful countries.

Why should we sign such a treaty? - Mkini