‘PRINCE ORPAUPER WE WILL TAKE ACTION AGAINST YOU’
PM SAYS SWIFT EXIT FROM ROME STATUTE DUE TO CONFUSION CREATED BY SOME PEOPLE
ABOUT one month after ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the government has decided to withdraw as a signatory due to the smear campaign against it.
This decision was announced by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after yesterday’s cabinet meeting.
“We have ratified the Rome Statute (on March 4) and have until June for us to withdraw. We will act before June,” he said at a press conference here.
He said the decision to withdraw as a signatory was not because of claims that it could harm Malaysia.
“It is because of the confusion created by one particular person who wants to be free to beat up people and things like that. If he beats up people, I will send the police to arrest him, I don’t care who he is.”
Dr Mahathir said he was surprised
to see how some people had used the Rome Statute to undermine and smear the government.
“It is said that this law negates the rights of the Malays and rulers. It is absolute nonsense. They (parties to the statute) cannot possibly come and depose our king because somebody under him, some soldier shot somebody, that cannot be done.”
Dr Mahathir said he was targeted because he had been very strict about money laundering, but stressed that it was not easy to oust him.
“Whoever breaks the law, doesn’t matter if you are prince or pauper, we will take action against you,” said Dr Mahathir.
Asked why he seemed unhappy during the press conference, Dr Mahathir said he viewed the actions taken by some people with regards to the Rome Statute as an attempt to tarnish his image.
“They know they cannot oust me easily. They have to paint a bad picture of me. This is like the old times, when I was called ‘Maha zalim ’,‘ Maha’ this and ‘Maha’ that.
“This is politics... (with) an attempt to get the rulers involved, so that they can get (political) leverage, and even trying to get the rulers to sign something against me.
“And for that, I have to tell them to their faces, that we are not going to do it (accede to the Rome Statute).
“This is not because we are afraid of them. But because they are using this (as a political tool) on people who are ignorant.”
On whether one of those who had objected to the Rome Statute was a prince from a southern state, the prime minister said: “You can make your guess. You are welcome (to).”
Dr Mahathir said ratifying the Rome Statute would not deny Malays their rights and undermine the country’s sovereignty.
“It is the politics of this country, of which sometimes people are easily misled by emotions.
“And, what we are doing is against our own interest. So I’d like to say to these cowards, who, during the last regime, saw (former prime minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) steal money and do all kinds of things and they said nothing. A lot of cowards want to benefit from Najib’s misadministration so that they, too, can benefit.”
Dr Mahathir also explained at length that ratifying the Rome Statute would not stop Malaysia from coming up with its own policies and laws, or allow others to dictate what the country could or could not do.
He said the Rome Statute would only affect Malaysia if the country acted excessively, citing extreme examples like seizing properties of non-Malays or rounding up gay people and killing them.
He said, however, even though Malaysia did not accede to the Rome Statute, action would still be taken if laws were broken.
“If you break the law, I don’t care who you are, I will take action.
“If you sell land in this country to others because you are looking for money, we will take action against you.”
Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar was reported in March to have accused the federal government, in his birthday speech, of violating the Federal Constitution by signing the Rome Statute.
Sultan Ibrahim said this, along with the attempt to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, had touched on the monarchy, Malay privileges, and the sanctity of Islam.
He said those who touched on the rights and powers of a monarch or state government had violated national laws and should be regarded as traitors.
Tengku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail had also criticised Putrajaya for undermining the Conference of Rulers when it went ahead to accede to the treaty without prior consultation.