POLITICALLY motivated narratives and the government’s inability to counter them are Putrajaya’s biggest stumbling block as it attempts to ratify five remaining international human rights conventions, said experts.

Putrajaya has to learn quickly from the failure to ratify the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Putrajaya has affirmed to the United Nations that it will, in the coming months, be ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; and International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Malaysia is already a state party to three UN treaties – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

However, attempts to ratify the Rome Statute and ICERD backfired with certain quarters playing up the race and religious issue to force the government to backtrack.

The royals, too, got into the act by opposing the international conventions, saying that they would erode their powers which are protected by the constitution.

Experts blamed Putrajaya’s failure to explain the two international conventions for the fiasco.

Constitutional expert Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi told The Malaysian Insight that the government would continue to meet resistance in the remaining treaties, adding that there are many authoritarian centres of power within and outside the government that opposed such ratification.

“The opposition’s strategy is to vilify anything and everything the government does and to see ghosts where none exists and to fool the gullible public into believing that our way of life and sovereignty will be threatened,” he said.

Shad said acceding to these treaties is important because Malaysia is a willing member of the United Nations and its human rights body.

The federal constitution, said Shad, also largely accords with the values and ideals of these international landmarks.

“Our leaders have always told the world that we support basic human rights values. It is the shadowy ‘deep state’ within our midst that has fears of international standards.

“We should not allow this undemocratic ‘state within a state’ to dictate our laws.

“The tide of international law is unstoppable and we should dismantle any dyke against it if we wish to be an honoured member of the international community,” he added.

By becoming party to these international standards, Malaysia can also offer some reservations as most but not all conventions allows such reservations.

Meanwhile, G25’s Noor Farida Ariffin, who once oversaw the Research, Treaties and International Law Department in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said becoming a state party to these treaties shows that Malaysia is a responsible member of the international community, which stands against impunity and serious crimes.

She rubbished allegations that acceding to such treaties will jeopardise race, religion and the monarchy.

According to her, PAS, Umno and other quarters are using baseless narratives, such as race and religion, as well as the monarchy’s position to destabilise the government.

Such narratives could stand in Pakatan Harapan’s way of ratifying key treaties which it promised in its manifesto.

“The government should be firm. The problem is maybe before they accede or ratify, they should promote a lot of public discussion about it, especially among the Malays who have been duped by the opposition.

“People who make hate speeches should be investigated and charged. (There should be) no mercy on this people who are trying to divide and polarise the races in this country,” she said.

Farida said the Rome Statute was an extension of the Genocide Convention 1948 which Malaysia ratified.

The Genocide Convention does not have sovereign immunity and yet it was signed, she said.

She reiterated that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cannot be charged under the Rome Statute because he acts on the advice of the prime minister and is a nominal head as a constitutional monarch, with no executive powers.

If protecting the rights of Muslims was the narrative, acceding to the Rome Statue would have given Malaysia the chance to fend for the rights of persecuted Muslims, such as the Rohingya and the Uyghurs, she added.

Last November the government reversed a pledge to ratify ICERD following backlash from groups who fear it could affect Malay privileges.

PAS and Umno had also organised a rally attracting thousands of Malays to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to oppose the anti-discrimination convention.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said last month Putrajaya will not ratify the Rome Statute due to “political confusion” surrounding the issue.

“This is not because we are against it, but because of the political confusion over what it entails, caused by people with vested interests,” he said.

Just prior to that, objections against the statute came from the Johor palace as well as from PAS and Umno.

The next international convention which Putrajaya wants to ratify is the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has been reported as saying that this treaty is less sensitive and controversial than ICERD and the Rome Statute, but Putrajaya will discuss the matter thoroughly before ratifying it. – May 6, 2019.