THE Malaysian government can initiate a proposal among the regional countries in Asean to create regional criminal court like the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is more suitable in order to deal with all the crimes committed against humanity carried out by any people or government within the region.

Recently, Malaysia has decided to become a member to the Rome Statute of the ICC, thus making Malaysia as the 124^th member since it was created in 1998 and begin to operate in 2002.

However, last Friday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has decided to withdraw from becoming the member to such statute due to unavoidable factors.

It is a very sad decision being taken by the government as joining the ICC will open another legal avenue for people to seek justice as the ICC has the power to prosecute individuals for any serious crimes being committed against humanity such as like war crimes and genocide.

Since it was created more than 20 years ago, the ICC has been seen by many as a victim centred court as the ICC responding positively to the calls of victims who want to seek justice through the court.

Victims of grave crimes have said time and again they want justice either through national judicial systems or through the international system like the ICC.

The Malaysian government must take steps to ensure no serious crimes against humanity being committed in the country as well as among our close neighbouring countries like what is happening in Myanmar.

Due to the opposition being faced by the government in joining the Rome Statute and ICC, the Malaysian government can consider in creating a criminal court, which is more suitable and acceptable to our country and among the Asean members.

Having such special court at regional level is very crucial as it can a monitory legislative body to invigilate the act and behavior of all 10 states towards their citizens.

Having such special court is also important to protect any human from being subjected to hideous crimes against humanity like crimes committed against Rohingnya ethnic group in Myanmar.

Though the above suggestion seems or sounds simple to many, but we have to be realistic in the sense that it will take a lot of time, energy and even money to make the above suggestion into reality.

Most important, it will take a lot of commitment and consent to be given by 10 Asean members in creating such special court.

It will also require major amendments to the current Asean Charter, Agreements, Protocols, and Instruments or even the creation of new Charter entirely to create or establish such special court in the region.

By having such court within our region, it will bring a clear signal to all government within the region that the era of mass killing and prosecution has come to end, they must respect all the laws and rights of the peoples and all their actions will not be forgotten or even put behind without facing legal responsibility. – April 7, 2019

* Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Syariah & Law, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.