PUTRAJAYA’S failure to rebut criticism on the Rome Statute led frustrated student activists to expose a briefing by a group of academics to the Conference of Rulers, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of the accession to the international treaty.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) law graduate Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi told The Malaysian Insight he and other activists decided to leak the executive summary of a presentation by the academics when they saw that there was no attempt by the government to address misinformation over the treaty.

“I uploaded the executive summary (on my Facebook) as the government had said there was confusion but there was no effort by them to explain and correct the confusion. So I had to do it,” said the 24-year-old.

“I want academics to debate the contents, that’s why I uploaded it. They can come forward to explain (their views) and have a healthy public debate. It seems that they are the cause of the confusion.”

Asheeq was also the student activist who had protested outside Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s office last September over the latter’s appointment as International Islamic University president.

The documents were obtained from a source in academia whom he trusted. The Malaysian Insight has sent queries to the four academics and is waiting for their responses.

They are Universiti Teknologi Mara’s deputy vice-chancellor and dean of Faculty of Law Prof Rahmat Mohamad, International Islamic University of Malaysia’s law lecturer Associate Prof Shamrahayu Ab Aziz, and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s law lecturers Fareed Mohd Hassan and Hisham Hanapi.

Their presentation was reportedly made to the Conference of Rulers on April 2, three days before Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Putrajaya was withdrawing its accession to the treaty.

The Rome Statute governs the International Criminal Court (ICC) and stipulates rules on indicting governments for atrocities and crimes against humanity.

Asheeq said the views in the presentation to the rulers were heavily slanted towards rejection of the Rome Statute.

Among the references were to Emperor Wilhelm II and Emperor Hirohito – both held accountable for war crimes in past World Wars by historians, way before the ICC was established.

Other views said Myanmar could not be indicted by the ICC for crimes against the Rohingya, as it was not a party to the Rome Statute, and the ICC’s inability to act on atrocities against the Palestinians. 

However, the student activists said such claims were untrue, citing moves by the ICC to launch inquiries into Myanmar, and other moves to gather testimonies from Palestinians victims of war crimes.

Asheeq said the academics should have been more ethical and given both the pros and cons of the issue to the rulers for their consideration.

Their arguments were similar to those by Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who has been vocal in opposing Putrajaya over the treaty. 

Tunku Ismail also said acceding to the treaty would harm the position of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

His father, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, accused those attempting to reduce the powers of the Malay rulers as “traitors”.

Yet, Asheeq said, the government did not answer such opposition comprehensively.

The only explanation given by the government so far was Dr Mahathir’s allusion to interference by the royalty, highlighting a certain royal “who wants to be free to beat people up”.

The prime minister said political confusion over the treaty was also caused by those with “vested interests”.

Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah and Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad have made references to moves by the “deep state” working against Putrajaya.

Saifuddin and other ministers have also said the Rome Statute had no impact on the powers of a constitutional monarch, and noted that many other countries with constitutional monarchies were party to the treaty.

After Putrajaya’s withdrawal of its accession, Sultan Ibrahim thanked the government for listening to the people’s wishes.

Besides Asheeq, the other activists behind the leak of the academics’ presentation were Ainina Sofia Adnan, Nurhuda Ramli, Suhail Wan Azahar, Ahmad Taqiyuddin Shahriman, Wong Yan Ke, Chong Kar Yan, Nik Azura Nik Nasron and Siti Nurizzah Mohd Tazal.

This same bunch of students launched a petition to pressure the government to accede to the Rome Statute. 

The petition was started on April 6, a day after Putrajaya announced its decision to withdraw from ratifying the Rome Statute.

The petition found at Change.org and titled Rome Statute: Justice for the Victims of MH17 has garnered more than 3,000 signatures. Its aim is to gather 10,000 signatures. – April 9, 2019.