I WAS a participant of the Rome Statute forum on April 27 at Universiti Malaya.

The senior speakers, being learned and experienced civil servants, delivered their speeches eloquently and clearly that the participants have no doubt that the Rome Statute will not jeopardise the position of the royalty, Malays and Islam.

The reasons for resisting the accession to the Statute by the four academics have been discredited and proven unfounded.

However, during the Q&A session, one point that was brought up by the audience really struck a raw nerve of many non-Malays in the audience.

Lt Col Ahmad Ghazali Abu Hassan (retired), a member of the National Patriot Association, and an expert on international law and laws of armed conflict, was clarifying on the coup d’etat issue that was brought up by Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on April 7, followed by the Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad on April 8.

Ahmad Ghazali said the Rome Statute was established as a result of developments in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda that took place in the 1990s.

The two conflicts that featured as ethnic conflicts descended to a genocidal proportion resulted in the loss of millions of lives.

“Chaos, with no firm and effective centrally controlled government were the order of the day,” he said.

He went on to say that in Malaysia, those who opposed to the ascension of the statute may have in their minds the intention of creating racial unrest that can develop into an ethnic conflict and eventually genocide.

That was the situation in Rwanda where without an international instrument to address the genocide, it took quite a long time before the international community could step in to save the situation. By then, 800,000 lives had been lost.

He said given the similarity of the political landscape in Rwanda at the time and in Malaysia now, where racial tension and extremism is high, Malaysia should be concerned with the likely ulterior motive of these people who are opposing the statute.

This possible scenario has crossed the minds of many non-Malays.

For example, the continuous criticism of DAP as being anti-Malays, anti-Islam and anti-royalty and that DAP is the main party running the country; non-Malays were called “pendatangs” even though all of us are at least second generation Malaysians; Abdul Hadi Awang and PAS asking “Muslims to place their trust in Muslim leaders regardless of their wickedness, claiming that believers will end up in hell if led by non-Muslims” and the word “kafir-harbi” was even used on non-Muslims at one point by a mufti.

When the New Zealand shooting took place, non-Malays were asking each other if such a tragic incident would happen to us in Malaysia.

With the recent bombing in Sri Lanka, our fears are not without basis as Muslim terrorists had asked for a war against non-believers.

Moreover, the 2015 Pew Report shows that 11% of Malaysians are Islamic State sympathisers.

Non-Malays and non-Muslims are well aware that all these racist and extremist statements hurled against us are nothing, but for the sole political survival of the opposition parties so that they can continue to enjoy their political power and financial position.

I do not even believe that they believe in their own racist statements.

Unfortunately, there are many ordinary Malays who are ignorant of the truth for some reasons and they can be easily influenced and instigated as can be observed by their discriminatory practices and unfounded protests that they have carried out in defending their race, religion and royalty.

They forgot who held the power to make decisions for and have stolen billions of ringgit from Tabung Haji, Felda, 1MDB, etc. It is not DAP or the non-Malays/non-Muslims. However, it will be all rakyat, Malays and non-Malays, who have to pay for the loss. 

Those who have an ulterior motive to commit an act that would severely split and destroy the nation, especially from the opposition parties, please stop your selfish vested interest.

You have been given more than 60 years to run the country, but you have failed miserably and lost billions of the rakyat’s money, besides shamefully turning Malaysia into a kleptocratic and corrupt country.

Please be a good sport, admit your failures and allow other parties the opportunity to run the country.  

However, to ensure that the non-Malays are protected from these evil people, whom I believe will stop at nothing to get what they want, acceding to the Rome Statute will protect us and provide justice for us if ethnic cleansing or genocide is part of their plan.

Will our esteemed Conference of Rulers please consider the fears of your non-Malay rakyat too? – May 1, 2019 

* Teh Yik Koon is the author of the book From BMF to 1MDB: A Criminological and Sociological Discussion, published prior to the 14^th general election.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.