Perception, Knowledge, And Acceptance Of Rome Statute In Malaysia

: On April 5, 2019, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad announced that Malaysia would withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) citing that the government was forced to do so due to political pressure. In Malaysia, the ratification of the Rome Statute was said to be able to undermine the power of the Malay Kings. Rome Statute is a treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) that came into force in 2002. Any country that signs the Rome Statute fundamentally agrees to recognize the powers of the ICC. The treaty gives jurisdiction to ICC to penalize four specific crimes as stated in Article 5 of the statute which are 1) genocide, 2) crime against humanity, 3) war crimes, and 4) crimes of aggression. To date, 122 countries across the world are part of the convention. Malaysia’s decision to withdraw from the treaty has been scrutinized by critics, asserting that the government has taken a step backward civil progressiveness. Today, Malaysia is among the minority of the countries that have yet to ratify the Rome Statute alongside countries like North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. This research aims to look at the acceptance of the Rome Statute in Malaysia. A series of interviews were conducted to explore the perception, knowledge, and acceptance of the statute as well as the reactions on Malaysia’s decision to withdraw from the treaty. It was found that while some of the informants supportive of Rome Statute, citing ICC as a complement to the existing law in Malaysia and serving as check-and-balance, others opposed the idea of the treaty ratification. Among the reasons found was, the statute will undermine the power of Malay Rulers and will cause discord among people of different races.