Rais Yatim: I will meet with all four Rome Statute academicians

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Rais Yatim will meet with the four academicians who purportedly advised the Rulers to reject the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 

The former International Islamic University Malaysia president said he would meet them personally to find out what they said, so that they could negotiate the matter amicably.

Rais said it would be impossible to have a positive debate on the subject, if only bits and pieces of their executive summary were available.

The four academics were Datuk Dr Rahmat Mohmad of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Dr Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz of IIUM, as well as Dr Fareed Mohd Hassam and Hisham Hanapi of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia.

"How can we tackle this when we do not know all the points of their argument?" questioned Rais, who was a panellist at a Rome Statute forum organised by the Malaysian Bar on Saturday (May 4).

The other panellists included Attorney General Tommy Thomas, Hakam president Gurdial Singh Nijar and Bar Council member Surendra Ananth.

On April 5, Putrajaya said it would withdraw from ratifying the international treaty that covers serious crimes and crimes against humanity.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Cabinet had decided not to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which governs the prosecution of perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.