LETTER | The treaty and the ICC assume jurisdiction over crimes of a very different nature – international crimes.
| The disquiet on Malaysia’s ratification of the Rome Statute has gained resurgence these past few days.
Second, the very concept that our rulers possess absolute immunity has long been a thing of the past. Third, this is not the first time that Malaysia has ratified treaties which bar grants of immunity from prosecution for serious crimes. Take the Genocide Convention 1948 for example, which we ratified in 1994.
Fourth, the ICC can only assume jurisdiction when a state is “unwilling” or “unable” to carry out investigations and prosecutions . Hence, the Rome Statute complements – and does not displace or overrule – Malaysia’s investigation agencies and special courts in Malaysia in the event a Ruler is involved. This high degree of deference to domestic proceedings should allay much fears.
In 2001, the UK House of Lords in the case of former Chile president Augusto Pinochet case affirmed this proposition: since immunity bestowed to a former head of state under domestic law only extended to his/her exercise of official functions, and because torturing political opponents is not an official function, Pinochet was not entitled to immunity from extradition.
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