KUALA LUMPUR (May 2): The four academics who wrote the executive summary for the Conference of Rulers on the Rome Statute must take responsibility for it, said Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik. He said this was in line with the Pakatan Harapan Government’s pledge to uphold academic freedom. "At the same time, we hope this issue will be debated scholarly based on the facts and without any political motives or otherwise. Malaysia was forced to withdraw ratification of the Rome Statute due to fears by some segments of society that the country would lose its sovereignty if it was answerable to the International Criminal Court, which came into being as a result of the statute. The Government decided to withdraw from the statute because these segments were too confused about it when it actually only addresses four types of crimes — genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Source: The Edge Markets May 02, 2019 16:52 UTC