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KUALA LUMPUR: The four academics who drew up the executive summary for the Conference of Rulers on the Rome Statute must take responsibility for it, said Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik (pix).
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.
“As such, those involved must be responsible and be accountable for whatever is to be debated,” he said when contacted by Bernama regarding an open letter by G25 member Tan Sri Alwi Jantan to him that was carried in a news portal, citing that as civil servants the four had gone overboard in coming up with the executive summary for the Conference of Rulers on the Rome Statute.
He was alluding to the fact they should not continue holding their posts in their respective universities due to alleged lack of integrity.
The four are Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Law Faculty dean Prof. Datuk Dr Rahmat Mohamad, International Islamic University Malaysia constitutional expert Assoc Prof Dr Shamrahayu Ab Aziz and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) law lecturers Dr Fareed Mohd Hassan and Hisham Hanapi.
The G25 is a group of former top civil servants.
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. — Bernama
