It is the government's intention to enjoy the legal freedom to act without fear or favour and this explains its reservation to accede universal jurisdiction over the matter, a lawyer-politician has argued.

Speaking at a forum in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, lawyer and Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president R Sivarasa said government leaders could have been tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) if Malaysia was one of the 94 states which ratify the ICC.

He said the government's mass arrests of Al-Arqam members in the early nineties and a number of reformists in 1998 under the preventive Internal Security Act could be constituted as "crimes against humanity."

"I don't think (former premier Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) or any leader wants to face action in the international court," he said.

ICC's jurisdiction

The ICC, according to its statute, has jurisdiction over genocide, crime against humanity and war crimes committed on or after the its establishment in July 2002.

Although the provision in the ICC statute is not retrospective, Sivarasa nevertheless opined that the government's continued position on not ratifying the universal jurisdiction would grant its freedom in taking action against dissidents.

"What happened in the past might happen again, the government needs the legal freedom to act without fear or favour," the lawyer said.

He added that the Malaysian government's stand on universal jurisdiction was against the people's opinion and civil societies' favourism for it.

Sivarasa was one of the speakers at a forum entitled 'Universal jurisdiction on human rights' which was jointly organised by the Bar Council and the Canadian High Commission. About 50 people were present.

The forum also featured the International Commission of Jurists vice-president Param Cumaraswamy and Canadian author-human rights activist Ken Wiwa.

Princeton Principle

Param proposed a uniform standard to be set up all over the world in regards with the universal jurisdiction in order to guide the prosecution of war crimes and serious crimes under international law where there are no jurisdictional links to the victims or perpetrators.

"These principles can be followed under the Princeton Principle of Universal Jurisdiction in 2002," he said.

The Princeton Principle of Universal Jurisdiction in 2002 was drafted by a team of judges and experts but the proposal was put on hold following the September 11 tragedy.

Param, who is also the former United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, expressed his hope that the proposal could be carried forward to fill the gap.

For the ICC to exercise its jurisdiction, the territorial state which is being investigated or the state whose nationality is being possessed by the person who is being investigated must be a party to the ICC statute.

Wiwa (photo right) shared with the audience the story of his father, the late Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was an outspoken advocate for the economic and environmental rights of the Ogoni people in Nigeria.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni men were executed in 1995.

According to Wiwa, his father and his friends had organised the Ogoni people into the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) to stand up for their rights in the face of abuse from the Nigerian dictatorship and the Shell Oil Company.