Good morning. Here's what you should know today.

Key Highlights

  • Rome Statute cause and effect

  • Palestine Solidarity Week

  • Wan Saiful charged again

Rome Statute cause and effect

In 2019, shortly after the then-Pakatan Harapan government ratified the Rome Statute, there was an uproar against it.

Johor’s royal family argued it would undermine the Malay rulers, Malays and Islam.

Umno also seized on this narrative, at a time it was trying to turn Malays against the Harapan government.

The pushback caused Putrajaya to withdraw from the Rome Statute - which is an international treaty against war crimes, and places members under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Now four years later, the impact of Malaysia rescinding its status as a signatory of the statute has reared its ugly head.

As Malaysia is not a signatory, it can’t refer Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the ICC for war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza - despite pressure for Putrajaya to make its voice against the Israeli government heard on the international stage.

HIGHLIGHTS

Machang MP wants M'sia to boycott Apec meeting, protest US
PAS suspicious of PM's 'threatened' over Gaza stand claim
PAS MP admits he prayed for downfall of previous Harapan govt

Palestine Solidarity Week

The Education Ministry has declared that next week will be Palestine Solidarity Week in schools, vocational colleges, and teaching institutes.

However, this has not sat well with some civil society groups and lawmakers.

Critics argue that schools should be neutral ground and that international conflicts should be kept out of school.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ministry: Palestine Solidarity Week to teach students empathy for others
Labuan teacher transferred, allegedly over cross dispute in school
KINIGUIDE | How could constitutional changes make more people stateless?

Wan Saiful charged again

Bersatu MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan was slapped with 18 new money laundering charges on Wednesday.

This involved funds of around RM5.59 million in “illegal proceeds” which were allegedly laundered through a company he was a director of.

Some of the laundered money - around RM3.17 million - allegedly ended up in his bank accounts, according to the charge sheets.

The 18 new charges will be tried with the two other money laundering charges he claimed trial to.

HIGHLIGHTS

System error leads to 30-minute DNAA for Wan Saiful
Prosecution to object to Muhyiddin’s request for passport release
Bersatu MP absent from Parliament after voicing support for Anwar

Views that matter

PSM continues to demonstrate the right stuff
By S Thayaparan
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By Chang Lih Kang
Right time to invest on sustainability
By Lutfi Hakim Ariff

Other news that matter

  • The National Registration Department clarified that a video of Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail officiating a non-Muslim couple’s marriage did not involve any religious rituals.

  • The government is willing to release documents and engage the public regarding Lynas Malaysia’s plans to extract thorium from the waste material that the company generates.

  • Police arrested four more individuals to help their investigation into a money laundering case involving MYAirline. 

  • The DAP central executive committee issued a “strong reprimand” to two DAP elected representatives from Sabah who were conferred and accepted a datukship each.

  • Finas chairperson Kamil Othman said the original version of the award-winning film ‘Tiger Stripes’ - which was censored for local cinemas - did not contain any scenes that were inappropriate for Malaysian audiences.

HIGHLIGHTS

Lawmaker tells female MP to visit Langkawi 'wearing nothing'
Activist lodges report against brutality, gets arrested instead
PAS MP 'sakit hati' Harakah's debt brought up in Parliament