KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — Eager for Purajaya to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Malaysian Bar offered today its legal expertise to the Najib administration, which is facing increasng pressure from Muslim activists not to accede to the human rights covenant.

Several Muslim non-government organisations (NGOs) have recently banded together to lobby the federal government against putting its stamp on such international treaties, arguing the move might open Malaysia to foreign intervention and jeopardise the position of Islam and the Malay monarchs in the country.

“Whatever the obstacles may be, the Malaysian Bar has always stood ready to assist the government in seeking solutions to legal and political challenges that the government faces,” Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong told a forum on international covenants here.

“No one denies that there are challenges. One only has to read that certain Malaysian NGOs are calling our Malaysian government not to accede to international human rights for fear of compromising the primacy of Islam as the religion of the federation and subjugating the sultan’s position,” he said, and added, “The latter strikes me as rather odd.”

Leong pointed out that the international community has already affirmed each country has sovereignty over issues such as those concerning bilateral trade and arbitration between multinational companies.

Malaysia is among 41 countries out of 193 United Nations (UN) member states that have yet to sign nor accede to the Rome Statute, which allows the ICC to act on four core international crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression.

During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council involving Malaysia last month, other nations have recommended the country to ratify the statute, among other international human rights conventions.

Several Muslim NGOs however have lobbied Putrajaya to not accede to certain international conventions and treaties despite proposals made by the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR process (Comango).

The Muslim NGOs ― which have banded under the name MuslimUPRo ― claimed that Comango is challenging the position of Islam and the Malay Rulers in the country with their proposals.

Comango’s 22-page report deals with issues such as the administration of justice; freedom of religion, expression and participation; rights to work, health and education; indigenous and migrants’ rights; and discrimination involving sexual orientation and race.

The Muslim Lawyers Association (MLA), which is part of MuslimUPRo, had last week hit out at the Malaysian Bar for criticising the Court of Appeal decision on the longstanding “Allah” row between Muslims and Christians.

MLA president Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar had cautioned the Bar Council, which is the executive body of the Malaysian Bar, against taking a partisan stand in the spat that is deepening a gulf in multi-religious Malaysia.

Zainul reminded the Bar Council that the majority of its 13,000 members were Muslims, and stressed that the views of a “few scattered Muslim members” in support of the Church did not represent the sentiments of its mainstream that number in the “thousands”.

Several members in the Bar Council were reported to have voiced their support for the Church to appeal against a recent appellate court ruling overturning a 2009 landmark High Court’s decision that the Arabic word for god was not exclusive to Islam.

In his previous response to the group, Leong stressed that the Bar and the Bar Council are secular bodies that are not partial to any religious beliefs, and urged the authorities to stop turning a blind eye to threats against the law regulator.