PETALING JAYA • The Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim, has said he is ready to face any criminal action if he has indeed made any seditious remarks.

"Sila (please do). If I have to go down for upholding the Constitution, the Malay rulers and Islam. By all means. You know where to find me," he said in a tweet yesterday.

"Like a normal citizen, I have the right to ask questions and give my opinion. I'm all yours. Finish what you start."

The tweet came following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's statement earlier that Tunku Ismail was not above the law.

Tun Dr Mahathir said the prince was free to criticise the Pakatan Harapan government as long as no laws were broken.

"If there are statements that are deemed seditious, we will take action against him. He is not above the law," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

In an earlier tweet, Tunku Ismail also questioned why the Rome Statute issue had taken centre stage.

"I am informed that there will be a biggest demonstration before June 1 orchestrated to put pressure on the Malay rulers for the government to proceed with the Rome Statute," he tweeted.

"The question is why the Rome Statute has become the main agenda of the government when there are many issues of the rakyat that should be prioritised?"

Malaysia last Friday announced it was nixing the ratification of the Rome Statute, a month after the treaty was signed in support of the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.

It came after Dr Mahathir's administration bore the full brunt of verbal attacks by opponents - including opposition politicians and the Johor palace - who claimed that the treaty would render Malay rulers irrelevant and impact the status of Malays and Islam in Malaysia.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said last Saturday the government's U-turn on ratifying the Rome Statute was a political move made to avoid a coup attempt.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK