Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak today acknowledged that the previous BN government had discussed ratifying the Rome Statute but said it did not materialise for a reason.

Najib said this in response to Attorney-General Tommy Thomas' statement that it was the previous BN government that initiated the move to ratify the Rome Statute but is now attacking the Pakatan Harapan government after the latter finally ratified it.

"I do not deny that under the BN government, when I was the prime minister, we discussed about the Rome Statute.

However, why did BN not ratify it, even after seven years when the 14th general election took place, despite having discussed about it in March 2011?

"That was because the BN government took heed of the attorney-general's advice at the time that it could violate the Federal Constitution and national laws," he said in a Facebook statement today.

The attorney-generals during that period were Abdul Gani Patail and Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Najib said the BN's deliberation on the issue was in contrast to Harapan which publicised the matter but was later forced to make a U-turn.

The government had maintained that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which deals with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression, will not affect the position of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

However, Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim had argued otherwise, saying that it would affect the position of the monarch, Malays and Islam.

He had also lobbied the Conference of Rulers to reject the Rome Statute, which eventually forced the government to reverse its ratification.

Umno and other Malay right-wing groups have also taken a similar position.