MANILA - There is a need to address criminality across borders, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday, on the heels of Kuala Lumpur’s membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

This as he expressed respect for President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw from the international tribunal as he faced investigation over alleged summary killings in his brutal drug war.

“Well that is the right of the Philippines' leaders, but Malaysia feels that today, borders are no longer barriers against people moving and we see crimes crossing borders all the time,” Mahathir said.

“So we need to take action against criminals wherever they may be,” he told ABS-CBN News.

Mahathir, who is on an official visit in Manila, said it was the Philippine leader’s right to decide the country’s sovereign matters.

“I think he has a right to decide on his own, according to what he perceives is happening in the Philippines as well as in the rest of the world,” he said.

Earlier this week, Malaysia joined the ICC, the world’s permanent war crimes court that tackles cases that local tribunals could not handle, among them mass killings and other forms of abuses.

The court, based in The Hague, has drawn criticism over controversial rulings, such as the acquittal of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo on charges of crimes against humanity. Burundi quit the tribunal in 2017, becoming the first country to do so.

Duterte, meanwhile, said the Philippines would quit the ICC after it launched a preliminary examination into deaths in his anti-drug campaign. He urged other countries to do the same.

COOPERATION VS EXTREMISM

Mahathir also called on nations to work together to address extremism, saying he expects this to get worse.

“We need to exchange information about what is happening, devise ways and means of preventing our people from getting involved and also identifying possible terrorists coming into our countries,” he said.

In 2017, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia launched trilateral naval patrols in the Sulu Sea to address kidnap-for-ransom activities attributed to Islamic State-linked extremist groups in Mindanao.

• Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines to begin joint patrols next week

For extremism to be stopped, its root cause must be addressed, he said.

“Extremism will spread unfortunately. I see things getting worse. The reason is we refuse to acknowledge the causes,” the Malaysian leader said.

“This terrorism is caused by something. Identify the cause, try and deal with the causes or eliminate the causes then there will be less extremism. But ignoring the cause and trying to fight extremism as if it is a conventional war we’re not going to succeed,” he added.