The Malaysian Insight

THE family of pastor Raymond Koh has written an open letter to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani demanding that immediate action be taken to release victims of enforced disappearance.

Susanna Liew, at a candlelight vigil to mark the fifth year anniversary of her husband Raymond Koh’s disappearance, said the families of the victims of enforced disappearance have undergone untold suffering financially, physically and psychologically.

“We demand immediate action to be taken to release the victims, to disclose the truth behind these disappearances, to bring the perpetrators to justice according to the law and the report of the special task force to be made public,” she said.

An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organisation or by a third party with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of a state or political organisation, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.

Koh was abducted by masked men in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017.

Similarly, activist Amri Che Mat disappeared on November 24, 2016, after leaving his home in Kangar, Perlis.

A public inquiry conducted by Suhakam concluded that the two were abducted by the Special Branch from the federal police headquarters, in a case which Suhakam described as enforced disappearance.

In 2019, then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin ordered a special task force to look into Suhakam’s findings.

The task force was given six months from June the same year to do the job and the report was supposed to be released in December 2020. 

Liew has repeatedly asked that the report be made public.

This was similarly echoed by Mah Weng Kwai, the head of the Suhakam public inquiry who looked into the disappearance of Koh and Amri.

Putrajaya has so far refused to make the report available on the grounds that it is classified under the Official Secrets Act.

Last week, another Suhakam inquiry on the disappearance of Ruth and Joshua Hilmy ended with no clear indication what had happened to the couple.

‘Tell us the truth’

In the five years that Koh has been missing, Liew said the silence by the authorities indicates that they are complicit.

“Where is he? Is he dead or alive? Have they murdered him? It is already five years and I cannot deny that I do sometimes think of lose hope,” she said.

“But I know that wherever he is, God is with him. If he’s martyred, I want to thank the Special Branch for giving him the privilege and honour to die as a martyr.”

She said if he is alive, the family will never give up looking for him.

Liew also questioned if the authorities are lacking the political will to act.

“They do not care? They think that lives don’t matter? Lives matter,” she said.

“We filed a civil suit in February 2020, we followed the law. Are they following the law or are they following the law of the jungle?

“We must not allow them to get away. We must bring the culprits to justice.

“I’m not giving up. I will fight to the end. My hope is, one day, we will meet Raymond again, on earth or in heaven.” – February 13, 2022.