Police reopen investigation into forced disappearance of pastor Raymond Koh
The measure follows a High Court ruling. Koh disappeared in 2017 in Petaling Jaya, abducted by a group of masked men. The Home Minister says the police will comply with the order. His wife Susanna Liew opposes the Attorney General's appeal. The similar case of activist Amri Che Mat.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - The police will reopen the investigation into the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh in 2017. This was announced yesterday by Home Secretary Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, following a High Court order requiring authorities to resume the long-stalled investigation. Koh, a Christian pastor, was abducted in broad daylight in Petaling Jaya in 2017 by a group of masked men in a coordinated operation captured on CCTV cameras.
Saifuddin said the ministry's immediate goal is to ensure compliance with the court's directives, namely to continue the investigation and establish Koh's whereabouts. ‘My focus now is on the court's directive requiring the police to take two actions: resume the investigation and establish Pastor Koh's whereabouts,’ he said after receiving a full briefing from the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) last Friday.
Last week, High Court Judge Datuk Su Tiang Joo ordered the government to pay Koh's family RM10,000 (approximately €2,000) per day from the date of his abduction on 13 February 2017 until he is found. The court also awarded RM4 million in general damages and RM250,000 in legal costs, totalling approximately RM37 million (approximately €7 million) to date.
The judge ordered the police to resume their investigation and report every two months to the AGC on the progress made, removing the officers who had conducted the initial investigation from the case. The day after the High Court's decision, the AGC appealed against the ruling.
‘The matter now falls under the jurisdiction of the police. It is my responsibility to ensure that the directives are implemented,’ Saifuddin said, adding that he could not comment on the government's appeal as it falls under the jurisdiction of the AGC.
Similar to the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh is the case of the disappearance of social rights activist Amri Che Mat in 2016. An investigation by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) concluded that both men were victims of enforced disappearances and that the operations bore ‘the hallmarks of Special Branch involvement’. A special task force appointed by the government subsequently upheld Suhakam's findings.
Last week, the High Court also ordered the government to pay more than RM3 million (over €500,000) to Amri's family for failing to properly investigate his abduction. Amri's wife, Norhayati Mohd Arifin, questioned the government's ‘inaction’ in addressing fundamental issues related to disappearances. ‘While the government has the right to appeal, where is the same urgency in investigating the conduct of those responsible?’ she said.
Koh's wife, Susanna Liew, who recently won a landmark court case against the government, also expressed dismay at the AGC's decision to appeal, saying the family was ‘perplexed’ by the move, especially after both Suhakam and the task force had linked police personnel to the abductions. She renewed her call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be set up to summon all those named in the task force's report and hold them accountable.
.png)
