Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 8, 2019 - July 14, 2019

THIS is a book that weighs heavily on the conscience.

It begins with a straightforward record of the abduction of the Christian pastor and social worker on Feb 13, 2017, in a quiet neighbourhood of Petaling Jaya.

The precision with which it was carried out suggests that it was the work of a crack commando squad, a view that was confirmed by Suhakam, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, following an 18-month inquiry.

“The direct and circumstantial evidence in Pastor Raymond Koh’s case proves on a balance of probabilities that he was abducted by state agents, namely the Special Branch, Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur,” the enquiry found in April.

The poser then arises: Are the authorities guilty of impunity?

To answer that troubling question, an independent mission must be established to act on the findings of the Suhakam inquiry with a clear mandate to rectify the breakdown in the rule of law that marks this episode.

Within a month of the inquiry’s findings, the authors, Stephen Ng and Lee Hwa Beng, produced this volume to put on record the shocking circumstances of Koh’s disappearance.

“We may never fully know why he was abducted and what has happened to him, but we, the people, must never allow ourselves to forget this horrible incident,” Lee, a retired political leader who had known Koh for over 25 years, writes at the end of the book.

The weight of this disturbing development was captured by former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan when she spoke at a vigil last year for four people, including Koh, who had been abducted or had gone missing.

“No matter what missing Pastor Raymond Koh and three others like him did, they don’t deserve to be taken away from their families with no explanation provided. Are they armed terrorists? No. They are ordinary people who helped, and did extraordinary work for the poor and the needy … If you say they have done something wrong, charge them…” Ambiga was quoted as saying.

Besides Koh, Amri Che Mat, who ran a charity called Perlis Hope, was abducted in a similar fashion on Nov 24, 2016. The organisation was accused of spreading Shi’ism. Two others, Muslim convert Joshua Hilmy and his Indonesian wife Ruth Sitepu, who was born into a Christian family, were last seen on Nov 30, 2016, six days after Amri was abducted.

So, there is a religious element in the mix. This gives rise to further questions.

Who decides whether a religious activity or belief is permissible? Does any opinion, religious or otherwise, justify the enforced disappearance of a person? And further, what remedies are available to the families of such missing persons?

These are some of the questions that surface as the reader absorbs the harrowing experiences of Koh’s wife Susanna and their three children after he went missing.

At the vigil of June last year, Pastor Daniel Ho of the Damansara Utama Methodist Church gave voice to these concerns:

“What happened to him (Koh) makes every Malaysian vulnerable. Today it is him, but tomorrow it could be you, or me; therefore, we must uphold Pastor Raymond Koh and others like Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth, and Amri Che Mat, who are still missing. It is important to uphold law and order, peace and freedom and respect the freedom of every person.”

Since the publication of the book, several developments have taken place. First, the government set up a task force to follow up on the findings of the Suhakam inquiry. However, the conflict of interest evident in the appointment of three of its six members raised grave doubts about whether justice would be done to the affected persons and their families.

In particular, the inclusion of Police Integrity and Standard Compliance Department director Datuk Zamri Yahya and former head of Bukit Aman’s legal division Datuk Mokhtar Mohd Noor in the task force presented a situation where the alleged perpetrators would investigate themselves.

Following strong criticism of these appointments from a range of opinion leaders, Mokhtar has withdrawn from the task force. Nevertheless, calls continue to be made for the composition of the task force to be “balanced, independent, transparent and representative” as Koh’s family has said.

In the end, the question we are left to ponder is: Can we live with this blatant injustice?

 

 

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share