Wife demands independent probe, RCI for Pastor Raymond Koh missing since 2017

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 15): Susanna Liew Sow Yoke said independent investigations and a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) should be held over the disappearance of her husband Pastor Raymond Koh Keng Joo, instead of leaving it to the police.

Liew said she is “aggrieved and disappointed” with Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s remarks that the police investigations on her husband Koh and Amri Che Mat will continue until justice is served.

“This I find painful because the abductions happened in November 2016 and February 2017.

“It has been more than seven years now and the police have continuously stated that they are investigating but their actions to date show that they are not interested in justice for the individuals or for their respective families,” she said in a three-page statement released to the media yesterday.

For her husband’s case, Liew said there was close circuit television (CCTV) evidence and eyewitness account of his abduction by 15 individuals in vehicles including a golden Toyota Vios that she said belonged to Saiful Bahari Abd Aziz who was linked to the police’s Special Branch.

She cited the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) public inquiry, which had in 2019 concluded that Koh and Amri were abducted by the police’s Special Branch, based on direct and circumstantial evidence and on a balance of probabilities.

“At least with that finding, I, and I am sure the public too, expected the government of the day would set up an independent investigation into the police to identify all those involved or at the very least, set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry if they are truly sincere and serious in ensuring justice is served for the individuals and their families,” she said.

As for the government’s special task force that produced a report classified as an official secret, Liew said she had to sue to secure the report and have it produced as evidence in her ongoing lawsuit against the police to pursue the truth and justice for Koh’s case.

She noted that the special task force’s chairman and retired High Court judge Datuk Abdul Rahim Uda had testified in court that there must be an independent investigative body to investigate individuals identified in Suhakam’s report as being involved, and that an RCI should be established.

Liew concluded that the current government should follow the special task force’s recommendations for an independent investigation, if it were sincere in ensuring justice for Koh, Amri, and their families.

Liew’s statement was in response to Saifuddin’s Oct 11 written parliamentary reply to Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, who had asked for the investigation outcome on Koh and Amri who have yet to be found.

In it, Saifuddin said the police’s investigations on Koh’s and Amri’s cases were ongoing and declined to give further comments to avoid affecting these.

Saifuddin also guaranteed that the police’s investigations to trace the victims and suspects in their cases are being carried out transparently and will not stop in order to provide justice to the individuals involved and their families.

Koh was abducted on the morning of Feb 13, 2017 along Jalan SS4B/10 in Kelana Jaya, Selangor while driving in his car from his house to his workplace. His car had been surrounded by seven vehicles and about 15 masked individuals, and he has been missing since then.

Amri was abducted around midnight on Nov 24, 2016 while driving, with his car having been surrounded by three vehicles and five men, and remains missing.

On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded its public inquiry and made the findings that the government’s agents, namely the police’s Special Branch, had carried out the enforced disappearance of Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.

On Feb 11, 2020, Liew filed a civil lawsuit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur against 13 defendants, including former inspectors-general of police, the Royal Malaysia Police, the Malaysian government and multiple police officers.

In her ongoing lawsuit, Liew is seeking for several court orders including an order for the police and government to determine and disclose Koh’s whereabouts, and an order for the police to arrest Saiful Bahari and bring him to court to give evidence on oath on his involvement or his vehicle’s involvement in Koh’s abduction. — Malay Mail