Suhakam resumes inquiry into Pastor Koh's disappearance

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has resumed its public inquiry into the alleged disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh.
The inquiry was initially halted on Jan 16 due to a court case linked to Koh's disappearance.
However, Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, who led the inquiry, said the panel has found that the subject matter in the court case and in Suhakam's inquiry are the not the same.
Therefore, he added that the panel will proceed with the inquiry as per Section 12(3) of the Suhakam Act 1999.
"The panel has to deal with the subject matter of 'enforced disappearance' to ensure that not only Pastor Raymond Koh has access to justice and truth but his family members as well.
"The family has been continuously disappointed by the police authorities in the investigation of the alleged disappearance of Koh. Where else or how else would Koh and his family gain their right to remedy for a grievance allegedly caused by the State?" he said reading a full decision when the inquiry resumed today morning.
Mah said the Suhakam Act empowers the commission to investigate into infringements of human rights.
"Hence, the public inquiry cannot cease to be a platform for Koh and family to seek their remedy.
The three-membered panel including Datuk Aishah Bidin and Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh, had unanimously made the decision upon studying the submissions by counsels of Koh's family and the Bar Council.
Upon delivering the decision, the panel continued after a short break, its inquiry on the missing case of Perlis activist Amri Che Mat.
Earlier today, Amri's wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin claimed that she had been told by a police informer on May 12 that both her husband and Koh were taken by a special branch team from Bukit Aman as part of its operations.
She said the police officer had told her that Koh had been taken because he "allegedly proselytised (to) Muslims".
Norhayati said she had lodged a police report on May 15 at the Shah Alam Police headquarters on the matter.