PETALING JAYA: The government is not interested in uncovering the truth behind the enforced disappearances of activist Amri Che Mat and pastor Raymond Koh, Norhayati Mohd Ariffin said today.
The wife of Amri said she had sent Putrajaya a letter of demand, seeking monetary compensation for the inaction of the police and for the ordeal the family was put through.
“I am disappointed that the government has ignored our letter (sent on May 31),” she was quoted in The Malaysian Insight as saying. “We have not decided on our next course of action.”
Amri was the founder of Perlis Hope, a civil society group which aided the poor. He was abducted in 2016 near his house in Perlis.
His wife questioned the composition of the task force, half of whom are members of the police force.
Earlier, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai told theSun that the Home Ministry should go back to basics and not involve police officers in the investigations, as advised by Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Hamid Bador.
“The whole idea is to re-investigate the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat (based on allegations of complicity of the police). It is not another inquiry based on the same evidence,” he added.
He was commenting on the voluntary withdrawal of Datuk Mokhtar Mohd Noor from the recently formed special task force to investigate the forced disappearances of Koh and Amri.
Mokhtar is the former head of the legal division of the police force.
The task force is made up of six members. Apart from Mokhtar, the other ex-police officer is former Bukit Aman Integrity and Compliance Standard Department director Comm Datuk Zamri Yahya.
An earlier inquiry by Suhakam implicated the Special Branch at Bukit Aman in the disappearances of Koh and Amri. Suhakam had recommended further investigations into the role of the police in the case.
National Patriots Association public communications director Capt Dr Wong Ang Peng said it was a mistake to appoint police officers into the task force.
“Suhakam spent 18 months on its investigations before presenting its findings. They shouldn’t find fault with Suhakam’s conclusions now,” he said.
Citizens Against Enforced Disappearance (CAGED) has called on the other members of the task force to resign. “They should recognise that they are already tainted in the public eye,” it said in a statement.
“Mokhtar’s withdrawal only meets one of the many demands of NGOs,” it added.
Klang MP Charles Santiago said Muhyiddin should rethink the line-up of the task force. “One person’s withdrawal will not address the concerns on neutrality,” he said.
“The pressure and public outcry shows that the legitimacy of the constitution of the task force is in question,” he told theSun.
