COMMENT | 7 years on, a painful quest for justice continues

COMMENT | I refer to the report in the New Straits Times online edition, dated Nov 11, which reported the response by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, in reply to the question by MP Lim Guan Eng, on the investigations into the disappearances of my husband, Koh Keng Joo on Feb 13, 2017, and Amri Che Mat on Nov 26, 2016.

I am aggrieved and disappointed, in particular with the statement by the home minister that police investigations to locate the victims and hold those responsible are being conducted transparently and will continue until justice is served for the individuals and their families.

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.

In my husband’s case, there is CCTV evidence of which my children had to secure and give to the police. There are eyewitness accounts of the abduction, how it was carried out meticulously in under a minute by 15 individuals with SUVs and a gold Toyota Vios.

This gold Toyota Vios was involved in both abductions and belonged to Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz who worked for the Special Branch.

Patience, trust

I have waited patiently and put my trust in the police who are not involved in the abductions, to investigate and arrest the police officers who were involved. But instead, there has been a lot of cover-up.

I had to turn to Suhakam for them to investigate and inquire into this as the police were not going anywhere.

Even during the Suhakam public inquiry, the police who came to testify gave different narratives and there were many contradictions.

There was sufficient evidence for Suhakam, even without the powers of the police, resources and access to information, data, bank statements, account numbers, Road Transport Department searches, CCTV recordings along the highway, access to police personnel and the internal workings and reports of the police, to make a finding that in both cases, based on the direct and circumstantial evidence, on a balance of probabilities, that Koh and Amri were abducted by state agents namely, the Special Branch, Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.

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 about ensuring justice is served for the individuals and their families.

Without a trace

This is not just a problem for the individuals or their families, when members of a law enforcement agency with all the powers and protection of the law go rogue, take the law into their own hands and commit a crime of this magnitude, involving the use of substantial resources over a period of several months.

It goes to the root of the concept of the rule of law where every person is entitled to the protection of the law consistent with the fundamental rights guaranteed under our Federal Constitution, Article 5(1) where it states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.”

As cautioned by the Special Task Force (STF) if this concept of the rule of law and fundamental rights guaranteed under the Federal Constitution is not upheld, then this country will become like those countries which do not practise the rule of law where their citizens could disappear without any trace.

It is a deep and serious problem that needs to be resolved for every citizen in this country.

Poser over govt actions

The government has to date only set up an STF that came up with a report which has been classified as an official secret and despite repeated requests by the public and me, the report was not furnished.

The question on everybody’s mind is, why would this present government do that? We had to seek judicial intervention to ensure that we secured the report as a step in the direction of getting to the truth and ensuring justice is served for the individuals and their families.

In the ongoing High Court suit which I had to bring against past and present top police officers, the police and the government in order to continue my quest for the truth and justice, we faced an uphill battle with objections against the production of the Special Task Force report as evidence in court.

Even after the High Court finally ordered its production, the commissioner of police who signed the report was subpoenaed and stated on oath that he had not seen the final report before he signed it.

He claimed that he did not participate in some of the meetings and could not remember the discussions or reading of the minutes.

It is shocking and emotionally draining to see the commissioner who was handpicked and tasked by the cabinet to investigate the Suhakam report and the disappearances of both individuals, testifying in this manner.

I thank God for the honourable retired High Court judge, Abdul Rahim Uda, STF chairperson, who testified on oath before the court that:

1. Every member of the STF went through the report line by line and agreed to its findings.

2. The individuals who were identified in the report as being involved should be investigated.

3. The investigative body must be independent of the police.

4. A royal commission of inquiry should be established.

If this government led by Anwar Ibrahim and the home minister were truly sincere and honest in ensuring justice is served for the individuals and their families, and more importantly, that this does not happen to anyone else in this country, then they would follow the recommendations of the STF and not again state that the police will investigate themselves.

The public is not stupid and I for one definitely know that if the police are again asked to investigate, we cannot expect anything different from what we have been told for more than seven years.

It reminds me of what Albert Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

SUSANNA LIEW is the wife of Pastor Raymond Koh, a victim of enforced disappearance since February 2017.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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