MP SPEAKS | Pastor Raymond Koh was abducted in broad daylight on Feb 13, 2017. The world watched in horror the CCTV footage of the well-executed kidnapping.

Former inspector-general of police, Khalid Abu Bakar said that the police had formed a special task force to investigate this matter.

In August 2017, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) announced that they will conduct a public inquiry into this matter along with other cases of disappeared persons, namely, Amri Che Mat and Joshua and Ruth Hilmy.

On Jan 16, 2018, 12 days into the public hearing, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told Suhakam to stop the inquiry. The reason given was that a suspect, Lam Chang Nam, had been charged in court over Koh’s abduction.

Watch Kinitv four-part documentary: Pastor Koh - 365 days later

This latest development seems to contradict the police’s own report when Selangor Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Fadzil Ahmat (photo), who headed the police’s special task force on Koh’s case, had earlier cleared Lam of kidnapping Koh.

The question inevitably arose as to whether the action to charge Lam at a crucial moment of the Suhakam inquiry was merely to stop the inquiry.

When pastor Koh was abducted, I said that this was no ordinary crime but an act of terror. If such incident can happen to a harmless and charitable person such as Koh, it can happen to anyone.

Our police intelligence is said to be one of the best in the world; yet one year after a Malaysian was abducted in such chilling manner in broad daylight in the city, we have yet to resolve the case. In fact, other cases of disappeared persons have emerged following Koh’s.

I urged Suhakam to continue the inquiry on Raymond Koh, given the special situation surrounding the issue and the weak justification to halt the inquiry.

In view of the situation of potential terrorist involvement, once again, I call on the government to act decisively and deploy every possible security resource to deal with this matter, including seeking the assistance of foreign security experts.

We will not forget pastor Raymond Koh.

STEVEN SIM is Bukit Mertajam MP.

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