Indonesian group wants citizen's disappearance in M'sia re-investigated

An Indonesian human rights group has urged Putrajaya to get to the bottom of Ruth Sitepu’s disappearance, following High Court rulings that found the government liable for the separate enforced disappearances of pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.

The Commission of the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras) also called on the Malaysian government to provide reparations to the family of Ruth, an Indonesian citizen, similar to what the court ordered in Koh and Amri's cases.

"The court rulings should serve as a precedent for follow-up actions on the case of the enforced disappearance of Ruth.

"Moreover, through its public inquiry, Suhakam found a relationship between the cases of Amri, Koh, Joshua Hilmy (Ruth's husband), and Ruth (above).

"This indicates state accountability for the cases of Amri and Koh should be applied to Ruth's case as well," Kontras said in a statement yesterday.

The group also urged the Indonesian government to take concrete measures to pressure Putrajaya to resolve Ruth's case.

In the statement, Ruth's younger brother, Iman Setiawan, expressed the family's hope that the Indonesian government would "seriously engage" in the search for her and that they would see Ruth again.

Joshua and Ruth disappeared on Nov 30, 2016, but they were only reported missing on March 6, 2017.

Initially, suspicions were aroused over state involvement in these disappearances, due to the couple’s proselytisation of the Christian faith.

The couple had also allegedly received threatening phone calls before they disappeared.

Joshua, a Malaysian, was born Muslim and was identified as such on his MyKad, but eventually converted to Christianity in Singapore in 2003. His wife, Ruth, is a Christian.

Joshua had reportedly been sought by Islamic religious authorities over the status of his religion.

Koh, Amri’s cases reopened

On Nov 5, the Kuala Lumpur High Court declared the Malaysian government liable in the abductions of Amri and Koh, and ordered authorities to reopen investigations into their cases.

High Court judge Su Tiang Joo also awarded RM3 million in damages to Amri’s wife, Norhayati Ariffin, and RM6 million in damages to Koh’s wife, Susanna Liew - in addition to an RM10,000 payment to be calculated from the day the pastor went missing until he is found.

On Nov 13, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that the Attorney-General's Chambers would appeal the High Court decisions as there were grounds to do so.

On April 15, 2022, Suhakam released a final report on the enforced disappearances of Amri, Koh, Joshua, and Ruth.

While the commission determined that state actors were involved in Amri and Koh's abductions, it concluded that it wasn’t so for Joshua and Ruth’s case.

READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | Revisiting Koh and Amri's enforced disappearances

Koh, an evangelical pastor, disappeared on Feb 13, 2017, in broad daylight. CCTV footage of the incident showed him being abducted by 15 men at Jalan SS4B/10 in Petaling Jaya.

Several parties have linked the pastor’s disappearance to alleged attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Amri, an alleged follower and proselytiser of Shia Islam, was last seen around midnight on Nov 24, 2016, along Jalan Padang Behor in Kangar, Perlis. Eyewitness accounts report Amri being abducted into a vehicle, which then drove off and disappeared.

State religious authorities had previously kept tabs on Amri before his disappearance, suspicious of his charity-driven NGO, Perlis Hope, being used as a front to spread teachings of the Shia sect, which is banned in Malaysia.

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