Malaysia drops appeal on abducted activist’s case, family still seeks answers

Pastor Raymond Koh was abducted in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017.

Photo: Raymond Koh’s family Malaysia has given the family of missing pastor Raymond Koh access to a long-classified government report after dropping a legal challenge, but questions remain unanswered over his case, according to rights groups and lawyers.

The situation surrounding Koh has revived memories of other Malaysians who are believed to be victims of enforced disappearances in the country.

Koh has not been seen after the then 62-year-old was abducted in broad daylight in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has concluded that the police Special Branch, the country’s intelligence unit, was behind the abduction, a finding the government has contested in court.

His case is one of the most prominent examples of what rights groups call enforced disappearances in Malaysia: abductions carried out by, or with the involvement of, state agents.

On Wednesday, the government withdrew its appeal against a High Court ruling granting Koh’s family access to its Special Task Force report, a classified document released after Suhakam’s 2019 findings.

The Court of Appeal struck out the government’s case and ordered it to pay 15,000 ringgit (US$3,700) in costs to Koh’s family.

Rama Ramanathan of the Citizen Action Group on Enforced Disappearance, which monitors such cases and supports families of the missing, said the withdrawal should not be mistaken as a breakthrough in the case.

He argued that the deeper problem in Koh’s case and that of activist Amri Che Mat was the state’s continued secrecy and legal battles, saying that the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had defended past police handling of the cases instead of advancing public interest.

Amri, who was abducted in 2016, was also a victim of enforced disappearance, according to Suhakam, saying that the police Special Branch was involved.

Suhakam reached its conclusions on the cases involving Koh and Amri in 2019 after an 18-month public inquiry.

Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.

Photo: Facebook “The only way to bring this matter to a close is for the government to offer a substantial reward for information leading to those responsible for what happened to Koh and Amri Che Mat,” Ramanathan said.

Other legal practitioners agreed it was premature to treat the withdrawal of the appeal in Koh’s case as a sign of the government’s shift on the issue. “Th

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