Share to help stimulate good governance, ensure future of people & M’sia
No News Is Bad News
Image for illustration only. - Facebook image
Pastor Koh’s wife wants Government to produce classified police task force report
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30, 2024: Like the murder of Mongolian French translator Altantuya Shariibuu some 18 years ago, there are several cases where the police and federal governments (elected every five years) do not seem to want to find out the truth.
In the High Court today, Pastor Raymond Koh’s wife Susanna Liew filed an application seeking an order for the Government to produce a classified report on her missing husband for her ongoing civil lawsuit.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the filing of the application and previous postings on missing persons and high-profile murders in Malaysia:
Pastor Koh’s wife wants govt to produce classified task force report
Ho Kit Yen-30 May 2024, 06:13 PM
Susanna Liew contends that the findings are relevant to her lawsuit against the police, the IGP and several former high-ranking cops.
Susanna Liew said the family of Pastor Raymond Koh has a right to know the special task force’s findings on his disappearance.
KUALA LUMPUR: The wife of Pastor Raymond Koh has filed an application in the High Court here seeking an order for the government to produce a classified report on her missing husband for her ongoing civil lawsuit.
In her discovery application, Susanna Liew contended that the special force report was relevant to her lawsuit as Koh’s family had a right to know the special task force’s findings on his disappearance.
She pointed out that her lawyers had written to the government previously asking for a copy of the report, but was told that it was classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“I believe that there is no threat to national security if it is released to me and to the court in order to arrive at a fair decision.
“At most, the report will reveal whether the defendants were involved in the abduction or were negligent in their investigation,” Liew said, adding that part of the report had already been disclosed to activist Amri Che Mat’s wife, Norhayati Ariffin, in her own lawsuit.
Lawyer Jerald Gomez informed trial judge Justice Su Tiang Joo that they filed the discovery bid today and have served it on the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid confirmed receiving it and said they wanted to respond accordingly.
Su said he will allow Farhana to look into the court papers before making further directions on filing of documents on June 4.
In 2020, Liew filed a lawsuit against the police, the inspector-general of police and a number of former high-ranking police officers over Koh’s disappearance.
The defendants include former IGPs Khalid Abu Bakar and Fuzi Harun, as well as the former principal assistant director of the Special Branch’s social extremism division, Awaludin Jadid.
The others named in the lawsuit are former Bukit Aman criminal investigation department chief Huzir Mohamed, former Selangor CID chief Fadzil Ahmat, and police officers Supari Muhammad, Khor Yi Shuen, Hazril Kamis, Shamzaini Daud and Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz.
Liew is seeking damages over Koh’s disappearance, as well as for the authorities to be held liable for his unlawful abduction, and for misfeasance in public office.
Farhana told the court today the defendant intends to call seven witnesses to testify after the plaintiff closes their case.
“The first (person on the list) will be Awaludin, followed by (police officer) Ali (Asra Abu Bakar), Hazril, Supari, Khor, Shamzaini and another investigating officer,” she said, adding that their witness statements have been filed.
Gomez told the court that the plaintiff will call four more witnesses next week.
Suhakam held a public inquiry into the disappearance of Koh and Amri between 2017 and 2019.
It concluded that Koh and Amri were victims of enforced disappearance carried out by the state, specifically by the Special Branch.
The home ministry then established a special task force to investigate Suhakam’s conclusion.
Neither the ministry nor the task force have publicly released the report despite repeated calls to do so by various parties, including Suhakam and several other NGOs. The report has been classified as a government secret.
Thursday 14 December 2023
When the truth does not matter to Malaysia's federal governments
No News Is Bad News
For image info, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=PaN16qOaX0k (The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia’s pastors)
When the truth does not matter to Malaysia's federal governments
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14, 2023: Since Merdeka (Independence) 1957, Malaysian politics and federal governments (governments are elected once every five years) have shamelessly displayed selective persecution and prosecution..
Sixty-six years after or more than six decades after, the status is still the same - there is absolutely no interest to solve or establish the truth of certain cases nor expose the real culprits behind the cases.
The reasons for such an attitude is only best known to politicians, those in power and the governments, even Anwar Ibrahim’s so-called Madani Unity Government.
No News Is Bad News refers to the following high profile cases:
> TO date, questions still remain unanswered regarding the “disappearance” of Raymond Koh, Ruth Sitepu and Joshua Hilmy following accusations of the trio attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity in 2017;
> THE murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Anthony Kevin Morais whose body was found cemented in an oil drum in an oil pal estate in Perak in September 2015. He was the DPP in the Attorney-General's Chambers of Malaysia and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). On Nov 20, 2017, six people were found guilty of the murder Morais the accused were former Army pathologist Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran, 55; R. Dinishwaran, 26; A.K Thinesh Kumar, 25; M. Vishwanath, 28; S. Nimalan 25; and S. Ravi Chandaran;
> THE death of Teoh Beng Hock, then 30, (a Malaysian journalist and political aide to then Selangor DAP’s state execvutive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah) who was found dead on July 16, 2009 in the Malaysian Anti-Graft Commission office in Shah Alam while in custody;
> THE murder of pregnant Mongolian French translator and model Altantuya Shaariibuu who was shot in the head by police commandos and her body blasted to smithereens with military-grade C4 explosives on Oct 18, 2006;
> THE 1983 murder of Bank Bumiputera Malaysia Berhad officer Jalil Ibrahim in Hong Kong. During the trial of Malaysian Chinese businessman Mak Foon Than alleged that Jalil was murdered by George Tan for the Jalil's attempt to block a loan to Carrian Group. George Tan Soon-gin is a former Hong Kong businessman known for role and involvement in Carrian.
Pastor Koh was forcibly abducted on Feb 13, 2017 in a military-style operation that took less than 40 seconds. Almost seven years later, he's still missing. His car has never been located.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on Pastor Koh’s wife breaking down while testifying in court today:
Pastor Koh’s wife breaks down while testifying in court
Susanna Liew says she and her children have been suffering from depression for the past six years.
Ho Kit Yen - 14 Dec 2023, 2:28pm
Susanna Liew, the wife of missing Pastor Raymond Koh, said she filed a suit against the government and police because she wanted justice.
KUALA LUMPUR: The wife of missing pastor Raymond Koh broke down in tears at the High Court when speaking of her family’s struggles since her husband’s disappearance six years ago.
Testifying before the court, Susanna Liew said she filed a lawsuit against the government and the police because she wanted to see justice is served.
Liew said she and her three children have been suffering from depression since Koh’s disappearance.
“It was really sad and disappointing because the police have not been forthcoming about their investigations (into Koh’s disappearance).
“They made my life difficult and kept interrogating me.”
Convinced that Koh is likely dead, Liew said she needed to know what happened to her husband and hoped the “perpetrators” would be brought to justice.
She said her family had not been able to get any closure in the matter despite the passing of six years since the pastor’s disappearance.
“The right of my family members to receive the body of the person who has been ‘forcefully disappeared’ has not been respected and protected,” she said.
In 2020, Liew filed a lawsuit against the police, the IGP and a number of former high-ranking police officers over her husband’s disappearance.
The list includes former inspectors-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, Fuzi Harun as well as former principal assistant director of the Special Branch’s social extremism division, Awaludin Jadid.
The others named in the lawsuit are former criminal investigation department chief Huzir Mohamed, former Selangor CID chief Fadzil Ahmat, and police officers Supari, Khor Yi Shuen, Hazril Kamis, Shamzaini Daud and Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz.
Liew is seeking damages over Koh’s disappearance, as well as for the authorities to be held liable for his unlawful abduction and for misfeasance in public office.
No police action since 2011, says wife
Replying to a question by senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid, Liew said that until today she did not know who issued Koh a death threat prior to his disappearance.
Liew had earlier testified that Koh had in 2011 received two bullets and a note written in red ink. She said the threat came shortly after the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais) raided a fundraising dinner held at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church on Aug 3, 2011.
Asked by Farhana whether it was possible that the package had been “wrongly sent to your house”, Liew answered in the negative.
She testified that following the raid, 12 Muslims who attended the dinner were asked to appear at Jais’s office.
The authorities did not come again to the church premises for any purpose after that incident, she added.
Questioned on her claim that Awaludin had spoken at two seminars in 2015 and 2016 about the proselytisation of Muslims, Liew said she did not attend the events but relied on media reports for the information.
Farhana told the court that the defendants intend to call Awaludin to testify at the trial.
The hearing continues before judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo on May 27, 2024.
Pain of not knowing killing us, say families of missing trio
Pastor Raymond Koh was abducted under suspicious circumstances, and Ruth Sitepu and her husband Joshua Hilmy disappeared, several years ago.
Nothing official has been heard about Pastor Raymond Koh, missing since early 2017, and Ruth Sitepu and her husband Joshua Hilmy, who disappeared several months earlier.
PETALING JAYA: When Susanna Liew’s husband left their house that fateful Monday in 2017, she did not know it would be the last time she would see him.
Liew recalled that she was supposed to take some food supplies to a friend that day but had been too busy in the morning to do so, at which point her husband offered to help.
“He always said ‘I love you’ before he went out the door; he always said ‘I love you’ to me or my children, so those were his last words.
“I have not seen or heard from him since.”
Her husband is Raymond Koh, a pastor who was abducted in early 2017 under suspicious circumstances. In 2019, Suhakam (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia) concluded after a public hearing that he was the victim of “enforced disappearance” at the hands of the Special Branch, amid accusations he was attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Liew said she was thrust into a state of panic and shock when he did not return home, made all the worse when she went to the police station to report his disappearance only to be subjected to an interrogation herself.
“It has been a very difficult and challenging four-and-a half years now for our family because of the uncertainty. We have practically no news and no updates from the police or the government on the status of the investigation,” she said.
For the family of Ruth Sitepu and her husband Joshua Hilmy, who disappeared in late 2016, it is much the same story.
“We got the news from my elder brother’s son in Malaysia, Harry Sitepu,” Ruth’s brother Iman explained from his home in Jakarta.
“He was really close to Ruth and Joshua, and he told us the news that he had lost contact with Ruth and that the house was empty. We waited for months thinking maybe they had moved somewhere, to a different country maybe, but Harry was really certain they had gone missing. As time went by, we got more suspicious of their disappearance.”
It was only when they saw videos online detailing Koh’s disappearance that they began to suspect their sister had met a similar fate, although official investigations were ongoing. As in the case of Koh, there were claims the pair might have been involved in converting Muslims.
“As a family, we’re very, very sad. Until now, it isn’t clear where she is. We are also disappointed with the government here in Indonesia,” he said, claiming that it had not given his sister’s disappearance sufficient attention.
Iman and the family believe Ruth and Joshua are still alive, because “we as a family still feel that connection with her, we don’t have that feeling inside that she is dead”.
Liew shares the same hope for her husband Koh, and it is her “hope and dream” that they will one day be reunited.
“My family and I and our friends, some of us have had dreams that he is still alive and as long as we do not see his body we will believe that he is not dead, and I will continue my efforts to speak out and do all I can to get him and the others released.
“Wherever Pastor Raymond is, God is with him, whether he is alive or whether he is martyred, he is a hero to us because he believed in his convictions and he lived it out.”
No comments:
Post a Comment