THE special task force to investigate the disappearances of pastor Raymond Koh and Perlis Hope founder Amri Che Mat could have a non-Malay as its next appointment, said Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, responding to criticism that all current panel members were Malay.

“We have appointed a new member to replace former police legal affairs chief Mokhtar Mohd Nor,” he said after attending the Hari Raya open house at Pulapol today.

“We are also looking at a non-Malay member who I believe will be suitable (for the task force).”

Mokhtar withdrew from the Home Ministry task force looking into the Suhakam inquiry’s findings that the abductions of Koh and Amri was possibly the work of Special Branch.

Mokhtar’s withdrawal from the task force follows a public outcry over the composition of the panel.

The ministry had noted that several civil society organisations had questioned his appointment, because he is alleged to have been involved in the Koh and Amri cases as an officer.

Muhiyiddin said that it was Mokhtar’s decision to resign from the task force after gauging public reaction to his appointment.

“He told us he wanted to withdraw, so I decided that we would replace him,” Muhyiddin said, adding the task force would start meeting tomorrow or Tuesday.

The panel is led by former high court judge Abdul Rahim Uda with Zamri Yahya who is Bukit Aman’s integrity and standard compliance department director, Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission operations director Muhammad Bukhari Ab Hamid, Attorney-General’s Chambers officer Mohd Sophia Zakaria and police commission secretary Mohd Russaini Idrus.

The 62-year-old Koh was abducted by masked men on Jalan SS4B/10 in Petaling Jaya on February 13, 2017, while Amri disappeared on November 24, 2016, after leaving his home in Kangar, Perlis.

An inquiry conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia into the missing activists revealed that they were victims of “enforced disappearance”.

Inquiry panel chairman Mah Weng Kwai had said that based on the lengthy discussions and deliberations in both cases, the panel disclosed that people or groups operating with the support of state agents had been involved in the abductions.

He said the panel was of the view that the enforced disappearances of Koh and Amri were carried out by agents of the state, namely Special Branch, based at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman. – July 7, 2019.