PERLIS social worker Amri Che Mat sounded anxious the day before he went missing, his good friend Abdul Jamil Ahmad told the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry.

Jamil told the panel that the urgency in his friend’s tone of voice, plus the fact that Amri had often expressed concern that politicians from Umno were unhappy with his Perlis Hope charitable organisation, led him to believe that the state had a role to play in his disappearance.

“I was supposed to meet him for coffee in Jitra on November 24, but he didn’t show up,” Jamil told Suhakam commissioners when asked when he had last seen Amri.

“I tried calling his phone and he answered but he sounded anxious.

“I then proceeded to the restaurant in Jitra where we are supposed to meet.

“He didn’t show up, so I went home.”

Amri was reported missing on November 24, 2016.

Amri often expressed concern that Umno politicians were unhappy with the work his organisation, Perlis Hope, was doing among the hardcore poor in Perlis, Jamil said.

“Amri said that they were not happy. Because when Perlis Hope went to the area and started building homes, it showed that the person in charge of the area was not talking care of the place.”

Jamil said he believed there were Umno politicians involved in Amri’s disappearance.

“There is political involvement, and there are links to Umno who were unhappy with Perlis Hope’s work of helping the poor.”

He did not name any particular politician.

On Monday, Amri’s wife Norhayati Ariffin said she believed that state religious authorities, Perlis mufti Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim were responsible for her husband’s disappearance.

Jamil said he is a strong supporter of Perlis Hope, adding that the organisation is “doing a lot of good work by giving rice to the hardcore poor”.

“There are no religious activities or trying to convert anyone to Islam,” he said when asked if the group is involved in any activity other than charity.

The Suhakam inquiry is chaired by commissioners Mah Weng Kwai, Aishah Bidin and Dr Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh. 

The panel aims to determine whether Amri’s abduction, as well as the disappearance of three others – Pastor Raymond Koh, Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth – are cases of enforced disappearances sanctioned by the state. – January 24, 2018.