THE next hearing of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) public inquiry into four missing activists has been brought forward, following a report that a clandestine team from the federal police headquarters was responsible for the abductions of at least two of them.

Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai, who heads the inquiry panel, said it will summon Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, the wife of missing Perlis activist Amri Che Mat, and her informant, said to be a police officer.

Norhayati had lodged a police report earlier this month, alleging that a team led by a senior officer from the Bukit Aman Special Branch’s Social Extremism Division (E2) was responsible for the abductions of her husband and Pastor Raymond Koh.

In her statement to the cops, she named the senior officer and the man who claimed to be a police officer.

Inspector-General of Police (Secretariat) Corporate Communications head Senior Assistant Commissioner Asmawati Ahmad has confirmed receiving a police report on the missing individuals.

“A thorough investigation is being carried out. We urge all parties to refrain from making speculation that could jeopardise investigations.”

Mah told Malaysia Decides that Norhayati’s informant will be summoned to testify in the hearing, which has been brought forward from June 25 to May 30 and 31.

“This revelation needs to be looked into immediately. This is why the hearing has been brought forward.”

Asked if Suhakam will next call the senior Special Branch officer who allegedly headed the abduction operation, Mah said he will leave the matter to the commission’s investigators.

Norhayati had said that on May 12, a man claiming to be a police officer, and who had shown her what looked like a police authority card, visited her house in Kangar, Perlis, and told her that Amri had been taken away by a team of policemen from Bukit Aman. He also told her that the same team had abducted Koh.

Amri, a social activist and forex trader, went missing on November 24, 2016, after leaving his house to meet a friend.

He is believed to have been abducted by a group in four-wheel-drive vehicles that were seen surrounding his car in Kg Padang Behor.

Koh, meanwhile, was abducted on February 13 last year by several men in balaclavas who used black SUVs to block his car in Petaling Jaya.

Suhakam is conducting a public inquiry into the disappearances of Amri, Koh, Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth.

The main aim of the inquiry is to determine if these are cases of enforced disappearance, a term that describes abductions involving the authorities. – May 24, 2018.