THE two previous governments failed her and now Susanna Liew, the wife of the missing pastor Raymond Koh, is hoping that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will keep his promise, which he made last year when he was the home minister.

“He promised that he will find the answers to my husband’s disappearance. He promised to expose and bring to justice those responsible for his abduction,” Liew told The Malaysian Insight.

“But nothing has come out of that so far. Now as prime minister, I hope he will keep his promise to me.”

Liew met Muhyiddin last year when he was the home minister under the Pakatan Harapan goverment.

She is seeking justice for her husband after a Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) public inquiry revealed that Koh was abducted by Special Branch from the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

The Suhakam inquiry concluded that Koh, together with Perlis activist Amri Che Mat, were victims of enforced disappearance.

(In international human rights law, enforced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organisation, or by a third party with the authorisation, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organisation, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.)

“He didn’t fulfil his promise then. I appeal to Muhyiddin now, to do what is right. Please keep your promise by bringing those involved to justice.”

The Koh family have not given up hope since his abduction in 2017 and have been pressing the government for answers and justice.

Liew also expressed her disappointment with the previous PH administration for failing her.

“They had the chance but nothing concrete was done. I went to (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad and (former home minister) Muhyiddin but they didn’t do much.”

She also complained about a lack of updates and complete silence from the task force set up last year to look into the disappearances of Koh and Amri.

“Muhyiddin set up the special task force to look into their disappearance and come out with a report.

“So, where is the report? They got all the top names to sit in the task force but there is no outcome and no updates.”

The last time Muhyiddin spoke about the task force was on January 16 when he reportedly said it requested more time to complete its work.

He said the ministry agreed to the extension, adding that task force chairman Abd Rahim Uda requested for more than a month to complete the task.

Seeking justice

Liew filed a civil suit in February seeking “special and general damages” as a last resort after failing to receive any resolution from the investigations into her husband’s disappearance.

She named former inspector-generals of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun and Khalid Abu Bakar and current IGP Abdul Hamid Bador as defendants.

“There was no choice but to file a legal suit so that we can get to the bottom of this and the truth of what happened.”

Koh’s family lawyer Michelle Wong said the civil suit was filed on February 11 and after three extensions by the defendants to file statements of defence, the next case management is slated for June 30.

“The court has directed that this is the last extension and any other extension will be by formal application before the judge.”

Koh was snatched on February 13, 2017. A police report was lodged against him months later for allegedly proselytising to Muslim youths.

Amri was abducted on November 24, 2016. During the inquiry, it was revealed that he was, at the time of his abduction, under police surveillance over his purported involvement in Shia activities. – May 20, 2020.