IT has been four years since Pastor Raymond Koh went missing, and his family are no closer to getting any closure on his disappearance despite a long public inquiry and assurance from the government that there will be answers.

February 13 will mark the day that Koh was abducted by masked men on Jalan SS4B/10, Petaling Jaya, Selangor in 2017. Today, family members and their lawyers will hold a remembrance day in honour of the pastor.

Koh’s wife, Susanna Liew, told The Malaysian Insight they are angry and disappointed with the silence from the authorities.

“Four years is too long for our family to suffer. It is cruel to leave us without answers.

“My children are also upset that there is no closure. We are still in the dark,” Liew told The Malaysian Insight.

The family will soon begin a campaign on Facebook to pressure the authorities to act.

“We are doing this campaign to keep the issue of Koh’s disappearance alive.

“We won’t let this issue die down. Our hope is to remind the people that the abduction is a violation of human rights.”

The campaign, titled “4 years on”, will start from February 1 to 28 on Facebook, calling on social media users to change their profile photos to remember Koh’s abduction.

Citizens Action Group on Enforced Disappearance (Caged) spokesman, Rama Ramanathan, said today’s event is an annual memorial to remember Koh.

“It’s been 22 months since the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) found that police were complicit in Koh’s abduction. 

“It was presented to Parliament in 2019, so why has there been no action by the authorities?”

Rama also questioned the special task force set up by then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin in 2019 to investigate the disappearance of Koh and Perlis activist Amri Che Mat.

“What happened to the task force? Where is their report on the investigations and findings?

“It looks like the government couldn’t care less.”

Koh’s family members, Rama, their lawyers and others will be participating in a webinar to remember Koh and discuss human rights issues in today’s event.

In the cases of Koh and Amri, the Suhakam panel was unanimous in finding that the Special Branch from the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman had abducted the duo in commando-style operations.

Human rights issue

Amri was abducted on November 24, 2016. It was revealed during the inquiry that he was, at the time, under police surveillance for alleged Shia activities.

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

After Suhakam made known its findings, Muhyiddin announced the setting up of a special task force to investigate Koh and Amri’s cases.

International human rights laws define enforced disappearance as 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.

Meanwhile, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), in a statement yesterday, said for the next two weekends (February 6–7) and (February 13–14) all churches in Malaysia have been asked to remember and pray for Koh, Amri, and two other missing activists, Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu, and for all their families.

CFM chairman Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim said the issue of missing persons is one of human rights.

“Enforced disappearance is a violation of the human rights of those who go missing and of their families. Establishing the truth of what happened is important and not just to the Koh family but also for the families of Amri, Joshua and his wife Ruth,” Leow said.

Leow also questioned if any action had been taken by the Special Task Force that Muhyiddin had announced in 2019 to follow up on Suhakam’s findings. – February 7, 2021.