THE Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will resume its public inquiry into the disappearances of Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth Sitepu tomorrow.

It has been five months since the last hearing was held into the disappearance of the couple.

Lawyer Philip Koh, who is representing Ruth’s family, said they are coming to the last phase of the inquiry.

“We are looking for a conclusion to the matter and justice for the victims. And for the truth of what had transpired to be disclosed,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Koh said Suhakam is expected to call Council of Churches of Malaysia general secretary Reverend Dr Hermen Shastri to provide expert testimony on the nature and meaning of baptism for a person as a conversion rite.

This, Koh said, is to set facts for submissions following certain witnesses’ testimony on baptism.

Another of Ruth’s family lawyers, Audrey Pillai, had earlier asked the inquiry panel to subpoena representatives from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Maybank and Maxis.

She said MCMC was needed to give evidence as to whether it can trace the origins of emails from Ruth and Joshua. The panel said they will look into Audrey’s request.

The public inquiry is held to unearth what had happened to Joshua and Ruth, who are suspected to be victims of enforced disappearance.

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.

In 2018, two years after their disappearance, Ruth’s siblings lodged a missing person’s report.

Ruth’s family is from the fishing village of Nambiki in northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Suhakam panel is chaired by commissioner Hishamudin and assisted by commissioners Jerald Joseph and Madeline Berma.

Previously, another Suhakam panel, held similar inquiries into the disappearances of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.

After exhaustive investigations, the Suhakam panel concluded that the Special Branch from the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman was responsible for the disappearance of Koh, a Christian pastor, and Amri, a Muslim social activist.

No one has been charged with the abduction of the two.

In a recent interview with Amri’s wife, Norhayati Ariffin, she hoped that the new Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani will make better headway in the case.

“I’m sure the IGP (Acryl) knows about this case. We are pleading to him to help us. It is our right to know the truth,” Norhayati had said. – June 10, 2021.