LAWYERS representing the family of missing woman Ruth Sitepu want the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to uncover the identity of the person who allegedly sent threatening emails to her husband, missing Pastor Joshua Hilmy. 

Lawyer Philip Koh said that MCMC needs the owner of the Yahoo email account with the username “wifigurl”.

“We are seeking information on to whom the email account ‘wifigurl’ belongs. 

“There are threatening messages in the email and we need to know who sent it,” he told the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) public inquiry into the missing pastor and his wife today. 

MCMC chief regulatory officer Zulkarnain Yunus, who is the 22nd witness, told the inquiry that they had tried to get information on the identity of the email account holder. 

“Yahoo is not licensed in our jurisdiction. We don’t have power to regulate them as they are not our licensee.

“They are not bound by any regulations or rules here. So, we don’t have information pertaining to the email that is registered under Yahoo,” Zulkarnain said.

Koh then asked what MCMC did in order to identify the email account owner after receiving requests from the authorities. 

Zulkarnian said that they conducted analysis on the emails and detected some information, to which Koh asked if the inquiry could be provided the details.

Zulkarnian said the information is subjected to the Officials Secrets Act and he would have to get advice from MCMC’s legal team. 

The officer was responding to the inquiry’s questions about emails sent to Joshua, warning the Christian pastor about his activities before he disappeared in November 2016.

Last year, witness Selvakumar Peace John Harris alleged former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin had email exchanges with Joshua and asked him to leave the country. 

Khairy denied the allegations, saying that he did not know the pastor or the witness.

Suhakam officer Simon Karunagaram asked if Zulkarnian had tried to obtain information from service providers overseas.

Zulkarnian said that MCMC had written to them, but were told to request a court order or mutual legal assistance (MLA).

“The request of an MLA must go through the Attorney-General’s Chambers and must be requested by the investigating officer.

“Police requested information (on emails) in 2020, but we are unable to identify (wifigurl).”

Koh said that they will be sending a letter to the MCMC next week, requesting the commission proceed with the MLA to identify ‘wifigurl’. 

“We follow up with a letter to the MCMC, it is of high importance.

“The identity of wifigurl is important to the disappearance of our clients,” Koh said.

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 inquiry panel is chaired by Suhakam chief commissioner Hishamudin Yunus and assisted by commissioners Jerald Joseph and Madeline Berma.

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

After exhaustive investigations, the Suhakam panel concluded that Special Branch was responsible for the disappearance of Koh and Amri.

No one has been charged with their abduction.

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. – July 16, 2021.