THE special task force report on missing Pastor Raymond Koh and Perlis activist Amri Che Mat must be made public, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Mah Weng Kwai said.

Mah headed the three-man Suhakam public inquiry panel into the disappearance of Koh and Amri, which concluded that both were cases of enforced disappearance and that the police Special Branch had allegedly abducted the two men.

An enforced disappearance is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person 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.

Koh was abducted by masked men in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017. Amri disappeared on November 24, 2016, after leaving his home in Kangar, Perlis.

Following the release of the Suhakam inquiry findings in 2019, Putrajaya formed a special task force to look into the two cases but until today, the task force’s reports are unknown.

Mah, a former Court of Appeal judge, told The Malaysian Insight it was crucial to have the report made public so that the people could evaluate the findings.

“As there was a special task force formed by the government to investigate the cases of Koh and Amri, then the government is obliged to reveal the findings so that the cases can be discussed and analysed.

“Why have a task force investigate if the report is not meant to be made available?” he said.

This is the second time Suhakam is urging the government to make public the findings of the special task force, the first being on August 30 last year.

Putrajaya has so far refused to make the report available on the grounds that it was classified under the Official Secrets Act.

Lawyer Surendra Ananth, who actd for Amri’s wife Norhayati Ariffin, said the classification of the report under the OSA is just one of a series of stonewalls their client had encountered since she filed a civil suit in 2019.

Surendra said he did not believe there was a legitimate or reasonable reason to classify the report as an official secret.

Mah meanwhile said the report of the task force must be made public so there may be some closure for those seeking answers to what had occurred, adding that Putrajaya owes it to the public, including the families of Koh and Amri, to make the report public.

In 2019, then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin ordered a special task force to look into Suhakam’s findings. The task force was given six months from June the same year to do the job and the report was supposed to be released in December 2020.

Mah said Suhakam’s public inquiry report on their findings on Koh and Amri was submitted to the Attorney-General Chambers, Foreign Affairs and Home Ministries, Prime Minister’s Office, and the police.

Mah chaired the inquiry panel comprising him and two other Suhakan commissioners, Dr Aishah Bidin and Dr Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh.

Koh’s wife, Susanna Liew will hold a candlelight vigil tomorrow at the Council of Churches Malaysia to mark the fifth anniversary of the day he went missing.

Last month, Suhakam ended its public inquiry into the disappearance of Joshua and his Indonesian wife Ruth. The panel’s findings will be announced soon. – February 13, 2022.