Landmark court rulings should spur action in Ruth Sitepu case, say NGO, family

The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence says both Malaysia and Indonesia have shown an absence of responsibility in the enforced disappearance of Ruth Sitepu, an Indonesian citizen.

A Suhakam public inquiry in 2022 held that Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu were victims of an enforced disappearance. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Ruth Sitepu’s family and a rights group are appealing to Indonesia to push Malaysia to act on her enforced disappearance, citing recent significant court decisions.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court last month ordered the government and the police to pay the families of missing activist Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh a total sum of more than RM40 million.

In a joint statement today, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and Ruth’s family said the recent ruling “should serve as a precedent” for follow-up action in Ruth’s case.

They also noted that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) had previously found links between the enforced disappearances of Amri, Koh, Ruth, and her husband, Joshua Hilmy.

Ruth and Joshua, a Malay who converted to Christianity, were last seen at their home in Petaling Jaya on Nov 30, 2016.

KontraS and Ruth’s family stressed that as an Indonesian citizen, she was entitled to protection under Indonesian law and the passive nationality principle, and that Jakarta must take “active and concrete measures” to push Malaysia to resolve Ruth’s case.

“Our family hopes that the government of Indonesia will seriously engage in the search for our sister, Ruth,” said her brother, Iman Setiawan.

“We still have hope that we can meet our sister again.”

A 2022 Suhakam public inquiry into the disappearance of Joshua, a pastor, and Ruth concluded that they were victims of an enforced disappearance.

However, Suhakam said it did not find evidence that the couple was abducted by “agents of the state”.

It said their disappearance was carried out by “a person or more than a person unknown, with acquiescence of the authorities”.

Earlier this month, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the government and the police to pay Koh’s family RM37 million over the state’s involvement in his 2017 abduction.

Justice Su Tiang Joo held that one or more of the defendants, who are both current and former police officers, had been involved in Koh’s abduction and acted under orders eight years ago.

Su also ordered the government and police to pay a sum of more than RM3 million to Amri’s family for their failure to conduct proper investigations into his 2016 disappearance.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers has announced that it will appeal against the High Court’s decisions in both cases.  - FMT