Bar Council of Malaysia On Suhakam Inquiry : "abuse of power by certain individuals within the state Islamic religious authorities"

The Bar Council released their Press Statement about the Suhakam findings that the Special Branch was involved in the abductions of Amri Che Mat and Pastor Koh. The Bar Council also refers THREE other individuals who have gone missing ie Pastor Joshua Hilmy, his wife Ruth and one Saiful Bahari who was a former civilian contract worker for the Royal Malaysia Police based at the police training centre.

Press Release from the Bar Council of Malaysia

*The Malaysian Public Has the Right to Know the Truth about What Has Happened*

The Malaysian Bar is appalled that the finding unanimously reached by members of the panel of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (“SUHAKAM”)’s Public Inquiry into the Disappearance of Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh (“Inquiry Panel”), is that both Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh were the victims of enforced disappearance at the hands of the Special Branch of the headquarters of the Royal Malaysia Police in Bukit Aman.

The decision is a damning indictment of the impunity exercised by this particular section of the Royal Malaysia Police (ie the Special Branch), which is privileged, and protected from scrutiny and accountability.  

The decision, as summarised and read out by the Chairman of the Inquiry Panel, former Court of Appeal Judge Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai, sets out 

• a litany of fake alternative explanations 
• in what had been an ill-conceived and nefarious attempt to shift attention away from the Special Branch 
• and to pin the responsibility for these disappearances on other groups or individuals.  

There were conclusions arrived at by the Inquiry Panel concerning 

• dubious and contradictory testimony by various police personnel
• including by former Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar
• possible fabrication of evidence by the police
• and even a concerted effort to derail the proceedings by charging an individual 
• and claiming that, as a result, SUHAKAM no longer had any jurisdiction to proceed with the inquiry.

More worrying still was the thread of actual testimony and circumstantial evidence that interwove :

• this operation by the Special Branch with 
• the abuse of power by certain individuals within the state Islamic religious authorities, to seek to highlight the threat of Shia Islam.. 

The Malaysian Bar thus wholeheartedly supports the recommendations of the Inquiry Panel, principally the establishment of a Special Task Force to reclassify, reopen and reinvestigate the disappearance of Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh, and especially to look into police involvement in their disappearances.  

In our view, such a Special Task Force must be given every power to investigate this matter, without let or hindrance.

The Inquiry Panel has also recommended that the authorities:

(1) respect the freedom of religion as a fundamental human right;

(2) clearly demarcate the powers of the police and state Islamic religious authorities; 

(3) reform the standard operating procedures of the police, to make the police more cooperative, open and transparent; less suppressive and concealing of evidence; and better and more quickly deal with cases of missing persons; 

(4) accede to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and amend our domestic laws accordingly; and 

(5) establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, as an independent oversight body to investigate complaints about the police force.

The Malaysian Bar strongly urges the Government to take the decision of the Inquiry Panel with the utmost seriousness, and to adopt and immediately implement the Inquiry Panel’s various recommendations without any delay or excuse.  

It is vital that the whereabouts of 

1. Amri Che Mat 
2. Pastor Raymond Koh; 
3. two other missing persons, Pastor Joshua Helmi 
4. his wife Ruth; 
5. and a fifth person, a former civilian contract worker for the Royal Malaysia Police based at the police training centre by the name of Saiful Bahari who has also vanished; 

be determined for the sake of their families and loved ones.  

They, and the Malaysian public, have the right — and deserve — to know the truth about what has happened to all of them.

Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor

President

Malaysian Bar

4 April 2019


My comments : Well done Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor the President of the Malaysian Bar. 

The Bar Council points out something very relevant :

 abuse of power by certain individuals within the state Islamic religious authorities,

Although they do not mention the name, this must refer also to the Mufti of Perlis who has been closely linked to this case particularly the Mufti visiting the house of Amri Che Mat with about 20 other people,  the Mufti summoning or calling Amri Che Mat for a meeting etc.

The Mufti of Perlis was also called to testify at the Suhakam Inquiry. 

Something is terribly wrong in the State of Perlis.