The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has urged the authorities to take immediate and concrete steps to revive investigations into the disappearance of married couple Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu.
This comes after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the government and police to pay the families of missing activist Amri Che Mat and Pastor Raymond Koh a total sum of over RM40 million.
Suhakam welcomed the High Court decisions on Amri and Koh’s cases but said the disappearances of Joshua and Ruth since Nov 30, 2016, must not be forgotten.
“The tragic case involving the couple stands as a painful reminder of the ongoing need for accountability and institutional reform.
“Although their families did not bring their cases to court, justice and truth for them remain no less important.
“Suhakam calls upon the authorities to take immediate and concrete steps to reinvigorate investigations into their disappearances and to provide updates to the commission and the families concerned,” it said in a statement.
A 2022 Suhakam public inquiry into the disappearance of Joshua and his Indonesian wife, Ruth, concluded that they were victims of an enforced disappearance.
However, Suhakam said it did not find evidence that the pastor and his wife were abducted by “agents of the state”.
Then Suhakam commissioner Hishamudin Yunus, who chaired the inquiry, had said their disappearance was carried out by “a person or more than a person unknown, with acquiescence of the authorities”.
Joshua, a Malay who converted to Christianity, and his Indonesian wife Ruth were last seen on Nov 30, 2016 at their Petaling Jaya home.
Hishamudin said police had failed to prioritise missing persons’ cases like Joshua and Ruth’s, and did not look into the couple’s case thoroughly.
Earlier this week, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the government and police to pay Koh’s family RM37 million over the state’s involvement in his 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 disappearance.
The AGC has announced that it will appeal against the High Court’s decisions in both Amri and Koh’s cases.
