Malaysia drops appeal on abducted activist’s case, family still seeks answers

Malaysia has given the family of missing pastor Raymond Koh access to a long-classified government report after dropping a legal challenge, but questions remain unanswered over his case, according to rights groups and lawyers.

The situation surrounding Koh has revived memories of other Malaysians who are believed to be victims of enforced disappearances in the country.

Koh has not been seen after the then 62-year-old was abducted in broad daylight in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on February 13, 2017. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has concluded that the police Special Branch, the country’s intelligence unit, was behind the abduction, a finding the government has contested in court.

His case is one of the most prominent examples of what rights groups call enforced disappearances in Malaysia: abductions carried out by, or with the involvement of, state agents.

On Wednesday, the government withdrew its appeal against a High Court ruling granting Koh’s family access to its Special Task Force report, a classified document released after Suhakam’s 2019 findings. The Court of Appeal struck out the government’s case and ordered it to pay 15,000 ringgit (US$3,700) in costs to Koh’s family.

Rama Ramanathan of the Citizen Action Group on Enforced Disappearance, which monitors such cases and supports families of the missing, said the withdrawal should not be mistaken as a breakthrough in the case.