I am not a lawyer, I am an ordinary lay man and I wish to share my understanding on Suhakam's finding in this case.
Special Branch held responsible for them missing |
"The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has held Bukit Aman’s Special Branch responsible for the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh, who was seen being abducted by several men in broad daylight in February 2017.
This comes after Suhakam blamed the same unit for the disappearance of Amri Che Mat, a Perlis-based activist who went missing in late 2016.
“The panel is of the unanimous view that Pastor Raymond Koh is a victim of enforced disappearance,” said Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai.
“He was abducted by state agents, namely the Special Branch, Bukit Aman.”
We must first understand that this is a Commission of inquiry and not a Court of law.
The Burden of Proof
Although made up of eminent persons including a senior judge, the burden of proof of of such an inquiry in such cases are based on the balance of probability and not beyond reasonable doubt.
An inquiry panel can and will only find on the balance of probabilities and the substantial merits of the case, and nothing more and that was exactly what was done in this case.
Their findings are based on what any reasonable person given the facts of the case will conclude without bias.
Must act accordingly |
How should a Responsible Government Act on these findings
In this particular case after the findings of the inquiry the government is duty bound to begin investigations based on the Commission's findings.
The Police force comes under the purview of the Ministry of Home affairs, the finger has been pointed at the Special Branch a pivotal wing of the Royal Malaysian Police force and as such the government must act as it reflects on the government, although this was done under the previous government it must be acted upon or this government will have to bear the consequences..
I am honestly surprised by Tun Dr. Mahathir's statement it seems very defensive.
Implicated must be suspended |
This is the basis on which follow up action must be instituted. If you wait till his retirement what are you trying to do? Reward him before calling him to question?
If the period of investigations exceeds his retirement date he will retire on such date he is scheduled to retire, but will not be eligible for benefits if any, under his contract till investigations are complete and he is either charged or discharged.
Missing Ruth and Joshua |
However if he is charged in court and is found guilty he should be dismissed from the police force and will lose all benefits including retirement benefits he is entitled to under his contract of service including such sentences befitting him for this act as foudn fit by the sentencing judge.
He must shoulder the responsibility if indeed it is the Special Branch who committed this crime. It is so common these days for people in such high office to plead ignorance, this is totally unacceptable, the position comes with the responsibility and the accountability, now they have to give an account of what they were responsible for.
One wonders what would have been the response of this government or even the previous government, if these were Sunni Muslim Missionaries in Europe, India, America or even Israel?
I think the answer is only too obvious having had the experience of the responses of our government. Our responses.
We are of course fully justified with such responses, but this is Malaysia and these are Malaysians our own people, they come first so drop all other foreign issues and look at this.
Troubling Trends in Malaysia
There has been dubious reasons why we should not be signatories to ICERD and the Rome Statute, both only address the protection of basic human rights, could this be the cause, is there a deep hidden agenda to terrorise Malaysians who do not share the same view of the government of the day?
Are there plans to subjugate people of certain races and religions in this country?
Judging from what has been happening in this country, this most certainly seems to be the fear of many Malaysians.
We have politicians claiming that Lim Guan Eng is the actual Prime Minister of Malaysia and we have their galleries drumming this to rather naive sections of the population created by them to create such havoc really believing this and intimidating people based on their racial origins.
How many times have we heard UMNO people threatening non Malays with May13, and how many times have the police or the authorities done anything about it?
UMNO claims that they were not responsible for May`13 and yet it is they who threaten Malaysian Chinese with May 13, so who do you think are responsible for May 13?
Is this plan of intimidation orchestrated today by both Pas and UMNO, so that people of the other races will accept that they are second class citizens and behave such?
Isn't this subjugation at the highest level?
The Rome Statute:
The International Criminal Court is an international institution created out of the Rome Statute.
The crimes described in the statute are brutal in nature and capable of being committed only by a leader or a command structure of any given state.
If in this case there is involvement of the Special Branch of the Royal Malaysian Police force it should fall under a command structure of a given state,as stipulated in the statute.
Our misgivings of the Rome statute are all frivolous and without basis, we can apply for and can be granted exceptions, to say that will mean legalised same sex marriages is absurd, that comes under our laws.
Now that brings us to ICERD what is ICERD do those who oppose it even know what is ICERD?
ICERD stands for International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Now isn't this cause of worry too to the non Malays, as it is UMNO and PAS who have come out almost violently to protest our intention to join ICERD.
Malaysians had accepted the favoured status of the Malays and the Bumiputras for many years this favoured status has done hardly anything for them, they can be fooled by their leaders who have actually used the favoured status to con them and make them more ignorant of real issues.
To make matters worse by the day new Bumiputras are added into the list of Bumiputras, whilst Malaysians of other races who have lived here for generations and in many cases even longer then Malays are treated as second class citizens.
The case of Zahid Hamidi is a classic one, he has become a Malay and Bumiputra and although I am a third generation Malaysian, my children fourth generation and my grandchildren fifth generation, people like him who were probably born in Indonesia or whose parents came here from Indonesia are first class citizens whilst he is Bumiputra and Malay.
Today a Bangaladeshi, Indonesian or any Muslim can come into Malaysia work here and eventually obtain permanent residence there are countless cases.
The children of these foreign workers will if they are Muslims, speak Malay and observe Malay culture be considered Malay and Bumiputra and be accorded special privileges, whilst my children and grandchildren remain second class citizens. How absurd.
When will Bumiputra Privileges cease?
We hear Politicians in Parliament shouting out almost every day that Malay contractors are at a disadvantage when the government decides to have open tenders.
Isn't this racial discrimination and when will it end.
This is the primary reason why UMNO and PAS are so dead against ICERD.
No Right to Champion International Causes.
We stand up in international forums championing racial and religious discrimination, from Palestine to Myanmar, the heinous Christchurch massacre, apartheid when we are ourselves guilty of such criminal behavior.
We must champion such causes but how can we do so if we are ourselves discriminatory and are unwilling to accept international Human Rights conventions.
This Disappearing Act must not Disappear.
This is the reason why, findings of the Suhakam Inquiry must be taken seriously. It must be investigated the same way we would abduction of the highest person in the land.
There must be no stone left unturned and agaisnt a landscape of the people in our Police force, the make up of those in power, can the families of these missing men ever hope to obtain a true and clear picture of what really happened.
I have my doubts, I can imagine theirs, so please prove me wrong.