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The Malaysian government will appeal against landmark high court rulings ordering authorities to pay millions of ringgit in damages to the families of missing activists Pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat. In two statements on Thursday, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) said it would challenge rulings that found the government and police liable for the enforced disappearances of Koh and Amri, two notorious cases which campaigners claim reflect Malaysia’s embedded culture of impunity. Koh, a Christian pastor and founder of the welfare group Harapan Komuniti, was abducted in broad daylight on February 13, 2017, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. He has been missing for more than eight years. Amri, a social activist from Perlis, was abducted on November 24, 2016, when his car was surrounded by three other vehicles. He has also not been seen since. “After reviewing and considering the Honourable Judge’s decision, the Attorney General’s Chambers will file a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal against the entire decision,” the AGC said in a short statement. The logical inference drawn from the totality of the evidence is that the abduction involves state actors Justice Su Tiang Joo, on Raymond Koh’s abduction The appeal follows landmark high court rulings on Wednesday, which said the government and police had failed in their duties over the disappearances of Koh and Amri. In his ruling on Koh’s case, Justice Su Tiang Joo called his disappearance “oppression of the highest order” and that authorities “had exercised public power in bad faith”. The judge said at least one current or former police officer had acted under orders in Koh’s abduction. “The logical inference drawn from the totality of the evidence is that the abduction involves state actors, whether acting directly or indirectly, or with the knowledge, acquiescence or support of others within the police infrastructure,” he added. The court ordered the government and police to pay a total of 31 million ringgit (US$7.4 million) to Koh’s family for their involvement in the case, including 10,000 ringgit per day he has been missing. Su also ordered the Malaysian government and police to pay more than 3 million ringgit in damages to Amri’s family for failing to properly investigate his disappearance, saying they acted “unconstitutionally” and were “recklessly indifferent”. Welcoming the ruling, Rama Ramanathan, spokesman for civil society coalition Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances, said the decision showed the judiciary had backed human rights principles as enshrined in the federal constitution. “Justice Su has taken the lead, shown how to take a stand. I believe other judges will do the same,” he said. Public anger has mounted in recent years over a pattern of disappearances with apparent links to Malaysia’s high-profile investigations into corruption or religious figures, where cover-ups and corruption are suspected to mask abductions. In 2009, M. Indira Gandhi’s infant daughter Prasana Diksa was taken by her Muslim convert ex-husband after a bitter custody dispute, in a case that galvanised public outrage over religious conversion and police inaction. Despite a 2018 federal court order directing the police to recover the child and return her to Indira, enforcement has drawn a blank. More recently in April this year, businesswoman Pamela Ling Yueh was reported missing after boarding an e-hailing ride to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters, where Ling was due to assist in an investigation involving her husband. It is believed that she was abducted by men impersonating police officers near Putrajaya. She has remained missing since, despite the home minister and police chief pledging their commitment to find her.
