CFM to help set up meet with PM
Group to aid families of Pastor Koh, Amri
PETALING JAYA: The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) will help the families of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat, whose whereabouts are still a mystery, to secure a meeting with the Prime Minister.
CFM chairman Archbishop Julian Leow said they would explore every avenue to bring the plight of both men to the attention of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the government as well as Parliament.
“We have already engaged in a discussion with Cabinet ministers and met with the Prime Minister on their disappearance.
“We will then write to Dr Mahathir to secure an appointment with him for the families,” he said after receiving a memorandum from Koh’s wife Susanna Liew, urging them to persuade the government to consider acting on the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) recommendations here yesterday.
Leow said he would also try to bring in representatives from different groups such as the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism to go as “a united front”.
He called on the government to investigate the police, particularly the Special Branch, and to adopt recommendations by Suhakam.
Among them include the launch of an independent and impartial probe, the provision of remedies to the families and to take immediate steps to clarify and separate the powers of the religious authorities and police.
On April 3, Suhakam had concluded that based on direct and circumstantial evidence, Koh and Amri were abducted by state agents namely the Special Branch.
Separately, Liew said she looked forward to the release of her husband and Amri, adding that she was hopeful that they would receive some news and closure on what had happened to them.
“We also hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
“We long to see a country that will do what is right to maintain law and order so that the people can live in peace,” she said.
Koh’s daughter Esther said that even drug traffickers, murderers, rapists and terrorists had the right to defend themselves.
“My father was denied this basic right. He was simply abducted in broad daylight.”