PETALING JAYA: An activist has urged home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to focus efforts on looking for Amri Che Mat, who has been missing for more than six years.
Faisol Abdul Rahman, a member of the NGO Perlis Hope, said Saifuddin must review the investigation report on Amri’s disappearance prepared by the task force established by the ministry in 2019.
He said the home minister should also review Suhakam’s report on the case after the human rights commission held a public inquiry into Amri’s disappearance between 2017 and 2019.
“We hope the home minister will give serious attention to the case and that of other missing persons, such as Pastor Raymond Koh,” he told FMT.
Neither the ministry nor the task force have released the report, despite repeated calls to do so by various parties, including Suhakam and other NGOs.
Faisol, who was a witness in Suhakam’s inquiry, questioned why the task force’s report could not be disclosed to Amri’s family.
“Is there something to hide? Was Amri taken by the authorities, which is why they don’t want to disclose the report? We just want an explanation,” he said.
Amri’s wife, Norhayati Ariffin, filed an application in the Kuala Lumpur High Court last December to commence a legal challenge to declassify the government report over her husband’s disappearance. However, the court has yet to rule in her favour.
Faisol also asked why Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz, a key witness in Amri’s disappearance, had yet to be tracked down by the authorities.
Saiful was allegedly involved in the case with Suhakam’s inquiry claiming that he was a former “contract employee” of the Special Branch. His vehicle was reportedly seen outside Amri’s house for three consecutive days before Amri’s disappearance.
Saiful had repeatedly refused to testify in Suhakam’s inquiry and, in August 2019, the police asked for the public’s assistance in tracking him down.
Amri, who was the founder of Perlis Hope, left his home in Kangar at about 11.30pm on Nov 24, 2016. His car was later found at a construction site at the Bukit Cabang Sports School in the early hours of the following day.
In 2019, the Suhakam inquiry concluded that he was a victim of enforced disappearance.
— Faiz Zainudin