PKR’s Petaling Jaya MP, Lee Chean Chung, has called on the government to refrain from appealing the High Court’s landmark rulings holding it and the police liable for the enforced disappearances of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.
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To do otherwise, he warned, would not only prolong the families’ suffering but also erode public trust in the very values the Madani government claims to uphold - compassion, justice, and accountability. “The world is watching closely to see how Malaysia’s government will respond - with conscience, integrity, and respect for justice,” he said.
The public perception of appealing this case is akin to carrying forward the sins of past governments - continuing a legacy of impunity and silence instead of closure and healing. Choosing to appeal, the Madani government risks aligning itself with the same culture of denial that Malaysians had hoped to leave behind.
The High Court’s rulings, which ordered the government and police to pay over RM40 million in compensation to the victims’ families, mark a pivotal moment in Malaysia’s human rights history. Justice Su Tiang Joo found that both cases - Koh’s abduction in 2017 and Amri’s disappearance in 2016 - were a result of enforced disappearances involving government and police, and that authorities had failed to conduct proper investigations.
Pastor Koh was kidnapped in broad daylight by masked men dressed in black, an incident captured on CCTV that shocked the nation and drew widespread international condemnation. Amri, a social activist and founder of NGO Perlis Hope, vanished after leaving his home late at night, his car later discovered abandoned at a construction site.
Yet, despite these haunting stories and the years of unanswered questions, the Attorney-General’s Chambers recently announced plans to appeal the rulings - a move widely criticised as regressive and tone-deaf. Former MP Kua Kia Soong called it “unconscionable and a betrayal of justice.”
If the government truly stands by its Madani principles, it must allow these rulings to stand - not out of political convenience, but out of moral conviction.
Justice delayed for the families of Koh and Amri has already been justice denied for too long. To appeal now would only prove that Malaysia’s reformist promises are hollow - and that even in the era of Madani, compassion still bows to politics.
By: Kpost
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