KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — The High Court today postponed a hearing for a lawsuit by Pastor Raymond Koh's wife against the police and the Malaysian government — which she had filed in her bid to find her abducted husband who has been missing for five years, as she looked to explore the possibility of resolving the lawsuit.
High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache was initially scheduled to hear the wife Susanna Liew's lawsuit from today until Thursday, but her lawyer Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar this morning requested for the case to be postponed until the next scheduled hearing dates in June.
Gurdial listed a few reasons why he was asking for the hearing to be deferred.
"We have been looking at this case a little carefully over the last few weeks and it is our view that this case deals with a rather complex range of issues that require in our respectful view, an approach through the relevant authorities to seek to resolve some of these matters," he said, later confirming that this will include writing to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).
Gurdial also said the report by the Malaysian government's special task force which was set up in 2019 to probe the findings of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia's (Suhakam) inquiry on Koh's abduction has yet to be made available.
In asking for today's hearing to be postponed, Gurdial said Liew's lawyers believe this report has a bearing on her case and the conduct of her case.
Gurdial also said the witness statement for the main witness which is 119 pages long was filed last week and raises a large range of issues, noting that the Attorney-General's Chambers which is representing the police and the government will need more time to prepare for cross-examination.
Gurdial said Liew's legal team had agreed to not object if the AGC needs more time before carrying out the cross-examination after the witness statement is read out.
Gurdial said the court documents involved are voluminous and number over thousands of pages and which had been provided to the AGC, noting that the AGC had also served documents to Liew's lawyers which they would also need to go through.
Senior federal counsel Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin said the AGC needs ample time to go through the witness statement which had 123 questions and runs almost into 120 pages.
As for Liew's plans to try to resolve the matter, she said that will be subject to instructions given to the AGC.
She did not object to Liew's application to have the hearing postponed.
After hearing both sides, the judge took note of the reasons provided, including efforts to resolve the matter through a representation to the AGC, and the task force's report which is still unavailable, the long witness statement involving a large range of issues which was recently received, and the voluminous number of documents involved.
"So it's not fair for this court not to allow this postponement," the judge said, before deciding to allow the hearing to be deferred to June next year to enable lawyers to handle the outstanding matters such as the pending taskforce report.
"This case had been fixed for continued hearing previously in June, so in that period, I hope parties use that time allotted to resolve this matter," the judge said, adding that the hearing will be on June 6 to June 8 next year.
Separately in a press statement, Liew's lawyers said they were aware that the task force had completed its report but the report has not been made public and said they are hoping to obtain this report.
The other lawyers who represented Liew and Koh today are Datuk Jerald Gomez, Steven Thiru, Michelle Wong, Abraham Au, and Ananthan Moorthi. Senior federal counsel Zetty Zurina Kamaruddin, federal counsels Salwati Umar and Khairuddin Anhar Mahmud also represented the government and police today.
Koh was abducted on the morning of February 13, 2017 along Jalan SS4B/10 in Kelana Jaya, Selangor while driving in his car from his house to his workplace. His car had been surrounded by seven vehicles and about 15 masked individuals, and he has been missing since then.
On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded its public inquiry and made the findings that the government's agents, namely the police's Special Branch, had carried out the enforced disappearance of Koh and activist Amri Che Mat.
On February 11, 2020, Liew filed a civil lawsuit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur against 13 defendants, including former inspectors-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun, and former principal assistant director of Special Branch’s Social Extremism Division Datuk Awaludin Jadid.
Others named in the lawsuit are former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Datuk Huzir Mohamed, Datuk Fadzil Ahmat who was previously Selangor state CID chief, police officers Supari Muhammad, Khor Yi Shuen, Hazril Kamis, Mohamad Shamzaini Mohd Daud, Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz, the current Inspector General of Police, the Royal Malaysia Police, and the government of Malaysia.
Liew's lawsuit claims that the police and government had violated her and her husband's rights in relation to Koh's unlawful abduction, failure to disclose his location, alleged misfeasance in public office, alleged conspiracy to injure and alleged negligence.
In her lawsuit, Liew is seeking for several court orders including an order for the police and government to determine and disclose Koh's whereabouts, and an order for the police to arrest Saiful Bahari and bring him to court to give evidence on oath on his involvement or his vehicle's involvement in Koh's abduction.
Liew also wants a court declaration that Koh's and Liew's constitutional rights had been violated, and for compensation in the form of general damages and exemplary damages.
Separately, Amri's wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin's lawsuit to seek for the removal of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) classification on the task force's report will be heard by High Court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh on January 16.
Amri had been abducted around midnight on November 24, 2016 while driving, with his car having been surrounded by three vehicles and five men, and remains missing.
According to Norhayati's court papers, Suhakam had in December 2019 said it was still waiting for the task force’s report which it was told would have been completed, while the home minister in January 2020 had said the task force’s report would be ready in a month and submitted to him. Norhayati said that there was no public response from the government when Suhakam in August 2020 asked the Malaysian government to publicly disclose the task force's report.
