By Mariam Mokhtar

Just imagine this fictitious scene. A Hindu mother kidnapped her baby daughter from her former husband, who was a Muslim convert. The mother and child would be located quickly and would not still be missing a decade later. What do you think?

Here's another poser. What do Malaysians think the following people have in common? Muhammad Riduan Abdullah and his daughter, Prasana Diksa, Raymond Koh, Joshua Hilmy & his wife Ruth and Amri Che Mat.

The common themes are religion, an inefficient police force which is unable to locate the missing people, the lack of political will to resolve these cases and a dysfunctional system, in which the main players, the police, the courts and other agencies interpret the rule of law, according to their whims and fancies.

Pastor Koh was allegedly accused of converting Malays. Joshua was a former Malay Muslim who converted to Christianity and became a pastor. His wife, Ruth, is Indonesian. Amri Che Mat from Perlis was allegedly accused of being Shia.

Koh was abducted in broad daylight in a slick operation involving a convoy of SUVs with heavily tinted windows. The kidnap took around 40 seconds. Despite CCTVs at most highway junctions, the police failed to report a fleet of black cars, driving at speed.

Joshua's disappearance was not made known for months, until his friends alerted others that he was missing.

Amri's wife alleged that the Perlis mufti and the Special Branch were involved in her husband's abduction, but her allegations have not been investigated.

Indira Gandhi's case has courted worldwide attention. Eleven years ago, after many years of marriage, Indira divorced her abusive husband, K Pathmanathan, and was granted custody of their three children.

Without informing his wife, Pathmanathan became a Muslim, changed his name to Muhammad Riduan Abdullah and converted his three children.

Undeterred, Indira successfully sought the court's help to overturn the conversion, but her youngest child, Prasana Diksa, then an 11-month-old baby, was kidnapped by Riduan and has not been seen since.

In January 2018, the Federal Court set aside the unilateral conversion of Indira's three children to Islam and ruled that any conversion of non-Muslim children could only be done with the consent of both parents.

So how can one man thwart the efforts of the entire police force? Five IGPs have all failed to arrest Riduan. The IGPs are Musa Hassan (2006-2010), Ismail Omar (2010-2013), Khalid Abu Bakar (2013-2017), Fuzi Harun (2017-2019) and Abdul Hamid Bador. The rakyat want to know why the police are dragging their feet.

Malaysians need their identity cards to go to a clinic, pay council fines, renew their driving licence, open bank accounts or seek employment. Thus far, there has been no indication that Riduan's IC has been located. He is probably protected by groups of people. Who are they?

Riduan was allegedly a lorry driver. It cannot be the union of lorry drivers which is protecting him. His daughter has to go to school and will need her IC or birth certificate to enrol, if she is under 12. Perhaps, she is in a tahfiz school, which makes its own rules. As converts, some groups probably claim ownership of the child and ignore her mother's rightful legal custody.

As a convert, Riduan, has probably courted the attention of certain groups of people. Whilst he was a nobody before, he now holds the nation to ransom, in particular he has denied a mother her daughter, and a daughter her rightful mother's love. This should bother most parents, especially mothers. Are the police not concerned that the rakyat thinks they are incompetent? 

In 2014, the High Court ordered the police to locate Prasana but the erstwhile IGP, Khalid refused to comply, and said that he could not execute the order because the syaria and civil courts were in conflict. He should be charged with contempt of court!

So, have we a dysfunctional system, with two tiers of justice that have caused much misery? Perhaps, the politicians and judiciary, should try and resolve this mess before more people suffer? However, few people are convinced that there is any political will to resolve this anomaly.

As the police were unable to recover Prasana, Indira formed a team, called INGAT (Indira Gandhi Action Team) with private investigators to track down her former husband.

Last week, IGP Abdul Hamid claimed that he had located Riduan and said, "…I'm looking for an amicable solution where both (Indira and Riduan) will get the benefit of some form of joint custody…" He said that he wanted a "happy ending" and a "win-win" solution.

Has the IGP forgotten that he is not a judge? Has he forgotten that Indira has been granted custody of her daughter. A verdict has already been made, by the court.

Indira's plight is not a fairy tale with a "happy ending".

As a policeman, the IGP's job is to locate Prasana and return her to her mother. The longer he allows this mess to continue, the longer race relations in Malaysia will continue to fester. Perhaps, the IGP should be charged with incompetence and dereliction of duty.

If policemen want to act as judges, as well as enforce the law, why don't we just get rid of the judiciary and make the PDRM, judge, jury and executioner?

Source:

1. MalaysiaKini: Indira Gandhi's ex-husband not in permanent location abroad – deputy minister

2. MalaysiaKini: Former judge 'baffled' why IGP doesn't nab Indira's ex-husband

3. MalaysiaKini: No happy ending if daughter not with me, 'devastated' Indira tells IGP

4. The Star: A decade without her daughter

5. The Star: Joshua, Ruth married in Batam in 2004, Suhakam inquiry told

6. The Star: Suhakam inquiry: Cop denies missing activist's wife's allegations

7. Free Malaysia Today: We had no warrant, says Perlis mufti over 'raid' at Amri's house

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)