Mah, who is a former Court of Appeal judge, said some media reports gave the impression that the police had instructed Suhakam to cease the inquiry, but that this was not the case.
The police, instead, pointed out a Suhakam provision which compelled the commission to cease the inquiry.
“I set out the various facts yesterday before we came to a decision on the inquiry following the receipt of a letter dated Jan 15, 2018, at 3pm, on Monday, from the IGP which stated that a suspect had been charged in the Magistrate’s Court in Petaling Jaya on Jan 15.
“The letter drew our attention to Section 12 (3) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, which says that during the pendency of an inquiry into the infringement of the human rights of a person, if the allegation becomes the subject matter of any proceedings in court, the commission shall immediately cease the inquiry.
“We made the decision to stop the inquiry because respect for the law is foremost in our minds,” he said at a press conference at the Suhakam headquarters here today.
“There was the impression that the panel had obeyed a police order, but that was never the context of the proceedings.
“All we had was a letter informing us of the arrest and charge of the person under Section 365 of the Penal Code.”
The suspect in question is Lam Chang Nam, who was re-arrested on Jan 12 and charged under Section 365 of the Penal Code for abduction in a Petaling Jaya court on Monday.
Lam, who worked as a part-time Uber driver, claimed trial in March last year to a charge of extorting Koh’s son, Jonathan Koh Szu Hao, of RM30,000 for the purpose of releasing his father.
In reaffirming Suhakam’s independence, Mah said: “Believe me, the inquiry and the panellist, we are 100% independent. No one is going to tell us what to do.
“We don’t want the word going out that we are toothless and paper tigers, that if the police say jump, we jump. Please don’t do that to us.”
Mah, however, declined to answer questions regarding the re-arrest of Lam.
“We do not want to speculate on the arrest.
“I know the public is asking many questions like why the arrest was made a couple of days ago, why at the eleventh hour, and why wasn’t it reported anywhere after the charge was made.
“We do not know and we do not want to speculate on the matter.
“The police have made a decision and they should be able to prove their case in court.”
Meanwhile, Suhakam chairman Razali Ismail said the commission remained as concerned as before about the missing pastor.
“We are concerned by all these cases of enforced disappearance.
“We will continue the inquiry with the two other cases,” he said, referring to the disappearance of Perlis activist Amri Che Mat and Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth.
Razali added that the commission would follow Lam’s trial closely.
Koh, 63, was abducted from his car by a group of more than 10 men in a convoy of vehicles on Feb 13 last year.
CCTV footage showed at least three black SUVs were involved in the abduction. Many speculated that his abduction might have been connected to his alleged attempts to spread Christianity, although his family has dismissed such claims.
Amri, who co-founded charity organisation Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24, 2016.
His wife, Norhayati Ariffin, said witnesses saw five vehicles blocking the path of Amri’s car before he was whisked away, just 550 metres from their home in Bukit Chabang, Perlis.
Joshua and his wife, Ruth, meanwhile, were last seen on Nov 30, 2016. A police report was lodged in Klang but the case was referred to the Petaling Jaya police as the complainant said the missing persons lived in Kampung Tunku.