Philip Koh said the information on Ruth and husband Joshua Hilmy’s phone records are vital for the inquiry, “especially on days running to the alleged date that they had gone missing”.

The couple have been missing since November 2016. Suhakam is holding the inquiry into the disappearance of Joshua, a Malay who had converted to Christianity, and Ruth.

“We would want to know if there were any calls during this period that created anxiety to the couple,” he said.

To that, Suhakam commissioner and inquiry chairman Mohd Hishamudin Yunus said they took note of the family’s request.

“We will consider your request and where we can go from here. We want to leave no stones unturned,” he added.

Fellow commissioners Madeline Berma and Jerald Joseph are also members in the inquiry panel.

Earlier today, the inquiry heard testimony from three officers from Maxis, namely Saravana Perampala, Tan Lai Shing, and Lai Sau Ping relating to phone records.

The inquiry was told that Ruth has two registered phone numbers with Maxis while Joshua has one number registered with the same telecommunication company.

Ruth’s phone numbers were deactivated in April 2017 while Joshua’s number was deactivated in February 2017.

Saravana said that under Malaysian law, telcos are required to store customers’ calls logs and SMS records for seven years.

Asked by Jerald if Maxis stored the content of messages, Saravana said they do not have access to that.

“We only know the sender’s number, the receiver’s number and the time stamp,” he said, adding that Maxis’ information technology and infrastructure department manages the data storage.

Hishamudin: Could the data be retrieved upon a request?

Saravana: A lot of effort is needed to locate the tapes that stored the customers’ data. It is possible to do so.

The inquiry will resume on Aug 12, where a witness from police is scheduled to testify.