Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto said Loh’s case showed that the state had not only failed her but also all mothers.

“It’s highly irresponsible of the government and also police for not acting to locate the children.

“When others can be located fast, particularly in cases that involve insulting those in positions of power, I find it hard to understand why police have not been able to find these three children who were taken away from their mother by their father,” she told FMT.

Loh, a divorcee, has been separated from her three children, twin girls aged 14 and a boy aged 10, for three years.

The children were last known to be with her former husband’s family while she was at a women’s shelter after allegedly suffering physical abuse from him.

The 34-year-old assistant chef in Genting Highlands said she rebuilt her life and filed for divorce last year, winning full custody of the children, but police had failed to recover them even after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered them to do so.

Loh said she lodged police reports on her missing children in three different states last year, but was given the run around with leads suggesting that her children had been converted.

Kasthuri called upon the inspector-general of police (IGP) to take responsibility in ensuring that the children were reunited with their mother as per the court decision.

“Police should set aside their personal stand or belief in this case and any other case, and carry out their duties professionally. And as no one is above the law, I call upon the IGP not to take this issue lightly.

“All this — a mother being kicked from one police station to another, being referred to the religious department and all — could have been avoided if police had acted promptly to search and rescue these three children,” she said.

“The IGP cannot wash his hands of this matter because he is a civil servant. He is on the payroll of taxpayers. He is answerable not just to Loh but to all of us who demand an explanation as to why police acted so slowly in locating the children,” Kasthuri said.

The MP also said Malaysia had failed in its duties under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), where children and their rights and a mother’s right to be with her children ought to be protected.

She added that the state had indirectly enabled the children to be separated from their parent, and had failed to be a champion of human rights as well.

Kasthuri said there were many women who had been suffering in silence over the years from this type of injustice, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Contempt of court?

Meanwhile, Suaram executive director Sevan Dorasamy questioned if police were in contempt of court as there appeared to be a clear directive to them to help Loh locate and take custody of her children.

“The government has failed in its duties to uphold basic fundamental rights entrenched in the Federal Constitution with regards to religion and life.

“Both parents of the children are alive and both are from religions other than Islam. There is absolutely no reason for the children to be handed over to religious authorities as the local welfare department would be able to care for the children,” he told FMT.

“From the outset, there appears to be a breach of the High Court order by the authorities and every organisation or people keeping the children away from their mother.

“We demand that PDRM take immediate action to locate and return the children to their mother. Any lack of action would indicate a wilful breach and absolute disregard to the Constitution,” he said.

Sevan added that this is not the first such case, and it would not be the last if no one took a stand against this form of oppressive action.