What should the government do after farcical Annapuranee Jenkins inquest? – Caged

Australian Frank Jenkins and his wife Annapuranee visited Malaysia regularly over many years.

They came to Malaysia together in December 2017. Frank left in the same month.

Eighteen out of 206 bones in Anna’s skeleton left in a box in 2023. The remainder of her bones are embedded in the Kensington Gardens housing project in Penang.

An inquest into Anna’s death was held because Anna’s family, supported by the parliament of South Australia and the government of Australia, insisted her disappearance must be investigated in accordance with law. If not for their insistence, no inquest would have been held.

That’s the first thing to fix. Coroners must comply with the law. If they don’t, they must be made to pay a price.

Before we speak of other things to fix, we explain why we say the inquest into Anna’s death was a farce.

It was a farce not because the coroner (in Penang, on 12 May) returned an open verdict.

Months ago, when we learned the police had recovered only a fraction of Anna’s bones, we knew the coroner would have to deliver an open verdict, because the pathologist wouldn’t be able to determine the time, place and cause of death.

The inquest was problematic for many reasons. We’ll list ten of them.

1. The coroner failed to direct the assisting officers (“DPP”) from the Attorney General’s Chambers to ensure that the police had gathered the evidence necessary for her to make a decent decision
2. The coroner failed to ensure that witnesses were scheduled so that their evidence could be effectively and efficiently adduced. The few hours used for adducing evidence on hearing days and the intervals between hearing days were a show of contempt for the family
3. The inquest was a mockery because when witnesses made wild allegations about Anna which they could not support with evidence, the coroner failed to direct the media not to report what they said
4. When police witnesses said they didn’t collect information such as phone records, Anna’s alleged diary or journal, video records, the coroner responded weakly. She appeared to condone such lapses
5. The inquest was a travesty because the coroner didn’t prepare a written decision to explain her rationale for accepting or rejecting key pieces of evidence, especially since there were glaring contradictions between police testimony and the testimony of Anna’s son
6. The public is left wondering why the Nora Anne Quoirin decision (Negeri Sembilan) is 111 pages, but the Penang coroner wrote nothing for Anna and merely delivered an oral verdict in three minutes
7. The coroner failed to take judicial notice of the string of police failures in the handling of the case. These failures recall those documented by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) in the cases of Raymond Koh, Amri Che Mat and Joshua and Ruth Hilmy
8. The proceedings were conducted in Malay, although family members and officers from the Australian High Commission – who attended every hearing – do not understand Malay. Much of the Quoirin inquest was conducted in English
9. When there is no evidence to determine time, place and cause of death, the goal of the inquest should shift to understanding why there is no evidence and to take judicial notice of police failures which made impossible the fulfilment of the coronial investigation mandated by law
10. The inquest was a travesty because the coroner can appeal to multiple other examples of coroners acting similarly – for example, in the inquest into the death of Thomas Orhions Ewasinha, a Nigerian PhD student who died in immigration custody, the Kuala Lumpur coroner delivered a similarly short, oral decision

From the above, it should be clear that the public have strong grounds for calling the inquest a farce, mockery, travesty. How should the government respond?

We call on Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and the minister for law, Azalina Othman Said, to set up a commission to review how the police handle reports of missing persons and sudden death reports.

We call on them to produce a white paper to describe the problems which need to be fixed through better resourcing or supervision and the problems which need to be fixed through revision of legislation.

We urge Parliament to enact a coroner’s act, modelled on that of the UK, with variations to suit conditions in our nation.

Rama Ramanathan is the spokesperson for Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (Caged)

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
2. Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
3. Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
4. Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
5. Lawan rasuah dan kronisme

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