IPOH: A lawyer informed the High Court today that the domestic worker who claimed to be the victim of rape by former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong admitted to providing false testimony as a pretext for returning to Indonesia.
Pathurrahman, 58, a lawyer from Sumbawa, Indonesia, made this statement during his testimony as a defence witness in the case.
He said that the woman had come to his office on May 20, 2024, seeking legal advice. She revealed that she had lodged a report claiming she was raped by Yong.
“She said that she had testified against Yong in a Sessions Court in Malaysia.
“Subsequently, she confessed to me that she had provided false testimony against Yong and now intends to withdraw her statement,” he said, reading from his written statement in Bahasa Indonesia, which was later translated into Bahasa Malaysia by an interpreter before Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed.
“I advised her that giving false testimony is a serious offence,” he added.
“I further advised that she had the right to withdraw her testimony and that it was better to speak the truth than for an innocent person to be wrongfully convicted,“ he said.
He explained that as a result, the woman decided to withdraw her statement in Malaysia without coercion or intimidation. She then asked Pathurrahman to prepare a letter of declaration to that effect.
Pathurrahman read and confirmed the letter of declaration, dated May 21, 2024, in court, saying it was prepared at the woman’s request and bore her signature.
The lawyer added that the woman expressed regret over her actions and apologised for the false testimony given in court.
In the letter, she explained that her actions were motivated by a desire to find an excuse to return to Indonesia before the end of her contract, as the Yong family had prohibited her and asked for a legitimate reason for wanting to do so.
Meanwhile, during cross-examination, Perak state director of Prosecution, Muhammad Zaki Abdul Kudos, questioned the authenticity of the victim’s declaration letter, asserting that it was not written by the woman.
However, Pathurrahman refuted the assertion, clarifying that the letter of declaration, written in Bahasa Indonesia, was prepared based on the victim’s testimony.
Muhammad Zaki: So, are you implying that this declaration letter was not written by the woman, but by someone else?
Witness: It was written by me, but based on the victim’s statement.
Muhammad Zaki: If the woman is harassed after returning to Indonesia, would you be aware of it?
Witness: I would not know.
Muhammad Zaki: So, is it possible that the woman could have been harassed after returning to Indonesia?
Witness: I do not know.
Muhammad Zaki: So, before the woman made her statement, you were unaware of her situation?
Witness: I was unaware.
The prosecution team, led by Muhammad Zaki, is comprised of deputy public prosecutors Qurratul Aini Khalifah, Liyana Zawani Mohd Razi, and Nasrul Hadi Abdul Ghani, while Yong is represented by Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Salim Bashir, and Low Wei Loke.
The court has set March 7 to review the opinion regarding the new evidence adduced by the defence, which will then be referred to the Federal Court for consideration in Yong’s appeal.
On Nov 12, 2024, the Federal Court allowed the former assemblyman’s application to adduce additional evidence in his appeal against the rape conviction.
On March 1, 2024, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority decision, dismissed Yong’s appeal and upheld his conviction for the rape of his 23-year-old Indonesian domestic helper at his home in Ipoh, between 8.15 pm and 9.15 pm on July 7, 2019.
The three-judge panel, however, reduced Yong’s prison sentence from 13 years to 8 years, along with two strokes of the cane.
