Far East: Fake Cops and Alleged Abduction Cast Shadow Over Disappearance of Malaysian Corruption Probe Suspect
the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarter in Putrajaya, malaysia. via Choo Choy May.
On April 9th, 2025, Pamela Ling went missing. The 42-year-old businesswoman was seen on CCTV footage being abducted by eight suspects, making her a nationwide headline, a position she had never been in before prior to her disappearance.
This is a story full of twists and turns — with police even suspecting that she may still be alive, orchestrating her own disappearance by cloning license plates and using fake police officers.. In the course of a month, what seemed to be a missing persons case became a nationwide scandal involving politics, independent organizations, and multiple high-profile individuals.
Who is Pamela Ling?
a photo of Datin Seri Pamela Ling Yueh.
Originally from the Malaysian state of Sarawak, Datin Seri Pamela Ling Yueh has been residing in Singapore since 2008. There, Pamela managed a property management company and married Datuk Seri Thomas Hah Tiing Siu. A renowned businessman from the same Malaysian state as hers, Sarawak, he is the founder of the Joinland Group, a multinational property development and insurance firm.
Together with her husband, however, they have been placed under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or MACC and Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau or CPIB for alleged business corruption and money laundering charges.
Following the charge, Line was arrested at her residence in Singapore and repatriated to Malaysia where she was then released on bail earlier this year. As Ling filed for a judicial review at the High Court, challenging MACC’s charges as unlawful arrest and claimed that the agency has pressured her to resolve disputes with her now estranged husband in private. "Her lawyer has argued that Pamela was repeatedly arrested, subjected to travel restrictions, and interrogated at least nine times — all without a clear legal basis or explanation from the MACC, sparking nationwide headlines and public outcry.
Disappearance Timeline
On April 9th, Pamela was supposed to show up at the MACC’s headquarters in the city of Putrajaya for her ninth attendance to provide statements on charges stacked up against her.
Her disappearance came to light when her brother, Simon Ling Wan Siong, publicly claimed that she had been abducted. According to him, Pamela had messaged her lawyer through WhatsApp at 13:57 local time on the day of her disappearance. In the text message, Pamela mentioned that she was on her way from her home to the MACC office by Grab, a taxi application, and that she expected to arrive at 14:08. Following the text message, her lawyer and brother have collectively claimed that her car was intercepted by three unidentified vehicles and that she was instructed to get into one of them. Any attempts of communication between her lawyer and her family to Pamela herself went unanswered after 2pm of the same day, prompting her lawyer, Mr. Sivananthan, to file the police report on her disappearance the very same day.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa at a press conference. Shahrill Basri via The Edge.
As the investigation proceeds the authorities have reported the discovery of two more vehicles, believed to be involved in the abduction, used to block traffic during the time that incident took place. The Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi has mentioned that these vehicles have used cloned license plates, linking them to vehicles that were already registered, making them impossible to be identified.
Meanwhile, the investigation on the taxi driver who was driving Ling’s car on the day has yielded the driver’s claim that the alleged abductors wore police uniforms and that they forced him to end the ride before removing Link from his car. According to him, those ‘policemen’ forced him to press ‘complete job’ on the Grab application before taking his national identification card and driving license while claiming to be police officers, detaining Ling to assist in an investigation in accordance to a police report. After removing Ling from the vehicle, those ‘policemen’ offered the Grab driver $23.6 as payment for the ride.
“You Cannot Blame Us For Her Disappearance”
Ling’s other lawyer, however, sees things from a somewhat unconventional point of view. The point of view that sees MACC as being suspicious. This stemmed from the agency’s failure to immediately file a report when she failed to appear for her interview on April 9th, prompting her family and lawyers to lodge a police report themselves. According to Sangeet Kaur Deo, Ling’s other lawyer, Ling could’ve been in a vulnerable position for possessing crucial evidence in the ongoing high-profile money laundering investigations. “Disappearances under suspicious circumstances are becoming a disturbing trend in Malaysia. Each unresolved case chips away at public confidence in our institutions and the rule of law. Such incidents must never be treated as routine. There must be answers and accountability,” Sangeet mentioned.
the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission slamming the allegations. via MACC.
In response, the MACC has released a statement saying that such allegations are completely “unfair” and unjustified towards the agency. Adding to the statement, MACC chief Azam Baki has mentioned that the general public should stop creating further speculation around this case and to allow the police to investigate freely and thoroughly. In an interview with the New Straits Time, the chief added “you cannot blame us for her disappearance as the incident was beyond our control and occured on a public road, not within the MACC compound.”
However, instead of calming down the public, this response has sparked more debates and speculations as it was regarded as being careless since this is not the first time MACC have faced such allegations.
Earlier, the agency landed in hot water following the arrest of a journalist on bribery charges which was widely regarded by the public as selective enforcement of corruption laws. Prior to that case, the agency was also accused of negligence over the death of another journalist who was held overnight for questioning at one of MACC’s offices.
As the agency denies such allegations as being baseless and the investigation continues, Ling’s ransom is nowhere to be found and so is her whereabouts, or even worse, whether she is still alive or not.