Kidnapping of Malaysian Christian leader turns four

Pastor Raymond, desaparecido há 4 anos na Malásia

Raymond Koh was removed from his car in an operation involving at least 15 encapsulated men

Luís Alberto Alves / Hourpress

On February 13, it is four years since Pastor Raymond Koh was kidnapped in Malaysia. The leader was taken out of the car and taken by at least 15 masked men in broad daylight. To this day, the family has not given up on finding him and searches for the pastor are still active. Over the next few days, we will talk more about the case and invite everyone to pray for the life and family of the missing Christian leader.

According to an eyewitness, masked hijackers arrived in a van and took him away in the morning. At the time, Koh's wife Susanna began a great campaign of prayer and action to find her husband. She leads, along with other leaders, a pressure campaign for the government to provide answers about the husband's whereabouts.

The last time she saw her husband was on the same morning as the kidnapping, at a friend's house, where she works as a nanny and the last words exchanged between the couple was “I love you”.

Protestos a favor do pastor Raymond

“He was late for an appointment, left in a hurry and never came back,” laments his wife. She explains that the calls to Koh's cell phone went straight to voicemail and messages were not being viewed, indicating that the cellphone was turned off. “I later learned from friends that he had been confronted by a group of hooded men, thrown into a black truck and driven away,” she said. The wife further declares that Koh had no enemies and that he was always involved in the work of the church he himself founded 10 years ago.

Other Christian leaders had already been kidnapped in Malaysia and their whereabouts are also unknown. In view of this, a global action was generated to raise awareness among world authorities about the case and thus find the missing. As part of these efforts, the wives of Pastor Raymond Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat sent an open letter to the countryris prime minister, calling for an immediate and independent investigation into the disappearance of their respective husbands. In the letter published in the MalayMail newspaper they also asked for “a safe space for the whistleblower to present what he knows about the kidnapping of husbands.”

The whistleblower is a police sergeant who was willing to testify about police involvement in the activist Che Mat kidnapping but later denied having asked to speak. The day before giving her testimony to the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM), he backed down, and the inquiry was postponed.

The family cry

The letter said: “We have not seen any effort by the government to ensure that this revelation [of police involvement] is investigated by an independent team. Worse, it appears that the officers involved in the allegations are those responsible for the investigation. Please help us know what happened to our husbands, who has taken them and where they are now. We want them back. We beg for justice, we cry out for the truth. ”

Susanna, esposa do pastor Raymond

Another global action was carried out by the Open Door, to collect signatures and take them in front of Malaysian embassies in countries where the organization operates. In Brazil and other Latin American countries, more than 14,000 people signed the petition, which was delivered to the embassy in October 2018. 

On that occasion, the secretary general of Portas Abertas, Marco Cruz, was received by the first secretary of Malaysia Norliyana Alias, who also signed the petition, heard the demands and questioned the persecution of Christians in her country. Upon learning of this reality, after watching the video of Pastor Koh's kidnapping, the first secretary undertook to communicate the petition to the authorities of her country and follow up the case so that it can be resolved.

Although the Malaysian Human Rights Commission initiated a public inquiry into the case of Pastor Koh and assured that government officials were involved in the disappearance, there was no satisfactory conclusion to the case.

Last year, Susanna reported that she filed a lawsuit against two former police inspectors general, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun, over the incident

Susanna received the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department in March 2020. The award was the result of the Christian struggle for justice in the case of her husband and other victims of enforced disappearance. Despite having no information on Pastor Koh's whereabouts, the wife maintains confidence in God. “We do not know where he is, what condition he is in and whether he is alive or dead. But I have hope, because I have faith,” she concluded.

The book “Where is Pastor Raymond Koh?”, Written by Stephen Ng and Lee Hwa Beng, tells the story of the disappearance of the Christian leader.

The Koh family gave an impactful interview to Portas Aberta, which can be followed in this