Abduction of Christian Preachers Stokes Fear of Waning Religious Tolerance in Malaysia
Despite being a Muslim nation, Malaysia prides itself for its religious tolerance. This image has been tarnished, though, with the disappearance of four religious leaders. The nonchalance of investigators on the cases had stoked fears that those kidnapped may have been victims of extrajudicial detention.
Three of those abducted are Christians, namely Raymond Koh, Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth. A fourth one, Amri Che Mat, 44, was accused of preaching Shia Islam, which is not recognized in officially Sunni Malaysia. The Hilmy couple was reported missing on Nov. 30, 2016 after receiving death threats on the phone. The husband is an ethnic Malay who converted from Islam.
The most controversial case was the abduction of Koh, 62, because a CCTV footage of the crime was uploaded online. It showed the victim's car being surrounded by three black 4x4 vehicles as five men in dark shirts whisked him away. One of the abductors stopped traffic while another one filmed the incident.
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The kidnapping was synchronized and lasted only a minute, fueling suspicions that the perpetrators were professionally trained men. The crime scene was also done 100 meters away from a police station. "Watching that video was really shocking," Koh's wife, Susanna Liew, said. "They seem really well-funded and really brave. Who would have the resources to pay for such an operation?" she added.
Koh founded the non-profit organization Hope Community which hosted a fundraising dinner in 2011 at Damansara Utama Methodist Church that was raided by 30 officers from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on the grounds of "proselytizing Muslims."
Like Koh, Amri's car was blocked by five black 4x4 vehicles 550 meters from his home, six days before the Hilmy couple went missing. He is a co-founder of the charity organization Perlis Hope which has been linked to Shia, a sect considered "haram" or forbidden in Malaysia.
