ICC Note: More than a year has passed since Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat were abducted, yet Malaysian authorities have not been able to locate them or arrest any credible suspects, leading people to believe that their disappearance might even be state-sponsored.

03/20/2018 Malaysia (UCA News) – A long shadow hangs over justice and the rule of law in Malaysia. One year on since the mysterious abduction and disappearance of a Christian pastor, suspicion has grown that this is no ordinary snatch case.

The case highlights deep social, religious and political polarization that will complicate reform efforts. Recent events support this bleak outlook.

The shadow of the state as indirectly complicit in the kidnapping has grown starker since Jan. 16 when the Malaysia Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) abruptly stopped a public inquiry into the disappearance of 62-year-old Pastor Raymond Koh, missing since Feb. 13, 2017.

The panel’s inquiry had been presenting the police as unable or unwilling to conduct a serious investigation.

Malaysian police accounts of events were savagely mauled at the inquiry. Witnesses at the inquiry, which was well into its second week, revealed details of the kidnapping, including how it appeared to be conducted in less than a minute with military-style precision.

CCTV footage of the scene showed half a dozen men in balaclavas exit black SUVs used to block the pastor’s car on a public road in a leafy suburb near Kuala Lumpur in broad daylight and bundle him into one of the SUVs. He has not been seen since.

The inquiry was halted after the commission received a letter from Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun saying a court hearing was pending on the abduction.

The accused, part-time driver Lam Chang Nam, was originally charged with extorting 30,000 ringgit (about US$8,000) in March 2017 from Koh’s son Jonathan for the release of his father. At the time police said he was just an opportunist who was unemployed and trying to capitalize on the lack of any prior ransom requests.

On Jan. 15, however, Lam was charged with kidnap, an offense punishable by hanging.

Koh’s family were surprised by the sudden announcement. Police had not informed them about this latest development. Their lawyer, Gurdial Singh Nijar, said his clients were skeptical about the timing of the new charge.

He explained that the pastor’s family felt police had been obstructive throughout their ordeal and had tried to thwart the inquiry. They felt the charge was another way to prevent disclosure of what truly happened to Pastor Koh.

The kidnapping charge was all the more surprising given that police had earlier stated that the accused was not involved. Lam’s lawyer, Aaron Mark Pius, said he was shocked by the new and more serious charge against his client.

The new twist after a year adds weight to the notion that the police are uncomfortable with public revelations about their handling of the case, which appears interwoven with religious bias, intolerance of minorities and political expediency.

Malaysian Muslims practice a moderate version of Sunni Islam, but in recent years the country has seen the coalition government woo vocal Islamist groups and their supporters as a buffer against its waning popularity.

Some critics see disappearances of activists as a transparent ploy to win religious votes.

Koh’s role as a Christian activist, at a time when Malaysia is moving to enforce stricter Islamic laws, has always appeared a likely cause for his forced disappearance.

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For interviews with Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.