08/21/2020 Malaysia (International Christian Concern) – On August 12, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) resumed the inquiry of missing Christian couple Joshua and Ruth Hilmy, after pausing for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Email exchanges between Pastor Joshua Hilmy and others were shown at the inquiry, when he was warned about his conduct before he and his wife’s disappearance in November 2016.

According to Star Online, an excerpt from an email read, “Don’t blame me if you are detained by them. I have done my job by contacting you.” The sender also said that he had no time to entertain “stubborn people” like Joshua and it was better if he left the country. The pastor was also called a “fake pastor” in the email.

This email was one in a series of emails targeting Joshua in November 2015, some which were signed by someone calling himself “Khairy.”

Joshua also received a letter which included the national coat of arms, warning him that he would regret his negative attitude and that he could not be tolerated, though observers from the Bar Council and police questioned the authenticity of the letter.

Pastor Joshua’s tenant Josiahnandan Emmanuel Peter, who had stayed with the Hilmy’s for three years, along with his sister Grace, retrieved these documents from Joshua’s home in Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya in April 2017.

“We took the documents in case something happened to him,” he told the inquiry.

He added that he knew that Joshua, a Muslim background believer, was baptizing others and could get into trouble for doing so as he was a Malay. In Malaysia, spreading the Gospel to ethnic Malays is prohibited.

His wife Ruth Sitepu, who is Indonesian, was reported missing along with her husband back in 2016. Ruth’s family said she had not responded to any of their messages or calls since November 2016.

In April 2019, a Suhakam inquiry concluded that Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat who also disappeared mysteriously around the same period of time, were victims of “enforced disappearance by state agents.” The police’s Special Branch, Bukit Aman was listed as a suspect, though the government has so far denied any involvement.

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.