Malaysia (MNN) — Pastor Raymond Koh was abducted in 2017. His wife, Susanna (Liew) Koh, has been in a legal battle  with the government since 2020 to find out what happened to him. 

In a hearing in mid-October, Susanna was supposed to receive another report from the Special Task Force that might reveal the truth about her husband’s fate. 

However, the case is far from over.

Malaysia is No. 49 on the World Watch List from Open Doors. (Courtesy of VOM USA on Facebook.)

“They (the Malaysian government) clearly do not want to admit government involvement. They don’t want to admit that the Special Branch (of the police) was going after a Christian pastor, a Christian leader,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA. 

“It seems like what the government is doing is they are trying to blame an individual who was a contract worker in the Special Branch of the police.”

The individual in question is Saiful Bahari Abd Aziz. His gold Toyota was seen at or near the scenes of not only Raymond Koh’s abduction in 2017 but also that of a social activist called Amri Che Mat, who disappeared in 2016. 

“Rather than saying the Special Branch is corrupt and that this (Koh’s kidnapping) was a government action, they’re going to try to paint the picture of ‘Well, yeah, that guy did have a police contract, but it was just him. He’s a rogue officer. It wasn’t a systemic thing,’” Nettleton says.

As much the Malaysian government wishes to distance itself from Saiful, it’s pretty hard to deny its ties.

“It’s not like he signed a contract three months before the abduction of Raymond Koh. He had been involved with the Special Branch for more than a decade by that time,” Nettleton says. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens now in the next hearing, and see how Susanna and her attorneys will respond to that theory.”

The government is also claiming “forced disappearance” is the wrong term in Koh’s case, since they didn’t outright deny Koh had been abducted. At least on paper, the police made an investigation, Nettleton says.

Malaysia flag (Photo courtesy of Mkjr/Unsplash)

“There’s a fair amount of smoke and mirrors that’s going on. ‘Let’s argue about what what we call it (forced disappearance or something else),’ instead of talking about ‘Where is Pastor, Raymond Koh? What happened to him?’” Nettleton says.

This is an ongoing story we’ll keep you updated on. But there’s something each of us can do now for our brother and sister in Christ, Raymond and Susanna Koh. 

“I would encourage people to pray specifically for the judge in this cases to have wisdom and discernment and courage to stand up and say, ‘No, this is not about what the government wants. This is about finding out the truth,’” Nettleton says. 

Pray also for Susanna, who has been deeply encouraged to know that Christians around the world are praying for her and her children as they wait. 

For more, listen to an October 2024 podcast episode from Voice of the Martyrs Canada titled “Malaysia: Where is Pastor Raymond Koh?” Learn about what Christians in Malaysia often endure by visiting the World Watch List from Open Doors.

 

Header photo courtesy of VOM USA.