Pastor Koh's disappearance getting more mysterious by day

A simple and humble man, pastor Raymond Koh hit the news with his mysterious disappearance. It again put Malaysia in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. This happened at a time when one of the murderers of the Mongolian model, Altantuya Shariibuu, shocked the world with his latest revelation from his detention centre in Australia.

When Koh suddenly disappeared, people were scurrying all over to look for an answer to see if there was a connection to any other cases of missing persons - Joshua Hilmy, his wife Ruth and social activist Amri Che Mat.

Being analytical by nature, I had spent hours to just carefully watch the video clip which had gone viral to look for any clues. The BBC, in its report on April 12, 2017 had described the kidnap scene precisely.

“A convoy of black SUVs and motorcycles is seen swooping down on his car and boxing it in by the side of the road.

“Then, several men jump out and run to Mr Koh. There is a flurry of activity, and the convoy moves off - along with his car.”

Singapore’s Straits Times on Apr 16, 2017 described it as a “precisely coordinated operation.”

It is hard for anyone to watch the video clip to believe that it was carried out by some untrained individuals, and more so, for anyone to believe that an old man, nearly into his retirement age (or perhaps, already past 55 years old) to be worth the efforts kidnapping for a ransom.

How much do you think Koh is worth? Millions? I met him once, and he did not look to me to be worth the entire operation. In fact, three kidnappers would have been more than enough to take him on a ride to a remote place.

Therefore, when I read news about a former Uber driver, Lam Chang Nam, being arrested on Jan 12 and charged in connection with Koh’s disappearance, I find it hard to believe that he had the skills to be involved in the 40-second operation.

The charge comes at a time when the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry is going on, it certainly raises more questions than answers.

Not forgetting the case of another person in Kedah who was shot dead, which was later linked to the disappearance of Koh as well. A dead man can no longer defend himself.

Although there are efforts to link Koh to the work of some extremists, and police denied that his disappearance had anything to do with the other missing persons, most people are still finding it hard to believe this theory.

If I again recall correctly, based on the testimony of Susanna Liew, the police were trying to find out whether Koh was involved in active proselytisation work than to update the family on the outcome of their investigation.

If the police had found the extremist link to the man in Kedah, they would certainly have certainly investigated further and hauled up the others involved in the operation. Why is there a dead silence?

How then can one explain the lack of coherence in the explanations that we, members of the public, have been given?- Mkini