“To the media, individuals, and NGOs who want to get involved in kidnap cases, shut your bloody mouth; you are putting the victim in grave danger.” - March 20, 2017
“You can see in the movies every day. Can learn from the movies,” suggesting that those who abducted Pastor Raymond Koh could have learned their moves from a movie.” - Oct 30, 2017
“Suhakam’s decision was purely circumstantial and based on hearsay. This is a wild accusation by Suhakam against the police. My testimony in the inquiry stands - there is no such thing as an enforced disappearance.” - April 5, 2019
These words were stern, dismissive, and unapologetic. They once rang from the nation’s highest, from Khalid Abu Bakar during his tenure as inspector-general of police, when Pastor Raymond Koh “disappeared”.
They may have reflected a leadership style - brave or arrogant, depending on who looked at them.
Koh, who founded the NGO Harapan Komuniti, was abducted by a group of men in Petaling Jaya on Feb 13, 2017, while on his way to a friend’s house.
For eight years, those remarks stood unchallenged, representative of a culture that prized loyalty over certainty, silence over accountability, and fear over truth.
But on Wednesday, those facades of hesitation crumbled. The confidence, the bluster, the contempt - all collapsed like brittle stone in a Kuala Lumpur courtroom.
The High Court on Wednesday ruled that the Malaysian government and police are liable for the abduction of Koh and that key elements of the case indicate state involvement, with at least one police officer involved.
It was not the compensation that shook the nation’s conscience, but the clarity of the High Court’s words.
Judge Su Tiang Joo, in a ruling that cut through layers of denial, declared: “The enforced disappearance of Koh collectively constitutes oppression of the highest order, and the court is therefore satisfied that the plaintiffs have proven that the defendants had exercised public power in bad faith.”
With that judgment, the court did not just settle a case - it rewrote the narrative. What was once derided as hearsay and speculation was affirmed as fact. What was dismissed as fiction became the unadulterated truth.
Chilling evidence
The events which followed and the findings of Suhakam released on April 5, 2019, provided authoritative evidence to authenticate claims of abduction by the state, but were summarily dismissed with contempt.
But those words were chilling indeed. Suhakam concluded that Pastor Raymond Koh (above, left) and a Muslim social activist, Amri Che Mat (above, right), were the victims of state-sponsored “enforced disappearances”.
Koh, who had been accused of proselytising to Muslims - something which was never proven and Amri, who practices Shia Islam, which is banned in Sunni-majority Malaysia, disappeared on Nov 24, 2016, in Perlis.
Suhakam said that the two men’s religious activities were the reason for their disappearance.
Witnesses in both cases said that the men were kidnapped as they travelled in cars, which were boxed in by three other vehicles.
A gold-coloured Toyota Vios, owned by Special Branch officer Saiful Bahari, who has gone missing since, was at the scene of both attacks.
In a review of a book on Koh’s disappearance, I wrote: “It is strange that the police have been unable to locate their own man, Saiful, who had worked in the force for 18 years. It is telling. Speculation is that he deliberately stayed away (on orders) from the inquiry.”
Will the truth set us free?
But all these are water under the bridge now. The verdict is more than a legal outcome - it is a moral reckoning.
It calls into question the culture of liberty and latitude that has too long shadowed our institutions, where the uniform was treated as immunity, and accountability had become optional.
The court has spoken, but the greater test lies ahead. Will this moment prompt reflection within the corridors of power? Will the same institutions that denied and deflected now confront the truth and seek reform?
For too long, Malaysia has learned to live with silence - the silence of the missing, the silencing of dissent, the quiet comfort of denial. But truth, however delayed, has a way of resurfacing. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who tries to live up to the ethos of civil rights leader John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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