Pastor abduction stumps family, police

PETALING JAYA: It has been three weeks since pastor Raymond Koh (pix) went missing.
His family is clueless of his whereabouts and so are the police of the motive behind his abduction by a large group of masked men in SUVs who waylaid the man's car, snatching him in broad daylight in Kelana Jaya here.
Based on past unrelated cases, a ransom demand often follows a typical kidnapping case - with the victim usually being freed when the demand is met.
In other abductions where money is not a component attributing to the crime, a more sinister motive such as revenge or "silencing" one who may pose a possible threat to the interests of a lawbreaker has been the case - often with fatal consequences.
Koh was neither a businessman who was faced with hostile business rivals nor did his daily routine pose a threat to society.
His only "sin" was the fact that he was a giver, a man of God and lover of racial unity - qualities deemed as a "crime" by some quarters.
With no ransom demand heard of by his family since his abduction on Feb 13, only the worst can be feared for Koh and chances of his return to his family and his noble work presumably is slim.
Absurd speculations are rife that his abduction was the work of "trained" personnel whose mission was to snatch Koh.
It was reported that footage retrieved from closed-circuit cameras installed at homes along Jalan 4B/10 showed that over 15 masked men in about six cars and two motorcycles were involved.
For a frail and harmless 62-year-old man such as Koh, what calls for 15 "trained" personnel to pull off the "mission"?
Koh's noble work of uniting the multi-races through social programmes had drawn the ire of certain groups in the past.
His run-in with the law in 2011 when he organised a multi-racial fund-rasing gathering at a church compound in Damansara led to accusations by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) that he was proselytising Muslims.
A probe by Jais following its raid on the event fizzled out when there was no evidence to the claims.
However, as result, several weblogs made their way into cyberspace, fanning hatred and inciting religious sentiments.
Threats including a bullet were sent to Koh but he remained steadfast in his social work and went about his routine.
Judging from the turn of events since 2011 and the fact he had no known enemies except for those who oppose to his work , it can only be suspected that Koh's abduction was executed by irked individuals who misconceived his social initiatives and were driven by hate, possibly an extremist group to the likes of the Islamic State or defunct Kumpulan Mujahiddin Malaysia (KMM) that was assembled to pull off the stunt.
Sources familiar with the case said police investigators have not discounted this theory as the motive of the case.
Koh's son, 32-year-old Jonathan told theSun yesterday that police had informed his family no suspects have been identified.
The mass communications graduate who did his internship in photojournalism with theSun in 2004 said if there are no developments in the search for his father in the days ahead, he will write to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to look into the case.
"I intend to send him a private letter first but if there is no response, then I will write an open letter with hopes he will intervene. Because this is also a matter of national security and should be taken seriously. If it is true this is an act of terrorism, then these terrorists are working in a very organised, well funded manner. It is quite terrifying that there is such an organisation in the country running around unchecked. These are my personal feelings based on what I see in the CCTV footages." said Jonathan who has two younger sisters.
He said his father was not involved in any business and was only devoted to his church.
"He sticks to just one thing. He is very passionate about God, the church, charity and helping the poor and marginalised." he said.
Jonathan who works as tutor at community centre his father formed called Inspirasi KL in Taman Sri Manja said police had showed up at the place last week to interview several people including students over the disappearance of the pastor.
He said the centre apart from giving free tuition to the underprivilaged, also organises sporting events for young children comprising of both Malays and non-Malays. He said although the centre was in an area predominantly occupied by Muslims, there were none of them who opposed to it.