Malaysia (MNN) — Many people have prayed for years for Susanna Koh and her family — the wife and children of Pastor Raymond Koh.
Raymond was kidnapped in Malaysia, in broad daylight on 13 February 2017. In the seven years since then, Susanna has tirelessly sought to find out what happened to him. She filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian government for negligence in the case.
Here’s what’s been happening the past several months. In August, Susanna was to be given the Special Task Force (STF) report to help her prepare. However, Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs USA explains, things didn’t turn out that way.
(Graphic courtesy of VOM USA)
“Initially, the judge said, ‘You have four days to turn over this report.’ The government said, ‘No, it’s going to take longer than that.’ When they did finally turn something over, weeks later, reportedly, it was so heavily [redacted] that it could not be read.”
Important content was also missing, like the video showing the abduction.
Susanna went back to the judge and got an unaltered version of the report. Neither Susanna nor her attorneys have commented yet on the contents of the report.
“The challenge is, this report was done by the government. The government also controls the Special Branch of the police, which is believed to be responsible for the abduction of Raymond Koh. So how much truth is going to be in this report?” Nettleton says.
“Even in presenting the report in court, one of the commissioners — who was part of the commission that prepared the report — said it was the first time he’d read it. Yet he was one of the commissioners that signed off on the report. It’s like, ‘How did you sign off on a report that you hadn’t read?'”
Ethnic-based persecution
The Koh abduction is one example of the persecution Christians face in Malaysia.
“Your ethnicity in Malaysia really determines the type of persecution you face, the amount of persecution you face,” Nettleton explains.
“If you are ethnically Chinese, you can be a Christian. If you’re ethnically Indian, you can be a Christian. The government doesn’t have a problem with that. But if you are from the Malay tribal people, you are a Muslim. In the eyes of the government, you are a Muslim; you will always be a Muslim; no one should talk to you about not being a Muslim.”
Pastor Raymond Koh, Susanna Koh, and their family. (Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA)
An ethnic Malay who converts to Christianity is at risk of breaking the law and being punished under Sharia law. Those involved in gospel work are also at risk. In the case of Pastor Raymond, he was suspected of sharing the gospel with ethnic Malay people, although that was not what he was doing.
The court will continue hearing the Koh case on Monday, October 21st. Pray for truth to be revealed.
“I hope that people will continue to pray for Susanna and for her family as they try to get justice, as they try to get answers,” Nettleton says.
Header photo: Capture of Raymond Koh and his wife, courtesy TheStar.com.
