‘I hope Pastor Koh is safe’
COMMENT Raymond Koh Keng Joo’s son is concerned that his father was kidnapped to be murdered. I beg to differ.
While inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has urged the public not to speculate, since there are no answers forthcoming the public cannot help but guess at what happened.
Such abductions here in Malaysia have only happened in recent years. While I am with Khalid on his instruction to Selangor cops to update Koh’s family on the investigation, the police should solicit the help of the public and look for more clues.
And a hypothesis or speculation is necessary. After all, any investigation, whether scientific or criminal, has to begin with a simple hypothesis based on the facts.
Even the police have to construct a hypothesis and decide if the truth is in the hypothesis after further investigation is carried out. Khalid cannot stop members of the public from expressing their concerns over the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh.
Looking at different angles
On further discussion with Koh’s son and viewing the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage first-hand, I am convinced that the abduction was professionally executed, well-synchronised and efficient.
It cannot be the work of some rabble-rousers or terrorists. Unless the operatives are well-rehearsed in their role, the job could not have been done in just 42 seconds.
What came across as very obvious to me, as I pointed out to Koh’s son, is that the ‘operatives’ in the abduction case did not come in different shapes and sizes.
They appeared to be slim and fit for the job, suggesting that they could have been specially selected for the job. The colours of the vehicles also suggest that there is uniformity.
The SUVs are black and the Proton cars are light-coloured, another hint that they belong to some well-funded organisation. If any individual were to own this fleet of vehicles, it would have cost at least half a million ringgit, with the amount of training and rehearsal involved.
The masked men involved in the operation would have to be engaged and properly trained in order to carry out the job with great precision. The degree of sophistication of the abductors is hard to dispute.
Modus operandi
The incident involved three black (dark-coloured) SUVs. One SUV overtook Pastor Koh’s vehicle, while another tailed from behind. A third SUV was on the right side of the road against the oncoming traffic.
When all three SUVs stopped, Pastor Koh’s silver Honda Accord was boxed in by the three SUVs at 10.31:43am.
A light-coloured Proton followed from behind, tailed by two motorcyclists and a second Proton car, from which a passenger alighted to direct the unsuspecting driver of a Myvi trying to overtake from behind.
As soon as the first Proton stopped, the two motorcyclists rode ahead of the stopped vehicles. The incident happened at Jalan SS4B/10 which is a rather quiet, two-way street.
The motorcyclists’ job was therefore obviously to direct traffic coming from the opposite direction as one of the SUVs was on the right side of Pastor Koh’s car.
When the Myvi driver wanted to overtake the second Proton, one of the men got out of the Proton to instruct the driver to reverse. This was followed by one of the motorcyclists.
Everything was very well-rehearsed! By 10.32:25am, the abduction drama was over. It was very much like watching ‘Mission Impossible’...
COMMENT Raymond Koh Keng Joo’s son is concerned that his father was kidnapped to be murdered. I beg to differ.
While inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has urged the public not to speculate, since there are no answers forthcoming the public cannot help but guess at what happened.
Such abductions here in Malaysia have only happened in recent years. While I am with Khalid on his instruction to Selangor cops to update Koh’s family on the investigation, the police should solicit the help of the public and look for more clues.
And a hypothesis or speculation is necessary. After all, any investigation, whether scientific or criminal, has to begin with a simple hypothesis based on the facts.
Even the police have to construct a hypothesis and decide if the truth is in the hypothesis after further investigation is carried out. Khalid cannot stop members of the public from expressing their concerns over the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh.
Looking at different angles
On further discussion with Koh’s son and viewing the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage first-hand, I am convinced that the abduction was professionally executed, well-synchronised and efficient.
It cannot be the work of some rabble-rousers or terrorists. Unless the operatives are well-rehearsed in their role, the job could not have been done in just 42 seconds.
What came across as very obvious to me, as I pointed out to Koh’s son, is that the ‘operatives’ in the abduction case did not come in different shapes and sizes.
They appeared to be slim and fit for the job, suggesting that they could have been specially selected for the job. The colours of the vehicles also suggest that there is uniformity.
The SUVs are black and the Proton cars are light-coloured, another hint that they belong to some well-funded organisation. If any individual were to own this fleet of vehicles, it would have cost at least half a million ringgit, with the amount of training and rehearsal involved.
The masked men involved in the operation would have to be engaged and properly trained in order to carry out the job with great precision. The degree of sophistication of the abductors is hard to dispute.
Modus operandi
The incident involved three black (dark-coloured) SUVs. One SUV overtook Pastor Koh’s vehicle, while another tailed from behind. A third SUV was on the right side of the road against the oncoming traffic.
When all three SUVs stopped, Pastor Koh’s silver Honda Accord was boxed in by the three SUVs at 10.31.43am.
A light-coloured Proton followed from behind, tailed by two motorcyclists and a second Proton car, from which a passenger alighted to direct the unsuspecting driver of a Myvi trying to overtake from behind.
As soon as the first Proton stopped, the two motorcyclists rode ahead of the stopped vehicles. The incident happened at Jalan SS4B/10 which is a rather quiet, two-way street.
The motorcyclists’ job was therefore obviously to direct traffic coming from the opposite direction as one of the SUVs was on the right side of Pastor Koh’s car.
When the Myvi driver wanted to overtake the second Proton, one of the men got out of the Proton to instruct the driver to reverse. This was followed by one of the motorcyclists.
Everything was very well-rehearsed! By 10.32.25am, the abduction drama was over. It was very much like watching ‘Mission Impossible’.
My gut feeling
I do not know who would be involved in such an abduction, but I suspect that the operatives were nothing less than a group of highly-trained personnel who have rehearsed well for the abduction job.
My gut feeling tells me that Pastor Koh is therefore in safe hands. He was not abducted to be killed, but based on the allegations that he was involved in proselytisation six years ago, it is more likely that they are trying to gather information from him.
I am of the opinion that some of these rumours have been proven wrong; otherwise, he would have been arrested and prosecuted six years ago.
With this, I hope the police will carry out its investigation professionally to ensure the speedy return of Pastor Raymond Koh. His family is praying and awaiting his return every minute of the day.
On the flip side, if he is harmed, it will add to the list of people being cruelly murdered in Malaysia. With Pastor Koh’s abduction becoming known worldwide, this will mar the country’s image even further especially when there are already a number of mysterious deaths. I hope we do not come to this stage.
My observations are up to here, and I emphasise here that I do not have a conclusion as to who could have been the abductors; only the police will have the means to carry out a thorough investigation which will eventually bring Pastor Koh back to safety.
STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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