Witness: Rightwing Islamist groups threatened Pastor Koh in 2011

A court witness testified that rightwing Islamist groups threatened Pastor Koh 12 years ago, following a Jabatan Agama Islam (Jais) raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

In his witness statement filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Harapan Komuniti member G Sri Ram contended that the threats came after Jais visited a dinner hosted by the NGO at the church on Aug 3, 2011.

Sri Ram pointed out that Koh - whom he befriended in 1977 - headed Harapan Komuniti prior to his disappearance on Feb 13, 2017. The NGO is involved in social and charity work amongst marginalised and underprivileged communities.

The witness recalled that around 10pm on Aug 3, 2011, about 16 to 20 Jais and police officers marched into the Thanksgiving and fundraising dinner, took videos and photographs, and jotted down the particulars of around 20 Malay guests that were present.

“It was blown out of proportion. Because of the publicity, people assumed a lot of things, and from August until October 2011, Raymond Koh, his family, Harapan Komuniti, and DUMC church leaders were targeted by rightwing Islamist and radical groups, politicians, and bloggers, with calls for action against them in the name of Islam,” Sri Ram claimed.

The witness’ testimony is to back a lawsuit by Koh’s wife Susanna Liew, who is seeking for the police to reveal the missing man’s whereabouts.

Sri Ram used to testify in the Suhakam inquiry, which on April 3, 2019, concluded that Koh’s abduction was an enforced disappearance that involved the Special Branch from the police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.

The 63-year-old witness contended that following the Jais visit to the church, Harapan Komuniti continued to receive threats.

Sri Ram said this led to the then minister in the prime minister’s department (Islamic Affairs) Jamil Khir Baharom revealing that Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) was investigating the NGO for alleged proselytising of Muslims.

He claimed that following the Selangor Sultan’s decree on Oct 22, 2011, that nobody was to be prosecuted in relation to the Aug 3 incident, a rally called ‘Himpun’ took place and was touted as an “anti-apostasy” demonstration.

The witness said that the last time he saw Koh was on Jan 8, 2017, at Plaza Jelutong, Shah Alam, and that he found out about Koh’s disappearance via a message sent within a pastor fellowship WhatsApp group around 8pm on the same day of the incident.

Sri Ram said that on the night of Feb 14 2017, he went to the Kelana Jaya police station to assist the investigation into Koh’s disappearance.

The witness said he found it strange that investigating officer Supari Mohammad’s questions “went around in circles”, giving him the impression that the police officer seemed to be trying to obtain evidence against Koh rather than probing the abduction.

Sri Ram told the civil court that he believed Koh was actually abducted by the police. He claimed that the pastor showed him websites that outwardly threatened Koh and his family following the DUMC incident.

According to Sri Ram, the threats continued even after the Selangor Sultan decreed no further action in the investigation against Harapan Komuniti.

Meanwhile, during open-court proceedings before judge Su Tiang Joo, senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid questioned the validity of Sri Ram's entire testimony, labelling them as "assumptions".

However, despite the grilling by the legal representative for the police and the government, the witness reiterated his belief that it was the police who abducted Koh.

“I put it to you that the abduction was not by the police, but it was by (members of the public) who were dissatisfied with Koh due to the Christianisation (of Muslims) issue,” Nurul Farhana said.

To that, Sri Ram simply responded with, “I disagree”.

The trial before Su resumes tomorrow.

Counsel Jerald Gomez acted for Liew.

Over a week after the DUMC incident in August 2011, a brief video recording of the Jais visit made its way online.

Jais has denied that the unannounced visit was a raid, saying it was merely an "inspection" visit after it received a tip-off that Muslims were present at DUMC's ‘buka puasa' and thanksgiving ceremony.

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