Two very worrying trends in
Malaysia may have come together: the rise of religious intolerance and the use of
murder as a political weapon
The well-organized kidnap and
disappearance of a Chinese Christian pastor, Raymond Koh Keng Joo on Feb. 13 in
the middle of Petaling Jaya, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, was clearly driven by
his promotion of Christianity. His disappearance and the lack of any news or
ransom demand suggest he has likely been killed and his body disposed of. If
so, whether his corpse was blown up in the manner of Altantuya Shaaribu, the
pregnant Mongolian model and translator murdered by then-Defense Minister Najib
Razak’s security personnel, or in a drum of concrete like 1MDB investigator from
the Attorney General’s department, Kevin Anthomy Morais, or otherwise, remains
to be seen.
What is clear is that the broad
daylight morning kidnap operation was brazen and highly organized. Witnesses
and a video posted on-line reported that three large SUVs, two following cars
and two motorcycles were involved, with masked men holding up traffic, blocking
Koh’s car, seizing him and bundling him into one of the vehicles. Witnesses
reported that there were at least five abductors, who were driving black 4x4s,
and that one of them calmly filmed the incident. The operation of less than a
minute took place just 100 metres from a police complex.
Despite the evidence of witnesses
and the video, the police have made no progress either in identifying the
kidnappers or tracing the victim. Koh’s family has offered a RM100,000
(US$22,500) reward for his safe return but there has been no response. It is
not clear how much effort an increasingly politicized police force has invested
in finding Koh and his kidnappers.
Koh was viewed by some Christian
groups as being too high-profile for his own good given the rise in Muslim
fanaticism in what is supposed to be multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation. In
2011 Koh was accused by the Selangor Religious Affairs Department of trying to
convert Malays to Christianity. However, the issue was dropped due lack of
evidence.
The kidnap and possible murder coincides
with the introduction into parliament by the head of Parti Islam se-Malaysia
(PAS) leader Abdul Hadi Awang of a long-delayed bill to increase the powers of sharia
courts which in turn could lead to the introduction of hudud,
seventh-century Islamic corporal punishments including amputating limbs of
thieves and stoning to death of adulterers, more likely, in this society,
adulteresses while their lovers walk free.
Although the bill is unlikely to
become law, the massive 1Malaysia Development Bhd. scandal, in which as much as
US$1 billion of public funds is suspected to have flowed into Prime Minister
Najib Razak’s bank account, and other scandals besetting the prime
minister are making him ever more susceptible to trading religious intolerance
for support at the polls, a scenario that the rural-based PAS is only too happy
to take advantage of.
Although an absurdly skewed
electoral system makes a nonsense of democracy in Malaysia, Najib has become
increasingly ruthless in his treatment of critics and is open to all methods of
keeping himself in office ranging from asking Chinese state companies to help
to bail out 1MDB and Muslim extremists who claim they represent Malay interests
but in practice like to impose medieval Arab forms and dress on Malays.
The fate of Koh is evidently meant
as a warning to non-Muslims. In the context of Peninsular Malaysia, where
Malays are deemed to be children incapable of making their own decisions about
religion, it is also a racist message to the non-Malay 30 percent of the
population: leave us to our intolerance or we will punish you.
In the longer run, it may also be a
message to the peoples of more tolerant Sarawak (where only 33 percent are
Muslims) and Sabah that they do not belong in a nation whose political leaders
rely on religious bigotry for their survival.
Asia Sentinel
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