Arrest of kidnap suspect raises more questions than answers 

Man held over pastor’s abduction after demanding ‘RM30k ransom’

Odin Tajué: Honest pastors are not rich. The pastor’s family could afford only RM10,000 to pay for information on the abduction. But their supporters have chipped in, and the reward came up to RM100,000.

Here we have someone supposed to be from the abduction party asking for RM30,000. They must have known that RM100,000 is available. Why asked for RM30,000?

Something is definitely not right here. They went through all that stop-and-grab operation for RM30,000? No, Selangor police chief Abdul Samah Mat, something is definitely odd here.

Unspin: The detained suspect is most likely an opportunist who was trying to take advantage of the situation.

Why would anyone want to kidnap a pastor for ransom knowing full well that pastors, in general, are not the wealthiest people on the planet?

PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police) should start by searching the JPJ (Road Transport Department) database for owners of black SUVs of that particular model. There are not many black SUVs of such type on the road so one can assume that there are not many registered owners of such vehicles in the JPJ database.

Once you have the JPJ list of black SUVs, you can narrow down to those owners who might have a motive – most likely religious in nature – to kidnap pastor Raymond Koh. Thereafter, you can interrogate the “prime suspects” until you get to the bottom of it.

Whatsup: A full military-precision ops to kidnap a pastor, of all people, for just RM30,000? Whose sick mind planned this? Let’s pray it’s not a practice run.

Hplooi: We will have to wait and see how this will play out. Let’s examine the possibility of “Yes, this is a straight ransom case”.

Con – (1) The abduction was on CCTV (a wild card not foreseen by the players) in a military-style operation with a posse of more than 10 which militates against this argument.

(2) And why ransom note only now (more than two weeks after the kidnapping)? The ‘geng culik’ (kidnap gang) would have (almost immediately) issued a ransom note with warning not to contact authorities. The longer this is delayed, the riskier it becomes.

Pro – (1) Perhaps the kidnap gang comprise ex-military personnel? That would explain the military-style abduction. This would be disturbing, if true. (2) Or perhaps the kidnap gang had an internal argument and that’s why ransom note was so late?

The clincher would be, how the good pastor comes out at the end (because he will bear personal witness).

Roar For Truth: Indeed, RM30,000 is not sufficient to maintain the lifestyle of the more than 10 men team and vehicles used for the abduction.

PM: We will do all we can to ensure safe return of M’sians in N Korea

Negarawan: “This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” said PM Najib Razak.

Malaysia is also holding North Koreans hostage, which is clearly against international law. Does Najib think that the law does not apply to him, as in the alleged money laundering activities behind 1MDB?

It might work for him within Malaysia, but certainly not on the international stage.

Telestai!: Malaysia obviously underestimated the crookedness of this rogue nation. All Malaysians should have been evacuated from North Korea before they declared that the North Korean ambassador is persona non-grata.

Surely Malaysia should have foreseen that its nationals will be at risk if things were to go south.

Anonymous #13291217: Just send the body to the North Korean embassy. What’s the big deal waiting for DNA when you don’t ask that from other foreign workers killed/murdered in Malaysia?

Unless you want some world recognition and attention and if so, it is no wonder the North Koreans said you are conspiring with their enemies.

RM2.6 Billion Turkey Haram: This is the foretaste of what we will get in dealing with a communist state and a mad leader. Yes, playing hard ball against such unreasonable leaders would be useless. North Korea is known to ignore threats from major powers, so would it relent to our threats? Not a chance.

Now is the time to use China’s good office to break the deadlock. It is the only country that has some influence over the North Korean president.

And stop the boastful claims like the one from the IGP (inspector-general of police) that we are willing to wait for five years for the embassy staff to leave. The less boastful talk, the better.

Ahbengkia: Indeed, it is really strange Malaysia has allowed the situation to escalate. Why take tough actions when our people are still in North Korea?

You think they care about us holding their people here in Kuala Lumpur?

Anonymous #44199885: Indeed, we should have thought things through before taking drastic action to expel the North Korean ambassador.

Humiliating North Korea has repercussions when we have our people there. They are a rogue nation that believe their people are expendable, unlike us.

They are an uncivilised lot which even China is having difficulty reining in. We should have tread more carefully by slowing down the investigations, while efforts were made to bring our people back.

Kangkung: This fight is not worth it. Just let the North Koreans go and then get all Malaysians hostages in North Korea safely home.

Picking a fight with this totalitarian terrorist nation will only endanger the lives of the Malaysian hostages.

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