The disappearance of Joshua and Ruth Hilmy – baptising Muslims and threats
Joshua Hilmy, a Malay-Muslim who became a Christian, disappeared on Nov 30, 2016, six days after Amri Che Mat. He and his Indonesian wife Ruth Sitepu disappeared together. Their disappearance is being investigated by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
Yesterday, the Suhakam panel of inquiry heard from the owner of the house in Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya (PJ) where they lived and were last seen.
The witness testified under oath that he first met Joshua and Ruth when he attended a Sunday service in Butterworth in about November 2014. Ruth spoke during that service. Joshua and Ruth joined the congregation for lunch. The witness sat with Joshua and they chatted.
The interest of the witness in Joshua was piqued because he thought Joshua’s surname was Jamaluddin. He had mistaken Joshua Hilmy for the Joshua Jamaluddin who had been detained during Operation Lalang (in October 1987). The witness was also impressed by this Joshua.
Note: I found the reference to Joshua Jamaluddin remarkable because when I testified earlier, I spoke of DCP Awaludin Jadid’s speech on Nov 6, 2016 in which he mentioned Joshua Jamaludin’s apostasy from Islam – and his arrest under the ISA. Awaludin had lamented that the ISA was no longer available for use against apostates. (Amri was abducted 18 days after the speech; Joshua disappeared six days after Amri.)
That first conversation in November 2014 led to several others. The witness soon learned that Joshua and Ruth were gifted Bible teachers and Joshua was “good at teaching people how to follow Jesus.”
Once, when he came over to the home of the witness, Joshua spoke with the Hindu neighbour about Jesus. The conversation ended with the neighbour being baptized as a Christian, there and then, by Joshua.
The passion Joshua had for Jesus was expressed in many ways, including a book he wrote about the Sermon on the Mount. The witness said that in that book, Joshua outlines why he decided to become a Christian.
The father of the witness lived in a house in Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya (PJ). The house became vacant in late 2014. The witness asked Joshua if he and Ruth would like to live in it, rent-free. They accepted and moved in Dec 2014.
On Jan 1, 2015, the witness, together with his wife and children, stayed overnight with Joshua and Ruth in the house in Kg. Tunku. While there, in the evening, they watched Joshua and Ruth speaking about Jesus with a Malay, presumably Muslim, couple called Mirza and Alim.
That conversation ended in a baptism in the bathroom, under the shower. Joshua uploaded photos of the baptism on his Facebook page (with the permission of the couple). The witness believes the disappearance of Joshua is somehow connected with this baptism.
About a year after that baptism, Joshua told the witness, in a phone conversation, that he had received an email from Khairy Jamaluddin, the then Youth and Sports Minister, in which Mirza and Alim were named and in which Khairy said to Joshua “it’s better for you to leave the country.”
In May 2016, Joshua visited the witness at his home in the state of Penang. During this visit, the witness asked Joshua how he could be sure the “threat” was really from Khairy. In response, Joshua showed the witness emails, on-screen, between him and Khairy.
The witness saw that the first email from Khairy was “official:” the email address included “.gov.my” and was copied to the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He said in the email, Khairy asked that future email contact should be via a non-official email address.
The witness was questioned by the Suhakam panel about why he used the word “threat,” though he had said the emails seemed “friendly.” He was asked whether “friendly advice” might not be a better term.
The witness responded that the actions Joshua took after the email made him decide that the appropriate term is “threat.”
The witness said that after the emails – and the phone calls mentioned by an earlier witness – Joshua told him he needed to move. The witness was not sure, but he thought Joshua spent more time away from the Kg. Tunku home after the emails.
In response to a question from the panel, the witness estimated the number of times he thought Joshua had baptised Muslims. He said, based on his observations of photos posted by Joshua on Facebook, there must have been more than ten.
Note: I found the appearance of Khairy Jamaluddin in the narrative striking because I had said, in my testimony today, that Khairy had opened the “Youth Opposing Terrorism” (Seminar Belia Menentang Keganasan) seminar at which DCP Awaluddin had spoken about the “threat” posed to Islam by apostates and the need for police and NGOs to “handle it.”
Considering that conversion out of Islam is rare in Malaysia and that it is a sensitive issue, the panel asked the witness “does it bother you.” The witness responded “It’s people’s right. I feel it’s their right.”
Another question raised by the panel revealed something important about Joshua. The panel asked what “type” of Christian Joshua was, for example Anglican or Catholic – because in these streams of Christian faith, only ordained pastors (“Reverends”) can conduct baptisms.
The witness answered: “Joshua didn’t care about what the church teaches. He just did what he thought the Bible teaches.”
I left the hearing somewhat perplexed. The witness has nothing to gain and probably much to lose by the explosive testimony he gave today: he talked openly about Muslims being baptised and implicated a leading politician. Yet, I detected no guile in him. He was comfortable with the tension between “friendly email” and “threat.”
I wondered whether the police had taken a statement from this witness in the course of their “investigation” into the disappearance of Joshua and Ruth. Surely the police would have interviewed the owner of the house in which the disappeared couple lived and were last seen?
The Suhakam officer who led the questioning of the witness could not complete his task today. Neither the family lawyers nor the police observers cross-examined the witness, due to inadequate time. The hearing continues today.
Rama Ramanathan is an activist for Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Leaders Online.
