SELVAKUMAR Peace John Harris will continue his testimony at a public inquiry into missing Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth Sitepu, today.

At the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry yesterday, Selvakumar testified that former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin had allegedly asked Joshua in emails to leave the country, purportedly over the latter’s act of converting and baptising Muslims.

Khairy last night denied all of Selvakumar’s claims.

Selvakumar is the fifth witness to testify at the Suhakam inquiry into the disappearances on November 30, 2016. The couple were last seen in Petaling Jaya.

Selvakumar owned the Petaling Jaya house where Joshua and Ruth stayed, and allowed the couple to live there rent-free.

Yesterday, he told the inquiry that Joshua had shown him emails, allegedly sent from Khairy, which started off in a friendly tone but ended with a warning to leave the country.

The Rembau MP, in his denial, said he had never sent any emails not had any form of communication with the missing pastor.

He also said he did not know Joshua, Ruth or Selvakumar.

Other witnesses expected to take the stand are Ruth’s siblings from Indonesia, Ram Ram Elisabeth and Iman Setiawan Sitepu.

Little is known about Joshua and Ruth. Two years after their disappearance, Ruth’s siblings lodged a police report in 2018.

Ruth’s family hail from the fishing village of Nambiki in northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

International human rights laws define enforced disappearance as when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organisation, or by a third party with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of a state or political organisation.

The Suhakam panel is chaired by commissioner Hishamuddin Yunus, assisted by commissioners Jerald Joseph and Madeline Berma. – March 3, 2020.