Sometimes the truth stays buried

Malaysian Murders and Mysteries 

(A Century of Shocking Cases that gripped  the Nation)

Authors: Martin Vengadesan and Andrew Sagayam; 2019

This country has its many murders mysteries that could be a basis of many novels or even movies. Sadly, they just even up as conversation pieces at parties or as we group up for our daily fixes of sweetened aerated tea (teh tarik) at the Mamak's.

As most journalists in Malaysia are expected to be not too inquisitive but to act as mere scribes, we are intrigued when crime-reporters with their treasure trove of inside information decide to write a book about murders and mysteries. These stories hogged the newspaper headlines not too long ago. As the dailies were the only portal of information those days, most of us had to make a composite picture of crimes as it is reported or as court cases proceeded at a snail's pace. Besides that, there were tall stories told by individuals who seem to know everything about everybody and every incident. In Malaysia, however, these coffeeshop talks would eventually be proved to be true.

This short 230-odd page book gives an excellent rundown of many of 42 famous murders that occurred in Malaysia since James Birch's notorious death in Pasir Salak in 1875. Birch's assassination is viewed as the first evidence of resistance to foreign rule in the Malay Peninsula. In contrast, others look at it as frustration to loss of income as the British impose tighter controls on slavery. It ends with the 2019 mysterious deaths of the indigenous people of Northern Peninsular Malaysia. It could be classified as murder as the powers that be failed to preserve their traditional way of living and forgetting to include them in the wave of development.

Movie buffs would remember Batte Davis' 1942 film 'The Letter', which is based on a possible steamy crime of passion that happened on the grounds of Victoria Institution. The Batang Kali massacre where British troops mercilessly killed 24 unarmed villagers in the pretext of eradicating communist terrorist. As it was an event that occurred too long ago in history, the UK Courts refused to hold a public inquiry. Also happening during the Malayan Emergency Era were the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney and the trial of Lee Meng, a communist guerrilla. 

The mysterious disappearance of Jim Thompson is discussed. Many conspiracy theories surround his vanishing. In the heady decade of the 1970s, the IGP was assassinated, but to date, the case remains unsolved. That was also the time when Botak Chin @ Robin Hood of Sentul captured the headlines. 

In Malaysia's history, five aviation mishaps caught our attention - Tun Fuad Stephen's plane crash in Sabah; Tanjung Kupang crash where a Malaysian (not Japanese Red Army) was the hijacker; Ghazali Shafie's miraculous escape from a crashed Cessna plane in Janda Baik; MH370 disaster and MH17 slaying.

Forty over years after the slaying of a Miss Malaysia runner-up, Ms. Jean Perera Sinappa, her case remains unsolved. Politicians hit the daily headlines a couple of times in recent times for wrong reasons (as they often do). A Cabinet minister, Mokhtar Hashim, was found guilty of killing an assemblyman. Mazlan Idris, a UMNO politician, lost his life to the cruel antics of the nefarious witch Mona Fendy and her henchmen.

Before 1MDB hit our shores, the news of siphoning of money off the national coffers happened once before. Jalil Ibrahim was assigned to investigate the irregularities in the Hong Kong branch of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF). He paid dearly for the prodding. The real mastermind behind his killing was never identified.

In the late '80s, rumours were flying around that small communal violence in the Chow Kit area of Kuala Lumpur was hushed up. Little by little tiny details emerged; that an amok serviceman was out on a shooting spree avenging his dead brother; that his brother was clubbed to death by a royalty and how easily he was gunned down. It seems that it is not valid. It was a case of temporary insanity.

tête-à-tête with the author

Every now and then, particular news would grab the nation. In the 90s, a slew of cases of child abuse came to fore. The sad fact of Baby Balasundram, born to prostitute mother and drug addict father, gripped everyone. Baby Bala died without gaining consciousness but did spur the legislation of the Child Protection Act.

Besides that, the book also covers the activities of Mamak Gang, Bentong Kali, Al Ma'unah, conman extraordinaire, Elie Youseff Najem, and many more.

Many of the murders and mysteries remain unresolved. One wonders whether these cases were indeed thoroughly investigated, had succumbed to pressures from above, lost in the bureaucracy of the time, unskilful prosecution, or an all-accommodating crooked justice system. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.