Perhaps one of the most sensational and unusual cases
of modern times in the Far East reached its conclusion on November 2nd, 2001
when Maznah Ismail, her husband Mohd Affandi Abdul Rahman and their 31 year old
helper, Juraimi Hussin, were hanged at Malaysia's Kajang Prison on the
outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
Maznah was better known as Mona Fandey, which was her
stage name, when she performed as a pop singer and water ballet dancer in her
younger days. At her death, she was 45 years old, while her husband was a year
younger. When her earlier career ran out of steam, she and Affandi made a
living as witch doctors and were known locally as "bomohs." Belief in
the powers of witchcraft is not uncommon among superstitious Malays, and they
were able to attract a high class clientele which included politicians.
THE CRIME
In July 1993, an assemblyman for central Pahang state,
Datuk Mazlan Idris, had approached Mona for supernatural help to boost his
political career and climb the party ladder. He was persuaded by the couple to
take part in a ritual in which he was to lay on the floor with his eyes closed
waiting for the money to "fall from the sky." No money fell,
instead it was the blade of an axe. Idris was decapitated and then dismembered
and partially skinned. His body was found cut up into 18 parts and buried in a
hole near Mona's home in the state of Pahang, about 130 kilometres northeast of
Kuala Lumpur.
Mazlan was reported missing on July the 2nd,1993 after he had withdrawn 30,000
ringgit (then US$12,000) from a Kuala Lumpur bank. The day after the killing,
Mona went on a shopping spree in Kuala Lumpur, and later bought herself a
Mercedes-Benz and had a facelift. When questioned, Juraimi made a statement to
the police which led to the discovery of Mazlan's remains. Unsurprisingly, Mona
and husband immediately became the prime suspects.
THE TRIAL
Mona, Affandi and Juraimi were tried before Judge
Datuk Mokhtar Sidin sitting in the Temerloh High Court in 1995, charged with
murder under Section 302 of the Malaysian penal code, a crime which carries a
mandatory death sentence.
The trial was a media sensation. Mona and Affandi were an attractive couple in
their late 30's accused of a gruesome, voodoo related murder. Mona had a
penchant for wearing expensive outfits to court each day. Unlike most people on
trial for her life, she always had a smile for the media and seemed to revel in
the attention. The picture right shows Mona and Affandi being taken to court.
The case lasted 65 days and heard evidence from 76
witnesses. The prosecution told the court that money was the motive for the
killing and pointed to the shopping spree, the facelift and the Mercedes.
Juraimi, testified against Mona and Affandi and revealed the gruesome details
of the murder. It was alleged by the prosecution that Mazlan had been killed
between 10 p.m. on July the 2nd and 12 midnight on July the 18th, 1993, in
Kampung Peruas, Ulu Dong, Raub in Pahang state. His body was found on July
22nd, 1993, buried 1.8m beneath the storeroom of an uncompleted house and
sealed over with a concrete cap.
Affandi, in his defence, said Mazlan owed him two million ringgit ($526,000)
for a "magic cane," talisman and a traditional hat said to have
belonged to former Indonesian president Sukarno. Mona testified that she also
gave talismans and charms to several other UMNO politicians to boost their
popularity with the electorate.
It only took the 7 member jury just 70 minutes to reach a unanimous verdict of
guilty against all three defendants. Affandi and Mona smiled when the foreman
of the jury delivered the verdict on the 9th of February 1995. Gulam Mustaffa
Nadar Ali Khan, who represented Mona and Affandi, was invited to offer
mitigation but declined and said they would be lodging an appeal. Juraimi's
counsel, Karpal Singh, told the court that his client was only 24, unemployed
and of low intelligence.
The judge then asked them if they had anything to say before he passed sentence
and Affandi and Mona replied that they would leave it to the discretion of the
court. He then passed the death sentence on each of them - that they be taken
from court to a recognised prison and later be hanged till they were dead.
After hearing her sentence Mona said, "I am happy and thank you to all
Malaysians." She was photographed smiling as usual as she was led from the
court to prison.
Their appeals were heard by the Chief Justice of the
Federal Court, Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin, the Chief Judge of Malaya, Datuk Wan Adnan
Wan Ismail and Federal Court Judge Datuk Dr Zakaria Yatim in the Federal Court,
Malaysia's highest court sitting in Kuala Lumpur. The appeal process had
started in June of 1998 but then had been adjourned until 1999 after legal
arguments on the admissibility of Juraimi's statement to the police which led
to the discovery of Mazlan's body. On the 13th April 1999, all three appeals
were dismissed and the death sentences upheld. In April 2001, the Pardons Board
turned down their pleas for clemency leaving the way clear for their
executions.
THE
EXCECUTION
The hangings were set for dawn on Friday, the 2nd of
November 2001 in Kajang Prison. On the previous day, Mona and Affandi were
allowed an8 hour visit with about a dozen members of their families. It was
reported that they spent their last hours advising their children from both
their own marriage and their previous marriages to "grow up to be good
people" and also told their children "jaga diri baik-baik" (to
take care of themselves well). A senior Prisons officer had said there was a
lot of crying and hugging as they spoke to their children and family for the
last time. It was also reported that Mona had said she would never die just
before she was executed. It is not known what she meant by that.
It is normal practice in Malaysia for condemned prisoners to be given the food
of their choice for their last meal, however, this offer was declined.
Apparently, according to prison sources, they were very calm, saying very
little and requesting nothing in their last hours.
Before dawn on the Friday morning, the trio were each
handcuffed and hooded in their holding cells adjacent to the execution chamber
and then led to the gallows with its 3 British style nooses dangling from the
metal beam. On the trap, their legs were strapped and the nooses adjusted round
their necks. At 5.59 a.m., the drop fell and the three of them plummeted down.
The execution would have been witnessed by a small number of guards and
officials and the prison doctor. The press and the general public are excluded.
One official told the afternoon Malay Mail newspaper that they expressed no
repentance at the end. "They didn't say anything, they were calm - just
like those who accept that they are going to die." The executions were
formally announced later in the morning by a spokesman for Malaysian Prisons
Department. Jamil Razif Kassim told reporters, "All three have undergone
their sentence as of this morning."
The bodies were left hanging for an hour before being taken down for autopsy
and then burial. Mona and Affandi were buried in a cemetery in Kajang later in
the morning, while Juraimi was buried in his hometown of Port Klang, in the
Telok Gong Muslim cemetery that afternoon.
After the executions, Mazlan's widow, Datin Faridah
Zainuddin, told reporters that she could finally bury the past behind her and
said she hoped now to carry on living her life with her children without the
painful memories.
