Mona Fandey

Maznah started singing and dancing at a very young age.[1] Adopting her stage name Mona Fandey, she released her debut album titled Diana in 1987, with her husband Mohamad Nor Affandi Abdul Rahman endorsing and funding her career, booking several TV appearances, but her career hardly took off.[2] Following her failure as a singer, she and Affandi turned to practicing witchcraft, and is said to have attracted high-profile clients, including politicians from UMNO.[1]

Mona left behind a daughter from her first marriage named Mazdiana Affandi, with two step-sons from her marriage with Affandi.[3]

In 1993, the couple were approached by Mazlan Idris, a politician who was eyeing the position of the Menteri Besar of Pahang. The couple agreed by promising to give Mazlan a talisman comprising a tongkat and a songkok supposedly owned by the late first President of Indonesia Sukarno, with an offer of RM 2.5 million. In exchange, Mazlan agreed to pay RM 500,000 and giving them 10 land titles as guarantee for the remainder.[1][2]

Mazlan was reported missing on 2 July 1993 after withdrawing RM 300,000 from a bank in Kuala Lumpur and meeting Mona at Raub, Pahang. After the murder, Mona was reported to have been on a shopping spree in Kuala Lumpur where she bought a Mercedes-Benz and had a facelift.[4] It was alleged that the murder occurred between 10:00 PM and midnight on 18 July 1993 when Mona chopped his head off during a shamanistic ritual. His body was dismembered into 18 parts and buried in a hole at the storeroom of an unfinished house.[2] On 20 July 1993, police found Mazlan's body parts, after arresting the couple's assistant Juraimi Hassan in an unrelated drug offence and questioning him.[2] Mona, Affandi and Juraimi were arrested two days after the discovery of the body, and a highly publicised trial began.[5]

Mona is also suspected to have committed at least five more murder cases linked to disappeared individuals.[6][7]

The trio were tried in Temerloh, Pahang High Court by a 7-jury person (trial by jury was abolished from 1 January 1995). The High Court found all three of them guilty and sentenced them to death by hanging. Mona and the others filed appeals to the Federal Court and in 1999, the court dismissed their appeals and upheld the death sentence. Finally, the three convicts sought to obtain a pardon from the Pardons Board of Malaysia, their final chance of redemption. However, the board refused to give clemency. The three were given a last meal of KFC on the night before their execution. Mona, Affandy and Juraimi were hanged on 2 November 2001 at Pudu Prison. A prison official said the trio expressed no remorse at the pre-dawn execution.[8]

Throughout the trial, Mona exhibited eccentric behaviour including appearing cheerful, constantly smiling and posing for press photographers. She dressed extravagantly with bright and colourful designs on her dress.[4] She also remarked, "looks like I have many fans".[9] It was also reported that during her execution she uttered the words "aku takkan mati", meaning "I will never die", and was still calm and smiling.[10]

Mona Fandey gained more notoriety than she had when she was still a pop singer. There was wide local and even international media coverage and plenty of public interest. Anti-death penalty movements including Amnesty International voiced their opposition to the execution of the trio.[11] In 2002, Malaysian film director Amir Muhammad made a short film entitled Mona in his shorts series.

In 2006, a film by Dain Iskandar Said entitled Dukun was widely assumed to be based on Mona Fandey. The public screening of this highly anticipated film was constantly pushed back, most likely due to concerns relating to the contents of the film, the relationship with Mona Fandey, and the implications for her family.[12] However, the movie was leaked online through Facebook on early February 2018.[13] The movie was released in cinemas on 5 April 2018.[14]

The crime was covered in a chapter called Pop Singer Witch Doctor in the best-selling Malaysian Murders & Mysteries book written by journalists Martin Vengadesan and Andrew Sagayam.[15]

The Mona Fandey affair was one of the last jury trials to be conducted in Malaysia. The sensational nature of the case contributed toward the government's decision to discontinue the jury system. All trials by jury were abolished on 1 January 1995.

• Capital punishment in Malaysia