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 entertainment 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 prominent politicians, reflecting the cultural landscape explored in our survey of capital punishment in the British Commonwealth.
The Crime
In July 1993, an assemblyman for central Pahang state, Datuk Mazlan Idris, approached Mona for supernatural help to boost his political career and climb the party ladder within the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
He was persuaded by the couple to take part in a cleansing ritual in which he was instructed to lie on the floor with his eyes closed, waiting for money to “fall from the sky.”
No money fell—instead, it was the blade of an axe.
Idris was decapitated, then dismembered and partially skinned.
His body was cut up into 18 parts and buried in a pit near Mona’s home in the state of Pahang, about 130 kilometres northeast of Kuala Lumpur.
Mazlan had been reported missing on July 2nd, 1993, after withdrawing 30,000 ringgit (then approximately US$12,000) from a bank in Kuala Lumpur.
The day after the killing, Mona embarked on an extravagant shopping spree in Kuala Lumpur, later purchasing a luxury Mercedes-Benz and paying for a cosmetic facelift.
When questioned by detectives in an unrelated investigation, Juraimi made a detailed statement to the police which led officers directly to the discovery of Mazlan’s buried remains.
Unsurprisingly, Mona and her husband immediately became the prime suspects in the gruesome murder.
The Trial at Temerloh High Court (1995)
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—an offence carrying a mandatory death sentence.
The proceedings became an intense media sensation.
Mona and Affandi were an attractive couple in their late 30s accused of a gruesome, occult-related ritual killing.
Mona exhibited a penchant for wearing elaborate, expensive designer outfits to court each day.
Unlike most defendants on trial for their lives, she continually flashed radiant smiles for press photographers and appeared to revel in the international media attention.
The trial lasted 65 days and heard testimony from 76 witnesses.
The prosecution argued that financial greed was the sole motive for the homicide, pointing directly to the immediate shopping spree, the cosmetic surgery, and the purchase of the Mercedes-Benz.
Juraimi turned state evidence against Mona and Affandi, revealing the horrific sequence of events inside the ritual chamber.
The prosecution established that Mazlan had been killed between 10:00 p.m. on July 2nd and midnight on July 18th, 1993, in Kampung Peruas, Ulu Dong, Raub, in Pahang state.
His dismembered corpse was recovered on July 22nd, 1993, buried 1.8 metres beneath the storeroom of an uncompleted house and sealed under a freshly laid concrete slab.
In his defence testimony, Affandi claimed Mazlan owed him two million ringgit ($526,000 USD) for a “magic cane,” a talisman, and a traditional songkok hat purported to have belonged to former Indonesian President Sukarno.
Mona testified that she had provided similar talismans, charms, and spiritual services to numerous other UMNO politicians seeking to bolster their standing with the electorate.
The Verdict and Sentence
It took the seven-member jury just 70 minutes of deliberation to return a unanimous verdict of guilty against all three defendants.
Affandi and Mona smiled openly when the jury foreman announced the verdict on February 9th, 1995.
Gulam Mustaffa Nadar Ali Khan, defence counsel for Mona and Affandi, was invited by the bench to offer mitigating submissions but declined, stating that they would pursue a full appeal.
Juraimi’s counsel, the prominent Malaysian advocate Karpal Singh, pleaded that his client was only 24 years old at the time, unemployed, and of borderline intelligence.
Judge Mokhtar Sidin then asked the accused if they had anything to state before formal sentencing.
Affandi and Mona replied that they placed themselves entirely in the discretion of the court.
The judge then pronounced the mandatory death sentence on each of them: that they be taken to a lawful prison and there be hanged by the neck until dead, in accordance with the statutory execution methods.
Following the pronouncement, Mona addressed reporters in the courtroom:
“I am happy and thank you to all Malaysians.”
She was photographed smiling cheerfully as prison warders escorted her away to the cells.
The Appeals Process (1998–2001)
Their formal appeals were submitted to the Federal Court of Malaysia, the nation’s supreme judicial body, sitting in Kuala Lumpur.
The appellate bench comprised:
- Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin;
- Chief Judge of Malaya, Datuk Wan Adnan Wan Ismail;
- Federal Court Judge Datuk Dr. Zakaria Yatim.
The appeal hearings commenced in June 1998 but were adjourned until 1999 to resolve complex constitutional arguments regarding the legal admissibility of Juraimi’s initial police statement, which had disclosed the location of the victim’s remains.
On April 13th, 1999, the Federal Court dismissed all three appeals, affirming the murder convictions and upholding the death sentences.
In April 2001, the Pardons Board officially rejected their petitions for executive clemency, exhausting all legal remedies and leaving the death warrants to be signed.
Execution at Kajang Prison (02/11/2001)
The hangings were scheduled for dawn on Friday, November 2nd, 2001, at the modern Kajang Prison complex situated on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
On the preceding day, Mona and Affandi were granted a special eight-hour contact visit with approximately a dozen close family members.
Prison officials reported that they spent their final hours counseling their children from both their current marriage and prior relationships to:
“grow up to be good people”
and repeatedly telling them:
“jaga diri baik-baik” (take good care of yourselves).
A senior correctional officer observed that the farewell was marked by intense weeping and embraces as the couple spoke to their families for the final time.
On the eve of the execution, Mona reportedly made her famous final declaration:
“Aku takkan mati” (“I will never die”).
Under Malaysian correctional practice, condemned inmates are permitted to request a special final meal of their choosing; however, all three declined the offer.
Prison staff reported that the trio remained remarkably calm and composed during their final night, speaking very little and making no special requests.
Before dawn on Friday morning, the three prisoners were handcuffed and hooded in the holding cells adjoining the gallows chamber.
They were led onto the scaffold, where three British-pattern nooses were suspended from the heavy overhead steel beam, operating under the principles of the evolution of the long drop in the 20th century.
On the trapdoors, their legs were strapped and the leather-covered nooses adjusted snugly beneath their jaws.
At 5:59 a.m., the executioner released the lever, and all three plummeted simultaneously through the trap.
The triple hanging was witnessed exclusively by the prison superintendent, official witnesses, and the prison medical officer, with journalists and the public strictly excluded.
An official present at the execution informed the afternoon Malay Mail:
“They didn’t say anything, they were calm—just like those who accept that they are going to die.”
The executions were formally confirmed later that morning by Prisons Department spokesman Jamil Razif Kassim:
“All three have undergone their sentence as of this morning.”
In accordance with official procedure, the bodies remained suspended on the ropes for one full hour before being lowered for post-mortem examinations and formal certification of death.
Mona Fandey and Mohd Affandi were buried side by side in a Muslim cemetery in Kajang later that morning.
Juraimi Hussin’s remains were transported to his hometown of Port Klang and interred in the Telok Gong Muslim Cemetery that afternoon.
Following the execution, Mazlan’s widow, Datin Faridah Zainuddin, informed reporters that she could finally lay the past to rest and begin rebuilding her life with her children free from painful uncertainty.
Analytical Commentary
It appears extraordinary in modern times that an educated, prominent public figure such as Datuk Mazlan Idris would place faith in occult practitioners to advance his political career and personal wealth.
Yet deep-seated beliefs in the supernatural, traditional talismans, and bomoh rituals remain influential within segments of Southeast Asian society.
The homicide itself was driven by straightforward financial greed, and due to Mona’s immediate haste to spend the stolen money on luxury goods and cosmetic surgery, was uncovered with relative ease.
It remains debated what Mona intended when proclaiming that she would never die—whether she harboured hopes of an eleventh-hour reprieve from the King of Malaysia, or whether she believed her spiritual power would transcend physical execution.
A moratorium on executions had existed in Malaysia during the late 1990s, with no judicial hangings carried out between January 1996 (when three men were executed for narcotics offences) and November 2000.
In the intervening period, the historic Pudu Prison in central Kuala Lumpur was decommissioned, with capital punishment facilities transferred to the modern Selangor Central Prison in Kajang.
Mona Fandey became the first woman executed in Malaysia since Tan Bee Lee was hanged for drug trafficking in July 1994, standing alongside other high-profile female capital cases across the Commonwealth including Angel Mou Pui-peng in Singapore, Flor Contemplacion, and Mariette Bosch in Botswana.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Mona Fandey?
Mona Fandey (born Maznah Ismail) was a 45-year-old former Malaysian pop singer, dancer, and bomoh (witch doctor) who, along with her husband Mohd Affandi and helper Juraimi Hussin, was executed in 2001 for the ritual murder of politician Datuk Mazlan Idris.
What happened to Datuk Mazlan Idris?
Datuk Mazlan Idris was an assemblyman for Pahang who consulted Mona Fandey in July 1993 for supernatural charms to advance his political career. During a ritual in which he was told money would fall from the sky, he was decapitated with an axe, dismembered into 18 pieces, and buried beneath a concrete storeroom floor.
What was Mona Fandey’s famous final quote?
Shortly before her execution, Mona Fandey famously declared: “Aku takkan mati” (“I will never die”).
Where was the execution of Mona Fandey carried out?
Mona Fandey, Mohd Affandi, and Juraimi Hussin were executed simultaneously at 5:59 a.m. on November 2, 2001, on the three-man gallows at Kajang Prison in Selangor, Malaysia.
Who defended Juraimi Hussin during the trial?
Juraimi Hussin was represented by prominent Malaysian human rights lawyer and politician Karpal Singh, who argued that his client was young, of low intelligence, and acted under the direction of the couple.
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