Crimes That Shook The Nation A Gruesome Trip Down Memory Lane

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Crime stories in Malaysia are usually relegated to newspaper archives or the recesses of the Internet, and often the circumstances surrounding these crimes are only remembered by a small number of people
But the book "Malaysian Murders and Mysteries: A century of shocking cases that gripped the nation" by Martin Vengadesan and Andrew Sagayam aims to be a compendium of the most notorious cases in Malaysia within the last century
A total of 42 cases starting from the murder of British colonial officer JWW Birch in 1875 all the way to this year's Kuala Koh measles outbreak are recorded in the 233-page book
"Actually, the initial idea came from the writer-director Amir Muhammad

"He suggested that it would be nice to have a compendium of all the famous cases that were headline news at the time, partly due to the fact that a lot of urban legends spring up afterwards and it would be nice to compile all the facts together," Vengadesan told Malaysiakini in an interview
Sagayam, who was a crime reporter, said Vengadesan was the one who approached him with the idea to write a compilation of crime cases that shook the nation
Kuala Koh"First, we sat down and talked about all the famous and notable cases reported in Malaysia that we have read and had knowledge of. We wanted to know if we had enough material for a proper book
"Besides co-writing the book, my role was also as a consultant based on my working experience in the crime desk and courts for over 20 years
"Of course, there are many cases in the book that I had covered as a reporter, on which I shared my experience in handling and covering those cases mentioned in the book," Sagayam said
The authors decided to focus on cases that had a certain level of notoriety as well as those which had experts who were able to shed light on the cases
"At the same time, we couldn't include those cases which are still part of ongoing trials, for example, that of the murder of deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais
"We began the book quite some time ago and the first half of the book was vetted by the late Karpal Singh (below)
"He advised us what to focus on from the legal aspect and there were two cases that we had to drop based on his advice," Sagayam added
The book, released today, is the product of many years of research by the two authors, Vengadesan and Sagayam, both of whom are now part of the Malaysiakini team
The two spent those years talking to anyone who was an expert in their field, Vengadesan said, be it historical, legal, forensic, news reporters or former cops
Some of the experts interviewed for the book include the late historian Khoo Kay Kim, ethnic studies professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin and psychiatrist Dr M Mahadevan, who analysed notorious gang leader Botak Chin before his trial
Going through so many cases, Vengadesan said though all of them were intriguing, one of the cases he found the most fascinating was the Batang Kali massacre of Dec 12, 1948
"I think the Batang Kali massacre was fascinating because we returned there more than 60 years after the event and talked to the survivors
"It was obvious that they had lived their lives with these harrowing memories haunting them," Vengadesan said
Another case which personally affected him was the death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock (photo), who he said was a personal friend who had consulted him about making the move from journalism to politics
"I can't stop contrasting the image in my mind of the real-life Teoh talking to me and the harrowing photo taken of him after he fell to his death," Vengadesan said
Both Vengadesan and Sagayam said they were also most upset by those cases that involved children
"The ones involving children were the most heartbreaking ones, like Balasundram and Nurin Jazlin," Sagayam said
Vengadesan was also surprised by how quickly "facts become tied up with myth", such as with the infamous case of Mona Fandey, where Malaysian superstition got mixed in with the facts of the case
He also noticed a common thread in many of these cases - that the truth gets covered up very often
"At times, we are amazed at how things can remain a mystery. The fate of the missing MH370 plane is one clear example. Was it covered up? And if so, why?" Vengadesan asked
Meanwhile, Sagayam said he was surprised that no Malaysian publisher wanted to publish their book. In the end, Singapore-based Marshall Cavendish publishing house took on the task
The book comes out today (Nov 12, 2019) and there will be a meet-the-authors session on Nov 16 (Saturday) at 2pm at the Popular bookstore in Ikano Power Centre shopping mall and another one on Nov 17 (Sunday) at 2.30pm at the Times bookstore in Bangsar Shopping Centre. - Mkini

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