RedHanded - Episode 99 - Black Magic, Murder & Malaysian Pop: Mona Fandey

Episode Date: June 20, 2019

This week the girls are off to Malaysia to cover a case of money, murder, black magic and Malaysian pop music. Mona Fandey was a one hit wonder in the 80s - but when she realised that her singing career was going nowhere, she and her husband turned to black magic...which of course, ended in murder.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hannah.

I'm Saruti. And welcome to Red Handed, where this week we have a really, truly spooky bit for you. Because we're hopping over to Malaysia for some black magic, politics, money, power and fame. And shout out to our Malaysian listeners, because I know, contrary to popular belief, there are actually people in Malaysia listening possibly right now with their ears it's like when we cracked Mongolia that was a big day oh absolutely I think that's still my favorite place I think we live tour Mongolia I like the one guy that's listening in Suriname he's my favorite hello no one in North Korea yet well it's only a matter of time I wonder why so we're off to Malaysia and we're starting off in Kangar, which is in the Malaysian province of Perlis,

which is on Malaysia's northernmost peninsula. And the central character of our story this week was born in Kangar in 1956 on the 1st of January with the name Manza Ismail. Manza, like lots of little girls, wanted to be a pop star when she grew up. And for her, this dream would come true. Kind of. What did you want to be when you grew up? Can I guess?

Yeah. Uh, engineer. My father is an engineer and I have a brother and only two first cousins and all three of them are also engineers. So I am the only cousin that is not. The only child in both sides of our family who is not an engineer, basically. Yeah, it's good. It's good for me.

But no, no, no, no. When I was younger, I wanted to be a paleontologist or an archaeologist. I had a blog, remember? Oh, I'd forgotten about the blog. My dad is now like a computer man like a programmer so when I was little he was desperate for me to be into that so when he helped me start a blog when I was like seven or eight and it was about dinosaurs and my favorite dinosaurs was it called soranti looks at dinosaurs soranti's favorite dinosaur oh my god I'm gonna write a children's book that's what it'll be serenity's favorite dinosaurs it's a plot twist it's not a dinosaur at all it's actually a

micro pig well do you know that like um you know the ones that fly the pterodactyls not actually dinosaurs micro pigs they're micro pigs no what they fly they're not chickens they're not actually like a proper dinosaur chickens can't fly what am i talking about? But apparently dinosaurs had feathers. Yeah. I learned that from kids who I was teaching about dinosaurs. And they were like, no, the teacher, they had feathers.

And I was like, no, they didn't. Shut up. You don't know. They know me as a new teacher. They did. And also another fun fact I have, which isn't dinosaur related, but was quite fun, that sharks have been around longer than trees. Oh, yeah.

I think I knew that. I think I told you and you said you didn't like i think yeah i was hoping for more of a i thought i was hoping you'd forgotten and i could get the reaction back again but yeah no i do hate it i still hate it just as much i used to basically buy like every single like natural history book i could find at um secondhand bookshops and just sit and read them then i would tell my parents and then they'd be like yeah yeah whatever as in not dismiss, but they wouldn't believe me about the things I was saying because they just thought I was like lying about everything. So I don't know what that did to me, psychologically speaking. I'd be like, there are pink dolphins in the Amazon. They'd

be like, yeah, yeah, be quiet now. Be quiet, Sorrento. I'd be like, magpies feathers are really green. Okay. Okay, this isn't therapy time for me. We can get back to this. It's a whole separate show. So back to Manza and her dream of pop stardom. She started singing when she was young. And I've also read that she was a water ballerina, which I think might be a mistranslation of synchronized swimmer.

I want it to be like a literal translation. And that's what they call it in Malaysia. Water ballet. Maybe. It's possible. It's quite a good name. I read an article. They were like, oh, we can only assume that water ballet is like ballet underwater with scuba tanks.

I'm like, well, I think you're assuming wrong and you should watch the Olympics. That's the only thing you can assume. There are so many things you could assume before you get there. Literally even diving. I used to love watching the synchronized swimming. Did you? Like peacocks. Yeah, I loved it.

But I did loads of ballet when I was younger. So it was like my favorite. To help you get over your... Favorite thing. Your clumsiness. Oh yeah, my crippling dyspraxia, yeah. Again, not therapy time for us and our childhood traumas. Anyway, when Manda grew up, she met and married her biggest fan,

Mohammed Noor Afandi Abdul Rahman. This is the thing. We just need to get huge fans and then we can just marry them, Hannah. Don't invite that. Oh, no, we're not inviting that. That's how you get stalkers, my friend. Stalkers could be lovers. Lovers could be husbands.

I'm just fucking, I'm not even going to attempt to save you. On your own head, be it. It's your funeral. No, thanks. I'm full. Hannah. save you on your own head be it it's your funeral no thanks i'm full hannah um but most people called muhammad noah fandi abdul rahman um by his shorter names a fandi or fanday kind of sounds like fanboy it does i hadn't said it out loud until you just said it then and you're right it

does sound like fanboy maybe that's what we should call him instead. We'll call him Fande Fanboy for the rest of the show. Okay. Now, Fande Fanboy was very wealthy. And together, he and Manza started a quest to make her a star. And they had some limited success. In pursuit of this dream, Manza changed her name to Mona Fande. And that name would be the one that people remembered her by. And eventually, that name would send shockwaves throughout Malaysia. And we will be referring to her as Mona Fande for the rest of the show. And we're not totally sure where the Mona bit came from because her actual name is Manza. But I don't know. I guess obviously

she chose Fande from her husband. But like Mona, I guess it's just a very westernized name version of Manza. And it's quite close to Manza, manza i suppose yeah it's like a westernized manza i'm gonna go with that i did try googling like if there were any particularly like influential monas rocking around in the 80s yeah mona the vampire obviously mona the vampire um it just kept coming up with mona lisa which i wouldn't be surprised if that was where she got it from in 1987 mona recorded and released a nine track studio album called Diana One. That's such a it would what is it that's what I would such a tumblr name Diana One. I do I don't know. And just like a picture of her on the front of the album with a t-shirt with Princess Diana's

face on it. Well that may be because if we're in 87 Princess Diana would have been a big deal. Malaysia was she was in our heyday. Yeah. And Malaysia was part of the British Empire, wasn't it? I'm pretty sure. Probably. Everything was. The sun never sets on the British Empire.

The fun never stops. Okay. We don't know if it was actually because of Princess Diana, by the way. But this venture was funded entirely by her husband. And off the back of this album, Mona enjoyed a few TV appearances. You can watch one of these on YouTube and it really does look like 80s top of the pops. Mona had one reasonably popular song and maybe I don't have a particularly refined ear for Malaysian pop music but in my

humble opinion I think it's absolutely atrocious. She's got this really like whiny voice. I do think that is quite um like an Asian though. Like when you listen to a lot of like Indian music or anything like that, like it's all the women are also like high pitched and whiny. So I'm only coming from my very narrow experience of Asian music. So I don't know if this is the same in Malaysia, but maybe it's just not suited to our Western taste, no matter how much he changes her name to Monaa and calls it diana one yeah possibly because i think it's absolute dog shit anyway dining out on her one hit wonder mona carried on her pop star dream for a few years but after a while it became pretty clear to her and to a fandy that her music career had a very short shelf life so they both decided

to let the music die and turn their hand at something else, a much more sinister something else. Mona and Afandi decided that they would start practicing black magic and they would use that to climb the social ladder and accumulate enormous wealth. Because you know what they say, if you can't be a pop star, definitely, definitely, definitely be a witch. It's the natural career progression that's what i can only assume happened to all of the members of bewitched yeah it's um it's natural they're they're so alike i just think you know so many transferable skills swindling people out of money for a low quality product oh burn definitely no one's ever said that about podcasters i've got

a trap nerve in my neck guys i'm in so much. So I might be a bit more bitchy this episode than usual. So the important thing here is when we're talking about Mona and a Fandi slash Fande fanboy turning to black magic, what are we talking about when we're talking about black magic in Malaysia? The thing is, it's pretty difficult to find any information on this in English. But we did our best and here we go. Malaysia is a multi-confessional nation, which means that it's basically got lots and lots of different religions. But as of 2013,

61.3% of Malaysians categorize themselves as Muslim. So it is definitely the majority religion. Now the Quran expressly forbids the practice of black magic in any form classic religious suppression of the fun art of black magic i find but like everywhere on the planet the old ways live on that's like when we were in cuba and that guy was like um he said that oh the catholic church claimed cuba as its territory but actually 65 of cubans practice santeria absolutely but this is the thing it was like when i was in um indonesia yeah and went to North Sumatra. And when we were there, it was like the Catholic Church claims it as everybody there is Catholic. And it's like a big tick on the Catholic scratch off map of all the places they've conquered. But, you know, when we were there, we had these guys

show us around who were local there. And they took us to like all the places because there's lots and lots of like, you know, not urban urban legend that's the wrong word like folklore around cannibalism there and we were like is it like is it real did you did your ancestors really eat people or is that just like you know made up bullshit quote the rumors of our ancestors eating people is um has been much exaggerated they only ate a few missionaries and they deserved it and basically they were saying yes eventually we did convert to Catholicism, but they all completely practiced their old pagan, very, very paganistic religions. And we asked them, what if the Catholic church, how come they don't try to stop like your goat sacrifices and your drunken, you know, voodoo rituals and things like this? And they were like,

because if they tried to stop us, we would throw away the Catholic religion tomorrow. So it's just a way of, okay, you do what you want want you carry on with that but just if anyone asks when that census comes a knocking tell them you're catholic the catholics love a bit of cannibalism anyway i know part of the whole the whole deal i think it's just not missionaries it's just tiny little wafers isn't it yeah but it transfigures into the body and blood of christ it's not a symbol transubstantiation right that's the one yeah yeah and that's when my mum told me so when it happens right when the bread and wine turns into the body and blood of christ in church they ring this little bell and i asked my mom when i was a kid i was like what does the bell mean and my mom being a dirty prostitute was like it means it's nearly time to go home love it

yes mrs mcguire outstanding so yes if you did go to go to Malaysia and you were looking for someone practicing black magic, you would be more than likely sent to a BOMO. And a lot of people call BOMOs witch doctors, but that's not really technically correct. BOMOs practice Malay traditional medicine and not all of them practice black magic. This is quite a difficult one to sort of figure out. So I watched this documentary on BOMOs inonesia which is obviously not the same as malaysia but they're geographically close together and apparently there are two types of bomos according to this one man in this documentary who is indonesian and he said that there are good bomos who want to help you

and they will use only white magic and then there are bomos who don't give a shit about you and just want your money so they'll use black or white magic to get you what you asked for and from what i can gather bomos claim to be able to cure any sickness to relieve you from curses put on you by other bomos they can tell you if someone is following you they can make you fall in love and they can make someone fall in love with you and the bomo i saw in the indonesia bomo documentary used a knife on a string to tell the presenter that he had been cursed by two people he knew. And that was why he was seeing shadows out of the corner of his eye. Now, the most famous Malaysian Bomo attempt to locate the missing Malaysian airline flight,

which he claimed to be trapped between Earth and the spirit world. I mean, yeah, they still haven't found it. You can say what you want, can't you? Yeah. Where is that plane? I don't know. Why not? Why don't I know?

Why don't I specifically, Hannah Maguire of North London, know where the Malaysia airline plane is? I really, really, really want to know where that plane is. I do too. I've watched so many YouTube documentaries about... Document... Videos. YouTube videos about it.

You've watched so many flat earthers, is what you mean. No. No. I don't delve into that world. But yeah, how does the plane go missing? Anyway, that's one for another time. Now this ritual, which you can also watch on youtube included the cracking together of two coconuts some bamboo binoculars and three men

sitting on a little carpet who use a stick a walking stick to paddle through the air so legit i mean yeah it could be could be you know who am i to say it's not i mean it wasn't they didn't find the plane exactly there are what's that quote there are more things there are more things uh that exist in the other fucking out there are more things that exist in heaven and earth than in your philosophy yeah horatio something like that good shakespeare what's the shakespeare what's this definitely what shakespeare is from hamlet you now the raja Bomo also performed similar antics to his, like, carpet paddling through the air thing after Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated. And the guy is a real showman.

And in 2017, he admitted it. He claimed that he was ordered to perform the missing plane ritual, but he couldn't reveal who or where the order had come from. Now, the raja bomo also apologized for mocking islam and renounced his king of the bromos king of the bromos title did you just say the bromos king of the bromos too late it's gone it's gone and they've all got like those baggy vests on that like bros wear at the beach they do some magic to like get girls to like them. Done it.

Which is basically what bromos do. Absolutely. I want to be king of the bromos. Carry me around on a surfboard. Now, after he, you know, apologized for mocking Islam and renounced all of this and admitted that it was all a performance but couldn't say who had done it, he was too old, apparently, to be sent to prison. So instead, he agreed to six months religious training instead think i'd rather go to prison i was gonna say it doesn't sound that bad oh better than

prison just sitting around reading the quran all day for sure uh imagine prison in malaysia isn't somewhere you want to be no but um you probably would lose quite a lot of weight that's true you'd probably be doing a lot of fasting though if you're doing religious training so either way you're gonna drop a dress size. This is a good point. This is a good point. That's what I need. I can't hack it with legs, bums and thumbs. I need to be sent to a religious training camp for six months. Oh, my God. So further into my BOMO research, I read a blog post by a Western doctor who'd worked in Malaysia, and they called the BOMOs the bane of their life because the BOMos would tell patients that they needed to throw away

their western medicine and come to the bomos instead so in summary not all bomos are bad bomos mona and afandi were certainly bad bomos though but they were successful ones the married couple amassed an enormous wealth peddling their black magic rituals to Malaysia's rich and famous. They promised their clients wealth, love and success in their chosen careers. Why anyone would think that Mona could help them with their careers after she had failed so miserably at her own, I don't know. But it's entirely possible that black magic doesn't work on yourself. It's like life coaches. Oh my god, I was talking about this the other day.

My friend was like, would you ever consider a life coach and I was like well I'd rather go to a therapist honestly because they have to like get a degree. I also think you're going to a therapist and a life coach for very different reasons like I think a life coach is like I don't know maybe I just feel like my car's not big enough or maybe I'm not totally motivated in my job anymore. But yeah, I don't know. Are those people the people that you want to help fix your life though? That's my question. Don't know. No.

And now I'm scared that I'm going to get crucified by life coaches on Twitter. I reckon we might, you know. I reckon there are some of them listening. Tell us what your game is. I don't understand are you just like and please list your qualifications mini cult leaders just one person cults at a time let's see it's like a cult leader who doesn't want all the hassle of a like 24 7 job is what i think it is but anyway so in 1991 mona hit the headlines when she bought, get this, her very own private island in Thailand for 5.8 million Malaysian ringgit. I mean, Blackmagic clearly pays better than being a fucking pop star. Evidently, evidently Blackmagic pays more than one husband-funded studio album.

Now we know. The more you know. And that, if you're like not sure exactly how much that is, because yes, it's a bit confusing, that 5.8 million Malaysian ring, it translates to 1.4 million dollars, or just over a million pounds in today's money. That is outrageous. It's quite cheap for an island though.

It's got like a resort on it and stuff. It's not just like a jungle island. It's got like stuff. Yeah, I know. I was like, that's not outrageous for the price of what they bought it's outrageous that black magic paid for that right right right right i don't know what percentage of like so in my head i assume that they just spunked all of fandy's like original money on her studio album and they were like shit we've got to think of something else to make the money back but maybe he just had loads anyway this This is true. This is true. And they were topping it up with the Blackmagic money. We don't want to mislead everybody. We don't know exactly where that money came from. But they were successful in Blackmagic because like Hannah said, they were like, their clients were like

the rich and the wealthy and the famous in Malaysia. So yeah, I assume they paid them quite well. But whatever Mona and Mohamed were doing, it was working. Not only did they have an island, they also had a fleet of luxury cars, including BMWs, Mercedes and Jaguars. And they didn't just have one of each car. They had one of each model of each car. Seems excessive. Oh, it fully is. The couple also invested their millions in properties,

meaning that they owned mansions all over Malaysia, all in various states of construction. By 1993, our Black Magic buddies had their eyes on one politician in particular. His name was Datuk Maslan Idris, and he was an assemblyman in central Pahang state and a bit of a rising star. He had his eyes on the chief minister position. But it would seem that he might have had a touch of imposter syndrome because although his career seemed to be on the right track, he went to Mona and Afandi for help. Mona and Afandi were, of course, more than happy to help. They gave Datuk a staff, a songok and a talisman. I say gave, they sold it to him for 500,000 Malaysian ringgit, which is 94,000 pounds or nearly $120,000, which seems like quite big money for a hat and a stick.

Have I told you about when I went to the Philippines and I went to that witchy island? Yes, but tell the people what they need to know. It's so perfect. So I went to the Philippines on holiday and I was like, I'd watched this documentary that you can find. I think it's called Sikior Witch Island or something like that. But yeah, and the BBC had written a big article about it. Basically in the Philippines, they're big like killing this rumor down that this is an island full of witches because it's quite hard for Western tourists to get to and it's killing off the domestic tourism because people in the Philippines are super super super superstitious like very much so and just generally

quite scared of witches so I was like obviously I have to go to this witch island so we get there and it takes us like fucking two days on public transport like sleeping on fucking freight ships to get to this place finally get there and I like, I'm here for some witches. And there was nothing. There was nobody like at the port with a big sign that said like witches this way. And I was like, oh, so it's like properly underground here. So we went and we're staying in this like little guest house, like literally no other tourists there. We asked this woman that was running it, like, are there witches here? And she was just like, looked at us like we were fucking insane and just ignored the question. We walked around.

We went to this little shack on the beach where people were like doing karaoke, asked the locals. Everybody just laughed at us. So basically after two days of that, I was embarrassed to ask anybody anymore about the witches and where they were. Gave up. Then Filipino woman turns up at the guest house with her little boy who was probably about five or six. And she was like yeah I'm here to look for the witches and the thing is all the time until the point that we actually got to the island and we told other people in the Philippines that we were going there

they were like don't go there and I was like oh my god you're making me want to go there even more and were they like don't drink the water and they were like do not drink any of the water don't eat anything don't drink anything anyone gives you that and I was like oh my god you are making me so excited get there meet this woman and she was like straight up she was like so cool so like normal she was like I'm here to find the witches too my dad told me not to come here he told me not to drink the water and I was like that's what people told us fuck and then now she was like yeah so she can actually speak the language and she was like tomorrow let's go find some witches I was like yes so we go with her to the little like tuk-tuk stand all these like guys rush over to us and we're like oh so we want to go to San Antonio

which is like the central part of this island apparently that's where all the witches are not around the coast where we were staying and I not kidding you, all of the men just walked away, just like fled. And one guy gasped and another one left. He just walked off and left, like laughed and left. There was one guy left who clearly just really needed the money, needed the fare. So he let us get into his tuk-tuk, starts driving us up to San Antonio, which is up like an incline to the center of the island. His tuk-tuk broke down three times on the way there. The first time we all laughed it off, he laughed it off. Second time, he started to look a bit nervous. Third time, this guy's freaking out.

And it probably didn't help that I started to make like a little Blair Witch style documentary on my camera talking about how it was breaking down. Oh, you dick. I think I'll find it. I'll find it. I definitely will have it somewhere. And he couldn't understand what I was saying. just thought you know I was just like anyway we um got there finally got there and as we're driving into like the San Antonio area looking around the houses loads of people

with albinism really immediately recognizable because my cousin has albinism and I was like oh yeah like I recognize but so many people with alism. And I think it is like a bit of a sadly, like a bit of a taboo thing. I think they've been moved, like pushed out to live there. Like, you know, and it's the same thing in parts of Africa. You do see when children are born with albinism, they call them witches. And then they stopped at this house and he was like, this is the one. And we got out and he was like, right, so I'm leaving. I'm like, where do you think you're going?

You have to wait for us to come out. And he said, that wasn't the deal. This woman yells at him, my new Filipino friend. And he says that I will stay here 15 minutes and then I am leaving. Whether you're here or not. He was so scared. We went in. This woman's like proper witchy shit.

Like everything's like bones hanging up and all this. Then she hands me a cup of tea that she says is made with 19 different types of bark and obviously I drank it because it would be rude not to and I was thinking the whole time I was drinking it they told me not to even drink the water on this island and I'm drinking fucking 19 bark tea and then she basically said she could do like a ritual on us to tell our future or whatever so obviously I was like I'll go first so put me in a chair, lit a little bowl of fire underneath, threw all these herbs in it, put it underneath the chair and then chucked a blanket over me so only my head was still out.

So she was just like smoking me from the neck down. And the kid and the Filipino lady and my friend were just out watching. Then afterwards she basically was like, I just feel like you're very lost and you don't really know what to do next I was like I'm a 20 something year old girl traveling of course I'm lost and I don't know what I'm doing I was like that is such a fucking stretch anyway then she tried to like sell me some fucking bone necklaces and I didn't buy it I gave her some money because I was like don't curse me and then this is the really scary bit this kid the five six year old kid he was so chill the like two days i'd known

him by this point never threw a tantrum me and my friend were like he's so well behaved actually really liked this kid then i was like please to my friend and this new filipino woman one of you has to get in the chair and do the same thing because if she's done something to me i don't want to be the only person that this has been done to so she was like i'll do it she gets in the chair the woman puts the fire under puts the blanket around her neck. This kid fucking loses it. He starts screaming and crying and pulling the blanket. And I cannot tell you how chill he was for the two days until this point.

Didn't give a shit when it was happening to me. Screaming. His mum just took the blanket off, picked him up and walked out. And then we left. So yeah, I was the only one that had this fucking witchy ritual done. You're braver than me. I think I would have chickened out, you know. Well, she didn't seem.

It's all gone uphill since then. So maybe she helped me out. Maybe. Maybe I need to get my bum smoked by a Filipino witch. And if you would like to do that, I would very much recommend visiting the island of Sikihaw. I'm Jake Warren. And in our first season of Finding,

I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him.

This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me. And it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about.

Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was up. I hit rock bottom. But I made no excuses.

I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is the rise and fall of Diddy. Listen to the rise and fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last

fall, that was no protection. Claudian Gay is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On The Media. To listen, subscribe to On The Media wherever you get your podcasts. Back to the story at hand. So this rising star politician called Datuk has just bought a hat and a stick and a talisman from Mona and Fandi, and he's paid a shitload of money for it. That wasn't even the whole payment. Datuk handed over 10 land titles as a guarantee for a remaining payment

of 2 million Malaysian ringgit that he had promised to Mona and Fandi in exchange for their magic. So allegedly, this songok, which is the hat, once belonged to the former Indonesian president, Sukarno, who was overthrown. So it seems like a bit of a weird thing to give someone who wants to be a successful politician. But these items must have done something because Datuk was taken in by Mona and Afandi's Bomo magic and agreed to give them even more money. Datuk believed that Mona and Afandi could make him invincible. He was wrong.

They had quite the opposite idea. They didn't plan to help Datik achieve his political prowess at all. They were going to kill him and take his money. Well, what he had left after they had just sold him the hat, the talisman and the stick. It's so reminiscent of the Matamoros case. And if you guys haven't listened, go back and listen to it. We are now up to the 2nd of July 1993. Afandi and Mona are both in their 40s and living in a mansion with their assistant, Jamiri Hassan, who was 31 years old. Datuk, no doubt excited about

his upcoming political success, headed over to their house in Ulung Dong in the Rao province, which is about 120 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur. Now Mona had told Datuk that she would be performing a mandibanga ceremony to help him get up to the next rung of the ministerial ladder. A mandibanga ceremony is a flower bath. From what we can gather, it's exactly what it sounds like. A mandibanga ceremony can be used for all sorts of things, for good luck, to find love, or to get rid of, you know, all your bad vibes. Sounds innocent enough, right? But Mona had no intention of rubbing flowers on Datuk's body. When Datuk arrived at the house, he was invited in and asked to lie down on the floor. Then he was instructed

to close his eyes. He was obviously expected to bring his payment in cash. Datuk's banking records show that he withdrew 300,000 Malaysian ringgit, which is about $12,000, from his account before heading over to the Casa Mona. Mona then told Datuk to wait for, quote, the money to fall from the sky. And Datuk dutifully did all of the things that were asked of him and patiently waited for wealth to be bestowed upon him. Mona laid some flowers on him in an attempt to make it at least seem like she was doing what she said she would, but money did not fall from the sky. An axe did instead. Jirami, I think is how you say it. How did you sound? You did it well. Jirami Hussain. Let's go for that. Jirami Hassan, even.

Jirami, the assistant, brought down the axe onto Datuk's neck three times before it separated from the rest of his body. Then Mona, Afandi and Jirami cut Datuk's body into 18 precise pieces and pulled his skin off. Then Jirami took all of the body parts off to the storeroom near the house where he buried them and covered them in concrete. Then the trio ran off with all of Datuk's hard-earned cash to Kuala Lumpur where they spent it on yet another Mercedes Benz and Mona got herself a facelift. What a waste of money. Getting a facelift? No another car. Facelift fine. I'd have a facelift. It's not a good one if you look at the pictures of her she's a scary looking lady. With all that money as well well i want to know whether she like booked it before or she just worked

she just walks into a plastic surgeon's office and be like facelift please because she doesn't have long before the police catch up with her yeah she hasn't got long you're right hurried facelifts never good no but in korea like you don't like book to go to the doctors you just show up and wait so maybe you just show up maybe yeah the face one i don't know god i watched this thing the other day about like have you seen the lunch hour facelifts oh my god no it's terrifying it's like they basically put like some string through your face and it's like you know if you were going to like concertina if you just put a needle through like a bit of folded up material and pulled it and you would like be able to pull it taut it's basically what you do to your face is like put the stitches in behind the ear and put run them all the way down and then they

just pull it behind your ear and your face just goes and like pulls up weird right oh that is weird and the string just holds it in place and you can't feel it because they've just run it through like the top layer of your skin but you know do what you got to do yeah absolutely so while Mona's getting herself this facelift don't know whether it was a lunchtime one or a proper actually I think it must have been a proper one because a this is in the early 90s and b just look at her like you've just got to see it anyway so while she's having a grand old time with her face uh Datuk missed some party meetings on account of being very dead and in 18 pieces and having had his skin taken off. So on the 18th of July, a missing persons report

was filed by Datuk's wife. But nobody, including the police, had any idea where he had gone. He'd been gone for two weeks. I don't know what his home situation was like. Maybe he was on the road a lot as a politician. But if I went missing, I would really hope that someone would notice after a few days. Absolute tops. I reckon he just sounds like a bit of a rogue man though possibly his wife was just like oh it's been quite a while maybe i'll maybe she noticed the money was missing and then she was like i'm gonna report him now the police didn't need to wait for leads long because by complete chance three weeks after he had hacked datuk's head off with an axe jeremy was apprehended on a totally unrelated drugs charge and totally unprompted he confessed to the murder and dismemberment of datuk again really like the

matamoros case where everyone's just confessing left right and center and i don't know whether it's because his name sounds quite similar to jeremy or because he was an assistant or because he was apprehended on a drugs charge but in my head he's Jess from Peep Show. Jess from Peep Show. I know that the people love our Peep Show reference and also I went to Hastings this weekend and I love that somebody I love your like bang on trend perfect timing Peep Show DMs. I love it. Totally unprompted Jirami just confesses to the murder and dismemberment of Datuk. And Jirami possibly in an attempt to clear

his conscience took the police to the site where he had buried the body and the site was excavated but they didn't

find all of the 18 pieces leading some to speculate that the Bomo couple had eaten bits of the former politician.

But the thing is there's no proof of this it's entirely speculation. But if they didn't do it, where are the missing bits? Yeah, where are they? So after Jirami's statement, Mona and Fande were the prime suspects and they were wanted by the police. They were arrested on the 20th of July. Shortly after, Jirami, Mona and Fande

were all charged with murder. And in Malaysia, being found guilty of murder carries a mandatory death sentence. And quite interestingly, this case was the last in Malaysia to go through a preliminary inquiry before the trial. And this inquiry was ferociously covered by the press. So after the inquiry was over and done with, quite a lot of the same press came back to cover the trial, which began in September 1994. And lasted for five months. The prosecution called 59 witnesses and the defence called only

seven. It seemed weird that you would do like a full blown inquiry before the trial that is covered so extensively by the press. Yeah. No publication bans in Malaysia, it would seem. So it's just like, let's let's thrash it all out in the media, get it all out there there and then we'll have a trial. What? Yeah it does seem a bit funny doesn't it? Seems strange I don't know maybe somebody out there like knows a bit more about why because I guess like here even before a case goes to trial we do extensively cover it in the media like you'll read about a case before it goes to trial but what's the purpose of the inquiry I wonder? Probably why it was the last one they were like this doesn't work. this isn't working so it might not have worked but mona absolutely fucking loved it she showed up to court every day in these colorful suits and

smiled the whole time like she was at a press conference announcing a global tour crowds gathered every day outside the courtroom to watch her arrive and she bowed to them like she was a celebrity. Some of them screamed murderer and others shouted Mona I love you. I mean she got the fan she always wanted didn't she? Yes she did. Reportedly Mona referred to the crowds outside the courthouse as her fans. She loved all of the attention. She signed autographs and wrote philosophical notes about how to achieve inner peace through religion. She is a marketing genius, this woman. Absolutely is. She's like, I don't care how I get there. I'm just, I'm going to be famous. She's like the black magic Malaysian Kim Kardashian. Sex tape, black magic, whatever it takes.

She's grown on me a bit since she started getting people off death row, you know. Who, Kim Kardashian? Yeah. Mate, go for it, man. You want to be married to fucking crazy kanye west and live that life and do all that you know what go nuts go nuts kim all she's been waiting for is your permission i know you have it now you have my blessing go forth and whatever it is you do do that go forth and kardashian fame is all mona ever, ever wanted. And through murder, she had achieved her lifelong goal. Mona used this opportunity to freak out as many members of the public and press as she possibly could.

She looked at three journalists that had been at her inquiry and said, quote, You, you and you. I know you. Don't think I've forgotten your names.'s like when you're um trying to freak out like air stewards or like people who give you bad customer service and you'll be like what's your name and they're like and she's saying I remember I'm gonna put a curse on you because I know your name I haven't gone that far but I am like I'd like to speak to your manager you haven't been hexing air stewards that's's all I do. I know.

I put hexes on people who stand in fucking bike lanes. Anyway, that is all of observational comedy time that we have today. Back to this. Next week, we'll talk about airplane food. And bottled water. So Mona's, she's trying to be scary as shit and she's doing it on purpose. She knows everyone is scared of her. Everyone thinks she's a witch.

They take this shit pretty seriously in Malaysiaaysia and she's milking it for all it's worth it's like um richard ramirez when he drew the like little pentagram on his hand and was like showing it to people in the jury yeah yeah yeah absolutely now mona didn't stop pulling these stunts when she was in the courtroom either she called one witness a liar in a dialect that nobody knew that she spoke. Which I imagine must have been quite dramatic. Someone's in the stand already quite scared and she just shouts from the gallery in like this language no one is expecting. Exactly. And I'm pretty sure it was the original dialect of the witness.

So she's speaking to her in her own. For sure. That's scary. That is scary. Oh. Now she also in court offered to sing. And the judge told her that that was absolutely unnecessary. She thinks she's going to charm everyone with her nasally, whiny voice.

Of course. But, to a certain extent, her tricks worked. Everyone in the courthouse was scared of her. And it was reported in the press that loud groans rushed through the courtroom when the forensic expert took the stand to describe the way Mona had dissected Datuk's corpse. Some said that this noise could also be heard coming from the couple's house as they went about their witchcraft and wizardry. But I'm sorry to disappoint you, the noise was later explained to be the wooden benches in the courtroom making noise as everyone leaned forward to hear what the forensic expert had to say. Mona wasn't all smiles all the time. She did break her composure when a photographer accidentally bumped into her and she spat on him. The photographer, surprisingly I thought,

began to cry and ran off to the bathroom. And I think that shows you just how scared of Mona people were and how powerful they thought that she was. She was reducing fully grown men to tears with her spit. The whole jury, judge and the defendants went on a little trip together to the house where the murder had taken place. The house stood in the middle of nowhere with a gravel track leading up to it. So it must have been quite an ominous sight. And once inside the house, the party were met with a giant portrait of Mona that hung in the house. People who hang portraits of themselves in their own house don't hang out with them.

Paris Hilton's got one, which is lots of little portraits of her making up a big portrait of her face. Wow. Yeah. That's pathological. Yeah, well, it's in that documentary called The American Meme, where they're just like Paris Hilton was the first influencer. It's because of her that influencers exist, which is true. I mean, yeah.

Kim Kardashian was her assistant. She's entirely responsible for Kim Kardashian's career. Well, don't take it all away from Ray J, Hannah. From Ray J. Back to the house, back to Mona's house and her big portrait. There are no windows and almost no sunlight inside the house. But there was a shelf that had rows of jars of oil on it. And some of the jars looked like they had hair inside them too.

So it was assumed that the contents of these jars were what Mona was using in her black magical rituals. I don't think there's any more disgusting combination than oil and hair. I mean, yeah. But if anybody does want to give us a hot oil hair treatment ad or sponsorship deal, we are game for that. So the court also took a tour of the adjoining storeroom

where Datuk's body had been buried and the room was covered in hundreds of flies, which in many cultures, including that of the Catholic Church, is a sign of demonic possession. But I think in this case, the fly friends may have appeared because of the decomposing body that had occupied the storeroom in a very hot country.

Concrete would have only done so much to conceal the stench. Back in the courtroom, Jirami was called to the stand and he told the jury that he was in a trance when he swung the axe. So basically he's saying that Mona made him do it with her fancy magic mind control jarami's lawyer described him as a youth with low intelligence who had been led astray and i can't comment on his intelligence but i certainly don't think that 31 counts as a youth unless of course you are jez from peep show you know or us in a few years please yeah right exactly also that may have been misreported I've seen it in a couple of places that he was 24

but I saw 31 more times so he's either 24 or 31 either way I'm not sure you can call him a youth anyway Mona and Afandi said that the whole thing was Jirami's idea and that they had nothing to do with it makes sense they had just not handed him into the police and taken him off with them to Kuala Lumpur instead. This was an unconvincing defence to say the least and I feel like Mona knew it because she reached back into her bag of tricks and started fucking around in the courtroom even more. So first off she pronounced that her name was not Mona Fanday, which no fucking duh, Mona, everybody knows that's not your birth name. But turns out she wasn't actually talking about Manza, her birth name. Mona told the court that her real name was Tenku

Rohani Tenju Abdullah, which may seem inconsequential, but actually that name implied that she was descended from royalty. It was subsequently proven in court in front of everyone that Mona was absolutely not blue-blooded. She's just making it up as she goes along. That's exactly what she's doing. And the trick had failed her, so she tried another one. Mona started talking so quickly while giving her testimony that the judge and the court reporter couldn't keep up.

The justice presiding over the trial had to keep asking her to clarify details and Mona decided it would be a very good idea to mock the man who literally held her life in his hands and said very slowly and deliberately quote, have you finished writing my lord? Please read it back to me. Mona got so carried away with the sound of her own voice that she often lost track of where she was in her own story. But she did take the time to thank the press for, quote, putting in such nice stories and pictures in their coverage of her case. Throughout the whole trial, Mona denied that she and her husband had had anything to do with Datuk's death. The jury didn't fall for it though. They took just 70 minutes to find all three defendants guilty of murder. And according to the law of

Malaysia, Mona, Afandi and their assistant Jarami were sentenced to be hanged by the neck until they were dead. After she was sentenced, Mona kissed her husband in the dock and said, quote, I'm happy with the decision. I want to thank all Malaysians. I love all the people. And I love Fande, meaning her husband. And just before she was led off to Kajang prison to await her imminent death, she added, I feel like smiling for me. It's smiling for all of the people. She's deranged. All three of the convicts appealed their convictions in 1999, but all three were unsuccessful. And Mona carried on being a spooky bitch in prison, and rumours spread on the outside that she was levitating while reciting Islamic prayers backwards.

But according to the Malaysian Digest, this was total bollocks. All Mona did was tease the guards occasionally and try to scare them. But other than that, she kept mostly to herself. Mona Afandi and Jarami's execution date was set for the 2nd of november 2001 on the 1st of november afandi and mona were allowed an eight-hour visit with their children and various other family members reportedly this was spent crying hugging and with mona telling her children that they

should grow up to be good people, but take care of themselves too. Usually in Malaysia, death row inmates are allowed to choose their last meal, but this was not afforded to Mona or Afandi. They were both given KFC as their last meal on earth. That's not terrible. It's not terrible. In Japan, they have KFC on Christmas Day because when they got their first influx of Westerners, it was the closest thing they could get to Turkey.

Oh, really? So in Japan, if you want KFC on Christmas Day, you have to order it months in advance. I thought it was going to be because Colonel Sanders kind of looks like Father Christmas. Oh, good point. Maybe. Maybe. But yeah, I wouldn't mind having KFC as my last meal. I could do that.

I wouldn't mind. I think living in Korea ruined fried chicken for me because Korean fried chicken is the best fried chicken in the world. It is so delicious. And I've never even had it in Korea. I've just had it Korean fried chicken. So now I'm just like, oh, what's the point? Still good.

Still good. Yeah. But just before dawn on the day of their execution, Mona, Afandi and Jarami were hooded and handcuffed and led to the gallows in the brand new Kajang prison. At 5.59am, they were hanged. The execution was witnessed by a small collection of guards from the prison and a doctor. The press were not allowed. But rumour has it that just before she was about to fall through the trapdoor to her death, Mona said,

I will never die. And I think, well, I think she's trying to freak everyone out. But I also think she means like, I'm famous now. Like my name will live on. Is she mentally okay? Do we think? Oh, fundamentally not. No.

So I do also think like as nuts as she is and as like crazy as a show does she put on it, like it seems pretty unethical. I mean, obviously we disagree with the death penalty anyway i don't think there's ever any real case in which ever seems ethical to me but like they have just hanged a woman who was probably exhibiting some very serious mental illness in mona yeah no i agree so the three bodies were left to hang for an hour before they were taken off to be autopsied and subsequently buried. Mona and her husband were buried in a cemetery in Kajang. Jaramie was buried in his hometown of Port Klang, which sounds like something from Star Trek. Interesting fact about this case, as well as it being the last one to

have a public inquiry before the trial, it was the last case in Malaysia to be tried by a jury. They don't do it anymore. And also, black magic is not accounted for in the law of Malaysia, and after the Mona Fande case, there was some public pressure to have black magic outlawed entirely, but nothing happened. There have been a few high-profile cases in Malaysia that have sported a black magic element, but none of them have managed to have the practice outlawed entirely. It just sort of isn't discussed. Like in the Mona Fanday trial, it's just treated as a murder trial which is obviously what it is like there's no um anyway in what i read there was no feeling that anyone was entertaining the idea that she was actually practicing legitimate black magic i also wonder and i don't know if this is the case here but like thinking to like obviously my roots in india like

when you go there you can go to temples and watch people being exercised and it's like yeah very very intense and like you know there's like holy men throwing powder in these people's faces they're screaming and rolling around and like you know if people died in that scenario i just can't see a scenario i can't see a situation in which the government would ever outlaw something like magic or spiritualism or anything like that because it is so subjective and wrapped up in the larger religion as a whole because it would then become so subjective of somebody saying well this part isn't acceptable this part is acceptable i mean that's what religion and politics is anyway but you know what i mean it'd be very difficult to

rein that in because it's so part of the public consciousness there that they just wouldn't be able to i don't know if that's what the case here i think maybe here they just don't take it as seriously i don't know i don't know whether it's a case of taking it seriously. I think you're right. It's like you just because magic is so intertwined with religion. Yeah. In so many ways that you can't really attack one without attacking the other. Even though it's obviously banned by the Koran, so part of the majority religion.

But if you are going to be a multi-faith nation, it's quite hard to outlaw some practices just because some people use it like Mona did. I don't know. It's complicated. It's interesting that they didn't do anything with it, I think. And if you're thinking, Mona was just a bit crazy to be like, I'll never die.

The thing is, she's still causing a bit of trouble after her death because many of her mansions still stand empty and are actually now considered to be very good ghost hunting spots. Neighbours report hearing groans coming from the house and one guy even said that he saw Mona walking around feeding ducks in the middle of the night years after she'd been hanged. That's quite a wholesome thing to be doing as a ghost. It is, isn't it? Feeding the ducks. I know and like the whole vibe i get off mona up until that point that

she's hanged is she's not really a very like homely or um domesticated kind of woman i thought she'd be like freaking people out with her facelift and her ghostly loud suits feeding the ducks at night is probably quite sinister like in the simpsons when he's flying the kite. Hello, mother. Exactly, exactly. Do you know what that reminds me of, though, the feeding the ducks at night, of that Roald Dahl book with the oil painting. Do you know which one I'm talking about?

There's a picture with, like, an oil painting with, like, some ducks in it, and then, like, the kid. Oh, the witches. The witches, yeah. And then the kids, like, in the oil painting. I don't know why that scared me so much when I was a kid, but it really fucking did. It scared the fucking shit out of me and the twits i couldn't read it i just started crying oh no but yeah the witch is really really scared me really scared me my mom's solution to me being scared by the witches was you know how in all the quentin blake

illustrations they were just like pen drawing so it wasn't like color was that i colored in the entire book so it was like more cheery looking so that's what I did your fountain pen with my fountain pen I get it I guess it was just to make me stop talking about like um the pink dolphins of the amazon that nobody in my house want to dare about anymore shut up Serenity get back on your dino blog anyway and no matter how many ducks she's feeding or being trapped in oil paintings i would not be going in her house for any money i would i know you bloody would we were walking around in brass off and there were so many houses that just had completely open doors that looked like they were

completely empty and we were just like we could we could fully walk in there right now and it was really dark in the middle of the night and we were playing this game where we were just like how much money would it take for you to walk in there? Needless to say, I'm a much cheaper thrill than Hannah is. Yeah. How much money to stick your arm through that open window for five minutes? We have fun. So Mona's antics also inspired a film called Duckin', which is the Malay word for shaman. And I have watched it. It is bad. But interestingly, because the storyline borrows so heavily from Mona's transgressions, the film was banned for 11 years because it was deemed to be

offensive to the family of Mona and Afandi. So the shaman lady in that film is called Diana. And it's like, absolutely almost 100% the same same story like there's no way they can argue that it isn't based on Mona Fanday until so it was banned until the whole thing was leaked on the internet so the damage was basically already done and there was a lot of hype around this film I think that happens when you ban a film people are always going to think it's going to be way worse than it is yeah I just looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes to see if it had a score and it just there's no consensus yet on Ducken so let's all go watch Ducken and then leave it a Rotten Tomatoes review yeah I mean it's not my thing I'm not I'm not alone either because Mona's family hated too

unsurprisingly um but it was it was a painful watch but that's it that's Mona Fanday so I hope you enjoyed that next week we'll be back with our 100th episode oh my god shit this is episode 99 this is episode 99 wow next week is the 100th episode can you believe it oh my gosh i don't even know anymore i don't know what to believe i don't feel like i live in reality really i'm just so tired all the time i don't know but it is true believe it it is 100th episode we have a case that i am personally very very excited to record and to do it's just going to be something yeah we've been talking about it from like the beginning i think 100 it's going to be so exciting we're so excited oh we've got a big announcement too probably big announcement coming next week can't say anything more than that you're just gonna have to tune in next week to hear about it.

And I would suggest very much so that you tune in on time next week. Or you'll get in trouble. Or you'll get in trouble. Or you'll kick yourselves. And we'll remind you if you keep an eye on us on social media. Exactly. So you can follow us at RedHandedThePod. How's that for a segue? Good segue.

And if you would like to support the show with your money, you can do that at patreon.com forward slash red-handed. And here are some people who have already done that. Kate Maloney, Michelle Fridley, Megan Cromer, Monica Giordano, Megan... What? Are you laughing at me already? Nothing. It was just such great inflection around that. I'm in so much pain. Megan Radker, Dana Lurie.

I'm sorry. Rhoda Frick. You know people are cancelling and resubscribing to Patreon just to force us to say their names again and again. Yeah, I fucking know, man. But I'll earn my five dollars. I'll dance. I'll dance for the money. Catherine Mason, Mandy Moore and Elizabeth Taylor.

That's not real. Claire... Very Hollywood-esque names there. Elena Clock, Samantha Engstrom, Rebecca Pfeiffer, Lisa Lipsitz, Lauren O'Loughlin, Rose Brennan, Chloe Griffiths, Shayana fucking Hamby Thank you for your message Holly Ginsberg Molly

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Beck Uh Selly Selly Selly Sarah Lowe Elena Kiewit uh sally alia sally sally aha sarah low elena kuwitt uh ashley donahue susan bennett lula wattam chris de moro liz laffer yulia bauman mindy katie manning stephy faults Steffi Foltz, Aine, Aine? Is that what we're saying? Anne, Anne Allenson, Luca Frost,

Caitlin, Paul Kopach, Diane Canale, Amanda Knox. I've got a few questions for you, madam. You sneaky woman. Amber Worley, Amy Paltridge, Joshua Cook, Anna Buttenhoff, Louise Stinchcomb, Chris Turner, Alana Blackshaw, Samantha Rawman, Katie Michael and Mike Colasurdo.

Hooray! Thank you for your money. Thanks, guys. And we'll see you next week for episode 100 and also big fun announcement time. Exactly. Be on time. Bye.

You'll get in trouble. She'll tell on you. Bye. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry.

But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it.

Lots of people don't. I didn't either until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness, and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more.

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