Things that we believe?

Maznah Ismail/Mona Fandey (1956-2001)

According to what the Wikipedia and few news platform, this woman is known as one of the notorious female criminal in Malaysia. She is was a pop singer before she involved in murder case of politician Datuk Mazlan Idris in 1993 together with her husband Mohd Affandi Abdul Rahman and assistant Juraimi Hussin. It is reported that the trio had a deal with the politician to help him boost his political career by using witch craft and taking part in supernatural ritual. He was killed by an axe on his neck and later cut into 18 parts and buried The trio was later being arrested as prime suspects and end up being sentenced to death by hanging.

Above is the story that I read from a few websites and news report, most of it described Mona Fandey is a cruel and dangerous bomoh. Even when I asked my mother whether she heard about this name, the first thing she said to me is, "Ohh, the bomoh.". Therefore I never really doubt the news or reports, until I read the article that Dr Carmen posted on Facebook. I'm shocked, as I always associate "bomoh" with Mona Fandey, and never thought of other perspective on this murder case. It made me think of how easily we trust the things said by others, or shared by others on social media. Even majority of the news covered bad and negative things about this woman, one or two reports that show different perspectives, the public wouldn't give much attention or believe it. Same goes to me at first, but since I've read about it on other perspective, which is from the prison officer that is closed to Mona Fandey, I really don't know what should I think of this person. I shall place this name under the "grey area" list. Maybe I can learn something more about this case in the class.

Another thing that made this case gained high publicity is because of Mona Fandey and her husband appeared to be constantly smiling and posing for press photographers. She also dressed extravagantly with bright and colourful designs on her dress, and by referring to the media and the people that went as her fans, made the public questioned what is she thinking. 

However, this case has cause many public interest internationally and even films produced based on Mona Fandey, such Mona by Amir Muhammad in 2002 and Dukun by Dain Iskandar Said. However, Dukun is not released as of December 2011 due to concerns relating to the contents of the film and her family. 

I couldn't find the complete version of both films, but I managed to find a short clip of Dukun in Youtube. I believe it could be a big leap for Malaysia's horror movie if it is released officially in the box office, since it portrays the local style witch craft and how hard is it to understand the doings of a person. Whether it is forced or she is also the victim of the case, we will never know. It annoys me and made me think of how the public, including me, focus on this woman rather than the other two partners of hers and the murdered victim. Is it because of our culture, that woman involving in such crime is a taboo? Or we are only judging this woman because of her "strange behavior" during the trials. Take away the black and white for a moment and think of the case in a neutral perspective, if the woman is not involved in the crime and not sentenced to death together with her partners, will anyone still remember this case till now? 

*If anyone found the full version, please give me a copy. Thanks =)