Unsolved crimes and mysteries in Malaysia


Malaysia is a generally safe country. But every now and again, stories of horrible crimes and baffling mysteries surface, leaving the public confused and outraged at the incidents that took place in our homeland that remain unsolved.

We rounded up eight unsolved crimes and mysteries in Malaysia that continue to puzzle the public to this day.


1. The high-profile missing persons case in Cameron Highlands


Mention Cameron Highlands, and scenic tea plantations and strawberry farms will likely come to mind. But in 1967, the popular tourist destination was shadowed by a missing persons case involving a high-profile American millionaire who disappeared while on a holiday there.

The vanished person was James Harrison Wilson Thompson, founder of The Thai Silk Company who was dubbed “The Silk King” by established US news magazine Time, in 1958. He went missing while on an afternoon stroll in Cameron Highlands, following a Easter Sunday service at All Souls’ Church. 

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - Cameron Highlands
The ‘Moonlight Bungalow’ on Kamunting Road, now known as the Jim Thompson Cottage, where Thompson stayed during his holiday.
Image credit: Wikicommons

His disappearance led to a massive search in the small Pahang town due to his influential status. It was carried out for 11 days, involving over 400 individuals comprising the Malaysian army and police, British troops, tracker dogs, local Orang Asli communities, and more.

The last known sighting of Thompson came from a cook at a nearby bungalow. According to another report from Time magazine, the said cook claimed to have seen him “standing on a plateau for about 30 minutes, [before he] suddenly disappeared.”

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - Jim Thompson
Image credit:
Jim Thompson Fabrics

Despite the joint efforts of the many involved, Thompson was never found.

Several theories surfaced following his disappearance. It has been claimed that he suffered a tragic fall while on his stroll through the town’s hilly landscape, as reported by BBC News in the UK. There were also rumours that he was kidnapped, murdered, or killed by local tigers known to roam in the local jungle. 

However, over 50 years since his disappearance and there have not been any concrete evidence to prove what truly happened to Thompson.


2. The first airplane hijacking in Malaysia’s aviation history


An incident that sparked nationwide panic took place on 4th December, 1977. It was Malaysia’s first case of an airplane hijacking involving Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH653, which led to the deaths of 100 individuals onboard the aircraft.

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - MH653
Image credit:
Wikicommons

Flight MH653 was set to land in Subang International Airport after departing from Penang at around 7.20PM. But it was seized by hijackers and redirected towards Singapore’s Paya Lebar Airport instead.

The incident happened at 7.54PM, when the airplane’s two pilots alerted ground air traffic controllers of an emergency onboard involving hijackers. At 8.15PM, all communication with the airplane’s crew ceased. What happened on the flight was therefore mostly deciphered through the cockpit voice recorder retrieved from the plane wreckage.

This included a conversation between the pilots and hijackers, with the former informing the latter of fuel concerns due to the rerouted path. It was followed by the sound of gunshots, believed to have led to the pilots’ deaths. The pilots also reportedly radioed to say, “We’re now proceeding to Singapore. Good night” before communications ceased.

However, the airplane never made it to Singapore. The hijackers, presumed to be inexperienced at flying, lost control of the aircraft. At around 8.36PM, residents in Tanjung Kupang, Johor Bahru heard a loud explosion – the plane had crashed.

The aircraft was found in a mangrove swamp. None of the 93 passengers and seven crew members onboard, which consisted of passengers from Malaysia, Australia, India, Japan, and more, survived.

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - memorial site
A memorial to Malaysian Airlines Flight MH653
Image credit: Wikicommons

Authorities could not identify any of the crash victims due to the plane’s tragic, high-speed descent at a reported 90 degree angle. A mass interfaith burial was carried out as a result, with a MH653 memorial in Tajung Kupang bearing names of the passenger and airplane crew.

The reason for MH653’s hijacking continues to elude investigators and the public.

The hijackers were suspected to be part of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), due to a recent hostage incident at the American Insurance Associates (AIA) building in KL in 1975, which involved 53 civilians. But this was never proven.


3. The murder of a shopowner at a new Petaling Jaya mall


Shopping malls are the last places one would associate with heinous crimes, partly due to the steady footfall of shoppers and presence of mall guards leaving nothing unwatched. But in 2005, a 26-year-old woman was tragically found sexually assaulted and murdered in a children’s clothing boutique at the recently-opened The Curve shopping mall in Mutiara Damansara. 

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - The Curve
Image credit: Wikicommons

The woman was one of three owners of the boutique, which had only been operating for three months. At 1.15PM – three hours after the boutique had opened for the day – another owner reported for work, only to discover the victim’s lifeless body at the back of the store, with seven slash and stab wounds. 

During investigations at the crime scene, all valuables at the store were left untouched, including the victim’s purse containing RM500. The only thing that was missing was her cell phone. As the mall was relatively new, security cameras were not yet installed and could not be used as a potential lead. 

The victim was described as a relatively private person by friends and family members. Several shop owners at the mall recalled her as being attractive, with the victim’s father also quoted by the press saying that “A girl should not be too beautiful. She should just be ordinary” when asked about his late daughter.

The murder case went cold in the end. A businessman in his 30s was initially arrested for the murder, but later released after providing an alibi that cleared his name. As such, the victim’s attacker remains at large.


4. The unidentified flying object sighting in Selangor


Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - aliens
Image (for illustration purposes only) credit:
Unsplash

Those who believe in the extraterrestrial might well recall the case of an unidentified flying object (UFO) sighted in Selangor in October of 1995. It even led to Malaysia’s first conference on UFOs – called ‘One Day Conference on UFOs in Malaysia’ – that was held to discuss the mysterious incident, as it was the talk of the town during the 90s. 

The story goes that the residents of small town Tanjung Sepat had allegedly seen a UFO hovering in the skies, before landing in a jungle. Witnesses described the spacecraft as being “wide as a football field” and “tall as a building”, and flashing repeatedly with red, orange, and green lights. 

Extraterrestrial beings were also seen roaming around the town by residents, who they claimed were 60cm in height, and sporting glowing red eyes and elongated ears. 

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - Tanjung Sepat
Image (for illustration purposes only) credit:
@sebastianchongfl

However, not many were keen on the presence of the otherworldly stepping foot in Malaysia. It was widely believed that construction in the area was the cause of the flashing lights. Former Director-General of Malaysia’s Space Science Studies Division, Mazlan Othman, was quoted by the New Straits Times saying that the sightings could’ve been a case of mass hallucination.

Nonetheless, whatever that was spotted in Tanjung Sepat wasn’t the last UFO sighting in Malaysia. In 2010, a woman in Sabah reportedly saw a blue foreign object akin to a UFO hovering above Tauran beach. Six years later, a viral UFO sighting surfaced in Kuala Krai, but was dispelled by authorities.


5. The mass hysteria outbreak at a Kelantan school


Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - school
Image (for illustration purposes only) credit: Unsplash / Andy Henderson

In the town of Kota Bharu in Kelantan, an unassuming public school was the site of a mass hysteria outbreak that saw the institution closed for two days to address sightings of a ‘black figure’ by victims.

The traumatic event involved over 50 pupils and teachers at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pengkalan Chepa 2, and spanned two days. In given statements following the outbreak, the affected victims claimed to have seen a mysterious figure, and felt a “heavy” presence and numbness in their bodies.

On Monday, 25 pupils were affected. On Thursday, this number mushroomed to 50 pupils and 11 teachers.


The school’s principal pointing to where the hysteria took place
Image credit: Astro Awani

The school temporarily closed to address the mass hysteria outbreak, with religious experts and bomohs offering “prayer sessions and exorcisms” to the affected.

There was no clear explanation for the disturbances in the end. Teachers of the school alleged that students had unconsciously disturbed djinns, or evil spirits, in the area when they improperly disposed their trash on school grounds. The incident – though in a small town – was no minor event either, as it made it into international news. The BBC News in the UK reported on the event in Kelantan.


6. The murder of an ex-beauty queen off the Federal Highway


Unsolved Crimes & Mysteries in Malaysia - newspaper
Image adapted from: @Xmajid30x

Federal Highway is well-known among locals who travel by vehicle. A tragic fate to an ex-beauty queen in our country unfortunately happened at an underpass off the highway in Subang in 1979. The victim was Jean Perera Sinnappa, a former Miss Malaysia runner-up turned school teacher and mother of three, who sustained deadly stab wounds to her chest and stomach in her car, with her seatbelt still strapped in place.

At the crime scene with her was Karthigesu Sivapakiam – the brother of her late husband, who had died several months before her on New Year’s Eve. Karthigesu, who was also her husband-to-be, was found unconscious on the ground next to the car. He was allegedly attacked by the same assailants who murdered Jean. 

However, he became the key and only suspect in the case, classified as a murder by the police.

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - underpass
Image (for illustration purposes only):
Pexel / Andri Syafaat

During investigations, Karthigesu was quoted saying that he was knocked out by Jean’s attackers while relieving himself by the highway. The pair had been on their way home following a night out in Klang, and was later found by two Malaysia Airlines engineers.

Contrary to his statement, authorities found no injuries on Karthigesu’s head or body that would’ve led to him being unconscious. There were no traces of urine at the crime scene either.

They instead discovered love letters between Jean and a ‘secret Sri Lankan doctor’, raising suspicion that jealousy might have been Karthigesu’s motif for murder. A prosecution witness, and close family friend, also claimed to have heard Karthigesu declare that Jean “did not deserve to live” in a private conversation, severely implicating him in Jean’s murder. 

Unsolved Crimes & Mysteries in Malaysia - suspect
Image credit: @Xmajid30x

Due to the evidence mounting against him, Karthigesu was charged in April 1979, arrested in May the same year, and given a death sentence for the alleged murder of Jean.

While it may seem like a closed case, Karthigesu was acquitted of all charges after over two years of incarceration as the witness retracted his statement against Karthigesu. The former faced 10 years of imprisonment for perjury, while Karthigesu’s name was cleared of the murder in May 1981.

As he was acquitted, the murder of Jean remains unsolved, but remains sensationalised due to the twists and turns surrounding the case. 


7. The unsolved disappearance case of Louis James Fraser


Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - Fraser's Hill
Image credit:
Wikicommons

Another missing persons case involving a popular tourist destination is the disappearance of Louis James Fraser, popularly known as the founder of Fraser’s Hill in Pahang.

Fraser was a Scottish businessman who lived on Fraser’s Hill, named after him due to his heavy involvement in developing the area as a tin mining station in 1890. However, the tin boom in the town came to an end in 1913, leading workers to abandon the area by 1919.

Before tin mining fell out of popularity here, Fraser allegedly disappeared. C.J. Ferguson-Davie, a bishop from Singapore, began a search for Fraser, which eventually resulted in a dead end. But another purpose for the hill station was discovered during the manhunt – Fraser’s Hill as a retreat, due to the cold climate that the town experiences.

The town thus reopened as a tourist destination in 1922, but with Fraser still unlocated. 

In 2019, Richard Hale, a naturalist and historian with knowledge of Fraser Hill’s early days, suggested that Fraser did not disappear, but instead retired and left the town, as reported by the New Straits Times. 


8. The disappearance of Flight MH370


Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - flight
Image (for illustration purposes only) credit:
Wikicommons

The disappearance of Flight MH370 is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in Malaysia, and remains an unforgettable tragedy that many still mourn to this day. The airplane – carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members – disappeared on 8th March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Beijing Capital International Airport.

Onboard the flight were 50 Malaysians, 152 Chinese nationals, and passengers from 13 different countries. Apart from being a major unsolved event in Malaysian history, it is also one of the deadliest incidents involving a Boeing 777 aircraft in aviation history.

Unsolved crimes and mysteries Malaysia - MH370
Flight MH370’s flight path

Image credit: Wikicommons

What began as an ordinary flight took a disastrous turn when all communication with MH370’s airplane crew was cut off approximately 35 minutes after takeout from KLIA. 

Following this, the airplane vanished from ground radar. It was last detected flying over Peninsular Malaysia and the Andaman Sea, after heading towards China and seemingly making a U-turn. 

The search zone for the missing airplane covered 120,000 sq km of ocean, as reported by UK daily, The Guardian. Despite the efforts of the search crew and time spent, no debris from the plane was ever found. The search ended in January 2017, three years after the plane went missing. 

In 2018, a second search was launched, covering 112,000 sq km of the Indian Ocean. But this did not solve the mystery of the missing flight after three months either. 

There are many theories on the cause of the airplane’s disappearance, which remain theories due to the lack of concrete evidence.

Rumours emerged that it might have been a possible hijacking, hypoxia event, or failure of air traffic controllers to communicate with the plane. Some also claimed that the airplane’s cargo, which included 221 kg worth of lithium-ion batteries, might have caused an unexpected accident onboard, leading to the unfortunate fate of the plane and its passengers.


Unsolved crimes and mysteries in Malaysia


Crimes and mysteries that go unsolved leave those who were affected by a tragedy in a state of unrest and uncertainty. These stories above – embroiled with question marks from authorities to the public – are, likewise, real events that we hope will see a conclusion in the near future to bring justice, closure, and answers to these cases. 

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Cover image (for illustration purposes only) adapted from: Unsplash / Daniil Kuželev, Wikicommons and Unsplash / Andy Henderson

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