5 Malaysian Criminals who are 100% Supervillains

You might think that super villains only existed in movies, comics or books. You know, those guys in costumes that look awesome on paper but you’d rather die than wear it in real life. But supervillains make up for their idiotic getup with awesome powers like controlling metal and eating planets.

But wait, they’re are not just about fantastic superpowers because this is how Wikipedia describes a super villain: “Even without actual physical, mystical, superhuman or super alien powers, the super villain often possesses a genius intellect that allows him or her to draft complex schemes or create fantastic devices.” (There you go – you KNOW this is going to be a quality piece of writing because we quoted Wiki right at the start.)

So by that definition, supervillains do exist in real life! That’s either pants-crapping terrifying or super-duper awesome, depending on how much of a geek you are. But having real life supervillains around definitely gives us fodder for more interesting Facebook posts, kan?

True to the spirit “Malaysia Boleh”, our beloved country is not short of world-class super villains. So hold on to your butts as we list down the 5 most insane super villains Malaysia has ever given birth to.

P/S: Who are some of our superheroes? Check out our story on the ’25 prominent Malays’ rooting for a more moderate Malaysia! 

#5. Mat Komando

Supervillain power: Led Military-style Raids That Snagged RM2.5 Million

Mat Komando might have been an inspirational Upworthy story. He’s a perfect example of refocusing your life and using your existing skills in a new way to achieve success. It’s just too bad that he refocused on a life of crime instead.

Ahmad Mohd Arshad, better known as Mat Komando, had spent 2 years as a member of an elite commando unit of the Malaysian Army before dropping out for reasons unknown.

After quitting the army, Mat Komando drifted into a series of low skill jobs. He became a lorry driver for a while. He also tried driving taxis and buses. But those jobs were way below his level of ambition and skills. So what does a highly-trained special forces soldier do? Recruit some downlines and start some heavy duty badass shit, of course!

Mat Komando’s Gang 13 suddenly burst into the Malaysian crime scene in the early 2000s. At first, they robbed palm oil plantations of their rich cash stashes. Mat Komando soon expanded into other markets, masterminding 52 armed robberies throughout the country. The gang’s military style operations helped them make off with RM2.5 million in cash between 2001 and 2002.

Oddly, none of the gang members bothered to cover their faces during any of their robberies. This one gaping flaw in their otherwise perfect crimes made it super easy for the cops to track down the gang members.

In 2001, the police launched “Ops Api Sawit” (Operation Palm Fire – the name sounds way cooler in English, doncha think?) to take down Gang 13. The identities of Mat Komando and his gang were released to the media and an intensive nationwide manhunt began.

With so much heat on him, Mat Komando decided he needed a break. Because running from cops who were hunting down your ass is hard work, it’s important to take some time off to de-stress and re-focus on what’s important, right!

So Mat Komando took his family and some friends to a popular resort at Pedu Lake, Kedah. After taking one look at their ICs during registration, the resort management wisely decided to call the cops. While the criminals sipped their sirap mocktails, the police secretly planned their ambush.

When police stormed the chalet they were staying in, a fierce gun battle broke out. In the mayhem of flying bullets, Mat Komando managed to escape into the surrounding jungle. The cops immediately gave chase, roping in the police air unit, sniffer dogs and a squad of expert Senoi Praaq trackers. After 10 days, the cops had to admit defeat. Mat Komando had disappeared.

But the cops were coming down like a Hulk Hogan body drop on the rest of the gang. Three Gang 13 members had been shot dead and several others had been arrested. Cops were confident that they would get everyone in about a week. However, Ops Api Sawit would eventually stretch to an epic 255-days as Mat Komando turned out to have an uncanny ability to avoid the cops.

The police finally had a bit of luck when Mat Komando suddenly re-appeared 6 months later. He had gone to look up one of his gang members, Shukri Husain, who was also in hiding. The police caught wind of their meeting and surrounded the house they were in. A gun battle ensued, but the duo somehow managed to escape.

By now, Mat Komando was paranoid. He suspected that Shukri was selling him out to the cops and proceeded to beat the living crap out of him. Shukri escaped, and ratted out Mat Komando to the cops, because that’s what you do when your partner in crime tries to kill you.

With information from Shukri, police traced Mat Komando to Baling, Kedah. They suspected that he was in the area to visit his family one last time before the inevitable final showdown.

Dawn, 12 September 2002. 10 officers from the VAT69 anti-terror unit, supported by the paramilitary police, stormed a hut in the village where Mat Komando was hiding. He had told his friends before that he would rather die than surrender to the police. So with a Colt .45 in his left hand and an S&W .22 revolver in his right, Mat Komando battled with the cops, JohnWoo-style, until 2 slugs to his head and chest ended his life.

#4. Bentong Kali

Supervillain power: Shoots You Dead For No Freakin’ Reason

Kalimuthu a.k.a Bentong Kali was someone you seriously didn’t want to mess with. Well, generally you don’t want to mess with any gangsters, but Bentong Kali was in a whole new level of super-villainy. He terrorized people with his maniacal rages. He got his kicks from pulling out his Sig Sauer and popping a round – or ten – which often ended up with somebody in a hospital or a body bag.

Born in Bentong, Pahang (where else, right?), his started his career in crime when he was just 14. He joined a local Chinese triad known as “Gang 04”, and was apprenticed in the usual gangster stuff like extortion, robbery and drugs.

By 19, Bentong Kali was already in jail. Over the next few years, between 1985 and 1991, Bentong Kali was jailed, banished or placed under house arrest several times. Unfortunately, jail just gave him the downtime he needed to chillax and plan all the pants-crapping havoc he’d wreak once he got out.

In 1991, Bentong Kali moved to KL to pursue his dreams of hitting the big-time in the gang world. He joined a KL gang known as “Gang 08” and spent some time as an apprentice in the art of How To Be A KL Gangster.

After a few months, he was confident enough to form his own gang called “Gang 04 Jalan Klang Lama”, based in Old Klang Road. (Making up creative bad guy names seems to be Bentong Kali’s one major weakness.)

Bentong Kali really made a name for himself when he was in KL between 1991 and 1993. Besides normal crimes like drugs, extortion and robbery, he killed at least 16 people in this time. Many of them just for the heck of it.

He shot a mamak stall worker for no apparent reason (maybe because his teh tarik was too cold?). He gunned down a guy who was upset that the gangster had peed in front of his house. He gate-crashed a birthday party, and when the people were like “What the heck, dude? You got the wrong house!” he randomly shot the guests, killing 4 of them.

Bentong Kali gave exactly zero damns who saw him pull the trigger, because he’d be happy to pop anyone and everyone who crossed him. His balls-out badass-ery scared everyone into submission – no one in his neighbourhood dared to report him.

Bentong Kali’s murderous rampage quickly made him Malaysia’s most wanted criminal. A special task force comprising over 200 cops from KL, Pahang and Selangor was formed in 1993 to end his reign of terror. That’s right, 200 MEN were needed to bring this ONE dude down.

With all that heat on him, Bentong Kali was finally forced to run. But being the stereotypical super-villain, he could not resist monologue-ing to his arch enemy. At the height of the massive manhunt, Bentong Kali personally called the mobile phone of the task force chief, Dato’ Zaman Khan, and dared him to come get him himself.

Eventually, the cops managed to trace Bentong Kali’s movements to a rented house in the uppity KL neighbourhood of Medan Damansara. (Yup, when you’re Malaysia’s most-wanted criminal, you hide out in one of the country’s most expensive neighbourhoods.)

In the early hours of 29 Jun 1993, an elite team of police officers and the Special Forces Unit surrounded the house. Not taking any chances, the police also had snipers and a bomb squad on standby. Finally, the cops burst into the house, and a short gun battle erupted. Two of Bentong Kali’s gang members were quickly killed.

Bentong Kali tried to escape from the second floor balcony but the snipers were ready for him. The most notorious killer in Malaysian history was finally ended with a sharpshooter’s bullet to the head.

#3. Mona Fandey

Supervillain power: She’s Just A Devil Woman With Murder On Her Mind

All Maznah Ismail wanted was to be a famous pop star. She tried everything. To boost her image, she wore flashy clothes and adopted the stage name “Mona Fandey”. When still nobody wanted to give her a contract, she produced and released her own album entitled “Diana”. She even got herself a few TV appearances. But her career never took off.

Maybe it was because she was a lousy singer. I mean, really, really lousy. And the album’s production was pretty crappy too. Imagine your tone-deaf aunty singing karaoke to some 8-bit Nintendo Gameboy music. That’s what it sounded like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcKhFOHZeXs

Look, we don’t want to insult Mona Fandey. Especially if she’s supposed to be a powerful bomoh. But you watch and judge for yourself, ok? Disclaimer: We shall not be held responsible for any paranormal activity that may happen to you after watching this.

After her music career crashed, Mona Fandey and her husband, Affandi, felt they needed a career change. Something more down-to-earth and less bullshitty than the entertainment industry. So they turned to the black arts and made their living as bomohs. Somehow, they were able to attract an elite upper-class clientele. They were so successful in this venture that they could afford to buy a mansion and several luxury cars.

What boosted Mona Fandey into the ranks of super-villainy was the horrifying murder of a rising UMNO politician, Mazlan Idris. The ambitious Mazlan was eyeing the Pahang MB post and wanted some supernatural help to boost his political career. Because, you know, good old honest hard work just isn’t enough to make it in politics.

Mazlan had asked Mona and her husband for help, and they had convinced Mazlan to buy a magic tongkat and songkok that would make him “invincible”. The asking price? RM2.5 million. Mazlan agreed to pay the couple RM500,000 cash as deposit. He also gave them 10 land titles as a guarantee for the remaining RM2million.

On July 2, 1993, Mazlan withdrew RM300,000 from a bank in KL. Returning to Pahang that same day, he met with Mona and her husband at the Raub UMNO division office at about 10pm. His gory remains would only be found 3 weeks later.

At first, nobody thought much about his disappearance. But when he failed to turn up for several official functions, an UMNO colleague decided to lodge a police report. On July 18 – almost 2 WEEKS later. Mazlan’s wife also lodges a report. The following day.

In a lucky break, cops had earlier arrested the couple’s assistant, Juraimi, on an unrelated drug offence. After questioning, Juraimi led the police to an unfinished house in the middle of a plantation, about 45km from Raub. There they found Mazlan’s body buried in a store room. As they fished piece after piece of what used to be Mazlan out of the hole, the full horror of the crime hit home. Mona and Affandi was quickly arrested and charged for the murder.

The trial was a media circus but Mona Fandey soaked up the attention. She showed off her glamorous outfits in court. She always had a cheerful smile for the media. She even told the press, “Looks like I have many fans”. That’s super freaky – how many fans of axe murderers did she think there were in the world?

But Mona’s pretty smile was in stark contrast with just how freakin’ horrifying the case was: Mona and her husband had convinced Mazlan to undergo a ritual to multiply his money. He had been taken to the house and told to lie on the floor face up. They told Mazlan to wait for the money to “fall from above”. Instead, what fell was the heavy blade of an axe.

In three strokes, Juraimi had completely chopped off Mazlan’s head. He then cut up the rest of the body into 18 pieces, before burying them. Pieces of skin and flesh were also removed from the arms and legs. Those pieces were never recovered and to this day no one knows what happened to them. Some think that they were eaten.

After Mazlan was carved up like a Christmas turkey that night, Mona Fandey and her husband hurried back to KL. The next morning, they went on a shopping spree, happily treating themselves to several luxuries including a new Mercedes Benz and a facelift for Mona. Because, you know, even super villains need a little retail therapy after a blood-spattered night of chopping up people’s bodies.

The trio’s defense was pretty lame throughout the trial. Basically, it was nothing more than “He did it” and “No, they did it”. Finally on February 1995, the judge decided “Y’all did it” and sentenced all three to death. Hearing the verdict, Mona Fandey and her husband just smiled calmly. Mona even thanked Malaysians and said, “I am happy.”

Dawn, November 2, 2001. The trio was led to the execution chambers at Kajang Prison. It was reported that during her execution, Mona Fandey was still calm and smiling, telling the wardens, “Aku takkan mati” (“I won’t die”).

#2. Sunny Chai (M16 Gang)

Supervillain power: Mastermind Behind Malaysia’s Most Successful Gang – Ever

In the early 2000’s, a bunch of 40-somethings began robbing goldsmith shops, proving to the world that you’re never too old to take up extreme activities.

The robberies were precision military-style operations, and the pros left no clues behind. As more and more goldsmith shops were hit, the police were left scratching their heads. They knew it was the same gang because their signature weapon was the M16 machine gun, but the cops could not identify who the members were.

In actual fact, the police knew the gang’s leader very well. Sum Wing Chang (aka Sunny Chai) was a well-known businessman who regularly mingled with society’s elite, including community leaders, politicians and even senior police officers!

When the police finally busted the gang, they revealed that at 6pm, Sunny could be robbing a goldsmith shop with his M16. But by 8pm, he would be attending a dinner function with dignitaries. And here’s the real devious super villain-y part: during the dinner chit chat, Sunny would innocently ask his friends about business and police procedures. He would then use that information to plan even better robberies!

Sunny Chai’s partner in crime was Elvis Keh, a decorated Singaporean sharpshooter and explosives expert. Together, they recruited seven other members and the gang pulled off 16 armed robberies throughout the country. It was Elvis who trained the gang in weapons and military tactics, giving them the skills to steal more than RM21 million in loot between 2000 and 2002.

Sunny Chai had an incredibly ballsy method to offload the gang’s loot in plain sight of the cops and everyone else in the world. The stolen gold and jewellery were openly sold at a popular goldsmith shop that Sunny Chai owned. The devious mastermind also owned several other legal businesses, including a seafood restaurant, car accessory shops, a tyre shop, a snooker centre, a hair salon and an air-con & electrical service shop.

As if selling hot goods out in the open wasn’t daredevil enough, Sunny Chai had even duped a Deputy Minister, Tan Chai Ho, into cutting the ribbon for his Air-Cond & Electrical Engineering shop’s opening ceremony! How’s that for balls-out super-villainy!

Hooked on the wealthy lifestyle and getting cocky with success, Sunny started to get a little reckless. He wanted to diversify into kidnapping and extorting his tycoon buddies to make even more fast money. This pissed the other gang members off big time, who didn’t want to risk attracting attention and exposing themselves. And with the success of their robberies, the gang also started to argue over how the millions in loot was being shared.

The gang’s breakdown caused them to start making mistakes, dropping clues that gave the police all they needed to track them down. Armed with new information, cops started moving in on the gang members.

All the arguing and the heat from the police proved to be too much. Finally, in October 2002, there was a showdown and the gang was split into two camps – one side led by Sunny Chai and the other by Elvis. After one final heist in November, they went their separate ways.

In December 2002, the law finally caught up with Sunny Chai. Trying to escape from the cops, Sunny Chai rammed his Proton Waja into a police car chasing him. But he lost control and crashed. A short gun battle later, Sunny Chai and another gang member were killed by police. A third member of the gang was killed in another fire fight with police at his Johor house. Two others were nabbed in the Klang Valley.

The other four gang members (including Elvis Keh) disappeared. Police believed that they had either fled overseas or were assassinated by the Thai gunman that Sunny Chai had hired to snuff out those who had turned against him. Malaysia’s most successful gang had finally been crushed.

Or were they?

A few months later, a new M16 gang started hitting goldsmith shops again. Cops are still looking for those guys.

#1. Botak Chin

Supervillain power: Shitload of Guns, Bullets and Attitude!

Wong Swee Chin, aka Botak Chin, is THE original Malaysian super villain. He was one of the most dangerous characters in Malaysia during the 1970s, leading his gang to commit a string of violent armed robberies that netted them close to a million ringgit in cash. (This was back in the day when you could buy a nice house in KL for less than RM50,000!) .

Botak Chin was most famous for his guns. This dude had a serious fetish for them, eventually building up a personal collection of 19 firearms, 5 grenades and 1000 bullets. Botak Chin loved showing off his weapons every chance he got. He would swagger about the Sentul market, openly showing off his guns to everyone. Once during a robbery, he even challenged his victims to a bizarre cowboy-style shootout.

Despite his violent streak, Botak Chin liked to think of himself as some kind of Robin Hood. There’s a story of Botak Chin handing an old ice-cream seller a few thousand ringgit in cash on the street and basically telling him to “go home and chillax la, so old already still want to work meh?” But his Robin Hood reputation could not make up for his “shoot anything that moves” reputation.

But like all good origin stories, Botak Chin had a reason for his gun fetish.

When Botak Chin was just 15, the skinny teen dropped out of school and was doing odd jobs to support his large family. One day, he got his ass kicked badly for not giving in to a gang’s extortion demands. This life changing event set him on the path to super villainy. He joined a local gang to make sure no one ever kicked his ass again. But as he got more involved in the gang, Botak Chin evolved to become the ass-kicker instead.

At the age of 18, Botak Chin committed his first armed robbery with his gang. Amazed at the respect that guns got him, Botak Chin quickly bought his own revolver. Soon, he abandoned his old gang to form his own. Within a month, the new Botak Chin crew had committed 8 armed robberies.

Botak Chin was quickly caught and sentenced to 7 years in jail. But he was released early for (get this!) good behaviour. Flicking a giant Double-Finger to the law for going easy on him, Botak Chin immediately formed a new gang – this time with some hardcore gangbangers. Now operating with experienced robbers, Botak Chin hit the big time. Within a year, the gang had hit several banks, clubs, illegal gambling dens, armoured trucks and even temples, leaving a trail of bullet-riddled bodies behind.

Due to the successes of his robberies and the public’s terror of his gun-waving ways, Botak Chin was well on the way to becoming KL’s top crimelord. As Botak Chin’s gang became richer and more powerful, his rivals became even more envious, leading to constant turf wars and gun battles that often broke out in the city streets.

Botak’s Chin out of control badass-ery eventually caught the attention of the Malaysian police, who assigned an equally badass cop to the case – DSP S. Kulasingam. This awesome supercop had been shot at, attacked with an axe and splashed with acid before, but still remained fearlessly devoted to his duties.

Once, Botak Chin tried to assassinate DSP Kula. A couple of his henchmen rode up on a motorbike and fired 11 shots into the policeman’s car as he waited at a traffic light junction. But DSP Kula proved to be un-killable. Even though he couldn’t breathe because one of the bullets had punctured his lung, DSP Kula FRIKKIN DROVE HIMSELF to a police station for help.

Now, more pissed than ever, DSP Kula put the hunt for Botak Chin into overdrive. The cops nearly caught Botak Chin once, after a high-speed car chase / gun battle through the streets of Segambut, KL. Botak Chin’s beloved Datsun was shot to pieces by the cops, but Botak Chin somehow managed to escaped.

In early 1976, Botak Chin’s gang began to fall apart. 7 of his gang members had been killed in gang wars and gun battles with the police. Several others had been arrested. Police had also managed to snag 15 of the gang’s guns. But that didn’t stop Botak Chin’s ambition to be top dog in KL’s crime scene. He continued his robberies, gang wars and gang recruitment drives.

But because of the heat on him, Botak Chin couldn’t get replacement guns from Thailand. In a supervillain-y stroke of genius, he turned to the one local group who always had guns – the cops. Botak Chin successfully ambushed 3 cops and grabbed their guns.

Finally, the police got a tip that Botak Chin was hiding out in a sawmill in Jalan Ipoh, KL. After days of staking out the place, dozens of police moved in and an epic gunfight erupted. An estimated 500 shots were fired in the battle. Cops lobbed smoke grenades into the sawmill. The gangsters replied with hand grenades. Eventually, Botak Chin’s lieutenants were killed in the shootout and the man himself took six shots in his body before surrendering.

In 1980, Botak Chin was charged for firearms possession and sentenced to death. But he wasn’t going to go quietly. While in jail, he attacked two prison wardens, seriously injuring one of them. On New Year’s Day 1981, he tried to escape from Pudu Jail. He stabbed three wardens in the process and only surrendered after being seriously injured himself.

Botak Chin was finally executed in June 1981. When the prison guards came to take Botak Chin to the gallows, he was finally calm, saying to them, “Sudah sampai, ah? Saya rasa macam lari 100m, sudah sampai garisan penamat.” (Here already? I feel like I ran 100m and I am now at the finish line.)