Princess Hasleza Ishak: A royal Malaysian murder mystery

Whenever the word ‘princess’ is brought up, most Malaysians will think of the Disney princesses, or perhaps our very own Puteri Gunung Ledang. Unlike them, however, the princess we’ll be talking about today didn’t have a happy ending. No dragon slaying, no thwarting of the stepmother, no happily ever after with a prince charming, but magic was involved… in a sense.

But before we get to the meat of the story, it seems that not much is known about about Princess Hasleza binti Ishak, and of the case in general. In fact, we found more foreign media outlets that covered the story compared to local ones (Malaysiakini & The Star).

All we know about the Princess herself is that prior to her marriage to the Raja Muda of Perak in February 2002, the 26-year-old was a model and actress, and according to her mom, she carried an amulet around as a form of protection from ‘evil spells’. Unfortunately, the amulet ultimately failed her, as…

Princess Hasleza binti Ishak’s body was found near a waterfall in Taiping

The very same year she was taken as the second wife of Raja Jaafar Raja Musa, the aforementioned Raja Muda, Princess Hasleza was seen being dragged screaming from her car by two men in Ipoh, on October 6 2002. Her partially clothed, decomposing body was found in a tree, beside a waterfall at a popular picnic site in Taiping. Her hands and feet were tied up, and police said they believed she had been strangled before being thrown from a bridge.

Right away, the incident was labeled a ‘crime of passion’ by then Malaysian police chief, Norian Mai:

“The motive is jealousy,” – Norian Mai, Malaysian police chief in 2002

But who would be jealous enough to kill her? Well, following the death of Princess Hasleza, the cops would go on to arrest five men as suspects of the case, and guess what – two of them were bomohs.

One of the bomohs, Mat Saad Isa, pretty much said, “Yeah, we kidnapped Hasleza, and I chopped her on the neck before throwing her off a bridge”. In a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan, Mat then proceeded to reveal the mastermind behind the whole affair:

Raja Nor Mahani, the Raja Muda’s first wife.

Princess Mahani’s testimony, on the other hand, didn’t quite match up with Mat’s. While she admitted to hiring those men, she denied having ever ordering the killing of Princess Hasleza. What she did order them to do was to help her… undo a spell. Yeah…

Princess Hasleza (allegedly) put a ‘spell’ on Princess Mahani

According to Princess Mahani, ever since the Raja Muda married Princess Hasleza, strange happenings began to surface in the palace. The Raja Muda, allegedly, took to sitting cross-legged in the dark, and refused to retain her in his presence. Headless birds were found in the palace grounds, big flies started hounding her, and perhaps most confoundingly, a used sanitary pad appeared on the palace roof.

And if that’s not enough, Princess Mahani got a rash and vomited crystals. She heard the sound of babies crying in spite of the fact that there were no infants in the palace. Snakes showed up only to vanish moments later, and the sound of bamboo hitting the ground could be heard constantly after midnight.

That was it. Princess Mahani was convinced that Princess Hasleza put a ‘santau’ on her, which led her to hiring those five men. A ‘santau’, she said, is like a ‘hantu’ or ‘pontianak’.

“‘Santau’ is a devil. That’s why you have to kill it.” – Princess Mahani, giving her testimony in court

However, she did emphasize that she only wanted the ‘santau’ to be dealt with, not Princess Hasleza. The weirdness doesn’t end there…

A ‘buffalo string’ was used to recapture the Raja Muda’s devotion

Supposedly, Princess Mahani also asked the bomohs to help her rekindle her husband’s affections toward her, and they… certainly tried to, by using a method known as ‘the buffalo string’. Mat Saad Isa’s partner, Rahim Ismail (who is Princess Mahani’s nephew by the way), explained in court that he gave the princess a bottle of mineral water with a string in it, and instructed her to put a few drops of the water in her husband’s coffee.

Here’s how the conversation between Rahim and the judge went:

Judge: “What is the name of the string?”

Rahim: “It is put through the nostrils of the buffalo, so it is called buffalo nose string.”

Judge: “So the wife can make the husband obey her and likewise?”

Rahim: “Yes, but mostly it is women who ask for this to be done, because it is usually men who stray.”

And at the end of the day, Mat Saad Isa was sentenced to 14 years in jail for the crime, and while the four other four men did get charged for the murder, we couldn’t find any reports confirming their sentences. Princess Mahani was released by the police after spending a week in remand for questioning, and presumably due to lack of evidence.

As of the time of writing this article, Princess Mahani has since passed away while Raja Jaafar Raja Musa has recently attended a majlis kesyukuran for the Perak Sultan’s birthday, but whatever the case might’ve been, we hope that the Perak royals who have passed are now resting in peace.