On 21 June 2016, in Sarawak, Malaysia, social activist and politician Bill Kayong was shot dead at a traffic light intersection near a shopping mall in Kuala Baram Bypass, supposedly over his political and advocacy activities.
[1] A trial held from 2017 and 2018 ended with the acquittal of three men, and the fourth defendant Mohamad Fitri Pauzi was found guilty of murdering Kayong, and sentenced to death by hanging in 2018.
[3] On the morning of 21 June 2016, a social activist and member of the People's Justice Party was shot dead at a traffic light intersection near a shopping mall in Kuala Baram Bypass at Sarawak, Malaysia.
[4] The deceased politician, 42-year-old Bill Kayong, also known as Mohd Hasbie Abdullah (his Muslim name), was seated in his Toyota truck when he was shot on the neck by a suspected gunman (who used a shotgun), and he died on the spot from two gunshot wounds.
[5][6] In response to his death, residents of Sarawak, who all suspected that Kayong's death was politically motivated due to his activism, called for immediate justice to be served,[7][8] and members of Kayong's political party, including its president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her husband Anwar Ibrahim (who would become Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2022), offered their condolences and praised him for his dedication to the party's reform agenda, and also urged the authorities to crack the case.
[13] Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar also announced that a special task force was set up to conduct a probe into the killing of Kayong.
[28] On 5 January 2017, the four alleged perpetrators – Mohamad Fitri Pauzi, Datuk Stephen Lee Chee Kiang, Lie Chang Loon and Chin Wui Chung – stood trial for the murder of Bill Kayong at the Miri High Court.
The prosecution alleged that the first three defendants – Lee, Lie and Chin – were the masterminds of the murder and the trio had put a hit on Kayong by ordering Mohamad Fitri and the missing suspect Koong Siang Ming to kill him, supposedly over his political activities.
Mohamad Fitri stated that on the day of the murder, he was at a food stall in a coffee shop located between Jalan Sukma and Lorong Desa Senadin 2C, and he met a friend who bought a deer from him before he returned home.
[40] It was revealed in midst of the murder trial that Kayong's family was struggling to make ends meet after he died back in 2016, and his widow was receiving financial aid from social organizations and her late husband's political party to help improve the livelihood of herself and her children.
[41] Two months after Mohamad Fitri was sentenced to hang, the Malaysian government announced in October 2018 that they would abolish the death penalty.
This sparked a great backlash from the Malaysian public, given that the country itself was highly supportive of capital punishment and families whose loved ones fell victim to murder protested against this upcoming decision in particular.
The three appellate judges – Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Datuk Seri Hasnah Datuk Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang – found that the murder of Bill Kayong was "carried out with extreme cruelty, sparking public outrage" and it was appropriate to sentence Mohammad Fitri to hang for the murder, which they found to be a revenge-driven act caused by alleged land disputes and Kayong's political activities, and hence, they confirmed the death penalty in Mohammad Fitri's case.
Many indigenous organizations called for justice to be served, and they remembered the various activities where Kayong advocated for the rights of the native tribal people residing in Sarawak.
[58] After the acquittals of the first three suspects – Datuk Stephen Lee Chee Kiang, Lie Chang Loon and Chin Wui Chung – for the abetment of Kayong's killing, Amnesty International appealed for the case to be reopened, expressing their hope for justice to be served and better protection was ensured for those who fought for human rights.