By Sam Trailerman
By a common Malaysian who is tired of unsolved stories
Look, I am not a lawyer. I am not a policeman. I am just a regular guy who reads old newspapers when the internet line is slow.
And then I found her name. Mustakizah binti Haji Jaafar. In 1988, she was 35 years old an executive at a company called Golden Star Video. Her job was simple on paper - get approval for imported video tapes from the Film Censorship Board. That board, at that time, came under the Home Ministry. On 14th November 1988, she was found murdered outside her house in Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut, Kuala Lumpur. Not a robbery gone wrong. Not an accident. The papers said she had chop wounds on the neck and a gunshot.
Next morning, police found a white Datsun Sunny, number WR 6929 [Source: Berita Harian 15 Nov 1988], abandoned. They said this was the killers' car. Then KL CID chief Mohd Bakri Omar said something that should have made everyone sit up - he believed hired killers were involved. Hired killers. In Segambut. For a video business lady. If they were hired, then someone hired them. That is the question a common man like me cannot forget. If they were hired, then someone hired them. That is the question a common man like me cannot forget.
Now here is where it becomes very Malaysian. At that time, the Home Minister was not some small fry. The Home Minister was the Prime Minister himself, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And his number two, the Deputy Home Minister, was Megat Junid bin Megat Ayob. So the ministry that had to investigate the murder was headed by the boss and his deputy. Nice, right? What happened next is straight out of our Parliament drama. For three years, opposition MPs refused to let the case die. Some credits for them for that.
On 8th March 1989, P. Patto from Ipoh, ( Inside it you will find on page 325-326 ) DAP, stood up in Dewan Rakyat and asked - how many people have you questioned, have you arrested anyone, and have you questioned the Deputy Home Minister himself? Two days later, 10th March 1989, PAS man Nik Abdullah from Pengkalan Chepa asked - will the government clear the Deputy Home Minister's name and say he has nothing to do with it? Then on 24th March 1989, Ting Chek Ming from Batu Gajah asked even more directly - is it true the Deputy Home Minister is not involved in the murder of the Golden Star executive?
Every time, the answer from Deputy Home Minister Megat Junid was the same beautiful script: case still under police investigation, cannot disclose, will prejudice investigation. On 6th December 1989, Karpal Singh from Jelutong called it what it was - a “ghastly murder”. He quoted Straits Times 15th November 1988 which had mentioned hired killers and said rumours about a Deputy Minister were circulating. Note the word - rumours. Not facts. Rumours.
More than two years after the body was found, on 13th December 1990, Mat Sabu from Nilam Puri asked why still no prosecution. Is someone protecting someone, he asked. Megat Junid said nobody is being protected. Then on 8th November 1991, Mat Sabu asked again - what is the latest progress? The answer: still ongoing, no arrest because police lack sufficiently strong information, and we are offering RM50,000 reward. RM50,000 in 1991 was a lot of money. Enough to buy a house in some places. Yet nobody came forward. Or nobody dared.
Fast forward to 1999. Anwar Ibrahim is on trial. He is fighting for his life politically. On 22nd October 1999, he tells the High Court that he had asked the Prime Minister to explain the minister's involvement in the murder of a woman by the name of Mustakizah and his habit of gambling in the office. Earlier, on 9th February 1999, it was reported that there was an allegation against Megat Junid who was said to be involved with the murder of a woman called Mustakizah.
Let me be very clear as a common man - allegation is not conviction. Parliament talk is not court judgment. Gossip in a coffee shop is not evidence. No one was ever charged with Mustakizah's murder. The man at the centre of those rumours, Megat Junid, went on to become Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister in 1997, lost his seat in 1999, retired, and died of cancer in January 2008.
And the woman? Forgotten. Except for a few old Hansard pages that most of us have never read. That is the satire, isn't it? In Malaysia, a Datsun Sunny can be found in 24 hours, but a murder can be lost for 37 years. We can have three years of questions in Parliament a CID chief saying hired killers and still end with zero arrests.
So tonight I am not asking who killed her. I don't know. Police don't know, or won't say.
I am asking as a common man - with DNA labs, with cold case units, with all our canggih tech now, is it possible to look at that white Datsun file again? Can we please give Mustakizah Jaafar the one thing she never got - an ending?
Because if a 35-year-old can be hacked and shot outside her own house and we all just move on, what does that say about us?
Disclaimer: All references to involvement of any public figure are based on allegations/rumours raised in Parliament and in court testimony as cited above, not proven findings. No person has ever been charged for this murder as of 2026.
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