Brutal stabbing in Kelantan puts spotlight on femicide

KUALA LUMPUR - The road through Kampung Simah in Malaysia’s north-eastern state of Kelantan cuts past paddy fields and clusters of village homes. After dark, the steady stream of vehicles is one of the few sounds in the quiet village as large stretches of the route remain unlit.

It was along this road on May 1 that villagers discovered the body of 19-year-old college student Nurfisya Zulkifly. She was stabbed 61 times in a killing investigators described as unusually brutal, shocking a state better known for sleepy rural communities and religious conservatism than for crimes of such ferocity.

The sheer brutality of the attack has reignited fierce debate in the Malaysian media over femicide, a term used to describe the intentional killing of women because of their gender. While investigators attributed the tragedy to immediate emotional triggers, criminologists and women’s rights advocates warn against reducing such attacks to “crimes of passion” alone, arguing that deeper, systemic issues of power, control, entitlement and misogyny may shape the escalation.

Globally, the United Nations estimates that 83,000 women and girls were intentionally killed in 2024, with about 60 per cent allegedly slain by intimate partners or family members. Yet in Malaysia, as with much of Asia, a lack of targeted data has made it hard to measure the scale of femicide across the country. Activists say public understanding remains low, underscoring a need to raise awareness.

In the Kelantan case, state police chief Mohd Yusoff Mamat told 999, a local investigative television programme, that Ms Nurfisya and the 19-year-old male suspect were acquainted online and met in person for the first time on the fateful night for dinner.

Based on initial police investigations, the suspect allegedly stopped by his house to retrieve a knife while on the way to taking Ms Nurfisya home. The attack was believed to have happened inside the car; he then allegedly dumped her body by the roadside and drove home, where he spent hours washing the vehicle. The murder, Datuk Mohd Yusoff said, was likely triggered by “excessive fear and rage”.

On May 12, student Muhammad Hazim Muhammad was charged with Ms Nurfisya’s murder at a magistrate’s court in Kota Bharu. If convicted, he could face the death penalty or up to 40 years in prison and caning.

Decoding the signs of femicide

According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysia recorded 237 cases of murder in 2024, with 55 of the murder victims being female. There is no separate classification for femicide.

Not every killing involving a woman should automatically be labelled femicide, said Dr Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid, a University Malaya criminologist.

“Homicide (murder) is the unlawful killing of a person. Femicide, meanwhile, refers to the killing of women or girls in circumstances shaped by gender control, coercion, sexual violence or ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’ thinking because of her gender,” she told The Straits Times.

In the Kelantan case, experts say the key signs of suspected femicide were that the perpetrator was known to the victim, the intimate relations between the victim and the perpetrator, the extreme “overkill” violence and the alleged jealousy-driven motive.

“It reflects gendered power dynamics, the dumping of body in a public area, intimate partner control (this does not necessarily mean partner in sexual intimacy) and lethal escalation of male possessiveness. When self-worth is tied to dominance, rejection can feel like humiliation or a loss of status,” Associate Professor Geshina Ayu Mat Saat, a criminologist and psychologist, told ST, adding that reactions escalate when individuals struggle to regulate emotions.

In Malaysia, cases involving the killing of women are rarely discussed as gender-based violence, even when they involve partners or men known to the victims.

Without clear definitions, the line between general societal aggression and targeted gender violence remains blurred.

For instance, a fatal school stabbing in 2025 involving teenager Yap Shing Xuen raised widespread concerns about youth violence. Experts said there were various theories surrounding the case, but insufficient evidence to conclusively classify it as femicide.

To criminologists, the “overkill” seen in the Kelantan attack carries a meaning beyond the act itself.

“When someone is stabbed dozens of times, people naturally ask why the violence was so excessive,” Dr Haezreena said. “The brutality itself can send a message.”

With police confirming the suspect tested negative for drugs, attention has shifted towards emotional and social pressures that experts say increasingly shape violent behaviour.

A ticking time bomb

Women’s rights advocates argue that these “explosions” of violence rarely happen in a vacuum; they are often the final stop on a long road of unchecked abuse.

“Violence against women does not usually begin with one severe incident. It often begins with control,” said Ms Nazreen Nizam, executive director of Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), a prominent women’s rights group in Malaysia.

Women’s rights advocates point to recent high-profile domestic abuse cases that stopped just short of death. On May 4, 2026, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal increased the sentence for Rosmaini Abd Raof, who assaulted his pregnant wife Jahidah Nordin into a permanent coma in 2021, from 10 years to 14 years.

While she survived, the case serves as a grim reminder that “warning signs” of possessiveness and physical intimidation are often mistaken for protectiveness. Her family said she had grown quiet after marriage.

“We must stop waiting for women to be badly hurt before these warning signs are taken seriously. A protection order is only meaningful if it is enforced. A police report is only meaningful if risk is properly assessed,” Ms Nazreen told ST.

Malaysia enacted anti-stalking laws in 2023, allowing victims facing repeated harassment, intimidation or unwanted contact, including from former partners, to seek legal protection. But women’s rights groups say many cases are still dismissed as private relationship problems until violence turns physical.

Based on media monitoring, the WAO recorded at least 17 suspected femicide cases in 2024. The real figure is likely higher because many cases were never publicly identified as gender-based killings.

Experts say prevention requires earlier intervention, better awareness of coercive behaviour, stronger enforcement of protection orders, and more emotional support systems for young people struggling with rejection and anger.

In the case of Ms Nurfisya, the 61 stabs inflicted on her were not just an isolated case of “madness”, but the extreme consequence of a systemic issue.

Ms Nazreen said this is why the authorities in Malaysia need to start tracking the number of femicides. “Without naming femicide, we cannot see the pattern,” she said. “Without seeing the pattern, we cannot prevent the next death.”