On the morning of 21 June 2016, Bill Kayong — also known by his Muslim name Mohd Hasbie Abdullah, a 42-year-old social activist and member of the People's Justice Party (PKR) — was shot and killed at a traffic light intersection near a shopping mall in Kuala Baram Bypass, Sarawak, Malaysia. He was seated in his Toyota truck when a gunman shot him in the neck with a shotgun; he died at the scene from two gunshot wounds. Kayong had campaigned for the rights of the Dayak people, including native customary land rights, and had unsuccessfully contested the Bekenu seat in the 2016 Sarawak state election.
The killing prompted a large public reaction, with residents suspecting political motives and PKR leaders, including party president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and lawyer Baru Bian, publicly mourning Kayong and calling for justice. Around 5,000 people attended his funeral.
The Royal Malaysia Police classified the death as murder and formed a special task force. Nine suspects were initially arrested, and within weeks two men — Mohamad Fitri Pauzi, a bouncer, and Lie Chang Loon, a pub owner — were charged with murder and abetment of murder respectively. Three further suspects were later sought: Datuk Stephen Lee Chee Kiang, a plantation owner; his personal assistant Chin Wui Chung; and karaoke operator Koong Siang Ming. Chin surrendered in August 2016. Lee fled to Australia and was later located in China and deported to Malaysia in December 2016, where he was charged with abetment of murder.
The murder trial of the four apprehended men began at the Miri High Court in January 2017. The prosecution alleged Lee, Lie and Chin orchestrated the killing and hired Mohamad Fitri and the still-missing Koong to carry it out over Kayong's political activities. In June 2017, the court acquitted Lee, Lie and Chin for insufficient evidence, but ordered Mohamad Fitri to answer for the murder charge. The prosecution's appeal against these acquittals was later dismissed by the Court of Appeal in April 2018.
Mohamad Fitri testified in his own defence in May 2018, claiming he had bought the shotgun for hunting. On 10 August 2018, Justice Ravintharan N. Paramaguru rejected this defence, finding Mohamad Fitri had premeditated the killing, and convicted him of murder, sentencing him to death by hanging.
Mohamad Fitri's subsequent appeals were dismissed by the Court of Appeal in February 2020 and by the Federal Court in March 2022, upholding his conviction and sentence. After Malaysia reformed mandatory death penalty laws in 2023, Mohamad Fitri sought re-sentencing, but the Federal Court rejected this plea in September 2024, and he remains on death row as of 2024.
The fifth suspect, Koong Siang Ming, was arrested in China in July 2021 and repatriated to Malaysia, where he was questioned and released on police bail. As of 2024, no further updates had been reported in his case. In January 2023, Kayong's grave was reported vandalized, prompting a police report.
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