Botak Chin

Upon Botak Chin's capture, rumours about his alleged invincibility began circulating. Superstitious individuals believed that the police was able to wound and apprehend Botak Chin because, on that day, he left home without wearing his talisman. Another belief is that the police went to Thailand to obtain the assistance of Botak Chin's shaman so as to defeat him. According to newspaper reports, at the time of capture, Botak Chin carried a green cloth with Siamese writings and a plastic green purse containing a note book. Moreover, he wore 3 talismans – one around his neck and 2 more around his waist. Apparently Botak Chin protested when the police wanted to remove the talismans, saying "Ini saya punya tokong" (This is my temple). A plethora of valuable accessories including a Rolex watch, a gold chain with 2 pendants and a jade gold ring were found on him. His wallet contained RM231, HK$10, 50 pieces of Japanese "banana" notes, some Thai Bahts, and a photograph of two women.

Dr. Mahadevan, the former director of Tanjung Rambutan Mental Hospital in Perak, treated Botak Chin for 19 days to determine if he was adequately sane to stand trial. He found Botak Chin to be highly intelligent – but a "misguided genius".

At the mental hospital Botak Chin told Dr. Mahadevan that since he was a young boy he had always wanted to help the poor and down-trodden. He wanted to protect them from corrupt officials and gangsters who extorted money from the poor and weak. Botak Chin revealed that he was once brutally attacked by gangsters who entered his vegetable stall at the market and tried to extort money from him, failing which, they beat him until his collar bone was fractured. This incident changed his life. Botak Chin then started to learn martial arts and joined a gang for protection. He also encouraged people to join his secret society so that they would not be harmed and exploited. Members of his secret society had to swear not to take advantage of the poor, cut their hair short and not take drugs. He further told Dr. Mahadevan that in his hometown people regarded him as Robin Hood because he robbed from the rich and gave a considerable amount of the spoils to the poor. Apparently, part of the loot went to his gang and part of it went to the family of those members who were killed or caught by the police. This possibly explains why he managed, time and time again, to hide and gain refuge in the squatter settlements when pursued by the police – with the goodwill he had with the poor, the community were helping him escape. He was their hero.

On 12 May 1980, Chin, who was 27 years old at that time, faced 3 charges under the Internal Security Act at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The News Straits Times reported that he denied possessing firearms or ammunition, as well as ownership of two pouches of bullets which were found in his pockets during the sawmill incident. He claimed that he did not know how they got into his pockets. However, he pleaded guilty to the ISA charges and became the first Malaysian to do so. He was sentenced to death by the High Court in the same year. On 1 January 1981, while on death row, he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from his cell in Pudu Prison; he stabbed several prison wardens but was seriously injured during the struggle. Botak Chin was finally executed at 3 a.m. on 11 June 1981, in the same prison. Ironically, none of the charges were murder; he was sentenced to death solely for the possession of firearms, a capital offence.

On 16 February 1976, the police captured Botak Chin at the Eng Leong sawmill. He miraculously survived despite being seriously wounded with six gunshot wounds. According to the news report by the New Straits Times, he was set up by two of his own henchmen, Pang Kok Chye and Ah Keong. Botak Chin told the High Court that on the 16th, he was at the Tiong Nam settlement between 7pm and 8pm when Pang Kok Chye and Ah Keong came to see him. They told him that two people required help and wanted to meet with him. Botak Chin then followed his men by car to the Jalan Ipoh sawmill to meet the two people.

He formed a gang with Ng Cheng Wong (aka Ah Wong), Beh Kok Chin (aka Pangkor Chai) and Teh Bok Lay (aka Seh Chai) and bought some firearms in Thailand. On 2 June 1975, the gang robbed RM 5,800 from an illegal gambling den in Sentul. With the income from that robbery, Botak Chin "reinvested in his business" – he returned to Thailand and bought another eight firearms along with 100 rounds of ammunition. The gang used a vacant tin mine in Kepong as their shooting range, using stray dogs for target practice. There were also reports that Botak Chin used to openly brandish his weapons at the Sentul market but nobody dared to inform the police as they were afraid of being victimised by Botak Chin or his gang. On 20 July 1975, now with even more so-called "tools of trade" (the new firearms), the gang became more ambitious and bellicose. They robbed a bank on Jalan Imbi and fled with RM95,000, and then gunned down several mahjong players inside a Chinese temple in Jalan Kolam Ayer and made off with an additional RM10,000. Using his share from the robberies, he bought a luxury car.

During a shootout with the police in Segambut Dalam, Botak Chin's car was riddled with multiple bullets. Miraculously, however, he escaped unscathed. This led people to speculate that the talisman he was wearing made him invulnerable to bullets, knives and even poison. Some even believed that he could become invisible at will, gave him superhuman powers, thus escaping unseen. Botak Chin grew more fearless and even more determined to pursue his desire for more power in the underworld. Even when one of his right hand men, Chau Kuan (aka Ah Kuan) was shot dead at a sundry shop at Jalan Kovil Hilir on 25 September 1975, his gang operations were not crippled, nor was he demoralised.

Botak Chin's gang biggest exploit occurred on 26 October 1975, when the gang fled with RM218,000 after gunning down a security guard who was delivering money to a turf club. With his share of approximately RM40,000 from the robbery, he made yet another trip to Thailand to purchase even more weapons: a total of 19 guns, 5 hand grenades and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Although things were getting better for Botak Chin and his men, his rivals became even more envious of his accomplishments, leading to an increase in confrontations between him, rival factions, and competing gangs. To consolidate his power as the supreme gangster in Kuala Lumpur, Botak Chin focused his attention towards gang wars. In one major war at a disused tin mine in Jinjang, one of his rivals, Tua Pui Lek, the head of the Five Finger Mountain gang who had sworn to sabotage Botak Chin and take over his position, failed to achieve his ultimate objective; the most that he managed was to murder Botak Chin's right-hand man, Ah Wong. The police gained some success where one of his trusted lieutenants, Seh Chai, killed himself when he was surrounded by the police on Jalan Alor. Early in 1976, Botak Chin recruited new members into his gang. After the recruitment, his gang conducted 3 robberies and escaped with RM400,000. In spite of the successes, the gang suffered heavy casualties. Seven of his men were shot dead and a few others were caught. The police confiscated 15 firearms, along with ammunition and hand grenades.

Botak Chin engaged in eight robberies within a month in 1969. This led to his first arrest; he was convicted and sentenced to prison for 7 years. He was released before serving out his sentence and resolved to retire from gangsterism. However, his attempt to become clean and work as a grocer was unsatisfying financially; and he returned to crime. This reference doesn’t actually say he worked as a grocer so take it with a grain of salt.

Wong Swee Chin, known professionally as Botak Chin (3 March 1951–11 June 1981) was one of the most notorious and dangerous gangsters during the 1960s and 1970s in Malaysia. He and his friend Kevin Yee Kai Kit were known for conducting armed robberies, which in a few cases involved huge amounts of cash. He was respected by the Chinese community and often regarded as modern-age Robin Hood, as some say he shared the cash from the robberies with the poor. On the evening of 16 February 1976, he was captured by the police, and was executed on 11 June 1981 in Pudu Prison.

Botak Chin was born in Kuala Lumpur in 3 March 1951 to a family of 10 siblings. His father worked with Malayan Railways, and as a child he lived at the Malaysian Railway quarters adjacent to the Caltex station on Jalan Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur. He studied at a Chinese vernacular primary school and then went on to attend the Methodist Boys' Secondary School in Sentul until Form 3. After dropping out from school, Botak Chin worked as a fishmonger at the market at Jalan Tun Ismail (formerly known as Maxwell Road). After his mother's death, he often spent time away from home, with his friends who were the local hoodlums that eventually led him to commit petty crimes. He joined a gang named Gang 360 (Sak Pak Lok), and he was impressed by the firearms possessed by the gang members. On 19 April 1969, Botak Chin and two of his friends took part in a robbery for the first time. At the age of 18, he proudly own his first firearm, a .22 calibre revolver. He then formed his own gang shortly thereafter and proceeded to engage in robbery sprees.