In death, computer analyst Canny Ong has succeeded where committed Malaysian feminists had failed despite years of campaigning.
Ong has focused national attention on an alarming increase in violence against young women, changing the perception that the victims are to blame and provoking calls for action from a police force that has largely ignored the problem.
On June 13, the 29-year-old was guest of honour at a farewell dinner with her family at the upscale and heavily guarded Bangsar Shopping Centre.
She was due to fly to Los Angeles that night to rejoin her American husband. She told her family to wait outside and headed to the basement to collect her mother's car. Ong never returned; her body turned up five days later, stuffed in a culvert. She had been raped, strangled to death and burnt beyond recognition. An aircraft cleaner has been charged with her murder.
Since Ong's death, Malaysian media has put the spotlight on several equally gruesome cases of rape and murder, provoking a national debate about a topic that previously received little notice.
Growing awareness, in turn, is leading to demands from the public for stiffer penalties and an overhaul of the police force, which many believe was incompetent in handling the case.