[Hang Li Po]

Remains Of Ngah Ibrahim And Mohamad Amin To Be Exhumed On Thursday









PREPARATORY WORK… Staff of Singapore's Warees Investment and archaeologists from Malaysia's Department of National Heritage making preparations to exhume the grave of Orang Besar Jajahan Hilir Perak Tengku Menteri Ngah Ibrahim at Pusara Al-Junied in Jalan Kubur in Singapore. The graves of Ngah Ibrahim and his father-in-law Laksamana Mohamad Amin Alang, located at Pusara Aman at Chua Chu Kang, about 20km apart, will be exhumed on Thursday. Pix: Jackson Sawatan


By Jackson Sawatan

SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- The remains of two Malay warriors, Orang Besar Jajahan Hilir Perak Tengku Menteri Ngah Ibrahim and his father-in-law Laksamana Mohamad Amin Alang, who died here about a century ago, will be exhumed on Thursday.

A National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesman told Bernama that the exhumation would be done simultaneously.

NEA is the agency which issued the approval for the exhumation of the remains of Ngah Ibrahim at Pusara Al-Junied and Mohamad Amin at Pusara Aman at Chua Chu Kang, about 20km apart.

Archaeologists from Malaysia's National Heritage Department as well as staff of Warees Investments Pte Ltd went to Ngah Ibrahim's grave today to prepare for the exhumation.

Warees Investments, a subsidiary of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), is given the task to manage the exhumation.

"What we have done today is to clean up the surroundings and mark the position of the grave," said assistant heritage officer of the National Heritage Department, Zainal Abidin Abdul Aziz.

Among those expected to attend the exhumation of Ngah Ibrahim's remains is the Orang Kaya Menteri Paduka Tuan Datuk Dr Wan Mohd Isa Wan Ahmad, 61, who is the great-great-grandson of Ngah Ibrahim.

Heritage commissioner Prof Datuk Dr Siti Zuraina Abdul Majid will also be here during the exhumation.

The remains of the two Malay warriors will be taken aboard the Malaysian naval ship KD Laksamana to the naval base in Lumut, Perak.

A full-scale ceremony and a national hero's welcome will be held at the base by the three wings of the Malaysian Defence Forces when their remains arrive on Saturday.

Ngah Ibrahim's remains will be taken to Taiping to be buried at the Matang Museum Complex.

The remains of Mohamad Amin will be brought to Kuala Kangsar to be interred at the Royal Perak Mausoleum in Bukit Chandan, next to the grave of Sultan Abdullah.

Ngah Ibrahim, Mohd Amin and Sultan Abdullah, who ruled Hilir Perak, were among several people implicated in the assassination of the first British Resident in Perak James W.W. Birch in Pasir Salak on Nov 2, 1875.

They and Datuk Syahbandar Uda Maamor were banished to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean in 1877.

Orang Asli Si Putom, who killed Birch, and Datuk Maharaja Lela and his father-in-law Pak Indut as well as Datuk Sagor and several associates were tried for the assassination and hanged in Matang the same year.

After 16 years in exile, Sultan Abdullah was pardoned by the British and allowed to return to Perak where he lived in Kuala Kangsar until his death.

The appeals by Ngah Ibrahim, Mohamad Amin and Uda Maamor to return to Perak were rejected by the British. They were instead sent to Sarawak and then Singapore where Ngah Ibrahim died on Feb 4, 1895 and Mohamad Amin in 1908.

The fate of Uda Maamor is unknown but he is also believed to have died in Singapore.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.c...s.php?id=218166

This post has been edited by Hang Li Po: 07 September 2006 - 06:10 AM

[Hang Li Po]

Grave find a quest fulfilled



03 Sep 2006

Jaspal Singh


TAIPING: "From the depths of my heart, I thank God for fulfilling my quest; to bring the remains of my great great grandfather Tengku Menteri Ngah Ibrahim back to Matang, the land of his birth."

Orang Kaya Menteri Paduka Tuan Datuk Dr Wan Mohd Isa Wan Ahmad, 61, the great great-grandson of Ngah Ibrahim, carries the hereditary title of the "Orang Besar Jajahan" or territorial chief of Larut, Matang and Selama.

Interviewed at his ancestral home in Taiping, Wan Mohd Isa said the attempt to find the grave of Ngah Ibrahim started off with his father, Wan Ahmad Rasdi, who was the territorial chief before him.

"My father made several attempts to locate the grave but was unsuccessful because he did not have the information where Ngah Ibrahim died and whether there was any grave.

"Perhaps God willed that I would be the one to find the grave. A professor of history who learnt about my quest handed me a thesis which contained the information on the location as well as the picture of Ngah Ibrahim’s grave."

With three others, they travelled to Singapore and visited Makam Al-Junid.

They searched the huge graveyard headstone by headstone but failed to locate it on the first day.

The effort continued the next day and the team decided to call it quits when it still could not locate the grave.

"Just when we were ready to leave the area, tired and disappointed, I felt a strange vibration overcoming me and was pulled towards a corner of the graveyard.

"As I neared a raised tomb, I accidentally stepped on a large broken headstone. I picked it up to read the inscription. That was the moment I had waited for. At long last I had found the grave of my ancestor.

"It is said that Ngah Ibrahim was near-blind when he died at the age of 59.

"The blindness was caused by years of solitary crying and grieving for wanting to return and die in his homeland. I feel sorry for him but I pray he will be at peace knowing that he is returning to Matang."

While abundant records are available on the life of Ngah Ibrahim, the man who made his riches from tin mining, the same cannot be said of the life of his father-in-law Laksamana Mohd Amin Alang.

In fact, Amin’s grandson, Orang Kaya-Kaya Laksamana Raja Mahkota Datuk Mohd Amin Shukeri Ali Akbar, had to rely on short notes made by his late father Datuk Ali Akbar Mohd Amin in his faded diary during the interview with the New Straits Times.

"I don’t have any written records or possessions of the Laksamana to show you because everything was confiscated and destroyed by the British after they banished him to Seychelles," said the 70-year-old territorial chief of Hilir Perak.

Amin was a man feared by the British because of his great influence in Lower Perak (Hilir Perak).

"In fact, Datuk Maharajalela and Datuk Sagor, who killed J.W.W. Birch, were under his patronage. However, the British could not link my grandfather to the murder hence the banishment order."

Amin Shukeri said when he came to know about the efforts being made to bring back the remains of Ngah Ibrahim to Perak, he approached Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali who agreed to bear the cost of bringing back the remains of the two men.

"I approached Raja Muda Raja Dr Nazrin Shah to seek his permission to bury Amin in the royal mausoleum in Kuala Kangsar. The Raja Muda informed me that only Sultan Azlan Shah could decide on the matter.

"Raja Nazrin said he would speak to his father on my behalf. Sultan Azlan graciously gave his permission to bury Amin at the mausoleum despite his non-royal status.

Both Wan Mohd Isa and Amin Shukeri will be in Singapore on Wednesday when the graves are exhumed.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sun...icle/index_html

[Centaur]

I am glad that they finally got to return to their birth place. It must be a wonderful day for their families to receive them back.

[Hang Li Po]

[Hang Li Po]

GRANDPA’S BONES: Dr Wan Mohd Isa (centre) looking at Ngah Ibrahim’s remains with Dr Zuraina and National Heritage Department senior museum assistant Khairil Amri Abdul Ghani at the Al-Junied cemetery in Singapore.

This post has been edited by Hang Li Po: 09 September 2006 - 06:50 AM

[sg_han]

They were expelled from Malaysia to Singapore btw

[Hang Li Po]

History of Perak on display

STORY AND PHOTOS BY FOONG THIM LENG



The Ngah Ibrahim mansion which is now the Matang Historical Complex



Museum assistant Ahmad Sazali outside a room decorated with antiques from Ngah Ibrahim's era at the Matang Historical Complex



A section of the first foor of the Ngah Ibrahim mansion exhibiting a scene of the trial of Maharaja Leela who killed British resident J.W.W. Birch

THE Matang Historical Complex in Taiping where the Ngah Ibrahim mansion is located has once again seen transformation.

This time, the mansion has been refurbished at a cost of over RM700,000 by the Museum and Antiquities Department to provide more information on Taiping’s colourful history.

The department hopes it will help develop the Matang sub-district as a new tourist destination in Perak.

Located about 2km from the Simpang/Taiping junction of the Ipoh-Butterworth trunk road, the 0.8ha mansion built in 1856 was the official residence of Ngah Ibrahim, a son of Long Jaafar, who promoted tin mining in 1850.

The Sultan of Perak then, Sultan Abdullah Mohammad Shah, bestowed Long Jaafar with the title Orang Besar Jajahan and he was given the authority to administer and develop Larut.

When Long Jaafar died in 1857, Ngah Ibrahim inherited Long Jaafar’s territorial jurisdiction and title and later moved into the mansion built at the centre of a fort.

In the latest refurbishment project in 2003, several sections of the mansion were converted to showcase Ngah Ibrahim’s bedroom and administrative office and a British courtroom.

Since its opening to the public on Sept 30 last year, visitors can see wax figures of an elephant and his handlers. This tells the story of the discovery of tin in Larut by Long Jaafar.

According to history, the handlers noticed sparkling mineral sticking to the mud on the elephant’s legs, which turned out to be tin ore.

There are also wax figures depicting tin miners at a Chinese tea stall near a tin mine.

On display also are farming tools and information on agricultural activities which included the growing of padi, rubber, coffee, sugarcane, tea, tobacco, clove, tapioca and fruits.

On the walls are photographs of the fort in the old days, and posters on the Larut Wars fought between the Chinese migrants from the Ghee Hin and the Hai San clans.

A room on the ground floor was dedicated to the Japanese Occupation period with the display of a wax figure of a Japanese officer, utensils used by the Japanese soldiers and a Japanese sword.

Another room on the ground floor was used to depict the prison where Maharaja Lela and his cohorts who killed J.W.W. Birch were kept while awaiting trial.

Upstairs, there are wax figures depicting the trial of Maharaja Lela and his followers.

Another section has figures depicting a class of a Malay school in session while another section was dedicated to Captain Speedy who put down the Larut Wars and brought peace to Taiping.

On the same floor, a room had been decorated to depict the bedroom of Ngah Ibrahim.

During excavation in the fort's compound by the Museum and Antiquity Department last year, a hidden well used by Ngah Ibrahim's wife, Toh Puan Habibah, and a host of other items such as the carburettor of a Japanese fighter plane, old coins with Jawi inscriptions, broken porcelain and cannon balls were found.

The artefacts have also been put on display at the complex.

The complex is open from 9am to 5pm daily, except for the first day of Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji.

Museum Assistant Ahmad Sazali said the complex has attracted about 4,000 Malaysians and 200 foreigners since its opening.

Originally published in The Star on

http://allmalaysia.info/news/story.asp?fil...mp;sec=mi_perak

[Hang Li Po]

[lifezard]

hi,


a little recap of the actual incident behind this, what was the general malay s opinion on the murder of jww birch? were the murderers regarded as heroes against british attempts the hegemonise the malay penisular? (remember, perak was the 1st of the many malay states to fall to british control )

also is there any good source to describe ngah ibrahim s role in the murders?.. the version i often see was that maharaja lela had the blessings of both the sultan and the raja bendahara on the murder so it would be great to know something a little bit more on the incident