Exploring the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in Perak... The fort of Ngah Ibrahim

OK. Time to make some updates. Continuing from the article Exploring the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in Perak...Foraying into Beruas . Briefly ya as it is almost buka puasa (breaking fast) time for me. For the record today is the 17th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan. Here goes...

After Beruas, we immediately headed for Taiping to get to the fort of Ngah Ibrahim in Matang. We arrived at the fort which has been converted into a museum just after 5pm.... So it was closed. But luckily the caretaker recognised me from my previous visits and agreed to open it, specially for us... Why, he even welcomed us to take pictures!

Above is a picture of the guys at the section displaying some Malay weapons. In case you forgot, Ngah Ibrahim is a wealthy Malay who inhereted the thriving tin-mining activities in Larut (the district containing Taiping) from another wealthy Malay, Long Jaafar said to be his father. This happened in the mid 19th Century. Then, Larut contained the richest known tin deposit in the whole world!

Outside that section, on the main hall of the second floor (oh, forgot to tell, this is inside the house of Ngah Ibrahim within the fort) is the actual area used to hold the historical court proceedings to sentence (or rather punish...) the Malay warriors implicated in the murder of British first resident to Perak, J.W.W. Birch...

Oh, I did say above that I would be brief right? Just read and refer the full history somewhere else ya...

A section potraying the Malay warriors. Please read the article The main players of the Perak-British war as depicted at the fort of Ngah Ibrahim... made half a year ago here.

The Bugis armour... A picture of this armour was used on the leaf of my third book @ novel, "Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?" (could be literally translated as "The trip to Aceh: The prodigal son returns?").

A model of the elephant named Larut, said to be owned by Long Jaafar. The story goes, the elephant ran to the jungle. When it was found 3 days later, traces of tin were found on it's body leading to the discovery of the richest tin deposit then... Hence the whole area was named Larut after the elephant.

That's us posing in front...

And this, outside the house but within the fort is said to be the tomb of Ngah Ibrahim. Actually he was said to have died in exile in Singapura (sorry, I don't like the Anglicised word Singapore) more than 100 years ago but his remains were returned to Perak on 9th September 2006. So were the remains of his father-in-law, Laksamana Raja Mahkota Muhammad Amin.

Please read the article In Perak's royal mausoleum to give justice to Laksamana Raja Mahkota Muhammad Amin, also made half a year ago. With this I end this particular portion of the story-telling. Cheers! :]