Bandar tertua, suasana damai

REPLIKA yang menggambarkan penemuan bijih timah pada Si Larut, gajah milik Che Long Jaafar.

SEBAIK kereta keluar dari plaza tol Changkat Jering, suasana damai yang cukup sinonim dengan bandar warisan Taiping mula dirasai.

Statusnya sebagai bandar tertua negara terus terserlah sebaik melalui Penjara Taiping yang berusia 133 tahun.

Namun kedamaian sebenar lebih dirasai apabila kereta dipandu penulis melintasi jalan di sekitar Taman Tasik Taiping yang redup dipayungi pokok-pokok tua.

Mungkin juga kerana pengaruh cuaca yang sentiasa berubah-rubah maka persekitaran di ‘pekan koboi’ itu sangat ‘sejuk’ dipandang mata.

Bagaimanapun menurut penduduk tempatan, penjelajahan di bandar warisan itu seelok-eloknya dimulakan dari Kompleks Sejarah Matang (dahulunya dikenali sebagai Kompleks Sejarah Kota Ngah Ibrahim) yang terletak di Bukit Gantang.

Menurut Ketua Kampung Hujung Matang, Taiping, Mohd. Khiruddin Abd. Halim, 48, hal itu kerana kompleks berkenaan adalah ‘kunci’ kepada bandar warisan itu.

‘‘Kunci kerana rumah besar itu didirikan Che Ngah Ibrahim anak kepada Che Long Jaafar yang merupakan orang Melayu pertama membuka perusahaan lombong bijih timah di Larut, Matang dan Selama.

“Kerana bijih timah bandar ini berkembang dengan pesat menjadi bandar utama sekitar tahun 1870-an dahulu,’’ katanya.

Bercerita tentang penemuan bijih timah di Larut, Mohd. Khiruddin berkata, semuanya bermula apabila seekor gajah bernama Si Larut milik Che Long Jaafar yang hilang ditemui semula.

Katanya, bagaimanapun Che Long Jaafar berasa hairan melihat gajahnya diselaputi lumpur yang keras.

“Pelik dengan kejadian itu, Che Long Jaafar mengambil keputusan untuk menyiasat perkara tersebut.

“Setelah mengetahui ketulan yang menyelaputi Si Larut itu adalah bijih timah, Che Long Jaafar telah pergi ke Pulau Pinang dan berjaya membawa balik 20 orang Cina ke Larut untuk menjalankan kegiatan perlombongan.

“Bukan tidak mahu memberi peluang kepada penduduk tempatan, cuma pada masa itu orang Melayu sememangnya kurang pengetahuan tentang bijih timah," katanya.

Mohd. Khiruddin berkata, berdasarkan cerita orang-orang tua, dipercayai nama daerah itu dinamakan Larut sempena nama gajah Che Long Jaafar.

Selepas itu, katanya, lombong bijih timah yang dibuka oleh Che Long Jaafar di Klian Pauh telah mendapat keuntungan besar.

Keadaan itu menyebabkan semakin ramai orang Cina berhijrah ke Larut untuk menjadi pelombong bijih timah.

“Satu lagi sejarah yang sinonim dengan Taiping adalah Perang Larut membabitkan pergaduhan kumpulan Ghee Hin di Klian Baru dengan kumpulan Hai San di Klian Pauh yang mengheret campur tangan British.

“Perjanjian Pangkor telah membuka jalan untuk campur tangan British di Tanah Melayu dengan menggunakan sistem Residen dan seterusnya, menjadikan Taiping sebagai pusat pentadbiran British yang baru.

“Pelbagai kemudahan telah dibina British seperti hospital, sekolah, penjara, balai bomba, kawasan rehat pergunungan dan landasan kereta api telah menjadikan Taiping sebagai bandar terawal menerima kemajuan di Tanah Melayu," katanya.

Selepas melawati Kompleks Sejarah Matang, penulis bersama jurugambar meneruskan perjalanan ke kawasan bersejarah lain yang terdapat di Taiping seperti Menara Jam, Muzium Perak, Sekolah King Edward VII dan Bukit Larut.

Taiping Bandar Warisan

SELEPAS tamatnya Perang Larut pada 1874, nama bandar Klian Pauh telah ditukar kepada Taiping. Nama yang berasal daripada perkataan Cina ‘Tai-Peng’ itu bermaksud aman selama-lamanya.

Sesuai dengan maksud namanya, suasana aman, damai boleh dirasai dan amat sesuai bagi mereka yang ingin lari sebentar daripada kesibukan hidup di kota.

Terletak di atas permukaan muka bumi yang tinggi terutama di bahagian Bukit Larut menjadikan Taiping sebagai kawasan yang paling lembap di Malaysia dengan menerima taburan hujan sekitar 4,000 milimeter setahun.

Lebih unik, bandar yang pernah menjadi ibu negeri bagi Perak itu kaya dengan pelbagai sejarah dan budaya.

Ekoran itu, Taiping telah mendapat pengiktirafan sebagai bandar warisan apabila Majlis Perbandaran Taiping (MPT) menyenaraikan 31 bangunan dan tempat di bandar itu sebagai tertua di Malaysia.

Malaya’s Other Tiger

Whenever the Tiger of Malaya is discussed, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, with his fierce expression and full military attire as the fearful leader of the Japanese imperial military during WW2 inevitably pops into our imagination. However, did you know about Tani Yutaka, Harimao of Malaya, whose reputation also grew during this same period? 

From suit to sarong

Born in Fukuoka in 1910, Tani moved to Terengganu when he was barely one. He grew up in Malaya, where his father managed a small business as a barber. In 1931, Tani returned to Japan to fulfil the mandatory military service required of all Japanese-born. Unfortunately, that would be the last time he saw his youngest sister, Shizuoka Yutaka.

  Far left: Tani Yutaka.Third from right in front: Shizuoka Yutaka

The 1930s saw a marked increase of hostility towards the Japanese community in Malaya. With the Manchurian/Mukden incident in 1931, the larger Chinese community expressed their dissatisfaction with the Japanese minority in Malaya through boycotts of Japanese-owned businesses, street riots and even bursts of violence. In one of these particularly violent episodes in November 1932, the Yutaka business was razed to the ground and Shizuoka was killed. Upon Tani’s return, he was disappointed with the inefficient colonial government and took matters into his own hands. Turning to an underground life of crime with Thai-Malay bandits, Tani led the Harimao gang, which depending on various accounts, ranged from 50,000 to 300,000-strong. He attained a reputation as a Robin-Hood of sorts, robbing from rich and manipulative Chinese businessmen and distributing the wealth to poor rural Malays. Or so the story went.

Twenty year-old Harimao on the extreme left. The others were aides to Fujiwara too.

In 1941, he began to help Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, chief of the military intelligence unit known as the F Kikan, gather information and conduct guerrilla warfare against the British. Towards the end of the Japanese advance southward, Tani contracted malaria in February 1942 in the jungles of Johore and died in a hospital in Singapore.

A billboard at the Japanese Cemetery Park in Singapore marks the memorial dedicated to Tani Yutaka in the Park (top center)

His story was first made public by Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily, on 3 April 1942. Other periodicals, such as the Shukan Asahi on May 31, also picked up the story. Ever the efficient propagandist, Major Fujiwara’s insisted that Tani’s story be immortalized through a motion picture. Thus, Daiei company agreed to produce Marai no Tora.

 Shukan Asahi’s posthumous feature of Tani Yutaka on 31 May, 1942

In recent years, revisionist histories about Tani have begun to emerge, such as Yamamoto Takashi’sHarimao: The truth about Malaya’s Tiger after 60 years, published by Tokyo’s Taishukan in 2002. In it, he outlines his futile attempts to find the followers of the Harimao gang, and comes to the conclusion that Tani was most likely a petty thief whose reputation was exaggerated after his death by Fujiwara to boost support for his unit.

Cover of Yamamoto Takashi’s book

27th Sultan of Perak: Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin Muzaffar Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah I (1886-1887)

Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin Muzaffar Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah I (1886 - 1887). Source: Arkib Negara Malaysia

According to Frank Swettenham, Sultan Yusuf was not the kind of man who makes friends and influences people but he had great gifts – intelligence, ability and he was a strong man with a will. He also added that Sultan Yusuf was a ruler who intended to rule. That was why it took him a while to reach the throne. Sultan Yusuf had been born to high office, being the eldest son of Sultan Abdullah Muhammad 1 (1851-1857).

In those days at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Perak was beginning to break up. During that time, it was no longer possible to keep the State really united under the control of a single authority. It became necessary to share the office of Sultan between the branches of the royal house. At any time, the Sultan was drawn from one branch of the dynasty, the Raja Muda from another and the Raja Bendahara from the third.

Thus, when a Sultan mangkat, the Raja Muda would become the next Sultan, the Raja Bendahara would be promoted to Raja Muda and the Sultan’s son would become Raja Bendahara. Everyone had a fair share and the Sultan’s son would become Sultan eventually if he lived long enough.

Nevertheless, the election of royal princes to these offices rested with the great chiefs of Perak, who understandably preferred to elect a Sultan (and the heir presumptive) that would serve their benefits and interest. It was not surprising that they did not like strong men like Raja Yusuf. As a result, Raja Yusuf was denied to the throne three times – during the reign of Sultan Jaafar (1857- 1865), Sultan Ali (1865-1871) and Sultan Ismail (1871-1874).

In the 1850s, the chiefs were divided themselves. The Upper Perak chiefs around the region Kuala Kangsar were at loggerheads with the Lower Perak group around Durian Sebatang (near Teluk Intan). It was during this time that a civil war existed between Sultan Abdullah Muhammad I with Raja Muda Ngah Jaafar and most of the chiefs of Perak, especially those from Lower Perak. Later, Sultan Abdullah I had to flee his palace in Durian Sebatang and sought refuge in exile at the residence of Datuk Laksamana Tok Janggut. Mat Amin (later Dato’ Laksmana) made his reputation in this war and was later chief of Durian Sebatang and became the real power in Lower Perak.

Raja Yusuf took this opportunity to enter boldly into the fighting. He did not win battles but he made a name for himself as a formidable warrior and a strong character. However, the war dragged on inconclusively until the death of his father.

According to custom, Raja Yusuf should then have been elected Raja Bendahara, as the son of the deceased Sultan. However, the chiefs would not elect their arch-enemy of the civil war to lord it over them. They felt that he would be a tyrannical Sultan in due course, and they appointed an outsider, Raja Ismail of Siak, to be Raja Bendahara in order to keep Raja Yusuf out of the succession to the throne. Raja Yusuf was repeatedly passed over in 1865 and again in 1871, when the subsequents Sultans mangkat and new appointments had to be made.

Raja Yusuf then lived in his village at Senggang, opposite to Kuala Kangsar by the Perak river, brooding in bitter disappointment. He had no friends and power to claim what he considered his due.

Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin (seated centre) seen here with Raja Muda Idris (seated left) and Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak. (Source: M.A. Fawzi, Cempaka Sari: Sejarah Kesultanan Negeri Perak)

Then in 1872, his fortunes began to mend. There was now a near civil war between two rival contestants for the throne of Perak, Raja Muda Abdullah and Raja Bendahara Ismail, after the demise of Almarhum Sultan Ali. Raja Abdullah, being in need of good fighting men, invited Raja Yusuf to join him. The price for Raja Yusuf’s support was that Raja Abdullah would make him Raja Muda. Although the Sultan alone would not able to make such appointment, nonetheless, Raja Yusuf clung to the title, as to him it was a step forward in his long-thwarted dues.

The year 1874 saw Perak came under British protection and 1875 was the year of Malay reaction to it. There was much coming and going along the Perak river in 1875. Now, Raja Yusuf was the only chief of consequence left in Perak. Following the exile of Sultan Muda Ismail to Johor and Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II to the Seychelles as a result of the assasination of JWW Birch, as Raja Muda he was made Regent in the Sultan’s absence, with the title of Wakil Sultan. Together with the Sir Hugh Low, the second British Resident for Perak, Raja Muda Yusuf was instrumental in developing Perak into a successful and peaceful state.

At first, the British were not very confident about bringing forward Raja Yusuf in this way. However, the British later thought that it was necessary for Perak to have a head of state of royal stature, and to ascertain whether he was fit to be entrusted with the governing of the state. According to the British, Raja Yusuf was a clear-thinking leader and had enough skills to grasp the realities of the situation. It was in 1886 when the British decided that Raja Yusuf was to finally become the Sultan after he had successfully completed his period of probation and Sultan Abdullah was evidently not coming back from exile in the Seychelles. Raja Yusuf was then made Sultan of Perak, styled as Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin Muzaffar Shah, and made his residence in Sayong.

The makam of Almarhum Sultan Yusuf (Marhum Gharirullah). (Source: Laman Rasmi Pejabat SultanPerak)

Unfortunately, Sultan Yusuf did not live long enough especially after much disappointment he had faced. Tuanku was still an active man despite his years. It was described that Sultan Yusuf began to be troubled with pains in his head, which was the onset of a brain tumour. Being the strong-willed man that he was, Tuanku was able to ignore his symptoms from this terminal disease for some time. Tuanku mangkat on 26 July 1887, a year after he became the 27^th Sultan of Perak.

A photo of YAM Raja Haji Johor ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin, who was Raja Kecil Tengah. (Photo courtesy of YM Raja Muhaiyuddin Raja Alias)

Sultan Yusuf was known to be physically stout, a tall man with grey hair and a white moustache, a powerful figure with a bull neck. In his face, there was a look of exceeding haughtiness. He walked with feet turned out at “ten-to-two” (ngempor in Perak Malay) in blue canvas shoes with something of waddle. He carried a stave of spear in his hand. However, the fact that he could not read and write restricted his activity.

Sultan Yusuf had four sons and a daughter – Raja Mansur, Raja Muhammad Azzam, Raja Pendawa, Raja Johor (later Raja Kechil Tengah) and Raja Perempuan Nuteh Aishah.

Almarhum was interred in Sayong and was conferred the posthumous title Marhum Gharirullah.

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Reference:

1. Warrior Sultan was disliked by subjects. The Straits Times. 1956 June 23.

2. Laman Rasmi Pejabat DYMM Sultan Perak

3. M.A. Fawzi Basri. Cempaka Sari: Sejarah Kesultanan Negeri Perak. Yayasan Perak; 1986.

4. The Straits Times. 20 November 1875 November 20.

(Dipetik dan diubahsuai daripada Sembangkuala)