Bukit Kepong - Attentive Past, Mundane Present.

PROLOGUE: After 60 years, finally the station received it much deserved attention. 

Last Raya I went for an open house at Johor. On the way back to KL, I stopped by at Bukit Kepong, a small town made famous by Bukit Kepong Incident where the only police station was besieged by communist forces back in 1950. The defending police forces were almost all KIA, and to make things worse, the station was burnt down, sadly turning them into human barbecue together with their trapped families. The commies were led by Mat Indera, whose name sparked a controversy last year for being deemed as a hero rather than a commie rebel.

Mat Indera issue had renewed national interest about the Incident, reopened the chapter of history about our struggle for Independence...

and might reopened an old wound...

Nevertheless, the case was sensational enough for me to stop by, discover the site...

and come up with some most intriguing finds. 

As I reached the police station-turned-museum, many people already flocked there. Controversies are indeed good for marketing. 

Entrance into the attentive past, or mundane present... 

Cardboard box of the old police station. More like a penghulu house!

Observe the 3 communication towers on the hills overlooking the police station. The police on duty informed me the towers marked the site where Mat Indera might positioned his armies, their arms were restless, ready to attack in the morning of February 23...

The towers loomed the station - a forgotten stark reminder of what happened that day... 

New station over the fallen one.

The Two Towers of Bukit Kepong!

Jetty of Muar River - still stands after all these years.

"I kill you Mat Indera!", posing of a patriot(?)

Abandoned room - nothing but a store.

Creaky old station. So much for a holy ground of the police forces.

Another view of the Towers.

Muar River behind the station. No wonder the station was easily besieged.

Old battered boat - no more sailing in this one.

Safe Come To Hill Besiege! - welcoming sign near the site.

After a few minutes walk, I reached the Muslim Cemetery where the defending casualties were buried. I still remember many years ago that the cemetery was overgrown and rusty gates, abandoned...

And now the vegetation is cleared, the graves are given new golden gate, with national, state and mourning flag.

List of the fallen police forces.

The graves were embellished with new enclosing wall -built by two Indonesian workers. Again, so much for the so-called holy site of the Royal Malaysian Police forces that they couldn't find at least a platoon to have the honor to do the job. 

"Nothing special, just a regular job for me", said the Indonesian worker.

Don't be fooled by his Malaysia team jersey!

On my way back to the station, I stopped by the surau near the cemetery. I thought it was the meeting of the victims' families. Turned out to be a casual meeting of the old folks of the kampung. I took this shot and bashfully left. 

"We are now discussing about water problem..." boring... zzz... 

Arriving back at the station, I glimpsed the towers once again. I wondered what Mat Indera had seen that he chose this police station as the target. After asking people around,  I went to the top of the hill without haste. 

The view up there was amazing.

In front of me was vast open sky without any sort of elevation. Only the Muar River, serpentinely crosses the lone village below.

Isolated. 

Perfect. 

Mat Indera had set his target for the spot at the centre of this photo:   

I realized the surrounding land of the hills have been stripped its vegetation. Maybe to deny the commies any lurking spot after the Incident, as shown in photo below: 

Overall, the journey was plain good. But I only recommend for you guys who passing by Muar or serious observers since all traces of the original Incident were absent. I wonder why they don't display artifacts that were present during the Incident. If they could do that, this place would really be much interesting.

That time of my visit, Mat Sabu Controversy kept the visitors coming. I bet not much people are there now. Guys, don't waste your time coming here, unless you're history geek like me.

Nevertheless, I finally saw Bukit Kepong through the eyes of both the polices and the commies. I shall wait for Bukit Kepong to be one of the must-go site in Malaysia. Until then, it is just a place with attentive past, yet mundane present.

RESPECTO. 

EPILOGUE: Trailing Mat Indera down the hill and history... 

  

Penang Now and Then - In Search of Name

Beautiful shots of Penang from a peer of mine insist me to put my own. Here are some pics during my visit to my old school in Balik Pulau a few months ago. The interesting twist is that I put forth some old ones, courtesy from Arkib Negara Malaysia (National Archive), to see how was Penang back then in colonial times, developing from a small port town to now a bustling modern UNESCO World Heritage Site.

First stop, downtown Georgetown. Took 4 hours walking to circle the vicinity I called 5 Trails of Light -Lebuh Pantai, Jalan Penang, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Lebuh Farquhar and Lebuh Light. 

Lebuh Pantai (then Beach Street), 1906.

Darn, this street's name escapes me. 105 years later. No much diff. save rickshaws for cars

Monument to commemorate a colonial judge

Closer look at the immemorial Lady Justice

Penang harbour back in 1906. Observe the two pier roofs to the right.

What it looks like in 2010.

Interior of the pier. I sensed a memory of lively scenery  trapped within its roof...

Fort Cornwallis at Lebuh Light possesses one of the best spot in Penang. In fact, this is where Francis Light landed and built the first settlements of British colony in Malaya. He gave his best shot for opening Penang, now mine with my camera:

Fort Cornwallis - The flag-raising site.

Same scene. Year 1786. Mountain to the far right-below is all that left.

Group of old guns faithfully defending Penang for eternity...

A cannon ready to blast ships to cinders

Gone flag and disused cannon...

VOC and Jawi labels. The Dutch and Malay sultan  really valued this gun 

The year it was made. I believe it stands for "Wassup Gangsta".

Statue of Captain Francis Light - The Man himself. A fitting recompense for his early death.

Detail of Capt. Light's shoes.

Standing and casting present shadow over the southwestern edge of the fort.

Fort Cornwallis back then 1906. Arrow shows my standing point above. Note the moat used to enclose the fort.

Victoria Clock tower. Refurbished and ever sublime.

I stopped at the Protestant Cemetery to visit Light at his grave. The atmosphere was spooky and chilled me to the bone. And it was at 2 pm broad daylight! Eeriness exudes from every crack and corner of the colonialists' final resting place. I couldn't bear the thought, took a few shots and hastily left.

Penang Protestant Cemetery - Path to the forgotten past. Click here to feel the fear.

'Thriller' music video should have been made here.

"Rest in peace Captain"

Flesh and blood amidst bone and dust...

During my walk, it came to me the thoughts about the long gone people, especially Capt. Light and their contribution to make Penang of what it has become now. They worked on great plans based on some old grand design, and their name live forever because of it. Surely Capt. Light has a bad reputation  in Malaysia, and so is Hitler. It's up to us on how to bring up our names, for that shall survive and evaluated by future generation, the unborn and beyond...    

RESPECTO.

Taiping & Kuala Kangsar - Perak Twin Serenity

After a few weeks away, I returned to Kuala Kangsar. This time I experienced the small town since I didn't have the opportunity to do so during the Lenggong speleological journey. Me and Ajib went to Taiping first thing in the morning, indeed the First Town in Malaysia with many titles with 'first' in everything, like first museum, first zoo and first lake garden. The latter was our first stop:

The Taiping Lake Garden. Algae bloom at its best.

Judging by age and size, this must be the First tree in Malaya

The town is an old yet bustling one. The trace of British Malaya remnants are present everywhere. The spirits of the colonialists survived, in form of decrepit buildings and old trees. If the tree above could talk, it would say something like this -"Come later at midnight and see how spooky I am".

Taiping Zoo -where animals are held captive, at mercy and whims of humans.

The Taiping Zoo is adjacent to the garden. Next, Taiping Museum. As an artifact aficionado, I went to lots of museum. I expected this one to have items came from Pangkor Treaty, Birch assassination, Larut War or other things uniquely Perak-ish. Instead, we were bored to death with cultural stuffs seen many times in TV. Seemed like 1Malaysia on tour. They forget to add the title 'The first boring museum in the world'. Yet, the nature lover would find their time worthwhile here:

Taiping Museum - not in the mood for bone soup

Few things unique -Assassination plaque 

F-86 Sabre: Let's kill the commie cunts!

Now, the real adventure begin. We stopped by at the Taiping War Cemetery, where the brave WW2 dead soldiers were buried. It was intersected by a road shown below, dividing into 2 section -Caucasians and Asians. Talking about afterlife discrimination. Yet the place was neat with cut grass and trimmed lawn, adding relaxing element to the serene environment. I bet the gardener comes here everyday just to keep the dead happy in the hereafter...

Taiping War Cemetery - orderly burial, but down under is another story...

Yep, because in wartime they had to bury the soldiers randomly and quick. So the remains are effectively EVERYWHERE on site. That explained some exhumation taking place when we were there in order to identify the remains, even after more than 60 years past..

Asian section. Living guerrilla and fallen ones.

I wonder how the dead would react to this. Yes, you will be remembered forever in the cyberworld.

 

My own personal respect to the fallen soldiers.

My journey wouldn't be complete without some food feast. Here we are, indulging on prawn noodles at Mee Udang Mak Jah at Kuala Sepetang. They are many stalls available, but I suggest you go for this one.  It cost RM7 for usual noodle, but we ordered the special one for RM11. Simply delicious! Long queue, yet it worth the wait.  

Lucky number for the groovy grub.

"Your Taiping adventure is futile without a stop at Mak Jah" -Ajib, a Perak native.

The light was drawing its curtain, and we went back to Kuala Kangsar. We stopped at the famous Ubudiah Mosque. Truthfully the most beautiful mosque in Malaysia. I have a special esteem on Sultan Idris, one who ordered the construction of the imposing edifice. To build the mosque, he ordered expensive marbles from Italy, and some were broken by on-site raging elephants. The construction was halted many months and sadly not finished during his lifetime. He was buried in the tomb next to the mosque.

Mind you that the cost was a staggering RM200,000 -money obtained via loan from the British. Now you know how the colonialist kept their power here in Malaya. It's not by force, but by temptation of money and superficial power. I felt divided to see the mosque whether as a proud present to our generation, or a symbol of the past spoilt lifestyle.

Nevertheless, Sultan Idris will be very proud! - Ubudiah Mosque

Where he was interred, along with the successors, and later, our beloved current Sultan Azlan Shah.

Sunset heralding the end of the journey, with Idrisiah school in the foreground.

Moral story is, imagine what will happen to our name 100 years later. Will it still be remembered? As honorable as the quiet soldiers of the War Cemetery? Or as pompous as Sultan Idris? Fortunately, Internet is the key.

RESPECTO.