Dato Maharajalela's Fort Increasingly Overgrown with Weeds

On February 14, 2017, orangperak.com published an article titled

Datuk Maharajalela's House Nearly Collapsing

after receiving reports from several website visitors regarding the deteriorating status of the Dato Maharajalela house replica, which had become a den for illicit activities.

Based on the photos sent to us, it is evident that the house and the fort have been left abandoned without any maintenance by the responsible parties. This is truly a shameful matter for us, the people of Perak, because Pasir Salak, steeped in history, was the center of the movement against the British and subsequently served as an inspiration and catalyst for anti-British resistance movements throughout the Malay Peninsula.

Following the publication of that article, several representatives from the Perak Historical Society (PPSMP) and the editor of orangperak.com visited the Pasir Salak Historical Complex and the Dato Maharajalela Fort in early August to get a clearer picture of the status of these historical sites. Initially, it was somewhat difficult to identify the location of the Dato Maharajalela Fort from the main road and the Pasir Salak Historical Complex. However, after asking the local residents, we finally managed to find the Pasir Salak fort.

The fort's ramparts were covered in weeds and trees, making it difficult for us to locate, even though it is situated just behind a school and next to a futsal court.

We found that the replica of Dato Maharajalela's house and the surrounding area, which were previously full of weeds, have been cleared. However, the Dato Maharajalela Fort itself has not been well-maintained and is now overgrown with weeds and tall trees.

Utusan online, year 2000

This situation is clearly different when compared to a photo released by Utusan Malaysia in 2000, where the fort was well-maintained and featured a control tower and fences rebuilt to their original state.

Dato Maharajalela fort control tower before 2009

For the information of all loyal readers of orangperak.com, in 1992, the Department of Museums and Antiquities conducted an excavation project around the Dato Maharajalela fort area. The results of the excavation successfully uncovered several artifacts related to the Perak War, which were then displayed at the Pasir Salak Historical Complex. The hall and ramparts of the Pasir Salak fort were rebuilt based on the archaeological excavation work carried out. According to the information we obtained, the responsibility for maintaining the house of Dato’ Maharaja Lela and his fort lies under the management of the Department of Museums and Antiquities.

However, when the National Heritage Department was established in 2006, the contract for maintenance and cleaning of the area around the fort was carried out by the National Heritage Department from April 1, 2007, to December 31, 2010. Cleaning work was performed twice a month, and monitoring was consistently carried out by the Central Zone staff of the National Heritage Department, accompanied by monthly reports. Then, in mid-2010, the Perak Museum Department reclaimed all the artifacts displayed in the Dato’ Maharaja Lela replica house due to the lack of proper care.

Following discussions held by the National Heritage Department Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the Perak State Secretary's Office (SUK) at the end of 2010, the National Heritage Department agreed to hand over the site to the Perak State Government to be managed and preserved after the contract expired, starting January 1, 2011. Since then, it has been observed that the fort and the replica of Dato Maharajalela's house have been increasingly neglected to this day. We hope that the Perak State Government, the relevant authorities, and we ourselves can take the initiative to restore this national treasure so that it can be appreciated by our children and grandchildren.

This is a lesson we can learn. Do not let bureaucratic red tape be an excuse for historical assets like these to be lost to the passage of time. Do we want to be a nation that does not know how to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors?

There should be an effort to restore the house and fort of Datuk Maharajalela in Pasir Salak. It is necessary to honor their struggle against the British and to serve as a reference and legacy for our future generations.