Suzuki's Treasure Worth Over 2 Million in Bagan Datoh

The Perak state government once granted a three-month permit to a syndicate from Singapore to search for Suzuki's treasure, valued at over $2,000,000. The treasure is said to have been hidden and buried in Bagan Datoh by Japanese soldiers before they retreated from Malaya.

There was an agreement established between the Perak state government and the syndicate from Singapore at the time. Among the key terms of the agreement was an equal split of any findings based on their value with the Perak state government. A payment of $5,000 had to be made by the party conducting the excavation operations to the Perak state government as a deposit. This deposit would be fully forfeited and non-refundable to the payer if no treasure was found. The story goes that this Suzuki treasure is believed to have been buried by a high-ranking Japanese military intelligence officer who was working undercover. He operated in Bagan Datoh disguised as a carpenter, and his name was Suzuki. Excavation work for the treasure began as early as February 1957, and the search operations were not concentrated in just one place. They constantly moved to new sites that might have been the actual location where the treasure was buried. The treasure hunt operation assumed that there were many valuable items buried, such as gold bars, silver bars, looted jewelry from the Malay people and villagers, and many other valuable assets.

After the permit and authorization from the Perak state government expired according to the agreement, the party conducting the search operation negotiated again with the Perak state government to continue the search for Suzuki's treasure, paying the deposit three more times to renew the search permit around the focus areas. The search location was believed to have started at the main entrance via the waterway, the lower Perak River located in Bagan Datoh. The search and excavation operation for Suzuki's treasure was said to have failed, and not a single item of treasure was found, not even a single empty bullet casing. This resulted in the Perak state government successfully pocketing a profit of $20,000, and the money was used to rehabilitate the excavation areas left behind by the party that conducted the operations.

Not stopping there, a shaman named Hamzah Bin Lope, who was 37 years old at the time, also paid the Perak state government $5,000 to obtain a permit to search for Suzuki's treasure. Hamzah Bin Lope was an entrepreneur and coconut plantation owner, and he successfully obtained a 3-month permit to search for the treasure. The story of the shaman searching for Suzuki's treasure was widely discussed, not only in the Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan) and Bagan Datoh areas but throughout Malaya. In an old newspaper, The Straits Times dated September 8, 1958, Hamzah Bin Lope stated that he received clues about the location of Suzuki's treasure through three dreams he experienced, which he considered sacred dreams.

Hamzah Bin Lope (hands on hips)

Unfortunately, Hamzah Bin Lope was disappointed because he did not find any treasure, and it turned out the dreams were just tricks of the devil in his sleep. To this day, no Suzuki treasure has ever been found in Bagan Datoh (now Bagan Datuk). Sources and references

• The Straits Times (August - September 1958)