The History of the Perak State Flag

On July 27, 1877, Raja Muda Yusuf was appointed as the Acting Sultan of Perak with the title of Regent. This appointment was made to fill the vacancy on the Perak throne after the 26th Sultan of Perak, Sultan Abdullah, was exiled to the Seychelles on July 21, 1876, by the British for his involvement in the assassination plot against J.W.W. Birch on November 2, 1875.

Raja Yusuf was not immediately appointed as the Sultan of Perak for several reasons. The first reason was that he was said to be a weak, frail ruler who was disliked by the state dignitaries. Therefore, he had to serve as the Acting Sultan for more than 10 years. The appointment of Raja Muda Yusuf as the Acting Sultan of Perak forced the British to take steps to ensure he would be accepted by the people when he was eventually installed as the Sultan of Perak.

Consequently, the British Resident Sir Hugh Low appointed Raja Muda Yusuf to chair the State Council, which was established on September 10, 1877.

Raja Muda Yusuf's position in the State Council was frequently questioned and challenged by Raja Idris, who also claimed to have a right to the Perak throne at the time, citing Raja Muda Yusuf's poor health. During the Perak State Council meeting on March 1, 1879, Raja Muda Yusuf, who was serving as the Acting Sultan of Perak, approved a motion to create a flag for the state of Perak. In that motion, there was a description of a flag featuring 3 colored stripes, just as we see today in the colors of the Perak Darul Ridzuan state flag.

The three colors—white, yellow, and black—on the Perak state flag symbolized the sovereignty of the Sultan, the Raja Muda, and the Raja Bendahara at that time. For your information, in 1956, the black stripe on the Perak state flag, which represented the Raja Bendahara, was changed to represent the Raja DiHilir following the abolition of the former title. That is the brief history of the origin of the Perak flag.