The Story Behind the Name of the Ship KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin
Have you heard of Laksamana Muhammad Amin? He was a Malay dignitary in the Perak Sultanate. His contributions to defending the state of Perak in the past should not be forgotten, as he worked hand-in-hand with Ngah Ibrahim Jaafar and Dato Maharaja Lela to resist British colonialism.
You might not know that Laksamana Muhammad Amin was the father-in-law of Ngah Ibrahim. Ngah Ibrahim was the son-in-law of Laksamana Muhammad Amin, and his wife was named Toh Puan Halimah Laksamana Muhammad Amin. Laksamana Muhammad Amin's name is recorded in the diaries of J.W.W. Birch, the first British Resident in Perak, and Frank Swettenham, the first Resident-General of the Federated Malay States. As previously mentioned in the orangperak.com article titled
The Detailed Story of the Assassination of J.W.W. Birch
regarding the climax of the story when J.W.W. Birch's entourage posted tax notices in Perak, which eventually led to the assassination of J.W.W. Birch by Sepuntum while he was bathing in the Perak River. For the information of our loyal readers at orangperak.com, in the book written by Frank Swettenham titled Sketches and Stories of Malaya, it is described that Laksamana Muhammad Amin was a man of stout and large build. This was recounted when Laksamana Muhammad Amin was said to have embraced Datuk Syahbandar while his companion stabbed Datuk Syahbandar with a keris.
However, Datuk Syahbandar did not die when stabbed with the keris, and Laksamana Muhammad Amin proceeded to pull the keris that had been plunged into Datuk Syahbandar from his waist and successfully killed Datuk Syahbandar. In Frank Swettenham's report following the assassination of J.W.W. Birch, Swettenham stated that Laksamana Muhammad Amin warned him not to come to Bota if he did not want to be killed. Nevertheless, the details regarding the death of Datuk Syahbandar are very vague, and many historians believe he was buried at the Jurong Muslim Cemetery in Singapore. However, the authenticity of this and the actual location of the grave remain unknown to this day. The Larut Minister at the time, Ngah Ibrahim, along with Laksamana Muhammad Amin, were not sentenced to death because there was no strong evidence to link them both to the murder of the first British Resident in Perak, J.W.W. Birch, in Pasir Salak.
Consequently, Ngah Ibrahim and Laksamana Muhammad Amin, who were constantly under the scrutiny of the British colonial authorities and were considered the number one threat to the British in Perak, were exiled to the Seychelles Islands along with Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II. What happened after that was that after making appeals and protests to Queen Victoria, Sultan Abdullah was eventually granted a pardon and allowed to return to the state of Perak. However, Ngah Ibrahim and Laksamana Muhammad Amin were not permitted to return to Perak, and the exile sentence remained in effect for them. This was due to the British being very worried about the influence of Ngah Ibrahim and Laksamana Muhammad Amin, which would affect British control over the state of Perak. After several years, Ngah Ibrahim and Laksamana Muhammad Amin were moved to Sarawak and later to Singapore.
Laksamana Muhammad Amin passed away in 1908 in Singapore and was buried there. In 2006, the remains of Laksamana Muhammad Amin were brought back to the state of Perak and interred at the Royal Mausoleum in Bukit Chandan. Imagine, even though he was not of royal descent, Sultan Azlan Shah gave his consent for his remains to be interred there. This is the uniqueness of Laksamana Muhammad Amin, who contributed so much to the state of Perak.
As everyone is already aware, the Royal Malaysian Navy corvette F136 KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin was named after him. F136 KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin was built by the Fincantieri Shipyard in Breda Mestre, Italy, on March 22, 1982, and was launched on July 5, 1983, originally for the use of the Iraqi Navy. However, that intention was cancelled, and the ship was modified and commissioned on July 31, 1999, and it became the property of the Royal Malaysian Navy. An interesting fact about this ship for all you loyal readers of orangperak.com: for your information, this ship was used to transport the remains of Laksamana Muhammad Amin from Pusara Aman in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore, to the Perak Royal Mausoleum in Bukit Chandan, Perak, which is located next to the tomb of Sultan Abdullah.
