Johor Military Force, Johore Bahru, Johore

Side gates to Johor Military Forces(JMF) HQ, Bukit Timbalan Johore Bahru

An array of cannons in front of the HQ

JMF HQ, Johore Bahru

JMF HQ Front gates, with the JMF Crest

The Johor Military Force ( JMF) – Askar Timbalan Setia Negeri Johore, was raised as an independent army formation in 1885. Johore is the first state and only state to have an army under the sultan. It was not only a private army, but it served to protect the state and assisted the existing police constabulary that was already established in Johor in 1855 to maintain law and order. The founder of the force was Sultan Sir Ibrahim Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar ( 1873 – 1959). Its first commandant was an English officer by the name of Captain Newland, while the first Malay to be commissioned as an officer was Captain Daud Sulaiman.
The JMF was accorded royal colours on May 11, 1916. As such, the JMF was established much earlier than the Royal Malay Regiment ( Askar Malayu).

During WW2, the JMF was not included in the defence of Singapore ( they were under the command of the AIF in the operations area of Johore though) – However, a JMF Head dress Badge ( similar to the one on the gates of JMF HQ, see pictures above) was found in the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral, Singapore as part of the excavation finds exhibition located in the Welcome Centre of the Church. Probably, some JMF men assisted with the ambulance companies to transfer the wounded ? from the battle in Malaya to Singapore as St Andrews Cathedral then was a makeshift hospital during the war.

Concubine lane, Lorong Panglima..Ipoh, Perak

A vacated house in Concubine Lane ( Lorong Panglima)

A trishaw(?) going through the lane

Washings hanging dry across the lane, near to Wong Koh Kee Restaurant

Horizontal bars functioned as a security gate and for ventilation when the wooden doors were opened. A vintage design for prewar houses

Reported to have housed opium dens, mistresses for the rich tin tycoons in the heydays of Ipoh. It could have just been another bygone residence for the townsfolk of Ipoh – most of whom were petty traders or hawkers. The “Yee Lai Hong” or concubine lane appeared to be pretty derelict except for the Wong Koh Kee Restaurant that was doing brisk business for the lunch crowd.

Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah, Perak

William Kellie Smith & Charles Alma Baker were two personalities typifying the high life in Batu Gajah. Smith was the largest private owner of rubber estates and Baker, largest owner of rubber holdings.

It was Smith who has left a legacy behind – the Kellie’s Castle in the vicinity of Batu Gajah, and about 30 min from Ipoh. He has presumably borrowed in anticipation of his wife’s inheritance, to build the landmark. It was styled after the British Raj Palaces in India but Smith passed away in 1926 before it was completed. The building, with the estate was then sold to Harrisons & Crosfields by Agnes, Smith’s wife.

God's Little Acre, Batu Gajah, Perak

The serene & peaceful God's Little Acre

The base of the Memorial Cross

The Memorial Cross erected by the Perak Planters' Assoc. & well wishes

An old sign describing the Burial Grounds

The marble tablet Roll of Honour

The Anglican Community in Batu Gajah was founded in 1885. When a church building was proposed, Sultan Idris granted to the Bishop of Singapore, a land rent-free for worship and for burial. A permanent church building, The Holy Trinity, was erected in 1895. The burial ground in the adjacent plot was to become “God’s Little Acre” – where planters, miners, police and the military who lost their lives during the Malayan Emergency from 1948 -1960, were buried.

Every year, on the Saturday before 16^th June, there would be a wreath laying ceremony organized in remembrance of the killing of 3 planters ( Allison, Christian & Walter) and those that gave their lives during the Malayan Emergency. There is also a Memorial Cross erected by the “Perak Planters’ Association & other well wishers”

St Joseph's Church, BatuGajah Perak

Entrance to St Joseph's Church

A date plate at the corner of the Church "1928"

Entrance to Church and view of the adjacent "Changkat" Hospital

Side Road to the Catholic Cemetry

Father P. Allard, from the Societe’ des Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP), formed St Joseph’s Catholic Parish in Kinta in 1882. With a parish of 250 Chinese Catholics, Fr. Allard erected the first Church in 1885. He was considered an agricultural pioneer as he and his parishioners grew vegetables. It has been observed then, that “ several lots of garden land from 2 to 20 acres have been taken up and are being cultivated by Fr Allard’s Christians”.

In 1928, Fr Noel Maury built a brick church where the timber church of St Joseph was erected in 1891. Fr. Maury was the Parish Priest for 29 years from 1911 onwards and St Joseph was to become the Mother Church for Catholic Parishes in Ipoh, Kampar and Sitiawan. It was also the 2^nd oldest Roman Catholic parish in Perak after Taiping.