Raz

even more:

More:

Sorry for the bad quality but allegedly no photography was allowed inside the palace,

so these were taken when the coast was clear (ie when the dudes with he M16 weren't around).

If anyone wants to put a name to these awards and decorations please do so. There were some

labels but many of the decorations didn't have any descriptions.

Some of the ribbons of the decorations were badly faded and there were some signs of insect damage.

The museum conservators really need a royal kick in the arse!

Here's some pics from my visit to the Royal Abu Bakar museum located inside the

Istana Besar (Grand palace) in Johor, Malaysia.

The building itself was completed in 1866 and in 1982 the doors were opened to the

public to showcase the collection of personal possessions of the Johor Royal family.

Much of the artifacts in the palace belonged to Sultan Abu Bakar who himself

was a friend of Queen Victoria. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order

of St. Michael and St. George.

Sultan Abu Bakar himself. The Star of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George

can be seen being worn on his left breast.

The Palalce:

Inside the humid throne room where the orders and decorations are kept.

More memorials outside:

The National Memorial Arboretum is a truly massive site.

It?s worth a visit if you are in the area, admission is free.

Http://www.thenma.org.uk/

Only upon seeing this display do we learn that Cpt C.D.Pickersgill, the designer of the

Lychgate, had actually died in captivity.

More displays:

Inside the FEPOW building.

One of the many displays.

Sumatran railway memorial:

Kwai Railway memorial:

The Lychgate, Changi prison.

Built in December 1942 by 18th Division RE POWs and designed by Cpt C.D.Pickersgill.

The lychgate was placed at the entrance of the Changi camp burial site to beautify

the cemetery.

After the war the Changi cemetery was moved to Kranji war cemetery and the Lychgate

then saw service at St Georges church at Tanglin Barracks. The Lychgate was finally

shipped back to England in 1971 and in 2003 was fully restored and now takes pride

of place at the NMA.

The original artists concept of the Lychgate. Sketched at Blakang Mati POW camp (Fort Siloso).

I had the honour of being taken to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a

ex POW who worked on the Sumatran railway.

There was too much to see in our short visit there and so our main focus was the memorials

to the FEPOW (Far Eastern prisoners of war)

Below is a view towards the FEPOW building housing exhibits and displays to those who endured

life as a POW in the Far East. The building itself was supposed to be based on a Malayan house,

well a very modern British interpretation at any rate! ;-)

Very interesting Ibrahim, good work.

Sorry guys, no time to get down to the museum this time. It'll have to be the end of the year

before I am back in this part of the world again to get some pics.

Here's an article from a 60th year reign anniversary magazine of the then Sultan of Johore,

Sultan Ibrahim, which gives a quick mention of the Order as well as a picture.

As mentioned before, I also have magazine pics of some orders being awarded but the magazine text is

all in Jawi script so I will need to first get it translated to figure out what is going on.

==============

Darjah Kerbat and Darjah Mahkota Johore.

On 31st July 1886 Hi Highness the Late Sultan Abu Bakar had created two orders, the Darjah kerabat

Yang Amat Di-Hormati, or the Most Esteemed Family Order, and the Darjah Mahkota Johore Yang Amat Mulia,

or the Order of the Crown of Johore.

His Highness the Late Sultan Abu Bakar was pleased to select and invest recipients for the Darjah Kerabat

Yang Amat di-Hormati and the Darjah Mahkota Johore from amongst his family and also from amongst

the nobles and members of the councils, as well as from high officials who ought to be recognized for

their good works.

==============

The article goes on to cover the Darjah Kerabat Yang Amat Di-Hormati, if anyone is interested.

As I am currently in Johor Bahru if anyone is really interested

I can most probably get down to the Istana Besar museum and get

pics of the collection on display....That's if they allow cameras

inside.....if nobody is looking that's another story.

I've also got some old pics from a 1950's magazine of the royal awards

in wear someplace.

This exhibit was to depict ("Artists impression" as the sign said) the lost tortured souls at this site. .

At any rate it did its job and gave me a fright as the actual barrack interior was pitch black with all the windows

blocked up, when the camera flash went off the figure in the corner proved pretty effective!

This was the small open theatre building with another eccentric display inside. Jungle foliage, fishing net

hammock and a wooden table inscribed with "They died for all free men". On the table were animal bones,

I guess they could have been an elephant.

More interiors with metal air vents still in place.

Here are some interior shots.

These are of the magazine and the tunnel leading into the main chamber. Just before

the entrance into the magazine are 2 low ceiling escape tunnels.

Thanks for the reply Sam, I have a few more interior shots which I will post later.

I did some more searching on the internet and found some other Penang WW2 structures.

Below is a B/W photocopy I found of a old 1960's picture taken at Tanjong Tokong beach.

The picture shows a long since demolished tower which looks a lot like a director tower to

me, also perhaps a pillbox like structure on the extreme right of the pic.

After searching for more about Tanjong Tokong I found some modern day tourist pics.

http://www.asiaexplorers.com/malaysia/pena...njongtokong.htm

The concrete structure shown looks very much like a WW2 searchlight emplacement and

so I think Tanjong Tokong beach was indeed part of fortress Penangs defence structure.

As the description mentions this beach was hit by the 2004 Tsunami and the government

has seen fit to reclaim much land for new homes along this beach.

So assume these relics won't be around for long.

And lastly some relics dug up during the restoration, bullets and shell fuses.

All in all a nice WW2 site to visit and if you get the chance to visit Malaysia, Penang is definitely a must see

location for any historical buff as well as a good excuse to get some R&R on a tropical beach.

On this side of the hill is also the entrance into the main command bunker. It's amazing that even in the

tropics these old WW2 structures are still structurally sound and in pretty good condition.

---------------------

During WW2 British, Indian, and Malay soldiers manned the battery. Their barracks alone were built on

3 levels on the NW side of the Batu Maung hill. These barracks now house various Malaya related WW2

historical displays.

This display was just plain strange, a WTF moment for any visitor seeing this and again calls into

question the relevance and factual quality of some of the static displays used at this museum.

The generator room, allegedly this room during the Japanese occupation was used as a torture

chamber.

Supposed instruments of torture.

The guillotine stand.

The battery command post. I imagine there would also have had to be a director tower for the 6" guns to

properly operate but there was no indication at the museum were this was. I imagine there could be far

more structures on this hill than the current site is able to showcase or is even known to the site owners.

There was also a modern day constructed grave marker. But you had to stop and wonder if

this was a genuine grave or merely put up for show?

An interesting note left by a past visitor of his farther who was captured in Singapore.