Dato Maharaja Lela (died on 20 January 1877) was a
Malay nationalist from
Perak.
A descendant of
Daeng Salili, Pandak Limo was the son of a
Bugis king from
Luwuk
Luwuk is the capital of Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Its area is 72.82 km2 following boundary changes in 2012 and 2015. There used to be an oil industry in the region. At the 2020 census it had a total population of 34,849 in ...
District,
Sulawesi. During the reign of
Sultan Muzaffar Shah III, he came to
Perak and was appointed
Mufti
A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...
and was awarded the title "Dato Maharaja Lela," granting him the authority to punish by
decapitation without question.
Pandak Limo was a leader who later led the struggle against the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in
Perak. Together with other leaders such as
Dato 'Sagor , he planned an alliance to assassinate
James Wheeler Woodford Birch (J. W. W. Birch), the British Resident of
Perak. His decision was approved in a meeting at Durian Sebatang, chaired by
Sultan Abdullah on 21 July 1875.
Dato Maharaja Lela and his assistants, Sepuntum and Pandak Lam speared Resident Birch to death on 2 November 1875, as Birch was taking his bath by a river near
Pasir Salak
Pasir Salak ( Jawi: ڤاسير سالق; ) is a mukim and historical riverside town in Perak Tengah District, Perak, Malaysia, about 45 minutes from the state capital, Ipoh.
The British colonial official J.W.W. Birch, who had been sent to tak ...
, which is located somewhere around today's
Teluk Intan
Teluk Intan is a town in Hilir Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the district capital and largest town in Hilir Perak district and fourth largest town in the state of Perak with an estimated population of around 172,505, more than half o ...
(Teluk Anson).
There is debate over the reason for Birch's assassination. One view is that he was assassinated was because he outlawed slavery in
Perak. Dato Maharajalela, whose income depended on capturing and selling the natives of Perak or
Orang Asli as slaves, was then incensed and plotted with some of the slave-traders to kill Birch by spearing him when he was taking his bath in the river.
The more popular view among right-wing Malay historians is that Birch was assassinated because of his disrespect for the local customs and traditions, which raised tensions with local Malay chiefs. This is because modern Malay historians generally refuse to accept that the
Orang Asli were being traded as slaves in the pre-Colonial era. Some accounts claim that Birch even entered the palace of the ruler
Sultan of Perak
The Sultan of Perak (سلطان ڤيراق) is one of the oldest hereditary seats among the Malay states.
When the Sultanate of Malacca empire fell to Portugal in 1511, Sultan Mahmud Syah I retreated to Kampar, Sumatra, and died there in ...
without removing his shoes.
The murder of J. W. W. Birch led the British army to attack Pasir Salak, and following several days of battle, the leaders of the rebellion surrendered. In a subsequent trial held between 14 and 22 December in
Matang,
Perak,
Sultan Abdullah and
Ngah Ibrahim
Ngah Ibrahim was a Malay headman who succeeded his father Long Jaafar as headman and administrator of the district of Larut upon the death of his father in 1857. By the time of Sultan Ismail Mu'abbiddin Riayat Shah of Perak, Ngah Ibrahim had q ...
was deposed and sent to exile in
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
. Dato Maharajalela, meanwhile, was found guilty for the murder of
Birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on 20 January 1877 in Taiping. In the wake of the incident, the British administration was shifted to
Taiping
__NOTOC__
Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to:
Chinese history
* Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess
* Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China
** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...
.
Dato' Maharajalela is generally celebrated as a folk hero by Malay nationalists, and seen as a symbol of the Malay resistance against British colonialism.
The terms ''maharajalela'' (in
Malay language
Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...
), and ''merajalela'' (in
Indonesian language
Indonesian ( ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. Indonesia ...
), to describe tyrannical rule, stem from his name.
See also
*
Rentap
*
Sharif Masahor
*
Rosli Dhobi
Rosli Dhobi (18 March 1932 – 2 March 1950) was a Sarawakian nationalist from Sibu of mixed Malay-Melanau descent during the British crown colony era in that state.
He was a member leader of the Rukun 13, an active organisation in the anti-c ...
, a famous
Malay Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...
ian who killed
Sir Duncan Stewart
References
External links
Laman web Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia* Adopted from ''Sejarah Tingkatan 2'' & ''Sejarah Tingkatan 5'' text book.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lela Pandak Lam
Malaysian people of Malay descent
Malaysian rebels
History of Perak
Year of birth missing
1877 deaths
People from Perak
Malaysian assassins
Executed Malaysian people
Malaysian people convicted of murder
People executed for murder
People executed by British Malaya by hanging
Assassins of heads of government
People of British Malaya
1870s in British Malaya