Saturday November 7, 2009
The way it was
By Revathi Murugappan
Perak 300 Early Postcards, launched to commemorate the silver jubilee reign of Perak’s Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, is an important source of historical information on the state.
Memories may be better than photographs, but once your memory fades, it’s the picture postcards that preserve the stories.
Avid postcard collector, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor, can attest to this.
A rare picture of The Lady Treacher Girls’ School Bus, dated 1935 “Postcards fascinate me. It gives the sender and receiver great joy. The receiver is being remembered by the sender who captures the special experience. The culture of collecting postcards and stamps must be revived again because it is significant to the history of a country.
“Sadly, Facebook and Twitter have taken over postcards. Now I only receive text messages from my children. I admit I’m not yet skilled enough to text back so I call them,” he said.
Sultan Sharafuddin was speaking at the launch of Perak 300 Early Postcards, a compilation of rare picture postcards that take us back to Perak in the 19th and 20th centuries. The book, authored by Dr Cheah Jin Seng, commemorates the silver jubilee reign of Perak’s Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah.
British officials and local staff posing beside a railway engine in Teluk Anson. As a postcard enthusiast, the Sultan of Selangor was asked to launch the book in the presence of Sultan Azlan Shah, Raja Permaisuri Perak Tuanku Bainun, Raja Muda of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah and Raja Puan Besar Perak Tuanku Zara Salim.
“A few years ago, when I used to sail in my yacht, I would send postcards to my son. In that two years, I believe he must have received more than 200 postcards from every port I was in. So, Nazrin, don’t be surprised if in a few years, my son invites you to launch 200 Boring Postcards from my Dad!” the Selangor Sultan continued, drawing laughter from other royals and dignitaries who attended the event last week.
All the postcards are from the author’s personal collection and provide glimpses of Perak’s changing landscapes and townscapes. The 60-something Dr Cheah took a year to compile the postcards and write the captions, which he refers to as “a labour of love”.
“Many of the early postcards were made by the senders. They took a picture of the family, pasted them on a piece of paper and sent them out. I reviewed my collection and noticed that the postcards were mostly from Perak and Selangor as these were the most visited states in Malaysia,” he said.
The Perak postcard miscaptioned "Penang". Dr Cheah, an emeritus consultant at Singapore’s National University Hospital, first started collecting stamps and postcards when he was 40 to pass the time.
“I always tell people there must be life outside work. I started to acquire picture postcards more seriously about 10 years ago with the advent of Internet auctions such as eBay,’’ revealed the philatelist and deltiologist.
The first postcard he bought was of the Straits Settlements sent in 1897 from Singapore to the United Kingdom while his earliest postcard from Perak is hand-illustrated in colour and sent from Bidor to England in 1899. It depicts a lion with a glorious mane wearing an imperial crown.
Since then, Dr Cheah has added thousands to his collection, which also include Peranakan artefacts, old photographs and books pertaining to medical and local history (Singapore and Malaysia). When he travels, Dr Cheah sources for pre-war postcards and makes it a point to mail out postcards.
In Perak 300 Early Postcards, a number of postcards stand out. One of it says: “Lady Treacher Girls’ School” (1935). It’s a rare real photographic picture postcard of a school bus with the registration number PK6362.
Zalia Mustafa, a cultural artist from Perak holding up the book Perak 300 Early Postcards by Dr Cheah Jin Seng. Another one says “Penang” (1903) but the postcard is actually of Perak, and shows a trapped Malayan tiger, an elephant with hunters and a Malay lady clad in sarong.
There’s also a sepia photograph of Belfield Street (1930), a thoroughfare that was named after Sir Henry Conway Belfield, British resident from March to December 1911. Prior to Perak, the Oxford-educated barrister had served as resident in Negri Sembilan, and later in Selangor. After his duties, Belfield became governor of Kenya. The road has since been renamed Jalan Sultan Yussuf.
Dr Cheah is also the author of Singapore: 500 Early Postcards (2006) and Malaya: 500 Early Postcards (2008).
“I’m an incurable collector although my family thinks money spent on collectibles is a poor investment! My book is a pictorial record of the history of the country and will hopefully inspire the younger generation,” he said.
Sakai on Sungei Sungkei, circa 1930. o Perak 300 Early Postcards is published by Editions Didier Miller and RNS Publications Sdn Bhd and retails at US$29.90 (RM102).
It’s available at most major bookstores.
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