Invaluable collection: Jamal showing his collection in Serkat, Pontian. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
PONTIAN: Antique collector Jamal Ahmad has more than 1,000 pieces of memorabilia in his collection, but the ones that he treasures the most are a bundle of old newspapers which reported the Independence declaration on Aug 31, 1957.
The 58-year-old retired teacher also has a copy of the Independence declaration written in English, Tamil, Jawi and romanised Bahasa Malaysia.
“When Malaya received its independence from British rule, the independence declaration documents, which were written in four languages, were given out to every village chief and community leader.
“Besides such historical documents, I also have several newspapers, which reported our independence some 66 years ago,” he said when met at his house in Serkat here yesterday.
Jamal, who has been collecting memorabilia since he was 18, added that he came across the documents and old newspapers from a friend more than 30 years ago.
“In the early 1990s, a friend of mine who is an avid historical collector like me called me, saying that he had something that I would really like.
“I went to see him in Kuala Lumpur and he showed me these old English newspapers, which reported that our country had gained independence. He sold them to me for RM2,000,” he said.
Jamal recently received an offer of RM5,000 for these newspapers from an individual in Perak but he declined the offer.
“These old newspapers are a rarity and can only be found either in museums or the National Archives,” he said.
Besides these documents, Jamal has more than 120 pieces of other Merdeka memorabilia in his collection, from medals to mugs and even plates.
“By having this memorabilia, I can see that the people back then, regardless of their race and faith, were united and celebrated Merdeka as one people.
“We are all Malaysians, and the upcoming National Day celebration should be used as a platform to unite all of us, just like our founding fathers intended,” he said.
