THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

8 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
had many roaring soccer matches. According to Matang elders, the
hangings were done from an inverted L-shaped wooden frame with
attached pulleys to raise and lower the rope.
According to Jupita, a Matang resident who was a boy at the time,
when Datuk Sagor was first hanged, he wrestled vigorously with the rope
and shouted obscenities at Raja Yusoff. His struggles got the rope undone,
and he was still alive when he was brought down. The British were
dumbfounded, not knowing what to do, until a Malay traitor revealed a
secret way to end Datuk Sagor’s life. A nail soaked in lard was nailed to
the top of Datuk Sagor’s head before he was hung again. It was illegal
for the British to hang a person twice; the man should have been freed.
So much for the British rule of law.
Datuk Sagor’s still body, covered with warm patriotic blood, was
cleansed at the Matang Mosque according to proper Muslim rites, but
was not allowed to be buried in the mosque’s cemetery. So, the body of
a great Malay warrior now lies in a grave across the Larut River, away
from the bodies of other Malays and Muslims in the mosque’s yard. His
final resting place lies five yards from that of Panglima Endut, another
Malay fighter.
A Matang resident, Mohd Nor bin Shamsuddin, who heard the story
of the hanging from his grandfather Tok Daim, told us some Matang folk
believed that Datuk Sagor’s body was cut in two and buried on each side
of the river. It was believed that the body would reunite if the two parts
were to be buried on one bank. I have also heard stories that Datuk Sagor
did not die until acid was poured on him. Others say that even though
his grave is in Matang, no one knows where he was actually buried.
To placate the deeply wounded and angry Matang Malays, the British
Government built a brick mosque to replace the dilapidated wooden one.
It was accorded special privileges, including yearly funds for its upkeep
and free water supply. There are only three mosques in Perak with such
special privileges. This explains why some Matang folk call their mosque
a ‘political mosque’.
There were whispers that the British regretted hanging Datuk Sagor
as he had not been implicated in the assassination. He had gone to Pasir
Salak, the murder scene, only to receive a letter that agreed to the betrothal
of two Hilir Perak chiefs’ children.
Birch’s grave is in Kampung Pisang, Bandar Lama Kampung Gajah,
Perak. His body was said to have been found floating at this spot, a place
where Indian sepoy troops would be camped three days later. Although
his tombstone is time-worn, it serves as a silent reminder of Malay
struggles against the British.