This memorial plaque, located at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore, honours members of the Malayan Civil Service who lost their lives between 1939 to 1945. Among the names on the plaque is Raja Aman Shah, a member of the Perak royal family and brother-in-law of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister. Raja Aman Shah was then second in command of a company of the Negri Sembilan Battalion of the F.M.S. Volunteer Force. He was one of several Malays who lost his life in the Sook Ching massacre in Bedok in 1942.
This article mentions the plaque:
"Harrowing tales of life and death in the colonial era emerged when seven elderly men from the Malayan Civil Service met last November at St Andrew’s Cathedral to dedicate a marble plaque in memory of 40 comrades who died during the Japanese Occupation.
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A solitary Malay name, that of Raja Aman Shah, appears on the memorial plaque at St Andrew’s Cathedral.
He has been identified as the brother-in-law of Tunku Abdul Rahman, having married the Tunku’s younger sister, Tunku Baharom.
Raja Aman Shah was district officer at Port Dickson before he was mobilised as a company commander in the Negeri Sembilan Battalion of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force.
“He was exceptionally loyal,” recalled Tan Sri Dato Mubin.
“He decided to stay with the British forces and not to go home like the rest of the volunteers.”
Raja Aman was missing soon after the Japanese invaded Singapore, although the Tunku personally conducted a fruitless search for him.”
Originally posted in Singapura Stories Facebook page on 3 March 2015:
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According to an article by Mubin Sheppard published in the Straits Times on 3 March 1966:
"On Feb. 28, 1942, at about 10 o’clock in the morning, 90 locally enlisted Prisoners of War, including five Malay officers, two Chinese Volunteer Force officers and 25 members of the Chinese Company of the Malacca Volunteer Corps, were ordered to fall in, in front of the club house at Farrer Park, Singapore.
Although their captors gave them no hint of the fate which lay in store, only one lived to see the next dawn. The remainder were brutally shot in cold blood, standing crowded together in slit-trenches on a low hill near Bedok.
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The Malay Officers included Dato Naning – Dato Othman bin Kering – a lieutenant in the Malacca Volunteer Corps, Captain Raja Aman Shah M.C.S., a member of the Perak Royal family and brother-in-law of Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was then second in command of a company of the Negri Sembilan Battalion of the F.M.S. Volunteer Force, and Lieutenants Ariffin and Wahid of the first Battalion of the Malay Regiment."
Originally posted in Singapura Stories Facebook page on 28 February2015:
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Raja Aman Shah’s bravery is recounted here:
‘If God wills we shall all be free. If not then let us die together.’
"The solitary FMS Volunteer Officer was Captain Raja Aman Shah, MCS, a member of the Perak Royal family, married to the daughter of late Sultan of Kedah, and at the time of the Japanese Invasion, District Officer, Port Dickson.
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“That was my brother.” Raja Aman Shah explained. He brought a Japanese permit for me to go back to Perak with him. I wanted you all to be freed with me, but this was not allowed : so I decided to stay and see this through with you. If God wills it, we shall all be freed. If not, let us die together.”
Then after a slight pause Raja Aman continued, “My brother has gone to look for some food. I told him we were very hungry.
Everyone was talking of Raja Aman’s decision.”
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In the month after his secret execution, his brother and brother-in-law, Tunku Abdul Rahman, now Prime Minister, visited Singapore to try to rescue him, but the Japanese refused to divulge his whereabouts, and his fate remained a mystery until long after the war.
Originally posted in Singapura Stories Facebook page on 28 February2015:
Copy and paste: FB Singapore Stories
3/5/2019 : 12.49 pm
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