VISITORS to the Royal Malaysian Police Museum will be awed by a host of artefacts, documents, memorabilia as well as weapons and vehicles pertaining to crime and its prevention. The museum, after all, is an interesting depository of information regarding the Royal Malaysian Police's history.

Museum curator Superintendent Halal Haji Ismail said there were over 2,000 items on display. "Many of these were donated by collectors and former policemen," he said.

A mannequin of a wounded police officer is part of the section that depicts the massacre at the Bukit Kepong police station in Muar, Johor.

The museum, which was previously located at the police training centre in Jalan Semarak, shifted to its present location in 1997. Since then, it has received more than 280,000 visitors.

"This was among the first few aircraft used by the Police Air Wing," said the museum's assistant curator (education) Inspector Harlina Haji Masnan pointing to a 25-year-old Cessna U206 G-4 airplane in the front yard.

Other attractions include a police patrol boat, GMC armoured personnel carriers, a wheeled foam machine as well as old brass and iron cannons.

There is also a memorial where its walls have been inscribed with hundreds of names of police officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.

Two Mercedes Benz cars and a white Volvo parked under a shed arouse curiosity.

The white Volvo was the official car of Tan Sri Koo Chong Kong, the Perak police chief who was gunned down by communist terrorists in Ipoh on Nov 13, 1975.

A light tan Mercedes Benz also had a bloody past. It was the official car of the third Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim, who was shot dead by unknown men along Jalan Tun Perak, Kuala Lumpur, on June 7, 1974.

The other Mercedes Benz, which was the official car of the fourth Inspector-General of Police Tun Mohamed Hanif Omar, was the first bullet-proof vehicle for a police chief.

Inside the museum, the preserved head of a gigantic seladang is mounted at the top of its entrance.

Harlina said the seladang killed H.C. Syers, the first Commissioner of Police of the Federated Malay States, during a hunting trip in Pahang in July, 1897.

At Gallery A, replicas of uniforms worn by past police forces are displayed. These include those worn by guardsmen of the Malacca Sultanate, the Straits Settlement police force and Federated Malay States Police.

Replicas of flintlock pistols are displayed together with a mannequin of a Portuguese officer.

The weapons displayed include a Gurkha kukri knife, spears, Malay keris, Portuguese flintlock pistols as well as Dutch cannons, swords and rifles.

There are also exhibits featuring the history of the police forces in Malaysian states.

Among the highlights is an exhibit of the colonial Sabah police that used buffalo mounts for transport.

At Gallery B, there are armaments confiscated from communist insurgents and criminals. Among the weapons are hand grenades and guns used by the notorious gangster Botak Chin, who was hanged in the 1970s.

Items seized from secret societies include knives, swords and a buka lima (knuckleduster).

Weapons and vehicles used by the police are also displayed in the gallery.

The vehicles include a Honda CB 500 patrol motorcycle and old black bicycles used in villages during the Emergency.

At Gallery C, there are items seized from communist insurgents such as manufacturing equipment, medicines and clothes.

Other items of interest include paraphernalia used for illegal abortions, an antique cypher machine and a human skull from a police case in Sungai Petani, Kedah, in 1954.

There is also a section that depicts the massacre at the Bukit Kepong police station in Muar, Johor, on Feb 23, 1950, during a four-and-a-half hour attack by 180 communist terrorists.

The museum also houses a souvenir shop, three theatres for video presentations as well as seven touch screen kiosks where visitors can find out about the history and organisation of the police force.

HOW TO GET THERE

The museum is located at No. 5, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur. It is situated close to the Bird Park, National Planetarium, Tun Abdul Razak Memorial and Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.

OPENING HOURS The museum is open from 10am to 6pm on Tuesday until Sunday. It is closed on Monday and from 12.30pm to 2.30pm on Friday. Admission is free. For details, call 03-2272 5689.

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