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Ngah Ibrahim Fort At Matang (10km From Taiping)
Press article from New Straits Times 30 June 1987: The Ngah Ibrahim Fort at Matang, about 10km from Taiping, has been turned into a historical show-piece by the Museum Department with the addition of a mini-museum. The State Government has allocated $20,000 for repairs on Ngah Ibrahim’s house which was built within the fort. Ngah Ibrahim was the son of Long Jaafar, who is reputed with discovery and opening up the tin mines in Taiping. He is believed to have built the fort and house in 1858 after he had moved from his father’s house at the Long Jaafar Fort at Bukit Gantang, about 20 km from Taiping. In 1876, the house was used as a court to hear the case of several Malay chiefs, like Datuk Sagor, Maharajalela and Pandak Endut, accused of acting against English interests in Perak. In 1877, Ngah Ibrahim was exiled by the British to the Seychelles and his house was taken over by the Perak Government. In 1913, the house became the first Malay Teachers’ College before it shifted to the Sultan Idris Teachers’ College in Tanjong Malim in 1922. The house was then used by the Sekolah Kebangsaan Matang for some time before a new school nearby was built. The Public Works Department condemned the building as unsafe for habitation. The fort has not been gazette as a historical monument as yet and plans are afoot to turn it into a tourist attraction.