Jalan Maharajalela (Birch Road), Taiping

Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping (31 August 2015)


Jalan Maharajalela is a road in Taiping, Perak. It connects Jalan Tupai to Jalan Pekeliling. In between, it also forms junctions to Jalan Ngah Ibrahim, Jalan Sultan Abdullah and Jalan Semanea Saman.

Jalan Maharajalela was named after the Malay nationalist Lela Pandak Lam, who also goes by the title, Dato Maharaja Lela. The son of a Bugis king who hailed from Luwuk District in Sulawesi, he came to Perak during the reign of Sultan Muzaffar Shah III, who made him a mufti and gave him the title of Dato Maharaja Lela.

Dato Maharaja Lela was best known for assassinating James Wheeler Woodford Birch, the British Resident of Perak. He and his assistants Sepuntum and Pandak Lam speared Birch while the latter was taking a bath at the riverside in Pasir Salak on 2 November 1875. This caused the British to attack Pasir Salak, and Dato Maharaja Lela was executed by hanging on 20 January 1877. For their roles in the assassination, Sultan Abdullah and chieftain Ngah Ibrahim were sent into exile in the Seychelles.

Under the British, this road was named Birch Road, but after independence, the road was renamed Jalan Maharajalela, with Birch Road in the parenthesis.

Map of Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping

Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping (31 August 2015)

Jalan Maharajalela on Google Street View

Jalan Maharajalela (Jul 2020)

Back to Discover Taiping, Perak mainpage; list of Streets of Taiping, Streets of Perak and Streets of Malaysia

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel

 PG Food Channel

 Learn Penang Hokkien YouTube Channel

SojiMart Videos

Latest from Discover with Timothy: Gurney Bay - what to see and do there

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

Robbie's Roadmap