THE mystery that shrouded the contents of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s safe was finally solved yesterday when it was opened.

It did not contain any documents but nine boxes that kept numerous personal memorabilia of the first prime minister, believed to be given to him by foreign and local leaders of his era.

The discovery was announced by Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim after he ordered the National Archives to open the safe, which is also one of the items displayed at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Memorial in Kuala Lumpur.

The story of the unopened safe was highlighted in Malay Mail last week, which led to much speculation on its contents.

Earlier, experts from safe making company, Chubbsafes, had taken about 30 minutes to drill open the more than 300kg Britishmade Stafford safe.

Inside the eight wooden and velvet boxes, Rais discovered a wrist watch, two golden keys (one of which was from former New York City mayor Robert Wagner), two sets of cuff links, a gold coin with a ringgit value from the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, a commemorative coin from former Taiwan president Chiang Kai Shek and a 1970-dated golden plaque from the National Shooting Association of Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the biggest of all was a golden rectangular metal box which contained about 23 gold items such as a Parker pen, a Chinese character that means “long life”, at least two pairs of scissors, keys and a round plaque that carried the number 65.

“Some quarters had said it contained important national documents but it seems the contention of the National Archives that it did not have valuable items is true.

“The find is very valuable and we do not know the actual value of the artifacts,” Rais told reporters who were invited to witness the find.

On the status of the artifacts, Rais said they were national property.

“All these artifacts are gifts to the country and will become the nation’s property,” he said. Rais said the National Archives would also be directed to make a list and take photographs of the artifacts to be shown to the Cabinet before they are exhibited officially as national heritage.

The safe was used by Tunku Abdul Rahman when he was the Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya and later Prime Minister of Malaysia.

It was initially placed in his office at the Residency before being moved to his residence at No.1 Jalan Langgak Tunku when he retired in 1970.

The safe was then handed over to the National Archives to be placed again at the Residency in 1994 by his son Tunku Ahmad Nerang as part of the nation’s artifacts.