The owner of private mini-museum “Rumahku Muziumku” (My House, My Museum) in Melaka was forced to shut down his free museum after visitors kept stealing his antiques.

Sad and disappointed

Speaking to Harian Metro, Nordin Ali, 81, was sad that his "home" was a target of thieves.

He was also disappointed that visitors would just nonchalantly steal the antiques.

He is particularly saddened at some of the antiques he bought years ago only for them to be stolen last September.

Nordin claims he is determined to close his museum so people will not steal from him again.

Antiques stolen

Nordin also added that besides the items stolen on September, a few items from his other collections were also stolen, including two 100-year-old keris' (Malay daggers).

Other stolen items include ancient knives, old Malaysian coins and notes, as well as an ancient lock from China.

He made a police report on Sep. 21.

Sold online

World Of Buzz reported that two of the items stolen in September, a copper manicure bowl and an antique iron were being sold online.

Nordin told Harian Metro the reason why the antiques keep getting stolen is because they are openly displayed in the museum.

He also mentions that both he and his wife, Maznah Ali, 60, are not fully capable of spotting or catching some of these thieves due to various health issues.

His collecting journey

According to Jurnal Malaysia, Nordin began collecting antiques at the age of 15, following in the footsteps of his late father.

He succeeded in collecting historical artefacts from all over the world, including China, Portugal, England, Japan, Netherlands and Indonesia.

He was even willing to fork out a lot of money to buy the artefacts from the original owners.

Nordin finally fulfilled his dreams of opening his own museum in 2002 with "Rumahku Muziumku", proudly displaying his extensive collection.

His museum has over 2,500 artefacts.

Some of the artefacts even date back to the 18th century.

Did not do it for the money

He made entry to his museum free as his intention is to showcase the antiques, not make money out of them.

According to Nordin, he was not sad because of how much money he had lost.

Instead, he was saddened to lose valuable antiques he had worked very hard, and long, to collect.

Nordin said the antiques are almost irreplaceable and will be hard to find again.

Top photos via Rumahku Muziumku's blog.