My fellow Tottenham Hotspur supporter, Felix, wrote in Facebook earlier yesterday : Saya hanya akan kibarkan Jalur Gemilang pada Hari Malaysia kerana (1) hanya Semenanjung yg merdeka pada 31 Ogos (2) Malaysia telah ditubuhkan pada 16 Sep dgn penyertaan Sabah & Sarawak (3) Janji2 yg dibuat kpd mereka pada masa itu sudah dilupai dan tidak ditepati. Sekian terima kasih dari Anak Bangsa Malaysia.
Felix is almost absolutely right.
Malaya got its independence from the British on 31st August, 1957.
Many do not know that, 16 days before the formation of Malaysia, in 1963, Sabah ( then North Borneo ) gained its independence from the British, too, on 31st August, that year. More of this in another posting.
BN’s celebration on the 31st of August will flaunt the Jalur Gemilang,
Jalur Gemilang, with 13 stripes and a 13-pointed star
Flag of Malaya – 11 stripes and 11-pointed star
ignoring that the celebration of independence on that day relates to the independence of Malaya, in 1957, and not the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
BN’s Merdeka logo clearly bears the number 55, indicating a celebration of 55 years of independence.
For a long time, 31st August was celebrated as the independence day of Malaysia, and 16th September would pass as an inconsequential day in our history.
Many of you may feel that I am making much ado about the difference of two more stripes and star points, but this gross distortion of our history has for a long time served to, in my view quite understandably, hurt the feelings of our fellow Malaysians in Sabah and Sarawak.
Since 2007, this blog bears a Jalur Gemilang in the side bar, but upside down, adopting an internationally recognised distress signal, reflecting the dire state of the nations making up Malaysia, and so I will be proudly waving the Jalur Gemilang tonight at Dataran, on the 31st of August or on Hari Malaysia on 16th September.
However, to those of you who are minded to unfurl a flag tonight at Dataran or on the 31st of August, please, like Felix, shame BN, honour history, and do the right thing.
sla5af
August 31, 2012
As a Sarawakian I really believe that people should wake up to the fact that Malaysia is 49 years old, not 55. But having said that I really really wish all of you across the sea Happy Merdeka Day. May it be a truly happy day one day. May God bless the Federation of Malaya.
John Cheong
August 31, 2012
Should it not be ’14-pointed star’ and ’14 stripes’ signifying the 13 states and 1 more for the Federal Territory(ies)?
baronvonchesto
September 3, 2012
This is a repost of a comment from a previous post since it is more appropriate here:
Dear Haris,
While its certainly true that Malaysia has only been around for 49 years, its is still perfectly correct to say Hari Kemerdekaan ke-55 ie: it is the 55th Merdeka day celebrations, as As the first “Merdeka Day”celebration occured in 1957. That for the first 6 years it was the national day of merely Malaya and not Malaysia is of no consequence. So it is not wrong for the West Malaysian states to celebrate it as their 55th Independence. For Sabah it would be Hari Kemerdekaan ke-49, Hari Kebangsaan ke-55. Sarawak is an anomaly since they got their independence in July 1963…
A good analogy is the USA, only the 13 original colonies have cause to celebrate teh fourth of July, yet it remains the national day for the whole of the US. Hawaii for example only attained “Independence”in 1990 when it was granted statehood, yet they still celebrate the 4th of july same as the rest of the nation. The declaration of independence of the 13 colonies was 4th July 1776, yet for 2012 it was still the 236th national day celebration for Hawaii, Calafornia, etc.
Another food for thought – Today the Federation of Malaya no longer exists. In fact regardless of the nature of the agreement with North Borneo and Sarawak, the Federation of Malaya ceased to exist on 16th September 1963. The federation of Malaya became the Federation of Malaysia that very day. What we clearly have here is a clear misunderstanding from parties on both sides of the South China Sea. Clearly for Sabah and Sarawak it was meant to be a new federation between Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. On this side of the sea, it was always seen as an enlargement of the federation. Regardless, today there is no Malaya, thus the important thing would be to honour the 18-point and 20-point agreements rather than ponder of the semantics between the statehood of Sabah or Sarawak
There is nothing wrong with flying the Jalur Gemilang on 31st August as it is our national day. Yes 31st August bears less significance for Sabah and even less for Sarawak; but is still the national day for the whole nation – just as 16th September is.There is nothing wrong with having two national days and celebrating them as a nation.
langkau
September 12, 2012
please dont use the US as a reference. the US was already a nation-state prior to the inclusion of Hawaii. there was ALREADY the United States of America. Hawaii did not form the US. in 1957, Malaysia was not even born. Sarawak, North Borneo, Singapore and Malaya formed Malaysia in 1963.