2019-09-16 Mon

Malaysia Day is a public holiday held on 16 September every year to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. The holiday commemorates the union of the existing states of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form the Federation of Malaysia.

Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire, along with the British Straits Settlements protectorate. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia.

The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on 1 June 1963 but was later postponed to 31 August 1963, to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. However, the formation of Malaysia delayed to 16 September of the same year because the United Nations team wanted time to conduct a fact-finding mission in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation.

The first stamps of the Federation of Malay were issued on 16th September 1963, to commemorate the Foundation of the Federation of Malay. The stamps were issued with three denominations of 10, 12 and 15 Malaysian sen. The stamps show the map of Federation of Malay with the beaming sun behind. The name of the country is seen at the bottom and the denomination at the top-left corner.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com

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