Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, mari kita belajar sedikit tentang sejarah negara kita hari ini. From Wikipedia:
Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysia federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia. The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on June 1, 1963, but was later postponed to August 31, 1963, in order to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. Several issues related to the Indonesian and the Filipino objection to the formation of Malaysia delayed the declaration to September 16 of the same year. The postponement was also done to allow the United Nations team time to conduct referendums in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation.
The formation of Malaysia was made possible through the introduction of the Malaysia Bill to the Malayan Parliament on July 9, 1963, and consent from the King on August 29, 1963. Prior to the formation of Malaysia, Singapore and North Borneo unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1963, thus coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the Malayan independence.
Malaysia Day is not a public holiday. However, it is coincidental with the birthday of the Yang di-Pertua of Sabah, making the day a public holiday in Sabah.
Some may say that September 16 is a lot more important than August 31 because that's when the current Malaysia was born. I tend to disagree because August 31 was the liberation from British rule, even though it was just the peninsula, to me that was the key to the entire history and make-up of Malaysia. Yes, we must celebrate September 16 as well, seriously ... September 16 is certainly more important than New Year's Day, Labour Day and Wesak Day. It should be a national public holiday for sure. Surely our government realise that without East Malaysia, the peninsula would have been totally governed by Pakatan Rakyat since the last election - oops... said too much...
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