Every Day Is Special: Malaysia

Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

February 1 - Federal Territory Day in Malaysia

Posted on February 1, 2022

This is an update of my post published on February 1, 2011:

Hopefully the annual Federal Territory Day parade can be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But, you know: pandemic. I bet the huge fireworks show can go on, virus or no!

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Part of the country (West Malaysia) is on a peninsula that juts out from the continent of Asia, and part of it (East Malaysia) is on the island of Borneo.

Kuala Lumpur used to be the state capital of Selangor, a state in Malaysia. In 1948, this city became the national capital as well. Politics and racial unrest in the 1960s showed the difficulties of one city being so important to one state as well as to the whole nation—and so the Malaysian government decided to separate Kuala Lumpur from the state and place it under direct federal rule.

On this date in 1974, this step was finally taken. Kuala Lumpur became Malaysia's first federal territory. When the Sultan of Selangor signed the cession agreement that would effectively remove the capital city from his state, he cried for the loss.

Washington, D.C., in the United States, is in a similar position as Kuala Lumpur, because it is not a part of one of the fifty states.

Learn about Malaysia

There are now 13 states and 3 federal territories in Malaysia.

Although the official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia, also known as Malay, English is used for some purposes. You might guess that this is because the British Empire once colonized Malaysia—and you'd be right.

Check out...

Malaysian food... This website has some Malaysian recipes.

Malaysia's land... Both this longish video and this much shorter video gives you an overview of some of the natural and architectural wonders of the nation, along with a taste of the wide range of cultures. Compare the two videos. For what purpose was each video made? Which has the more beautiful and colorful photography? Which has the more balanced view of Malaysia?

Also on this date:

Anniversary of Hatshepsut's death

Explorer Jacob Roggeveen's birthday

Hula in the Coola Day

Robinson Crusoe Day

National Freedom Day

San Cecilio Day in Grenada, Spain

Imbolc in Celtic cultures

Cordova Iceworm Festival

Decorating with Candy Day

International Day of Black Women in the Arts

Confederal Agreement Day in Senegal and The Gambia

Chinese New Year

(also here - here - here and here)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:
February holidays
February birthdays
Historical anniversaries in February

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

March holidays
March birthdays
Historical anniversaries in March

September 16 – Malaysia Day

Posted on September 16, 2019

Singapore!

North Borneo!

Sarawak!

Malaya!

These four already-existing countries were set to unite into a single federation on June 1, 1963.

But then people rethought the date and realized that it would better to have the unification occur a couple of months later: on August 31, the date of Malaya's 1957 independence.

Aaaaaand then it was postponed again! Neighboring nations Indonesia and the Philippines had some objections to the merger. Also, a United Nations team was sent to North Borneo and Sarawak to learn what the locals thought about joining the federation.

Finally, on this date in 1963, the federation was formally created, and Malaysia was born.

All that thought, all those delays - and still, unification was a bit of a problem! The people of Singapore had so many differences with the other citizens of Malaysia, including the new nation's leaders, that there were race riots just a year after the federation began, and before the second year was over, Singapore had been ejected!