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! 




Singapore is now an amazing island city-state, its own independent nation. It has a good trade relationship with Malaysia despite the troubled past.



Here are some photos of Malaysia today:

Kuala Lampur is Malaysia's capital
(above and below).



Sarawak
North Borneo is now Sabah,
above and below.



And now for the natural wonders of the nation:







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