1. What is Malaysia Day?
Malaysia Day (September 16) is literally when the country Malaysia was formed. Commonly mistaken for the event of August 31, 1957 which was when the Federation of Malaya gained independence from the British.
Fifty-six years ago, the Federation of Malaya (what is now Peninsular Malaysia), Sarawak, North Borneo (now Sabah) and Singapore —10 million people in all — decided to come together as one nation. Brunei decided against being part of Malaysia. Singapore left us shortly afterwards.

2. Did you know Malaysia Day was meant to be on August 31?
The Malaysia Agreement was signed by the British, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore on July 9, 1963 and Malaya’s Parliament passed the Malaysia Act on August 20, 1963.
Initially planned for August 31, 1963, Malaysia Day was forced to be deferred to September 16, 1963 to give United Nations (UN) mission time to determine and complete a report on whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak wanted to be part of Malaysia.

3. Who raised the Malaysian flag in the national capital for the first time?
“Bapa Kemerdekaan” Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj handed over the Malaysian flag to his son Capt Tunku Ahmad Nerang — who was in the Royal Malay Regiment — to raise during the September 16 ceremony at Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur as the national anthem played.
A total of 760 people formed a giant “M” during the ceremony attended by a reported crowd of 30,000, while 13-year-old Rosnah Akashah — who was awarded the Pingat Hang Tuah medal the previous year for bravery when saving a drowning child — released 101 pigeons.
Also, on September 16, ceremonies were held simultaneously in Malaya’s partner states, with Sabah’s attended by Malaya’s deputy prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, during which the Sabah and Malaysian flags were raised.

4. Did Tunku Abdul Rahman shout ‘Merdeka’ after reading out the proclamation of Malaysia?
Yes. Seven times, in fact, or the same number of times he shouted the words back in August 31, 1957 (Merdeka Day) when he read the declaration of Malaya’s independence.
The public ceremony where Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, read the proclamation of Malaysia was actually delayed by one day to September 17 so the heads of state from Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore could attend.
The September 17 ceremony ended with a 101-gun salute just like in 1957.

Llearned a thing or two about the history of our beloved country? Stay tuned to RAAGA for more exciting updates!

Source: The Malay Mail