Fun Facts About Merdeka

The “Negaraku” was originally the state anthem of Perak

At the time of Independence, Malaysia did not have a national
anthem. Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to organise a worldwide
comptetion to find a suitable national anthem for Malaysia.
Although there were 512 entries, none were deemed suitable. In
the end, Tunku opted to use the Perak State anthem, titled
“Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan”, as the national anthem.
Together with a panel of judges, Tunku wrote the new lyrics
for “Negaraku”.

The real date and location Tunku Abdul Rahman announced Merdeka
We all know that on 31 August 1957, Malaysia’s Father of
Independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman, stepped onto the stage at
Dataran Merdeka holding a 100-year old ‘keris pukal’ in his
right hand and declared independence with seven shouts of
“Merdeka” in front of an ecstatic crowd of 100,00 people.

But do you know Tunku actually announced the date of

independence on 20 February 1956 at Padang Bandar Hilir in
Melaka? Tunku thought it was appropriate that Melaka to be
the place to proclaim the independence date because the state
was where the foreign invasions began before the Peninsula
was colonised by the British.
The Jalur Gemilang was designed by an architect
The Malaysian flag was designed by an architect named
Mohamad Hamzah in 1963. Selected out of hundreds of entries
in a contest, the Jalur Gemilang was first raised on 16
September 1963.
Hibiscus
After receiving independence in 1957, the nation needed a
national flower to symbolize her identity. In 1958, the Ministry
of Agriculture sought proposals for a national flower from all
state governments. Seven flowers were proposed. In 1960, after
careful consideration, the ministry selected the hibiscus due to
its eye-catching, bigger-sized red petals and the fact that it
blooms throughout the year.
The difference of Hari Merdeka and Hari Malaysia
Hari Merdeka, also known as Hari Kebangsaan, refers to the
day the Federation of Malaya officially declared its
independence from the British Empire on 31 August 1957. On
the other hand, Hari Malaysia commemorates the formation of
Malaysian on 16 September 1963, when Sabah and Sarawak
joined the Federation of Malaya.
 Fun Facts About Malaysia

Local time has been adjusted eight times!

Perhaps there is a reason for the infamous Malaysian timing
phenomenon. Local time in Malaysia has been adjusted a total
of eight times throughout history: in 1932, clocks were
advanced by 20 minutes to “lengthen” daylight; in 1941, the
time was sped up another ten minutes; in 1942, it was fast
forwarded another two hours to follow Tokyo’s time; in 1945,
they reserved the clocks to the time observed in 1941, and
finally, on 1 January 1982, Tun Dr. Mahathir decided to push
the time forward by 30 minutes to sync up with Sabah and
Sarawak.
Malaysia’s Badminton Legend – Datuk Lee Chong Wei
Datuk Lee Chong Wei was the no. 1 ranked badminton player in
the world for 199 consecutive weeks from 2008 to 2012 and
also holds the record of being the only Malaysia player who
was ranked no. 1 for more than a year. He has also won three
Olympic silver medals and is the sixth Malaysian to win
Olympic medal. Datuk Lee Chong Wei used to love basketball
early in his childhood but, according to him, his mother banned
him from playing basketball and this is when he decided to
choose badminton.
Malaysia creates history in the KL SEA Games 2017
Malaysia created history and recorded achievements in many
areas in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 2017. Malaysia
emerge as the overall champion with their best ever outing at
the biennial event with 145 gold, 92 silver and 86 bronze
medals. One of the best achievements was the gold-medal
victory of the Sultan of Terengganu, Sultan Mizan Zainal
Abidin, in a record-breaking feat in the equestrian endurance
race.
Malaysia’s oldest name
Long before Malaysia got its name, Greco-Roman geographer
Ptoley named our lovely country Aurea Chersonesus, which
means ‘penisula of gold’. The name was found in Ptolemy’s
book Geographia, written about A.D. 150.
The official language of Malaysia
The official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Melayu. But most
Malaysian can converse in English as well as other ethnic
dialects such as Mandarin and Tamil, as well as the ubiquitous
colloquial Malaysian English or “Mang-Lish”, an English-based
creole that combines various dialects, with “lah” being used as
an exclamation for most sentences for emphasis.
Malaysia’s first national service experiment
The three-month National Service Training Programme
officially started in 2003, but Malaysia’s very first
‘experiment’ with the national service programme took placce
more than 50 years ago. In 1962, during the Indonesian
Confrontation, the government has decides to call up youths
aged between 21 and 28 a two-year military training.