Happy Malaysia Day!

Its a few days before Malaysia day but I thought that I would wish all my fellow Malaysians early.

There seems to be a lot said about a flag being raised by some activists on Merdeka day at the Padang Merdeka.  Many are calling it the "Sang Saka Malaya" but my friend, Fahmi Reza, says that it's known as the "Bendera Rakyat" and was known to have been raised as early as 1947.  That's 10 years before Malaya became an independent nation.

The Bendera Rakyat

Last year, in conjunction with our 55 Merdeka celebration, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia published a commemorative book titled "Formation of A Nation - a photographic flashback".  In it the origins of our Jalur Gemilang are mentioned.

A competition was held in 1949 to design a flag for the new Federation.  Of the many entries received, three were shortlisted:

• Two crossed krises encircled by eleven white stars, set against a blue background.
• Two crossed krises at the centre with two concentric circles of white stars - the inner circle bearing five stars and the outer circle bearing six stars - set against a blue background.
• Six blue horizontal stripes alternating with five white stripes with a crescent and a five-pointed star at the top-left corner set on a red background.

To cut a long story short, the choices were voted upon and after some adjustments were sent to London for King George VI's consent.

And the approved flag:

Flag of the "Governor and Company of Merchants of
London trading into the East Indies" or
"the Honorable East India Company"
 [Image from Wikipedia]

Oops! sorry!
This is our Jalur Gemilang.

(Of course it had only 11 stripes and the star only had 11 points.)



P.S.
This is the Federation of Malaya flag before amendments: