Dec 20 2008
Public Holidays - Malaysia
A few days ago, I talked in general about public holidays observed by the three countries of focus on this blog. I then decided to focus specifically on each, hence the post on Switzerland, then on the USA. Here’s the conclusion: the public holidays of Malaysia!
 Hindu figurines @ Batu Caves Originally uploaded by goosmurf |
I have mentioned before that, by virtue of her diverse religious cultural make-up, Malaysia takes days off for a wide variety of events.
Religious, because the country is populated by adherents of Islam (60%), Buddhism (19%), Christianity (9%), Hinduism (6%), traditional Chinese religions (3%), and others.
Cultural, because her ethnic groups comprise the Malays and aboriginal tribes (65%), Malaysians of Chinese descent (28%), of Indian descent (8%), and others.
In the following table - Malaysia’s Public Holidays in 2009 - I try to indicate which religious or cultural heritage is being honored for each holiday observed:
| Date | Event | Remark |
| 26 & 27 January | Chinese New Year | Chinese cultural celebration. |
| 9 March | Maulidur Rasul | Muslim - Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. |
| 1 May | Labor Day | Secular - worker’s day of rest. |
| 9 May | Wesak Day | Buddhist - Gautama Buddha’s birthday. |
| 6 June | Agong’s Birthday | Secular/Administrative. The official birthday of Malaysia’s head of state. |
| 31 August | National Day | Historical event - the Federation of Malaya’s independence from the British Empire. |
| 20 & 21 September | Hari Raya Puasa * | Muslim - Aidil Fitri, the end of fasting. |
| 17 October | Deepavali | Hindu - the festival of lights. |
| 27 & 28 November | Hari Raya Haji * | Muslim - Aidil Adha, the feast of sacrifice. |
| 18 December | Awal Muharram (Maal Hijrah) | Muslim - new year. |
| 25 December | Christmas | Christian - official birth of Jesus. |
Please note that the above table contains only the holidays observed at the national, or federal level. Count them - fourteen. That’s almost a working week more than the USA and Switzerland! But that’s not all! At the state level, there are numerous other holidays observed. Curious as to what they are? Look no further than the table below…
| Date | Event | Remark |
| 1 January | New Year’s Day | Secular. Did you notice this was missing from the first table? Not all the states take this day off! NOT observed by Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. |
| 1 February | Federal Territory Day | Secular/Administrative. Observed only in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. |
| 8 February | Thaipusam | Hindu. Celebrated mostly by the Tamil population. Five states observe this. |
| 4 March | Anniversary of the Installation of the Sultan of Terengganu | Secular/Administrative. Only in Terengganu. Imagine that! |
| 10 April | Good Friday | Christian. Observed in Sabah and Sarawak. |
| 15 April | Declaration of Malacca as a historical city | Secular. Only Malacca takes the day off. Imagine that! |
| 7 May | Hari Hol Pahang | Secular/Administrative. The past Sultans and royalty of the state of Pahang are honored. |
| 30 & 31 May | Harvest Festival | Cultural. Observed in Labuan and Sabah only. |
| 1 & 2 June | Hari Gawai | Cultural. A harvest festival specifically for the native peoples of Sarawak. |
| 29 June | Hari Hol Johor | Secular/Administrative. The past Sultans and royalty of the state of Johore are honored. |
| 20 July | Israk & Mikraj | Muslim. Celebrating the Prophet Muhammad’s journey “to the furthest mosque” and “to the heavens”. Observed by three states. |
| 22 August | Awal Ramadhan * | Muslim. Three states take this first day of fasting off. |
| 7 September | Nuzul Al-Quran | Muslim. Celebrates the revelation the Muslim holy book. Observed by seven states. |
| (14 other days) | Official birthday of the state’s ruler (Sultan, or Governor) | Kelantan takes two days off, all other states take one day off. |
A few things to note:
- I was taught that Malaysia is made up of 14 states, but technically we have 13 states and the Federal Territory which comprises Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. The latter three have different holiday observances, so for the purposes of the table above, I am working from a total of 16 “states”, “territories”, or whatever you want to call them.
- Days marked with an asterisk are subject to change, because despite having already determined the day by calculation, many Muslims prefer to go with the actual sighting of the moon for days as important as the start and end of of the fasting month. Rarely, but it has happened, that the moon was not sighted and as such, the day to start fasting, for example, was determined to be a day later than expected.
- The above table doesn’t address other festivals that take place without official days off; the mooncake festival comes to mind, I’m sure there are plenty of others too!
You may have noticed that I gave only the bare bones description of the holidays observed in Malaysia. That’s because I intend to provide an overview of these holidays (and those of Switzerland and the USA) on a monthly basis, thus providing you with information in a more time-relevant manner as well as in more manageable, smaller, chunks. So please look out for these monthly reviews on the first of every month next year, k?
Cheers,
*lynne*
Sources: wikipedia and One Stop Malaysia
