The Secret History Behind Malaysia's Flag
Malaysia's flag has grown with the country, one stripe at a time.
In 1949, a year before the Federation of Malaya was formed, the government held a competition to design a new flag. Out of 373 submissions, the winner was Mohamed Hamzah, a 29-year-old architect. His original design had 11 stripes and was adopted in 1950.
When Malaysia was formed, the flag was adopted again on September 16, 1963 with 14 red and white stripes and a 14-point star, the Jalur Gemilang, "stripes of glory". The stripes and the star stand for the equal membership of the states and the federal government, and the crescent and the star on the blue canton for Islam and unity.
The date printed on every Malaysia design in our catalog, August 31, 1957, is Merdeka, the day Malaya became independent.
A young architect's idea that became fourteen stripes.
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