Flag of Malaysia

What the flag of Malaysia looks like

The Malaysian flag has fourteen horizontal stripes of equal width, alternating red and white, with red at the top and white at the bottom. In the upper hoist corner is a dark blue canton. It covers the top eight stripes and runs about half the width of the flag. Inside it, a yellow crescent opens toward the fly, and beside it sits a yellow star with fourteen points. The flag is twice as wide as it is tall, with a 1:2 ratio.

The crescent and star are both drawn in the same shade of yellow, which is a royal color in Malay tradition. The star is called Bintang Persekutuan, the Federal Star. Its fourteen points have the same meaning as the fourteen stripes. The Malaysia flag emoji shows the same stripes, canton and crescent in simplified form.

Malaysia flag meaning and symbolism

The fourteen stripes and the fourteen points of the star stand for the equal status of the thirteen member states and the federal government (including the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan). The star can also be read as a symbol of unity among them.

The colors have commonly cited meanings. Red stands for bravery and strength, and white for purity. The dark blue canton is said to represent the unity of the Malaysian people. Yellow is the color of the Malay rulers and so represents royalty and the monarchy of Malaysia. The crescent is the symbol of Islam, the official religion of the federation.

Because Malaysia has several ethnic and religious communities, these meanings are interpreted slightly differently from group to group, but they all point to national unity.

History of the Malaysian flag

The design goes back to the Federation of Malaya, which gained independence from Britain on 31 August 1957. Its flag was chosen in 1949-50 from a public competition, and the winning design came from Mohamed Hamzah, a draftsman in the Johor public works department. That flag had eleven stripes and an eleven-pointed star, one for each of the eleven states of the federation (nine Malay states plus Penang and Malacca).

On 16 September 1963, Malaya joined with North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia. The flag was changed to fourteen stripes and a fourteen-pointed star to represent the larger federation. When Singapore left in 1965, the flag was not changed. The fourteenth point and stripe now stand for the federal government. This is why the number 14 is on the flag even though the country has thirteen states.

The flag was given the name Jalur Gemilang in 1997 by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, and it is flown on National Day, 31 August. It is customary to treat it with respect: it may not be flown upside down or used for decoration in ways that insult it.

Malaysian flag vs the American flag

Many people ask why the Malaysian flag looks like the flag of the United States. The US flag has thirteen stripes and fifty stars and is much older, dating from 1777. Malaysia's has fourteen stripes, and a crescent and star in place of the stars. The Malaysian design is not copied from the American flag. It is often suggested that the sources were the flag of the British East India Company, which also had red and white stripes with a canton and was used in the region, and earlier Malay flags. It also resembles the flag of Liberia, which was modeled on the US flag.