- American Samoa (officially unorganized, although self-governing under authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior)
- Guam (organized under Organic Act of 1950)
- Northern Mariana Islands (commonwealth, organized under 1977 Covenant)
- Puerto Rico (territory with commonwealth status, organized under terms of Puerto Rico-Federal Relations Act)
- United States Virgin Islands (organized under Revised Organic Act of 1954)
- Wake Island (unorganized)
In 2008, Najib Tun Razak said this:
NAJIB: Gov’t does not agree to Sept 16 being made public holiday
The federal government is not agreeable to the suggestion by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Sept 16 be made a public holiday in the five states under Pakatan Rakyat.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said there should only be one National Day for the country.
“We have chosen the date as our independence day. Having another date will give rise to all kinds of interpretation, polemic and this is not healthy to national integration.
“This is our stand; we give importance to unity and national integration,” he told reporters after launching the Chery multi-purpose vehicle here today.
Malaysia celebrates its National Day on Aug 31 every year.
Anwar had suggested that Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan — all of which are under Pakatan Rakyat — declare Sept 16 each year as a public holiday to commemorate the formation of Malaysia.
Penang and Kelantan had accepted the proposal while the three other states were still considering it.
Yes the qoute from Najib need to be explain. I will leave it up to him. As i said it is better to declare it as Unity day or race harmonious day like Singapore instead of Malaysia Day. Or you could say that Malaysia Day is created to celebrate One Malaysia concept and ideals. Than perhaps it make sence. I do not believe in kowtowing to the opposition and i believe their wish to declare Malaysia day is mischievous. Well with a smirk Tun Mahathir and I am disgusted with the many holidays that exist in Malaysia but since we live an country that is polygot both in faith and race than this is what we must expect. I believe all religious holiday should be limit to one day official holiday be it Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali or Hari Gawai. You can take extra holiday off at your expenses. But I don't think this goes down well with Malay Chinese or Tun Mahathir!!! We should have more Malaysian Holiday that can unite the people like Merdeka and Malaysia Day(!) and our Agong Birthday. These is the day that all races could celebrate without having the priest or mullah declaring it wrong for us to celebrate. No more dispute about kongsi Raya or Deepa Raya. It would mute all the Mullahs from calling the Muslims who celebrate the festival of others as apostate.Another sore point that has been burning inside me is that when we achieve independence on 31st August 1957 the official name of the country was Perseketuan Tanah Melayu and the correct interpretation of it is the Federation of Malay Land not Malaya. This shows the other races accept that the country belongs to Malay and Malaya should have form on 31st August 1963 if not from the opposition of Philippines and Indonesia that year to the United Nation.
In 1963, Malaya along with the then-British crown colonies of Sabah (British North Borneo), Sarawak and Singapore, formed Malaysia. The Sultanate of Brunei, though initially expressing interest in joining the Federation, withdrew from the planned merger due to opposition from certain segments of its population as well as arguments over the payment of oil royalties and the status of the Sultan in the planned merger.[31][32] The actual proposed date for the formation of Malaysia was 31 August 1963, to coincide with the independence day of Malaya and the British giving self-rule to Sarawak and Sabah. However, the date was delayed by opposition from the Indonesian government led by Sukarno and also attempts by the Sarawak United People's Party to delay the formation of Malaysia. Due to these factors, an 8-member United Nations team has to be formed to re-ascertain whether Sabah and Sarawak truly wanted to join Malaysia.[33)
Friday, Sep. 06, 1963Malaysia: Tunku Yes, Sukarno No
In steamy, palm-shaded Kuching, capital of Sarawak, the day's biggest excitement is the firing of the 8 p.m. cannon on the lawn of government house. "What a dull place," said a United Nations official. "I don't know how we're going to survive three weeks here." At the insistence of Indonesia's President Sukarno, an eight-member U.N. team is present to "ascertain" whether Sarawak and North Borneo really want to join the Federation of Malaysia, which Sukarno bitterly opposes. As the U.N. ascertainers began to sample opinions around Sarawak, they were nearly stoned, not bored, to death.
In the Chinese-dominated town of Sibu, the Red-infiltrated Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) staged a demonstration that turned into a 90-minute, stone-throwing riot. Only after police fired warning shots to disperse the mob could the U.N. team sit down —amidst broken glass in a Methodist schoolhouse—to interview local councilors. In Miri, Sarawak's oil-refining center, 3,000 Chinese-SUPPorted youths, wielding stones and bottles, screamed anti-Malaysia slogans until the police opened fire, wounding two, and tear gas forced them to scatter.
Date Set. Such outbursts will slightly delay but not derail the formation of Malaysia, originally scheduled for Aug. 31. In last summer's general elections, voters in both Sarawak and North Borneo decisively defeated anti-federation parties. Although Indonesia's shadow looms large, the Borneo people know they have nothing to gain from Djakarta but economic chaos and demagoguery. Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and British Colonial Secretary Duncan Sandys, who hastily flew to the scene, last week set Sept. 16 as the new birth date for the federation —two days after the U.N. mission's findings will be made public. Both are sure that the U.N. will find a clear majority in favor of Malaysia, but they insist that the federation will come into being regardless of the report. The British last week also turned over internal self-government to Borneo and Sarawak.
In a wrangle over details with the British, Indonesia failed to send observers to the U.N. mission, thus giving Sukarno an excuse to question the U.N. findings later. But faced with British determination to defend Malaysia by force, if necessary, Sukarno said: "If the Borneo peoples agree to join Malaysia, we will have to bow our heads and obey." But, added Sukarno, in an unbowed postscript: "Indonesia maintains its opposition to Malaysia."
Book Learning. An Indonesian guerrilla campaign against Borneo and Sarawak may well continue, since Djakarta always needs a foreign diversion to draw attention from domestic difficulties. In Indonesian Borneo, which adjoins Sarawak, Sukarno has set up guerrilla camps along 200 miles of border, and is training 1,000 Red-lining Chinese from Sarawak, following the guidelines of Indonesian Defense Minister General Abdul Haris Nasution, an expert on guerrilla warfare who has written his own book on the subject. Bands of his guerrillas pushed across the border to raid Dyak villages, clashed with patrols of British-led Gurkhas and Sarawak police. In a fire fight ten miles inside Sarawak, the Indonesians killed a British lieutenant and wounded several Gurkhas before being routed with heavy losses. Meanwhile, British officers are studying Nasution's book for clues to stop further Indonesian incursions.
So far, Indonesian terrorist attacks have only served to create a surge of pro-Malaysia feeling in Borneo and Sarawak. Almost nightly, the Indonesian embassy in North Borneo is plastered with slogans reading "Tunku Yes, Sukarno No." Although his people stopped head-hunting years ago, one Dyak chief told the U.N. fact finders that "if any more Indonesian bandits come into our territory, they may lose their heads."
Friday, Sep. 20, 1963Malaysia: Hurray for Harry
When pretty Catherine Loh was elected Miss Malaysia last April, the pert beauty from the oil-rich British protectorate of Brunei fully expected to preside over the independence ceremonies of the newly formed Federation of Malaysia. But that was before Brunei withdrew from the planned federation in a state of pique, leaving Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo to go it alone. Brunei's defection not only left this week's joyous celebrations without a beauty queen but it also took Malaysia out of the running for the Miss Universe contest.
The beauty queen flap was low on the list of last-minute labor pains attending the long-awaited birth of Malaysia. At the insistence of Indonesia's belligerent President Sukarno, who bitterly opposes the federation, Malaysia's independence had been postponed two weeks beyond the original Aug. 31 starting date, while a United Nations team investigated whether or not North Borneo and Sarawak really wanted to join. Hoping to influence opinion against federation, Sukarno began moving paratroopers into Indonesian Borneo along his 900-mile-long border with the two territories. Some Indonesian guerrillas even sneaked through the jungles into Sarawak to stir up trouble; they were relentlessly hunted down by tough little British army Gurkhas, aided by half-naked Iban tribesmen, who hung up at least one Indonesian head in the rafters of their longhouses.
Fearful that Indonesia might extract further delays out of Malaya's easygoing Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, the architect of the federation, Singapore's brilliant, shifty Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who regards Sukarno as "an international blackmailer," swung into action. Flying to Sarawak and North Borneo, "Harry" Lee picked up the chief ministers of both territories and brought them back to Kuala Lumpur to stiffen up the Tunku. Britain's Commonwealth Secretary Duncan Sandys was also on hand, working hard to get agreement. Threatening to declare Singapore an independent state, Lee pressured Abdul Rahman into holding firm for the federation's Sept. 16 deadline.
Last week the final obstacle to independence was cleared away when the U.N.'s Malaysia team reported that both North Borneo and Sarawak favored the federation. As the new nation prepared to unfurl its red-and-white-striped flag, Harry Lee was quick to capitalize on the occasion. With his popularity at its zenith for his major role in bringing the federation about, he scheduled immediate elections in Singapore.
Friday, Dec. 21, 1962Malaysia: Fighting the Federation
For months the bush telegraph of Brunei had flashed the warning that deep inside the Delaware-size oil-rich British protectorate on the north coast of Borneo, a secret rebel army was rehearsing a revolt against the Sultan. Repeatedly, government officials dismissed the story as "another jungle rumor." But last week, in a brief, bloody rebellion, rumor materialized into fact, bringing the threat of a long, nasty guerrilla war in the steaming swamps and forests of the protectorate, and imperiling the prospects of the Malaysian Federation.
Major cause of the revolt, it seemed, was the federation plan itself. Brunei's dominant, fiercely independent People's Party was dead against the alignment of the state with Malaya, Singapore, and the neighboring British possessions of Sarawak and North Borneo. Instead, People's Party Leader A. M. Azahari. 34, a goateed veterinarian, was determined to weld Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo into a single independent nation. But the British-backed Sultan of Brunei, Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin. wanted to join Malaysia, for Brunei's oil resources, which yield him $40 million annually, promised him influence in the federation disproportionate to his country's size and minuscule population (85,000). Stymied by the Sultan, Azahari's rebels finally attacked.
In the predawn darkness, the ragtag irregulars set up roadblocks, sabotaged communications lines, and overran police stations all over the country. In the town of Seria, Shell Oil's Brunei headquarters, the rebels rounded up 55 hostages, formed them into a human shield, and marched them to a nearby police barracks. But when the police fired on the shield, both prisoners and rebels broke and ran.
Message from Manila. Caught by surprise, colonial authorities flashed word of the emergency to British headquarters in Singapore, sent messengers canoeing up jungle streams with sticks bearing red feathers—a traditional appeal for armed assistance from loyal warriors of the interior. Eluding rebel kidnapers, and nervously fingering a Sterling submachine gun, the Sultan escaped to a police station.
The shooting had hardly begun when Rebel Chieftain Azahari turned up in Manila, of all places, to make sure the world press got the full story. Amid a blizzard of statements, he proclaimed himself Prime Minister of the "unitary state of North Borneo," and demanded support for his rebellion from world leaders. The only encouragement came from Indonesia's Sukarno, who has long coveted Brunei's oilfields and would like nothing more than to absorb the protectorate into Indonesian Borneo.
But the end was near for the rebels, for British troops began pouring into Brunei by air. Hawker Hunter jets of the R.A.F. buzzed low over rebel emplacements firing blank 20-mm. cannon shells; many rebel troops fled in terror because they had never before heard the shriek of a jet engine. Other rebels fought on, inflicted substantial casualties on Britain's tough little Gurkha troops. The Gurkhas retaliated by lopping off a few rebel heads. Finally British numbers began to tell and the rebels faded away into the jungle.
Trouble Ahead. Britain's fear is that they will fight on in the thickets. Worse, the rebels' action has encouraged the scattered anti-federation forces in many parts of the area that is to be Malaysia. In Singapore, trouble is expected from pro-Communist Chinese elements who are opposed to alignment with Malaya, Southeast Asia's sturdiest anti-Communist state, and keystone of the Malaysia scheme. In any case, the fighting could break out again at any time. As one rebel ominously put it: "We were beaten this time. Next time we will get more arms and maybe we won't be beaten."
So to me anyone who call this country were not Malay were wrong dead wrong! And to reflect the bigger area and different polygot of a bigger malaya a name change were introduce in 1963 Malaysia. These name change is just that, and to insinuate anything else than that is very insensitive. Here is the remark made by Tun and by the way when he mention FTA I fully agreed on it but let's leave it at different forum.
By Debra Chong
Dr Mahathir says ‘we should have more holidays’. — File pic
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's move today in declaring Sept 16 a public holiday — to mark the day Malaysia was formed, 46 years after the fact — was met with laughter by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“We should have more holidays,” Dr Mahathir told reporters at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here in an immediate reaction to the announcement made in Parliament earlier.
“Work is not important. Holiday is important,” the 84-year-old added, wearing his trademark smirk.
Dr Mahathir said he did not want to criticise Najib's effort, but pointed out that he was often described as a “workaholic”.
“But now, I'm on a long holiday. I'm not working for anybody,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.
Najib declared Sept 16, which is Malaysia Day, as a national holiday from next year, in his latest move to portray his administration as inclusive.
By making Malaysia Day a holiday he was indicating the importance of the Sabah and Sarawak vote given the balance of politics between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
The move to finally declare Sept 16 a holiday appears aimed at giving Sabah and Sarawak due recognition as part of the country.
Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, and it has always been a sore point with Sabah and Sarawak that the day they joined the federation was never recognised officially as a holiday. The holiday declaration also takes away a perennial campaign complain by opposition parties.
Successive BN governments have ignored calls to make Malaysia Day a holiday. Najib’s administration is now acknowledging the significance of the votes from Sabah and Sarawak.
By Debra Chong
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 19 – Beating his anti-colonialism drum again, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (picture), today warned the Malays that they stood to be “conquered” anew by the Western powers if they blindly embraced globalisation and pushed for free trade agreements.
“We live in a Euro-centric world,” Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister said in his speech titled: “Strategic Positioning of Malays in the Borderless World” at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here this morning.
“Europeans are aggressive people; people who like war and who like to acquire what belongs to other people.
“When they suggest a borderless world, perhaps their intent is to conquer us by using economic force,” Dr Mahathir told an audience of 150 alumni from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) before launching their society website.
In his address lasting well over an hour, the man who drove a “Look East” campaign to counter the onslaught of Western culture pointed out that Malaysia, which had previously been subjugated by military might, now faced a new threat in the form of economic pressure and “values-systems”.
Dr Mahathir noted that free trade agreements (FTA) were among the new weapons used by the West to push for covert conquests.
The 84-year-old, who also controlled Malaysia’s purse-strings as finance minister in the latter half of his 22-year rule, reminded his audience how the country nearly became a victim of Western conquest through a deliberate weakening of its currency in the not-too-distant past.
“We must remember this process. People who are weak will lose their land. It may happen again,” he warned.
“In order to face this, we must understand the definition of a borderless world,” the former premier said.
“We don’t want a borderless world,” he stressed.
“They do not invent a policy for our benefit. Whatever the West invents is for them. That’s their intent,” he added.
He pointed to Singapore, a free port which is often held up as an economic role model for the rest of the region to follow.
But he stressed that Malaysia is not like Singapore, which does not have anything to lose in inking FTAs with the US.
“We in Malaysia will have to give up many things if we want to have FTA with America,” Dr Mahathir said, and added: “because Malaysia is multi-racial.”
He insisted that the federal government needs to keep its economic blocks in place “so that we are not controlled by foreigners”, and cautioned that when a country’s economy “is conquered, then politics will soon follow.”
The veteran politician claimed that countries in Central America which had turned into “banana republics” had lost their freedom to decide their heads of state as a result.
“They (the Western powers) will try to determine who is the nest head of government. The president is their choice. Claim that it happened in the banana republics in Central America.
In his younger days, Dr Mahathir had courted much controversy over his harsh criticism of the Malay race in his book, The Malay Dilemma.
“We have to admit the Malays in Malaysia are quite weak. Because of that, it is important to have a government that can protect the Malays,” he reminded his Malay-majority audience.
He warned that if two-thirds of Parliament were made up of people who are not sympathetic to the Malays, then Malay policies will be “threatened”, naming the government’s affirmative action policies like the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the Bumiputra-only admission into UiTM as examples.
Dr Mahathir said that without political clout, it would be impossible to come with a strategy to strengthen the position of Malays.
“Many people say the Malays are lazy,” he said, and recounted a personal story in which he failed to excite interest among Malays in the retail business sector.
He had created a scheme to get Malays to enter the field but observed that of the 3,000 who applied, only 300 turned up and 30 actually tried it out but only one could be considered a success.
He concluded that Malays disliked taking up retail “because it takes too long to become a billionaire.”
Despite his rant for Malays to reject the Western concept, Dr Mahathir said it should not be struck out roundly.
He noted that the FTA had its strengths and weaknesses and called on the Malays to “be wise to decide what to accept and what to reject”.
In his exchange with the floor later, Dr Mahahtir explained that the Malays were prone to act based on their emotions instead of being guided by rational thought.
He pointed out that the same was true of most Muslims, including the Arabs.
The answer, he said, was to first recognise the problem and understand what was at stake and then applying the mind to pick and choose the next course of action to follow.
“If we can overcome challenges, be it nafsu (referring to the Malay word for intense desire or lust) or the physical, then, we can be strong,” he marked.
“If we do not understand what is to come, then we cannot protect and empower ourselves,” he concluded.
posted by wan zaharizan b wan zan at 8:27 PM
1 Comments:
we should work only 4 days per week or 208 days per year. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are holidays. Except for religious holidays like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Qurban which we cannot change the days therefore we should replace by saturdays and sundays so that we work, the rest of holidays should be on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It is easier to manage since we know the new year celebration or labour day or state holidays will be on fridays, saturdays or sundays. easier for investors to calcalute too. No more problem for a long friday prayer.
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