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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Malaysia

The list of Malaysia bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2009, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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12 Nov 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Seremban) The Chief Executive of Malaysiás State of Negeri Sembilan, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, has announced that the November 14 celebrations organized to commemorate the state's winning of the Malaysia Cup, would not be a public holiday. • 04 Nov 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Kota Baharu) The Deputy Menteri Besar of the Malaysian State of Kelantan, Datuk Ahmad Yakob, has declared Sunday, November 8, 2009, as a non-working state public holiday to mark the Kelantan Football Team's historic Malaysia Cup appearance, the day before. • 03 Nov 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Kota Baharu) The President of Malaysia's Kelantan Football Association (KAFA), Tan Sri Annuar Musa, has officially asked Malaysia's Kelantan State government to declare a public holiday on Sunday, November 8, 2009, so that supporters do not have to rush home after Saturday's, Malaysia Cup, match. • 28 Oct 2009 (New Straits Times-Kota Kinabalu) Malaysia's Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) secretary-general, Datuk Radin Malleh, has announced that the state government would decide whether or not to shift the state public holiday for the Head of State's (TYT) official birthday from September 16, to another date. • 20 Oct 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Seremban) The government of Malaysia's State of Negeri Sembilan has confirmed that Monday, October 26, 2009, as a public holiday for the whole of the State of Negeri Sembilan. • 19 Oct 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Kuala Lumpur) Earlier today, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, announced in Parliament that the Malaysian Cabinet had finally come to the decision to celebrate Hari Malaysia as a national public holiday, starting on September 16, 2010. • 15 Sep 2009 (Bursa Malaysia Group-Kuala Lumpur) The Bursa Malaysia Group has announced that the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) would be closed on Monday, September 21, and Tuesday, September 22, 2009, in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri public holidays. • 12 Sep 2009 (The Star-Kota Baru) Malaysia's Kelantan State Local Government, Tourism and Culture committee chairman, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, has announced that supermarkets would not be allowed to open for business on the first day of the upcoming Raya (End of Ramadan) public holiday. • 11 Sep 2009 (Cabinet Office-Kuala Lumpur) The govenment of Malaysian has published its official list of national and state public holidays for the year 2010. • 09 Sep 2009 (The Star-Kuala Lumpur) The Secretary-General of Malaysia's Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), Datuk Mustafa Ali, has announced that he would meet with the electoral commission and demand that the date of the upcoming Bagan Pinang by-election be declared a one-off state public holiday. • 04 Sep 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Kuching) The government of Malaysia's State of Sarawak has announced that the Yang Dipertua of Negeri Sarawak Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng's 88th birthday celebration, and it associated state public holiday, would be moved from September 12, to October 24, 2009. • 24 Aug 2009 (The Malaysia Star-Bukit Mertajam) Tuesday, August 25, 2009, the date of the Permatang Pasir by-election, will not be a state public holiday. • 23 Aug 2009 (The Malaysia Star-Bukit Mertajam) The Chief Minister of Malaysia's State of Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng, has announced that he was considering declaring a one-off state public holiday on the date of the Permatang Pasir by-election, Tuesday, August 25, 2009. • 13 Jul 2009 (Bernama-Kota Baharu) The head of the government of Malaysia's State of Kelantan, Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, has declared tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, 2009, as a one-off public holiday, on account of the Manik Urai state seat by-election. • 08 Jul 2009 (The New Straits Times-Malacca) The Chief Minister of Malaysia's State of Malacca, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, has issued a statement that July 7, the day Malacca was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, would not also be made a state public holiday. • 07 Jul 2009 (Bernama News Agency-Penang) Earlier today, Penang State Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, confirmed that, beginning in 2010, July 7th would become a state public holiday to celebrate Penang’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. • 08 Jun 2009 (Bernama-Penang) The Chief Minister of Malaysia's State of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, has announced that the state government was considering a proposal to declare July 7, 2010, a public holiday to mark the recognition of Georgetown as a world heritage site by UNESCO. • 23 Apr 2009 (The New Straits Times-Seremban) The Chief Executive (Menteri Besar) of Malaysia's State of Negeri Sembilan, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, has finally announced the date of this year's transitional State public holiday as October 26, instead of the previous years' date of July 19. • 08 Apr 2009 (The New Straits Times-Kuantan) The President of the Pahang Mubarak (association of former elected representatives), Datuk Abdul Jabbar Ibrahim, has asked the government of the Malaysian State of Pahang to declare a public holiday in recognition of Datuk Seri Najib Razak having been recently appointed as Malaysia's sixth prime minister. • 14 Jan 2009 (Bernama-Seremban) The Chief Executive (Menteri Besar) of Malaysia's State of Negeri Sembilan has announced that, following the recent death of its ruler (Yang di-Pertuan Besar) the State public holiday of July 19, corresponding to the former ruler's birthday would be moved to January 14, the birthday of the new ruler, Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir. • 01 Sep 2008 (Bernama-Penang) Malaysia's Penang State Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, said the Penang state government would definitely make September 16 a public holiday, but probably only beginning in 2009, as Penang just had a one-off public holiday on August 26, 2008. • 20 Jan 2008 (Bernama) Malaysia's Government declares Thaipusam, which will occur on Wednesday, January 23, this year, a public holiday in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, from this year onward. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Malaysia public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in Malaysia are regulated by Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951, and Sections 59 and 60-D of the Employment Act 1955. • Malaysia's States and Federal Territories: There are 13 states (11 in the Malaysian Peninsula and 2 on the Island of Borneo) and 3 Federal Territories (denoted by W.P.). Their abbreviations are: JHR: Johor, KDH: Kedah, KTN: Kelantan, KUL: Kuala Lumpur, LBN: Labuan, MLK: Melaka, NSN: Negeri Sembilan, PHG: Pahang, PNG: Pulau Pinang (Penang), PRK: Perak, PLS: Perlis, PJY: Putrajaya, SGR: Selangor, TRG: Terengganu, SBH: Sabah, SRW: Sarawak. • Week-end Public Holidays: When a public holiday falls on a weekly day of rest (Fridays or Sundays as the case may be), the following day will be substituted as a Public Holiday; and if such following day is also a Public Holiday, then the next day following shall also be a Public Holiday. Government offices work on a five-day week (8.30am - 5.30pm) while banks are also closed on the 1st & 3rd Saturday of the month (except Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu). • Weekends: • Half day Saturday, full day Sunday: in Wilayah Persekutuan, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Sarawak and Sabah. • Half day Thursday, full day Friday: in Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu. • Regional Public Holidays: There are numerous state public holidays. • New Year's Day is not a holiday in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis & Terengganu. • Hari Raya Qurban is celebrated for a 2nd day in Kelantan & Terengganu. • Officially, Chinese New Year is not celebrated for for a 2nd day in Kelantan and Terengganu. However, for the last few years, the second day of the Chinese lunar new year has been declared a public holiday at the State level in Kelantan and Terengganu, making the second day of the Chinese lunar new year a de facto nationwide public holiday. • Merdeka The August 31 public holiday is often, erroneously, called, Hari Merdeka. But the day of independence only occurred once, on August 31, 1957. Its annual anniversariesare Hari Ulangtahun Kemerdekaan. But the preferred official term, since the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and especially after 1970, was chosen by Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, as Hari Kebangsaan (National Day). • Deepavali is not a holiday in Sarawak & Federal Territory of Labuan. • Federal Territories Day is a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. • Thaipusam is a public holiday in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Penang and Perak, and it falls annually on the full-moon day in the Tamil month of Thai. • Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak is a festive day celebrated in Sarawak on June 1st every year. Gawai Dayak was formally gazetted on 25th September 1964 as a public holiday in place of Sarawak Day. It was first celebrated on 1st June 1965. . • Malaysia International Codes MY and MYS (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .my (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Malaysia information and news: Central Bank of Malaysia (Malaysia central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Malaysia maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Malaysia), and Wikipedia (includes Malaysia commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Malaysia, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Malaysia that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays, for Malaysia, were calculated using the JAKIM (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia) lunar visibility criteria. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Hindu Holidays : For Malaysia, when calculating the date of bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays based on the Hindu Lunar calendar, if the date is expunged (ie. does not occur), then we use the following existing date of the Hindu Lunar calendar. Local practice concerning expunged days may vary regionally. For more details on the evaluation of Hindu holidays, see Hindu Calendar holidays.

Lunisolar Holidays : The calculation of moon phases, moonrises, moonsets, sunrises, and sunsets used to predict lunar bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Malaysia are based on the geographical location of Kuala Lumpur (latitude 3,1°N, longitude 101,7°E, GMT+8,0 hours, no summer time rules). Note that many countries in South-East Asia are progressively changing the recurrence rule of some of their lunar/solar holidays to rules based on fixed dates of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Therefore, while the dates predicted above for 2010 and beyond are currently technically correct, the rules of these holidays may change in the next few years. For more details on lunar and solar holidays, see the Lunisolar Footnotes.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2009 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Malaysia, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Malaysia, before planning any trip to Malaysia. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.