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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Malaysia

The list of Malaysia bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, 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 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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26 Nov 2008 Speaking at a rally commemorating the anniversary of November 25, 2007, last night, Penang State Deputy Chief Minister, P. Ramasamy, promised that November 25 would become a Federal public holiday in Malaysia if the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party captured the federal government in the next elections. • 25 Nov 2008 (NCS) The Government of Malaysia has confirmed the date of the upcoming Eid Al-Adha public holiday (locally called Hara Raya Qurban) for Monday, December 8, 2008. • 03 Oct 2008 (Sabah Tourism) The government of Malaysia's State of Sabah has finally announced the date of Saturday, October 11, 2008, as replacement for the Malaysia Day and Sabah Head of State mid-September public holidays which were postponed this year due to their occurrence during the Muslim month of Ramadan. • 04 Sep 2008 (Daily Express-Kota Kinabalu) Sabah State Secretary, Datuk Sukarti Wakiman, announced that the September 13 birthday celebrations for Sabah's head of state, Yang Dipertua Negeri, had been postponed to October 11, 2008, due to it coinciding with the month of Ramadan in 2008. Whether October 11 would be an additional, one-off public holiday has not been announced yet. • 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. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was reacting to the proposal made by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, that the 5 Malaysian states (Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan) controlled by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) should declare September 16 as an annual public holiday henceforth. • 24 Aug 2008 (New Straits Times) After much back and forth, Malaysia's Penang State Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, has instructed the Penang State Government to declare Tuesday, August 26, 2008, as a one-off, public holiday throughout the State of Penang, on the occasion of the Permatang Pauh by-election. • 23 Aug 2008 (Bernama) Education Director-General, Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom, announced that the anticipated Tuesday, August 26, 2008, special polling day holiday would be limited to all primary, secondary and government-aided schools in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency. This lost school day will not be compensated. • 22 Aug 2008 (The New Straits Times) Speaking to reporters, earlier today, Penang State Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, said that he may yet declare a election day one-off state-wide public holiday, on Tuesday, August 26, 2008. • 06 Jul 2008 (Bernama News Agency) The Malaysian State of Kedah has declared a public holiday on Tuesday, July 15, 2008, in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee of the reign of the Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah. Kedah officials specified to the press that this public holiday must be observed by all federal and state government departments and the private sector. • 09 Jun 2008 (Bernama-Malaysian National News Agency) Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said, of the state government of Malaysia's State of Terengganu, announced tonight that Tuesday, June 10, 2008 would be a one-off public holiday due to the state's success in emerging the overall champions of the 12th Malaysia Games. • 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 (currently it is only a State public holiday in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor). • 20 Jan 2008 (Malaysia Star and The New Straight Times) Yesterday, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said that he would consider making Thaipusam, into a full national public holiday. • 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. . • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: 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 (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

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 2009 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 2008 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.