Flag of Malaysia
Fourteen equal horizontal stripes of red and white, with a dark blue canton holding a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star.
What the flag means
The government's description says the stripes stand for the equal status of the member states and the federal government, and the star for their unity. The crescent is Islam, the state religion, and yellow is the royal colour of the Malay rulers. The blue stands for the unity of the Malaysian people.
History
The design began as the flag of the Federation of Malaya. Mohamed Hamzah, a 29-year-old architect in the Public Works Department in Johor Bahru, won a 1949 competition that drew 373 entries. King George VI approved the 11-stripe flag on 19 May 1950, and it was first raised on 26 May 1950. When Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, the stripes and star points went from 11 to 14. In 1997 Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad named the flag Jalur Gemilang, 'glorious stripes'.
Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, but the number of stripes and star points was not changed.
Earlier flags of Malaysia
- 1950–1963Federation of Malaya: 11 red and white stripes, blue canton, 11-pointed star
Flags that look like this one
Red and white stripes with a blue canton. The United States has 13 stripes and 50 stars. Liberia has 11 stripes and one large star. Malaysia has 14 stripes and a yellow crescent and star.
Flags of Malaysia's neighbours
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of Malaysia
- Flags of the World: Malaysia
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
