New challenges, renewed hope

A performer at the Sarawak Day celebration at Kuching Waterfront. - ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE / THE STAR

MALAYSIA may have been formed in 1963, but believe it or not, it wasn’t until 2010 that Malaysia Day was celebrated as a national public holiday. Prior to that, it was a state holiday only in Sabah and Sarawak.

The declaration of a national holiday may have had a political tinge to it, since the previous opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat had made election promises around it before a holiday was finally declared by Barisan Nasional.