MALAYSIA is a beautiful country and it is not only because of its people and the variety of food we have.
Our flora and fauna should not be forgotten too. Our national flower, the hibiscus, is simple yet elegant.
But is it true that the jasmine was almost selected as our national flower instead?
VERDICT:
True
Yes, our beloved bunga raya was only one of the several options available during the country's national flower selection process.
But to understand this, we need to go back to when the country first gained its independence in 1957.
We had our national anthem, Negaraku, played symbolically on Aug 31, 1957, at the Selangor Club field (where Dataran Merdeka is).
But it was in 1958, the Agriculture Ministry set out to look for potential candidates to be the national flower. They submitted seven types of flowers: the hibiscus, jasmine, rose, lotus, ylang-ylang, magnolia and the Spanish Cherry.
A survey was then carried out by the country's Information Department to find out, around Peninsular Malaysia, which was their favourite flower.
And the department came to this conclusion: most residents living on the east coast had chosen the hibiscus, while the majority of the people on the west coast had chosen jasmine.
The final decision was made by the government, led by then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, and hibiscus was selected as the national flower.
The reasons given was at that point in time, the bunga raya was not only well-known across the country and readily available all year long, but it had a similar name across the states.
And at that point in time, the hibiscus was not the national flower of any country (In later years, South Korea and the Solomon Islands would share the same national flower as us).
Based on these criteria, on July 28, 1960, Tunku Abdul Rahman made it official that the hibiscus was Malaysia's flower.
The flower, which usually has five petals, would also be used to symbolise the five aspects of the National Principles of the Rukun Negara (Belief in God, loyalty to the King and country, supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law, and courtesy and morality), but the flower would be the symbol of unity.
So, the next time you see a jasmine while walking in a park, you now know a piece of trivia about Malaysia's history.
Source:
https://www.malaysia.gov.my/
https://www.malaysia.gov.my/
