Sabah Day
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Sabah Day () is a self-government day celebrated on 31 August every year by the
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
of
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...
in
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. Since 2012, the holiday has been received widely by the Sabah state government and the citizens of Sabah, and officially gazetted as an official state celebration in 2024. Sabah Day was celebrated for the first time since 2023 and beyond alongside the Malayan Independence Day, after the state government approved the proposal to gazette 31 August as "Sabah Day" in 2021.


Background

After the end of the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the territory was administered by the British Military Administration which later transferred to the
Crown Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...
government in 1946 as the British North Borneo Chartered Company facing a difficulties due to the high cost to reconstructing
North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...
. The task to reconstructing the territory was later taken by the Crown colony government with the first Crown Colony Governor appointed was
Edward Twining Edward Francis Twining, Baron Twining (29 June 1899 – 21 June 1967), known as Sir Edward Twining from 1949 to 1958, was a British diplomat, formerly Governor of North Borneo and List of colonial heads of Tanganyika, Governor of Tanganyika ...
on 5 May 1949. Ralph Hone succeeded him to continue the reconstruction of the territory and later Roland Turnbull until the last Crown Colony governor of William Goode. After all the reconstruction projects been completed, the Crown Colony government later decided to grant a self-government to the territory on 31 August 1963, which is 16 days before the establishment of the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. While North Borneo Self-government Day is often referred to as 'Sabah Independence Day', this is strictly speaking incorrect, since British legislation on North Borneo's self-government did not provide for its independence prior to it joining to form the federation of Malaysia. In 2018, the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) has called the state government to gazette the day as "Sabah Day" and declare it as a state holiday.


Celebration and theme

By 2023, the celebration is to be held annually. The Sabah Day are celebrated, after the National Day event. One of 25 districts in Sabah chosen as host for the celebration and will rotated among these districts every year.


Relationship with Independence Day

North Borneo Self-government Day, 31 August, also happens to be Independence Day (), a national day of Malaysia commemorating the independence of the
Federation of Malaya Malaya, officially the Federation of Malaya, was a country in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1963. It succeeded the Malayan Union and, before that, British Malaya. It comprised eleven states – nine Malay states and two of the Straits Settleme ...
from British colonial rule in 1957. The Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) and Sabah's
Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...
(DAP) have stated that they will be celebrating 'Sabah Independence Day' instead of Hari Merdeka on that day. Starting from 2015, as was stated by the Minister of Communication and Multimedia Ahmad Shabery Cheek, the Independence Day celebration is likely to be held without mentioning the number of years to prevent the people in Sabah and Sarawak from being isolated if the number of independence anniversaries was stated. However, the Minister of Land Development of Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing reminded that since 16 September had been declared as Malaysia Day, it should be the rallying point for the nation's unity. He added "Everyone now knows that 31 August is Malaya's and Sabah's Independence Day... it's not our (Sarawak)
independence day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
. They can celebrate it both in Malaya and in Sabah as they have the same Independence Day date, and we can join them there if they invite us. We must right the wrong". Masing was commenting on Shabery Cheek's recent proposal that Malaysia should continue to commemorate 31 August as its Independence Day, without mentioning the anniversary year.


Further reading

* *


See also

*
Independence Day (Malaysia) Independence Day (), also known as National Day (), is the independence day of the Federation of Malaya from the British Empire. It commemorates the Malayan Declaration of Independence of 31 August 1957, and is defined in article 160 of the C ...
* Sarawak Day *
Malaysia Day Malaysia Day (; Jawi: ) is a public holiday held on 16 September every year nationally since 2010 to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on that date in 1963. This event saw Malaya (already a sovereign state since 1957 ...


References

{{Malaysia topics History of North Borneo History of Sabah Public holidays in Malaysia Sabah August observances