50 Years of Nationhood - Part I

On 31 August 1957, a nation called MALAYA was born. Malaya consisted of 9 sultanate states namely Perlis, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Johore, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan. To celebrate this important event, a single stamp was released on that day (stamp below). The portrait of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister of Malaya was printed on the stamp.



A year later (1958), a set of two stamps was released (stamps below) to commemorate 1st anniversary of independence. The 10-sen stamp is Stadium Mederka and the 30-sen stamp is the portrait of the first Yang Di-pertuan Agong.



On 16 September 1963, Penang, Malacca, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya, and this gave rise the formation of Malaysia (stamps below). Nevertheless, Singapore left Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent country by itself.


By 1967, when Malaysia celebrated its 10 years anniversary of indenpendence (stamps below), the nation of Malaysia consists of 13 states.