Countries Malaysia | History by KabAstro

Events in Malaysian History

Portuguese Attack Malacca

1511-07-25 Portuguese forces under Afonso de Albuquerque first assault the prosperous trading city of Malacca, Malay Peninsula

Admiral and Duke of Goa Afonso de Albuquerque

1786-08-11 Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia
1816-10-21 The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
1817-01-22 British freighter Diana sinks off Malaya
1923-04-06 The first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia is formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia
1934-09-01 SMJK Sam Tet was founded by Father Fourgs from the St. Michael Church, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
1941-12-10 British battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse (Force Z) sunk following Japanese aerial attacks off Malaya. 840 men die
1942-01-11 Japan conquers Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
1946-04-01 The Malayan Union is formed as a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca
1946-05-11 United Malays National Organisation is created.

Federation of Malaya

1948-02-01 Nine Malay sultanates and two British Straits Settlements (Penang and Malacca) form the Federation of Malaya

Malaysia's Founding Father Tunku Abdul Rahman

1948-12-12 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
1949-12-04 Duncan Stewart, 2nd British Governor of Sarawak is fatally stabbed in the streets of Sibu by Malay student Rosli Dhoby with help from Morshidi Sidek with the goal of helping neighbouring Indonesia to take over British Sarawak
1957-08-27 The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force
1957-08-31 Federation of Malaya gains independence from Great Britain
1959-04-16 Datu Abdul Rozak inaugurated as premier of Malaysia federation
1963-09-16 Federation of Malaysia formed by Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak
1964-07-21 Race riots in Singapore between Chinese and Malay groups, 23 killed, 454 injured
1964-09-02 Indonesian paratroopers lands in Malaysia
1964-09-03 2nd incident that year of race riots in Singapore between Chinese and Malay, 13 people killed, 106 injured

Agreement of Interest

1965-08-07 Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore signs a separation agreement with Malaysia, after 2 years of political union

Founder of Modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore Leaves Malaysia

1965-08-09 Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia and gains its independence

Front page of The Straits Times announcing Singapore Independence

1967-08-08 Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand meet to form Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
1969-05-13 Race riots, later known as the May 13 Incident, take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1970-09-23 Abdul Razak bin Hussain becomes premier of Malaysia
1972-02-01 Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

Boxing Title Fight

1975-06-30 Muhammad Ali retains world heavyweight boxing crown by beating Englishman Joe Bugner by unanimous points decision in a re-match in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali

1988-07-31 32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia
1994-04-25 King Azlan Shah of Malaysia resigns
1998-06-27 Opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
1998-09-11 16th Commonwealth Games open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia making Malaysia the first Asian country to host the games

Event of Interest

1999-08-01 Petronas Towers officially opened in Kuala Lumpur as the world's tallest building by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at 451.9 m (1483 ft)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad

2000-10-22 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher wins Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, his 4th straight race victory to finish season; 3rd, and 1st of 5 straight F1 World Drivers Championships; wins by 19 points from Mika Häkkinen

2003-10-31 Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power
2004-03-21 In Malaysia, the 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority

Boxing Day Tsunami

2004-12-26 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people

2008-05-23 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
2008-07-16 Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim is arrested on sodomy charges in Malaysia
2008-11-13 Equity research by Deutsche Bank states that Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines should not experience a recession, despite potential harm to economic growth from falling commodity prices and possible weaker exports
2009-03-04 Malaysia has a 50% chance of slipping into the recession as growth is expected to reach just 0.5% for the year, announces the executive director Datuk Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research
2010-01-17 A dragon boat from Chung Ling High School capsizes and collides with a tugboat amid strong currents in Penang, Malaysia, killing 6 people and injuring 12
2011-11-15 Istana Negara, the new palace of the monarch of Malaysia with its 22 domes is inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur, replacing the old palace
2013-03-01 14 people are killed in the Lahad Datu standoff between Malaysian government and rebel forces
2013-08-21 37 people are killed and 16 are injured in a bus crash near Chin Swee Temple, Malaysia

Flight MH370 Disappears

2014-03-08 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries

Post-it notes written by well-wishers in Malaysia after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing

Laureus Awards

2014-03-26 Laureus World Sports Awards, Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Sportsman: Sebastian Vettel; Sportswoman: Genzebe Dibaba; Team: Germany Men's National Football team

2014-07-17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Eastern Ukraine by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board
2014-10-16 New Zealand, Malaysia, Angola, Spain and Venezuela are elected to the United Nations Security Council
2015-01-29 Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident
2015-06-05 6.0 magnitude earthquake (strongest to affect Malaysia since 1978) strikes Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia, killing 18 people on Mount Kinabalu
2015-08-30 Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad calls for the removal of then Prime Minister Najib Razak during the second day of street protests
2016-04-07 Longest-ever captured python found on Penang Island in Malaysia (26ft/8m)
2016-12-23 United Nations Security Council adopts a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. Resolution 2334 was moved by New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela and passed 14-0 with a US abstention.
2017-03-15 Disney refuses to cut gay moment in film "Beauty and the Beast" for Malaysian censors, instead pulls film from Malaysia
2017-08-17 On This Day helps launch Borneo Dictionary, an online not for profit dictionary of indigenous Borneo languages with translations in English and Bahasa Malaysia
2017-09-14 Fire at a religious school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, kills 23

Malaysian History

2018-02-22 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stirs up controversy by declaring he prefers quinoa to rice, the national dish

Film & TV History

2018-04-30 New species of water beetle from Malaysian Borneo’s Maliau Basin named after actor Leonardo DiCaprio

Malaysian 14th General Election

2018-05-09 Historic win in Malaysian general election by opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan led by 92-year-old former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, defeating Prime Minister Najib Razak and ending 61 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional coalition

2018-05-10 Mahathir Mohamad is sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, the world's oldest leader at 92
2018-05-15 Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim is released from prison after being pardoned by King Muhammad V
2018-06-14 Malaysia's national debt reassessed at $250 billion, up from previous estimate $170 billion, 80% of gross domestic product
2018-06-27 Malaysian police announce seizure of goods linked to former prime minister Najib Razak, worth $273 million, biggest in the country's history, including 567 handbags and 14 tiaras
2018-07-03 Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is arrested on corruption charges, accused of stealing 700 million from state development fund 1MDB
2018-07-30 Official Malaysian investigation into the disappearance of Flight MH370 is unable to determine what happened
2018-08-08 Malaysia charges former prime minister Najib Razak with three counts of money laundering
2018-09-03 First public caning and conviction of lesbian couple attempting to have sex, by Sharia High Court in Terengganu state, Malaysia
2018-10-03 Wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor arrested on corruption charges
2018-10-29 World Scrabble Championship won for the fourth time by New Zealand Malaysian Nigel Richards with the word "groutier" (bad-tempered)
2018-12-17 Malaysia files criminal charges against US bank Goldman Sachs for it role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal
2019-01-06 Malaysian king Sultan Muhammad V abdicates after two years of rule in historic first
2019-01-31 Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah crowned King of Malaysia to serve a five-year term
2019-04-03 Ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak goes on trial for the 1MDB corruption scandal in Kuala Lumpur, pleads not guilty
2019-06-26 More than 5,000 smuggled turtles discovered in luggage at Kuala Lumpur Airport, Malaysia, bound for India
2019-09-10 Malaysia's National Disaster Management Agency delivers half a million face masks to Sarawak state, after more than 930,000 hectares (about 2.3 million acres) burnt in Indonesia cause hazardous levels of air pollution
2019-11-23 Sumatran rhino officially declared extinct in Malaysia after last known specimen, 25-year-old Iman, dies of cancer in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
2020-02-24 Malaysia's 94-year old Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns only to be reinstated later in the day as interim Prime Minister
2020-03-01 Muhyiddin Yassin sworn as Malaysian Prime Minister by Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah
2020-07-28 Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak found guilty of corruption, sentenced to 12 years and fined nearly $50 million
2020-10-22 Goldman Sachs agrees to pay record $3 billion to end probe into its role in 1MDB corruption scandal to regulators in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia
2021-01-11 The king of Malaysia, Al-Sultan Abdullah declares a state of emergency over COVID-19 till 1 August, suspending parliament and giving the government new powers
2021-06-01 Malaysia begins a full two-week lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge with record 9,020 news cases recorded May 29
2021-08-16 Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet resign after losing their majority amid political turmoil
2022-08-23 Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak begins a 12-year prison sentence for money laundering, after the High Court rejects his final appeal [1]
2022-11-19 General elections in Malaysia produce the country's first ever hung parliament with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim securing the most seats [1]
2022-11-24 Anwar Ibrahim is sworn in Prime Minister of Malaysia appointed by King Al-Sultan Abdullah at the head of a coalition government [1]
2022-12-16 Landslide sweeps through a campsite in Batang Kali township, Selangor state, Malaysia, killing at least 21 people during the night [1]
2023-08-10 17 Rohingya refugees drown and 30 remain missing after a boat capsizes in the Bay of Bengal, bound for Malaysia [1]
2024-01-31 Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar sworn in as 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, (King of Malaysia) for five years under country's system of rotational monarchy, at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur [1]