HISTORY OF FEDERAL TERRITORY DAY

The federal territories were originally part of two states - Selangor and Sabah . Both Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were part of Selangor, while Labuan was part of Sabah. Kuala Lumpur, the state capital of Selangor, became the national capital of the Federation of Malay (and later Malaysia) in 1948. Since independence in 1957, the federal as well as the Selangor state ruling party had been the Alliance (later the Barisan Nasional). However, in the 1969 elections the Alliance, while retaining control of the federal government, lost its majority in Selangor to the opposition. The same election also resulted in a major race riot in Kuala Lumpur. It was realised that if Kuala Lumpur remained part of Selangor, clashes between the federal and the Selangor state government might arise when they are controlled by different parties. The solution was to separate Kuala Lumpur from the state and place it under direct federal rule. On February 1, 1974, Kuala Lumpur became the first federal territory of Malaysia. The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Salahuddin cried after signing the cession agreement as he was very fond and proud of the city. The cession of Kuala Lumpur had the effect of securing the Selangor state government for the Barisan Nasional until the 2008 general election, on which both the voters in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Selangor tend to vote for the opposition. The separation of Kuala Lumpur also means that Kuala Lumpur voters could only vote for representation in the Parliament of Malaysia, and not the Selangor State Assembly. Labuan, an island off coast of mainland Sabah, was chosen by the federal government for development into an offshore financial centre. Labuan became the second federal territory in 1984.Putrajaya is a planned city, designed to replace Kuala Lumpur as the seat of the federal government. Sultan Salahuddin of Selangor was asked again to cede land to the federal government. Putrajaya became the third federal territory on February 1, 2001.In the recent years; efforts were made to forge a common identity for the three federal territories. A flag of Federal Territory was introduced to represent the federal territories as a whole. During the 2006 Sukma Day in Kedah, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya merged into the unified contingent of Federal Territories.

REPORT

DATARAN MERDEKA, 1 FEB 2012 – The Federal Day is celebrated every year on Feb 1^st. This day will be announced as public holiday for Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. On this special day, the nation gets a day off. As for this year, the celebration was held on 28^th and 29^th January due to the prime minister schedule is pack on the 1^st Feb. So, it was held four days earlier. The function was started by marching by the Guard of the Honor. Then, it was followed by national anthem and ‘Wilayah’ song and cultural show. The cultural show was based on three main race in Malaysia; Malay, Chinese and Indian. It was followed by Flags March past based on 13 state and 3 federal territories. Speech was given by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.