North Borneo Self-government Day is a self-government day celebrated on 31 August every year by the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Since 2012, the holiday has been received widely by the Sabah state government and the citizens of Sabah, as the

Hari Merdeka Independence Day ( ms, Hari Merdeka, also known as ''Hari Kebangsaan'' or "National Day"), is the official independence day of Malaya. It commemorates the Malayan Declaration of Independence of 31 August 1957, and is defined in Article 160 ...

was not the right celebration day for the state. 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. Sabah Day will be celebrated for the first time since 1963 by 2022 and beyond, after the state government approved the proposal to gazette 31 August as "Sabah Day" in 2021. This will replace the current Hari Merdeka that has been celebrated widely in Sabah for a long time.

Background

After the end of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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 administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

government in 1946 as the

British North Borneo Chartered Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia) ...

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, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

. 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 Major General Sir Herbert Ralph Hone (3 May 1896 – 28 November 1992) was a British Army officer, barrister and colonial administrator. Life up to World War II Ralph Hone was born in Hove, Sussex, and was educated at Varndean Grammar School, B ...

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.

Relationship with Hari Merdeka

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 The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, P ...

from

British colonial rule The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in 1957. The Borneo Heritage Foundation and Sabah 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 Ahmad Shabery bin Cheek ( Jawi: ; born 10 December 1958) is a Malaysian politician. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government (2015-2018), and sat in Parliament as the member f ...

, 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 commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

. 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.

References

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

Background

Relationship with Hari Merdeka

See also

References