Malaysia has federal public holidays that apply nationwide and state public holidays appointed by each State Authority under s.9 of the Holidays Act 1951. Separately, s.60D of the Employment Act 1955 entitles an employee to paid holidays on eleven gazetted public holidays a year, five of which are fixed by the Act, plus any day appointed under s.8 of the Holidays Act. The employer selects the remaining six and must display them before the year begins.
- s.60D(1)(a) — eleven paid gazetted public holidays a year, of which five are compulsory.
- The five compulsory holidays are National Day, the Agong's birthday, the birthday of the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of the State where the employee mainly works or Federal Territory Day, Workers' Day and Malaysia Day.
- s.60D(1A) — the employer must display a notice before each calendar year specifying the remaining six, and may substitute other days by agreement.
- Where a public holiday falls on a rest day or on another public holiday, the following working day becomes the paid holiday in substitution.
- The Holidays Act 1951 First Schedule sets the statutory public holidays; s.8 lets the Minister appoint additional days and s.9 lets each State Authority appoint State public holidays.
- The First Schedule itself varies by state — Chinese New Year is one day in Kelantan and Terengganu and two days elsewhere, and Hari Raya Haji is two days in Kelantan and Terengganu and one day elsewhere.
- Working on a paid holiday attracts two days' wages under s.60D(3)(a) regardless that the work was less than normal hours.
Who this applies to: Payroll and HR staff building the annual holiday calendar for a Malaysian workforce.
On this page
Two systems run in parallel and they answer different questions. The Holidays Act 1951 decides which days are public holidays and where. The Employment Act 1955 decides how many of them an employee is paid for. Most holiday calendars published in Malaysia only cover the first, which is why employers routinely pay for the wrong days.
The Employment Act rule
Section 60D(1) entitles every employee to a paid holiday at the ordinary rate of pay on:
- eleven of the gazetted public holidays, five of which are fixed by the Act
- any day appointed as a public holiday for that year under s.8 of the Holidays Act 1951
The five compulsory ones under s.60D(1)(a):
| # | Holiday |
|---|---|
| 1 | National Day |
| 2 | Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong |
| 3 | Birthday of the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of the State in which the employee wholly or mainly works — or Federal Territory Day for employees working in the Federal Territory |
| 4 | Workers’ Day |
| 5 | Malaysia Day |
The employer chooses the remaining six, and s.60D(1A) requires a notice specifying them to be exhibited conspicuously at the place of employment before the calendar year begins. Other days may be substituted for any of the six by agreement.
Substitution. Where a holiday under (a) or (b) falls on a rest day or on another public holiday, the working day immediately following becomes the paid holiday instead. Where it falls during sick leave, annual leave or a period of temporary disablement, s.60D(1B) requires another day to be granted in substitution.
Working on a holiday. Section 60D(3)(a) requires two days’ wages at the ordinary rate, in addition to the holiday pay, regardless that the period of work done on that day is less than the normal hours of work. Excess hours attract not less than three times the hourly rate under s.60D(3)(aa). Those rate provisions are disapplied above RM4,000 a month by First Schedule paragraph 1A — the entitlement to the paid holiday under s.60D(1) is not.
The Holidays Act structure
| Layer | Instrument | Who declares |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory list | First Schedule, s.3 | Parliament |
| Additional or substituted days | s.8 | the Minister, after consultation with the State Authority where a State is concerned |
| State public holidays | s.9(1) | the State Authority |
| Federal Territory public holidays | s.9(2) | the Minister |
The First Schedule already varies by state on its face: Chinese New Year is one day in Kelantan and Terengganu and two days in the other States, and Hari Raya Haji is two days in Kelantan and Terengganu and one day in the other States. Any calendar that treats the statutory list as uniform is wrong before the State Authorities have declared anything.
Federal public holidays 2026
Fifteen days across twelve holidays, per the Cabinet Division schedule. Days marked with an asterisk are stated in the source as subject to change.
| Holiday | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese New Year | 17 February 2026 | Tuesday |
| Chinese New Year (second day) | 18 February 2026 | Wednesday |
| Hari Raya Puasa * | 21 March 2026 | Saturday |
| Hari Raya Puasa (second day) * | 22 March 2026 | Sunday |
| Hari Pekerja / Workers’ Day | 1 May 2026 | Friday |
| Hari Raya Qurban * | 27 May 2026 | Wednesday |
| Hari Raya Qurban (second day) * | 28 May 2026 | Thursday |
| Hari Wesak | 31 May 2026 | Sunday |
| Official Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong | 1 June 2026 | Monday |
| Awal Muharam / Maal Hijrah | 17 June 2026 | Wednesday |
| Maulidur Rasul | 25 August 2026 | Tuesday |
| Hari Kebangsaan / National Day | 31 August 2026 | Monday |
| Hari Malaysia / Malaysia Day | 16 September 2026 | Wednesday |
| Deepavali * | 8 November 2026 | Sunday |
| Christmas Day | 25 December 2026 | Friday |
Note that Hari Wesak and Deepavali both fall on a Sunday in 2026, and Hari Raya Puasa second day falls on a Sunday. Where Sunday is the employee’s rest day, the substitution proviso to s.60D(1) moves the paid holiday to the following working day.
State-level holidays 2026
These are the days appearing in the Cabinet Division’s state schedule for 2026. Which states observe each one is not reproduced here: the applicability columns in the source PDF are graphical and do not extract reliably, and publishing a state matrix from a misread table would be worse than publishing none. Read applicability off the source document or the relevant State gazette. Where the holiday names a State or a Ruler, the State is self-evident.
| Holiday | 2026 date |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | 1 January |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan | 14 January |
| Israk and Mikraj | 17 January |
| Thaipusam | 1 February |
| Federal Territory Day | 1 February |
| Chinese New Year (second day) | 18 February |
| Awal Ramadan * | 19 February |
| Declaration of Independence Day | 20 February |
| Anniversary of the Installation of the Sultan of Terengganu | 4 March |
| Nuzul Al-Quran | 7 March |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Johor | 23 March |
| Hari Raya Puasa (third day) | 23 March |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah | 30 March |
| Good Friday | 3 April |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Terengganu | 26 April |
| Anniversary of the Birthday of the Raja of Perlis | 17 May |
| Hari Hol Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Shah | 22 May |
| Hari Arafah | 26 May |
| Hari Raya Qurban (second day) * | 28 May |
| Pesta Kaamatan | 30 and 31 May |
| Hari Gawai Dayak | 1 and 2 June |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Kedah | 21 June |
| Anniversary of the Declaration of the World Heritage Site | 7 July |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Pulau Pinang | 11 July |
| Hari Hol Almarhum Sultan Iskandar | 21 July |
| Sarawak Independence Day | 22 July |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Pahang | 31 July |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Melaka | 24 August |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Kelantan | 29 and 30 September |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak | 10 October |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Perak | 6 November |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Selangor | 11 December |
| Christmas Eve | 24 December |
Common mistakes
Paying for every gazetted holiday in the state and calling it compliance. The Act requires eleven plus s.8 appointments, and the employer must nominate and display the six discretionary ones.
Skipping the s.60D(1A) notice. It has to go up before the calendar year starts.
Prorating holiday work. Section 60D(3)(a) is explicit that two days’ wages are due even where the work was less than normal hours.
Using head-office holidays for staff in another state. The Ruler’s birthday follows the State where the employee wholly or mainly works.
Treating the federal list as fixed. Five of the 2026 federal dates are flagged in the source as subject to change, and Islamic dates in particular move on sighting.
Assuming the Kelantan and Terengganu variations are informal. They are in the First Schedule to the Holidays Act itself.
What’s next
Publish your s.60D(1A) notice for next year before 31 December, naming the six discretionary holidays, and confirm each employee’s contractual place of work so the Ruler’s-birthday limb resolves cleanly. For the rest of the leave picture see leave entitlements.
How many public holidays must a Malaysian employer pay for?
Eleven gazetted public holidays under s.60D(1)(a) of the Employment Act 1955, five of which are named by the Act itself, plus any day appointed as a public holiday for that year under s.8 of the Holidays Act 1951. The employer chooses the remaining six from the gazetted list and must exhibit a notice conspicuously at the place of employment before the calendar year begins, under s.60D(1A). Any other day may be substituted for one or more of those six by agreement between employer and employee.
What happens when a public holiday falls on a Sunday or on another holiday?
The proviso to s.60D(1) provides that where a public holiday falls on a rest day, or on another public holiday, the working day immediately following the rest day or the other public holiday becomes a paid holiday in substitution. Section 60D(1B) deals with a different case — a holiday falling during sick leave, annual leave or a period of temporary disablement — and requires the employer to grant another day as a paid holiday in substitution.
Are state public holidays automatically paid holidays?
Not automatically. Section 9(1) of the Holidays Act 1951 lets the State Authority appoint a day to be observed as a State public holiday in that State, and it is then observed there. Whether the employee is paid for it under the Employment Act depends on whether it is one of the eleven the employer has designated under s.60D — with the exception of the Ruler's or Yang di-Pertua Negeri's birthday for the State where the employee wholly or mainly works, which s.60D(1)(a)(iii) makes compulsory.
Which state does the Ruler's birthday follow for a remote employee?
Section 60D(1)(a)(iii) keys it to the State in which the employee wholly or mainly works under his contract of service, and gives Federal Territory Day where the employee wholly or mainly works in the Federal Territory. For fully remote staff the contractual place of work is the reference point, which is one reason to state it explicitly in the contract.
The following are deliberately unstated or described only qualitatively until confirmed by a subject-matter expert:
- Confirm the state-by-state applicability of each state-level holiday in the 2026 schedule — the state columns in the Cabinet Division PDF are graphical and do not extract as text, so applicability must be read off the source document or each State gazette
- Confirm dates marked as subject to change in the Cabinet Division schedule — Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Qurban, Deepavali, Awal Ramadan and Hari Raya Qurban second day are all flagged
Sources
- Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan dan Negeri 2026 — Bahagian Kabinet, Perlembagaan dan Perhubungan Antara Kerajaan, Jabatan Perdana Menteri
- Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369), updated text — Attorney General's Chambers
- Employment Act 1955 (Act 265), updated text as at 1 January 2023 — Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia
Change history
| Version | Date | Change | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01.00 | 20 Jul 2026 | Approved and published. | — |