Federal public holidays vs state holidays: why the holiday list differs by state

An employee in Kota Kinabalu can take two consecutive days off for Pesta Kaamatan at the end of May, while a colleague in Melaka does not recognise that day as a holiday at all. Another employee in Kuching stops work for Gawai on 1 June, but the calendar at the parent company’s head office in Kuala Lumpur marks nothing on that date. This is not an HR mistake. It is written into the law.

Three laws, not one

Malaysia does not have a single national public holidays Act. There are three.

The Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369) — the law most often cited when people talk about “Malaysian public holidays” — applies only to Peninsular Malaysia, and that definition includes the Federal Territories (s.1(2), s.2). Sabah and Sarawak have never been subject to it. Each retains its own colonial-era enactment, still in force today: the Holidays Ordinance (Sabah Cap. 56) and the Public Holidays Ordinance (Sarawak Cap. 8).

All three laws share the same structure — a First Schedule sets out the fixed holidays, and an administrative power allows additional days to be added according to local needs. But the content of the schedule, and who holds that power, differs by territory.

Who has the power to gazette what

Territory	Law	Who may add/replace days
Peninsular states	Holidays Act 1951, s.9(1)	State Authority
Federal Territories (KL, Labuan, Putrajaya)	Holidays Act 1951, s.9(2) & s.8	Minister
Sabah	Holidays Ordinance Cap. 56, s.3(4) & s.9	Yang di-Pertua Negeri
Sarawak	Public Holidays Ordinance Cap. 8, s.5	Yang di-Pertua Negeri

Section 8 of the 1951 Act also gives the Minister power to gazette additional days for the whole of the Peninsula after consulting the State Authority concerned — this is the mechanism that added days such as Workers’ Day and Awal Muharram to the original 1951 list, which initially listed only a handful of fixed events in its First Schedule.

Why the list itself differs

Three main reasons explain this diversity.

The federal schedule itself is not uniform. The First Schedule of the 1951 Act sets Chinese New Year as one day in Kelantan and Terengganu but two days in the other states; Hari Raya Haji, in turn, is two days in Kelantan and Terengganu but one day elsewhere. This is written into the text of the Act itself, not merely administrative discretion.

Each territory adds holidays to match its own demographics. Sabah’s First Schedule includes Pesta Kaamatan — the Kadazan-Dusun rice harvest festival — as a two-day holiday at the end of May. Sarawak’s First Schedule includes the Dayak Festival (Gawai) on 1 June and the following day, as well as Sarawak Independence Day. None of these exist in the First Schedule of the 1951 Act for the Peninsula.

The head of state’s birthday differs by state. Each of the Malay-ruler states celebrates its own Ruler’s birthday, and the Federal Territories celebrate Federal Territory Day instead — so that particular day will never be the same across two states.

The Federal Territories themselves carry an additional layer: s.9(4) of the 1951 Act expressly includes “any recognised sub-division” of a state or Federal Territory — which is why Labuan can gazette holidays different from Kuala Lumpur or Putrajaya even though all three are equally Federal Territories.

Common mistakes

Assuming Sabah and Sarawak are subject to the Holidays Act 1951. Both states have had their own laws since before the formation of Malaysia, and were never consolidated into Act 369.

Assuming one “national” holiday list applies simultaneously in every state. Most of the list commonly seen on a company calendar is actually a combination of First Schedule holidays (which apply broadly) with state holidays gazetted separately by the State Authority, the Minister or the respective Yang di-Pertua Negeri under the state-holiday provisions of the relevant law — and applicable only within that state.

Confusing public holidays with paid leave under an employment contract. The Holidays Act 1951 and the Sabah/Sarawak enactments determine which days become public holidays; whether an employee is paid for a particular day is a separate matter under the Employment Act 1955 or the Sabah/Sarawak labour ordinances.

What’s next

For the employment angle — how many public holidays an employer must pay for and how that differs from the state list — see public holidays and Employment Act rules. To understand who holds the power to gazette a birthday as a holiday in each state, see Rulers and Yang di-Pertua Negeri. Background on the autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak that explains why both states keep their own holiday laws can be read at Sabah and Sarawak.