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In Collaboration with National Day Celebrations 2009, which also symbolise the independence of Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

Here is an interesting post to share with you all about the separation of Singapore from Malaysia.

Many of you might be curious why Malaysia was still named 'Malaysia' after the separation (as the alphabets 'SI' from Singapore were added to 'Malaya' to form the word 'Malaysia' during our merger in 1963).

From the flag of Malaysia, one can see that there are 14 stripes, of equal width, representing the 13 member states and the federal government while the 14 pointed star represents the unity b/w these entities.

However, back in the days when Singapore merged with Malaysia, Singapore was known as the 14th state of Malaysia (tgt with the 13 other states). As such, the flag of Malaysia was designed to include Singapore in it.

Look closely at the flag of Malaysia and one can see 14 stripes of lines on it, the last stripe representing Singapore during the period of merger.

After the separation, Malaysia changed the meaning of the 14th stripe to represent the unity among the 13 different states and the federal government in general. Hence, Malaysia retained its name as 'Malaysia' and not 'Malaya'.

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The above entry's kindly contributed by Unchained Memories :)

Was really impressed that he knows this... Sounds very 'sec 3 and 4 social studies' to me but i seriously don't recall reading it (goes to show that i'm not very good in my ss, lol)

hope that everyone enjoys this tidbit of info!