THE date Sept 16 will officially be celebrated as Malaysia Day and will become a national public holiday starting from next year.

> The day is currently a holiday in Sabah and Sarawak as the official birthdays of the respective Yang di-Pertua Negeris.

> On Sept 16, 1963, Sabah and Sarawak, together with Singapore, joined the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia. Sarawak had earlier attained self government status on July 22, 1963, while Sabah and Singapore gained the status on Aug 31 the same year.

> Before that, Sarawak was ruled by the "White Rajahs" of the Brooke dynasty while Sabah was the British colony of North Borneo. Singapore was also a British colony.

> The Cobbold Commision was formed to get the views of the people of Sabah and Sarawak on the future of their territories and found that there was overwhelming support for joining Malaysia.