Malaysian Independence Day, or Hari Merdeka, was celebrated in Malaysia today, Aug. 31, and Google added to the celebration with a Doodle on their Malaysia search page.
Symbolically at midnight August 31, 1957 in the newly constructed Stadium Merdeka (Independence Stadium), the British handed over the instrument of independence to the Prime Minister-designate Tunku Abdul Rahman.
"More than 20,000 people witnessed the ceremony, which began at 9:30 am. Those in attendance included rulers of the Malay states, foreign dignitaries, members of the federal cabinet and citizens. The Queen's representative, the Duke of Gloucester presented Tunku Abdul Rahman with the instrument of independence. Tunku then proceeded to read the Proclamation of Independence, which culminated in the chanting of 'Merdeka' seven times with the crowd joining in. The ceremony continued with the raising of the National Flag of Malaya accompanied by the national anthem being played and a 21-gun salute, followed by an azan call and a thanksgiving prayer in honor of this great occasion," Wikipedia noted.
The national day is celebrated with the raising of the new flag as was done in 1957, when the Union Jack stopped flying.
This flag is part of the Doodle, as is a reference to Ketupat - a popular celebrative dish for Eid ul-Fitr meal in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Note: As of publishing, the logo is gone from Google Malaysia, due to Malaysia being 12 hours ahead of us in the Eastern Time Zone of the U.S.
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