Malaysia’s current national flag has fourteen equal horizontal stripes, red at the top and white at the bottom, with a yellow crescent and fourteen-point star on a dark-blue canton. Its hoist-to-fly ratio is 1:2. The design dates from 1963; the name Jalur Gemilang was proclaimed in 1997. [1] [2] [3]
Specification
The Department of Information describes seven red and seven white stripes of equal width, a dark-blue upper-hoist panel, and yellow celestial devices. Its construction guide gives a 28-unit fly and 14-unit hoist: the printed 2:1 is length:width, equivalent to this archive’s 1:2 hoist:fly. [2] [3]
This is an official administrative design description. No adopting gazette or statutory geometric schedule was verified during this review. Act 414, the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1963, concerns protected uses; it is not treated here as the source of these construction dimensions. [7]
Colors
Pantone 199 / specimen #CC0000Specimen #FFFFFFPantone 2768 / specimen #000066Pantone 108 / specimen #FFCC00The Department’s Lambang Kebesaran Negara, page 16, pairs blue with 2768, red with 199 and yellow with 108. Its older 2017 guide’s extracted table reverses the red/blue Pantone pairings; Flags of the World also flags that discrepancy. The newer table is used here. No coating suffix, white Pantone number or universal conversion is inferred. HEX values are the selected SVG’s screen approximations and do not replace physical color matching. [4] [5]
Symbols
The National Security Council associates dark blue with unity, red with courage, white with purity and nobility, and yellow with the Malay rulers. The crescent and star express Islam as the religion of the Federation. The fourteen points represent unity among the thirteen states and the federal territories. The Department also explains the fourteen stripes as the thirteen states together with the Federal Government. These are official interpretations, separate from geometry. [6] [8]
Construction notes
Use a 28 × 14 grid with one unit per stripe. The guide labels the canton 14 units wide and 8 high, the crescent’s outer height 6 units and the star’s height 5 units. Keep the crescent opening toward the star, with a star point upward. The indexed diagram text was inspected, but the original diagram download was unavailable; its full coordinate relationships were not independently checked. [3]
The inspected SVG has viewBox 0 0 13440 6720, with 480 drawing units per grid unit. Seven one-unit red strokes lie over white. A blue path extends to 8.5 grid units, but the next red stroke covers its bottom half-unit: the visible canton ends at 8, not 8.5. The star has 28 alternating vertices, fourteen outer tips, center (4200, 1920) and vertical extent 720–3120. The crescent uses arc radii 1440 and 1280, equivalent to 3 and 8/3 grid units. These are specimen coordinates, not certified manufacturing tolerances. [9]
Flags of the World discusses an inferred inner crescent radius of 2¾ units, explicitly based on interpretation and measurement. That differs from this SVG’s 8/3. The specimen agrees with the checked overall ratio, stripe count, canton and emblem heights; its detailed crescent curve remains a reference rendering. Obtain the official construction artwork for manufacture rather than treating either inferred radius as a legal requirement. [5]
Historical record
The earlier Federation of Malaya flag emerged from Mohamed bin Hamzah’s competition design, subsequently amended. The National Security Council records approval on 19 May 1950 and first hoisting on 26 May 1950. That predecessor had eleven stripes; it is a different historical design. On 16 September 1963, the formation of Malaysia brought the present fourteen-stripe version. [1]
The fourteen stripes and star points remained after Singapore left on 9 August 1965. Their continuing interpretation embraces the thirteen states and Federal Government. [8] The announcement of the name Jalur Gemilang on 31 August 1997 was a naming milestone, not the adoption of a replacement flag. [1]
Use and display
The national flag represents Malaysia in official and public display; the National Security Council encourages household display during the independence month. [6] The government’s vertical Banner Malaysia has a separately prescribed layout, with an upper emblem panel and vertical stripes; it is not simply this horizontal flag rotated. Department of Information: Banner Malaysia.
Commercial and professional uses fall within the protected-symbol framework described in Act 414 and the Department’s guidance. Consult those rules for the intended use; the specimen’s public-domain copyright status is a separate matter. [7]
Source trail
- National Security Council: Sejarah Penciptaan Jalur Gemilang — predecessor, attribution, 1963 design change and 1997 naming.
- Department of Information: Sayangi Malaysiaku, page 25 — stripe order, colors and devices.
- Department of Information: Jalur Gemilang, page 11 — construction grid and dimensions, inspected as indexed text.
- Department of Information: Lambang Kebesaran Negara, page 16 — newer color table, inspected in indexed extraction; compare 2017 guide, printed page 9.
- Flags of the World: Malaysia construction and colors — distinguishes inferred crescent dimensions and reports the older color-table discrepancy.
- National Security Council: Fakta Menarik Mengenai Jalur Gemilang — current symbolism and public use.
- Act 414, government-hosted reprint — protective framework; Department of Information guidance includes the 2017 amendment. Not a construction standard.
- Department of Information: Jalur Gemilang, page 6 — indexed passage on continuity after 1965.
- Retrieved specimen SVG; Commons rights and contributor history; local asset inspection.
Reviewed 13 September 2026. Government booklet downloads timed out; the cited indexed text was available. Detailed emblem geometry and an adopting legal instrument remain the stated verification limits.
Related records: Singapore and Thailand. Browse national flags or the Flag Index.