Independence · a Light

Malaya's independence was announced with one word, seven times

On 31 August 1957 at the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Tunku Abdul Rahman read the proclamation of independence and then raised his hand and called out merdeka, freedom, seven times, with the crowd answering each one. The word is Malay, borrowed long before from the Sanskrit maharddhika, and it is still the name of the day. The constitution agreed that year made Islam the religion of the federation while guaranteeing the practice of other religions, and set up a rotating monarchy in which nine hereditary Malay rulers elect one of their number as king every five years, an arrangement that exists nowhere else in the world.

Kuala Lumpur · 31 August 1957