M’sia Has Most Public Holidays In The World, Says TV Host According To 2024 Planner

Planner Lists 47 Entries Under Public Holidays For Malaysia, Singapore Has 11

Most Singaporeans will know that we have precious few public holidays unlike several other countries around the world, including our nearest neighbour, Malaysia.

However, we might not know exactly how good Malaysian workers have it when it comes to public holidays.

A Malaysia-based TV host has declared that Malaysia has the “most public holidays in the world”.

That’s based purely on a new planner that he bought.

TV host’s new planner lists public hoildays across the world

In an Instagram post last Friday (5 Jan), Mark O’dea, a British TV presenter and influencer based in Malaysia, shared that he got a “really cool” planner for the New Year.

What’s so cool about it is it lists the public holidays enjoyed by “all the countries around the world”.

Some of the countries are Australia, the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, and of course, Malaysia.

List of Malaysian holidays fills most of page

As he ran through the lists, most countries have fairly short entries comprising around 10 holidays or so.

Even with public holidays specific to individual states, countries such as Australia and New Zealand couldn’t fill more than half a page.

When it came to Malaysia, though, O’dea had to pan slowly down the page. Clearly, Malaysia’s list of public holidays filled up about three-quarters of the page.

For dramatic effect, he added the ‘Star Wars’ theme music associated with the iconic lengthy prologue crawl at the beginning of every movie.

Malaysia has 18-22 public holidays depending on state

While we counted 47 entries on the list, it comes with a caveat — many of them are observed only in specific states or territories of Malaysia.

For example, Thaipusam is observed as a public holiday only in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Putrajaya and Selangor. Good Friday is only celebrated in Sabah and Sarawak.

There are also state-specific holidays, such as the Sultan of Terengganu’s birthday, which is obviously marked only in Terengganu.

For a better indication of Malaysia’s public holidays, consult the Malaysian Cabinet’s website, which lists the public holidays celebrated nationally and those enjoyed by individual states.

According to the list, there are 12 holidays celebrated by the entire nation. Depending on the state, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji may have two days off each.

In addition to that, there are also as many as 32 state holidays.

So a better estimate is, depending on the state they’re in, Malaysians can have between 18 and 22 public holidays a year.

For example, while Johor has only 18 days of holidays in 2024, Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu have 22.

Singapore has just 11 days of public holidays

As for Singapore, it’s no surprise that we have one of the shortest lists in the planner, with just 10 public holidays named.

Given that Chinese New Year (CNY) is a two-day break, it equates to 11 days of public holidays in 2024.

A check on the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website confirms this to be true.

However, since CNY falls on a Saturday and Sunday this year, which are already days off for most workers, we don’t get to enjoy a long CNY break.

Though Monday (12 Feb) will be a public holiday, those who work five-day weeks will have just 10 days of ‘proper’ public holidays.

As we look at our Malaysian cousins with envy, let’s make full use of whatever public holidays we have by taking leave judiciously to create long weekends.

Also read: S’pore Public Holiday Dates For 2024 Revealed, Make Getaway Plans For 5 Long Weekends

S’pore Public Holiday Dates For 2024 Revealed, Make Getaway Plans For 5 Long Weekends

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Featured image adapted from @markodea8 on Instagram.