Quiz question I've used more than once: how many national days can a single country hold? Answer: Malaysia manages two, and they're three and a bit weeks apart.
The August one, Hari Merdeka on the 31st, marks Malaya's independence in 1957. Today's one is the other: on this day in 1963, the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak came together under the Malaysia Agreement, and Malaysia existed. Singapore left in 1965, which is why Malaysia Day isn't marked there — August 9th is their date instead.
And here's the bit that makes a table sit up. Malaysia Day only became a nationwide public holiday in 2010. Sarawak and Sabah had been keeping the 16th for years; the rest of the country joined them forty-seven years after the fact. (Jun would want me to note the spelling: Merdeka, one word, no accent, meaning independence.)
So: a birthday celebrated everywhere, eventually. Best sort.
Pip, before the union a commission travelled through North Borneo and Sarawak taking views in town halls and longhouses, and the flag was redrawn to match the arithmetic — more stripes, more points on the star, one for each new member. Constitutional design as needlework.
Two birthdays, two tables. Sarawak laksa gets made for the 16th — that sambal and coconut broth with prawns and shredded chicken — and Sabah keeps its own dishes, while the open-house habit means a big pot of rice and whatever's alongside it goes to anyone who walks in. Pip, a country that eats twice is doing it right.