--- title: Google Doodle: Malaysia Celebrates 60th National Day description: Google celebrates Malaysia's 60th National Day — a date known in Malay as Hari Merdeka, or the day of liberation — with a new doodle canonical: https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-31T06:15:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:56.745Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Malaysia's 60th Independence Day og:description: Hari Merdeka, as it is known in Malay, is a day for vibrant festivities og:url: https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt984d9a68a533c859/6988dbec0b72e3c2c06ef3c3/malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216-2-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216.2-2xa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Malaysia's 60th Independence Day twitter:description: Hari Merdeka, as it is known in Malay, is a day for vibrant festivities twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt984d9a68a533c859/6988dbec0b72e3c2c06ef3c3/malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216-2-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates 60 Years of Malaysian Independence by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Aug 31, 2017 6:15 AM UTC  Google by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Aug 31, 2017 6:15 AM UTC Google celebrates Malaysia’s 60th National Day — a date known in Malay as _Hari Merdeka_, or the day of liberation — with a new doodle Thursday bearing the nation’s flag. On Aug. 31, 1957, the Federation of Malaya, a group of states known today as Peninsular Malaysia, was granted independence from British colonial rule. Chants of “Merdeka!” — which means “freedom” in Malay — resounded in the capital Kuala Lumpur, as thousands gathered to see the new nation’s flag raised for the first time. While the Malaysia of today, which counts other nearby states within its borders, was later formed in 1963, the date of independence remains a fundamentally important holiday for many. According to Google, _Hari Merdeka,_ is typically a day of vibrant festivities as parades, military displays and proud anthems abound. Google Doodle: Malaysia Celebrates 60th National Day ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Celebrates 60 Years of Malaysian Independence","datePublished":"2017-08-31T06:15:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:56.745Z","description":"Hari Merdeka, as it is known in Malay, is a day for vibrant festivities","url":"https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","Malaysia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt984d9a68a533c859/6988dbec0b72e3c2c06ef3c3/malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216-2-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt984d9a68a533c859/6988dbec0b72e3c2c06ef3c3/malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216-2-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"malaysia-national-day-2017-4835430515081216.2-2xa","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4922764/google-doodle-malaysia-national-day/","name":"Google Doodle Celebrates 60 Years of Malaysian Independence"}}]}] ```