| Coat of arms of Malaysia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Armiger | Malaysia |
| Adopted | 1963 (last modified 1988) |
| Crest | A crescent and a fourteen-pointed federal star Or. |
| Shield | Tierced per pale, the second three-and-a-half times as wide as the other two: The first (at dexter) per fess of three: Argent, on a wreath of the colours upon a mount an areca nut-palm leaved and fructed Proper, Or a representation of the Penang Bridge proper and barry wavy of ten Azure and Argent; the second per fess, in chief paly of four Gules, Sable, Argent and Or, in base paly of three all Argent, the Coat of Arms of Sabah, aBunga Raya (hibiscus flower), and the Coat of Arms of Sarawak all Proper; the third (at sinister) Argent, a Malacca tree standing on a base Proper; and a chief Gules, five krisses in their sheaths, per pale Or. |
| Supporters | Two tigers rampant Proper |
| Motto | Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu (Malay) ('Unity is Strength') |
Thecoat of arms of Malaysia (Jata Negara Malaysia) is acoat of arms comprising a shield orescutcheon, two tigers forsupporters, a crescent and fourteen-pointed star for acrest and amotto. As theMalaysian coat of arms descended from that of theFederated Malay States underBritish colonial rule, it resembles Europeanheraldic designs.
The coat of arms consists of ashield guarded by tworampanttigers assupporters. The shield is topped by acrest consisting of a yellowcrescent with a 14-pointed "federal star", and includes amotto, on a banner, at the bottom.[1]
The yellow colour of thecrest, acrescent and a 14-pointedfederal star, symbolises the country'smonarchy. The star crescent also representsIslam as the official religion while the federal star alone the thirteenstates and theFederal Territories of Malaysia.[2][1]
Originally, the fourteen-pointed star represented the original fourteen states of Malaysia, which includedSingapore. It was not changed when Singapore left the Federation in 1965, but it has generally been accepted that the 14th point represents theFederal Territories.
Theescutcheon, represented by ashield, is primarily intended to serve as a representation of states unified under the Malaysian federation, and is subdivided into tendivisions.
The upper portion orchief of the shield contains fivekrises on a red background, representing the five formerUnfederated Malay States,Johore,Terengganu,Kelantan,Kedah andPerlis.[1] The remainder of the shield, which in the coat of arms of Malaya was divided in threeperpale (longitudinally) between the formerFederated Malay States,Penang andMalacca, is now divided into four sections:
The tworampanttigerssupporting the shield are traditional Malay symbols. They are retained from the earlier armorial ensign of theFederation of Malaya, and prior to that of theFederated Malay States. They symbolise strength and courage.
Themotto of the arms, located below the shield, consists of a banner with the phrase "Unity is Strength" (Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu)[3][4] written in bothromanisedMalay andJawi. The original English phrase was replaced byromanised Malay in 1963.
The origins of the Malaysian coat of arms can be traced to the formation of theFederated Malay States (FMS) under thecolonial rule of the United Kingdom. In conjunction with the introduction of theflag of the Federated Malay States in 1895, the FMS coat of arms was adopted and remained in use from 1895 to the formation of theFederation of Malaya in 1948.
The arms, like its modern successors, included a shield, two tigers, and a banner, but depicts an easterncrown on the helm, representing the four sultanates. The shield's design was also significantly simpler; as the FMS consists of only four states, the shield encompassed aquarterly "party per cross" division representing the colours of the flag of the four FMS (in the same way the flag of the FMS represents the states, and the colours in the modern Malaysian arms represent the same states). The motto was also originally written inJawi as "Dipelihara Allah" (Under God's (Allah's) Protection) flanked by two eight-pointed stars. Dipelihara Allah is today theSelangor state motto.
While the establishment of theMalayan Union in 1946 brought about the merging of the FMS with the fiveUnfederated Malay States and two of theStraits Settlements (excludingSingapore), the FMS arms remained in use unchanged as the Union's coat of arms for two years before the Union's dissolution.
The arms is blazoned as such:
Crest:An eastern crown Or.
Shield:Quarterly Argent, Gules, Sable and Or.
Supporters:Two tigers rampant proper.
Motto:Dipelihara Allah in Jawi Malay script.
The founding of theFederation of Malaya in 1948 led to a revision of the arms, which was officially proclaimed and adopted on 12 May 1952. Among the changes were a more complete representation the 11 states of the federation on the shield (where new partitions containing insignias of the additional states added over and beside the original FMS colours), the replacement of the eastern crown with a yellow crescent and an 11-pointedfederal star (symbols representing the 11 states that were derived from theflag of the Federation of Malaya). The original Jawi motto was also replaced with "Unity is Strength" in both English and Jawi Malay.[6][7]
At the point of adoption, the shield was composed of the following elements:
The arms is blazoned as such:
Crest:A crescent and an eleven-pointed federal star Or.
Shield:Tierced per pale, The first (at dexter) per fess embattled Or and barry wavy of eight Azure and Argent in chief a plume of three ostrich feathers surmounted by a riband of the Second on the riband the words Ich Dien in letters of the First; the second (at fess point) quarterly Argent, Gules, Sable and Or; the third (at sinister) Azure, a representation of the gate of A Famosa Proper; and a chief Gules, five krisses in their sheaths, per pale Or.
Supporters:Two tigers rampant proper.
Motto:Unity is Strength in English and Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu in Jawi Malay scripts.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
The arms was amended a second time after theformation of Malaysia, with the admission ofSingapore (Gules, a crescent facing a pentagon of five mullets Argent) and theBorneo states ofNorth Borneo (renamedSabah) andSarawak (Or, on a cross parted per pale Sable and Gules, an Eastern Crown of the first) in 1963. The increased number of states later resulted in the modification of the Federation of Malaya coat of arms to support the three new member states with the widening of the shield. The tigers were redesigned to assume different positions of limbs (front limbs reaching over and behind the shield, and rear limbs reaching over the motto and the shield), and minor adjustments were also made on the appearance of the banner and the length of the crescent, while the 11-pointed federal star was updated to include 14 points. In tandem with Malay as Malaysia's national language, the English motto was replaced with Malay language.
During this period of revision, the Malacca's colonialA Famosa insignia was replaced by aMalacca tree.[4] Some of the symbols was modified to eliminate the colonial symbols and other non-Islamic symbols. While other symbols was remained. Penang's Prince of Wales's feathers and battlement were gradually replaced, by first substituting the feathers with aPinang or Areca-nut palm, and later, the battlement with thePenang Bridge (which was constructed and completed during the 1980s) and the barry wavy of eight Azure and Argent to ten.[4] Following theexpulsion of Singapore in 1965, the coat of arms was redesigned again.[4] In 1988, Sarawak's symbol replaced by the currenthornbill-based state arms; similarly, Sabah, which was originally represented by only its flag held up by a pair of arms from its pre-1963 state coat of arms (blazoned "Argent, Crest of the Coat of Arms of Sabah Proper"), was revised to fully feature its current state arms in entirely.[4] The Malaysia's version of coat of arms later resulted in a more realistic and aggressive appearance of tigers.
The arms is adopted on several state flags. TheRoyal Standard of theYang di-Pertuan Agong, theflag of the Federal Territories and theflag of Putrajaya all feature the arms charged in the centre largely unmodified.[8]
