Time in Malaysia

Malaysia Standard Time (MST; Malay: Waktu Piawai Malaysia, WPM) or Malaysia Time (MYT) is a standard time used in Malaysia. It is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and Coordinated Universal Time. The local mean time in Kuala Lumpur was originally GMT+06:46:48. Peninsular Malaysia used this local mean time until 1880, when they changed to Singapore mean time GMT+06:55:24. Between the end of the Second World War and the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, it was known as British Malayan Standard Time, which was UTC+07:30 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. At 2330 hrs local time of 31 December 1981, people in Peninsular Malaysia adjusted their clocks and watches ahead by 30 minutes to become 00:00 hours local time of 1 January 1982, to match the time in use in East Malaysia, which is UTC+08:00.

History

Time in Peninsular Malaysia

Period in use Time offset from GMT Name of Time (unofficial)
1 January 1901 – 31 May 1905 UTC+06:46:48 British Malayan Mean Time
1 June 1905 – 31 December 1932 UTC+07:00:00 Standard Zone Time
1 January 1933 – 31 August 1941 UTC+07:20:00 Daylight Standard Time
1 September 1941 – 15 February 1942 UTC+07:30:00 Daylight Standard Time
16 February 1942 – 12 September 1945 UTC+09:00:00 Tokyo Standard Time
13 September 1945 – 31 December 1981 UTC+07:30:00 Daylight Standard Time/Malaysia Standard Time
1 January 1982 – present UTC+08:00:00 Malaysia Standard Time

Time in East Malaysia

Period in use Time offset from GMT Name of Time (unofficial)
1 March 1926 – 31 December 1932 UTC+07:44:20 Kota Kinabalu Mean Time
1 January 1933 – 15 February 1942 UTC+07:30:00 Sarawak Standard Time
16 February 1942 – 12 September 1945 UTC+09:00:00 Tokyo Standard Time
13 September 1945 – 16 September 1963 UTC+07:30:00 Sarawak Standard Time
16 September 1963 – 31 December 1981 UTC+08:00:00 Sabah Standard Time
1 January 1982 – present UTC+08:00:00 Malaysia Standard Time

History

Standardisation of time in Malaysia

The Malaysian government declared that people in West Malaysia (Peninsular) would move their clocks ahead by 30 min to match the time in use in East Malaysia (UTC+08:00 hrs an UTC+08:00:00 ahead of Greenwich Mean Time) on 31 December 1981. However, many found this to be awkward, as most of the population (roughly 80%) live in Peninsular Malaysia rather than in East Malaysia (on Borneo). The time was switched on 1 January 1982 at 6:00 am (old time) to 6:30 am (new time).

Timekeeper

On 1 January 1990, the Malaysian Cabinet appointed the National Metrology Laboratory (Sirim) as the official timekeeper of Malaysia. The Malaysian Standard Time is derived from five atomic clocks maintained by Sirim.

IANA time zone database

The IANA time zone database contains two zones for Malaysia in the file zone.tab:

c.c.* coordinates* TZ* comments* UTC offset UTC offset DST Notes
MY +0310+10142 Asia/Kuala_Lumpur peninsular Malaysia +08:00
MY +0133+11020 Asia/Kuching Sabah & Sarawak +08:00

References

    External links

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