17 September 2026 marks 69 years since the Federation of Malaya was admitted to the United Nations. The UN’s official Malaysia page records that the Federation of Malaya joined on 17 September 1957; on 16 September 1963 the name was changed to Malaysia after Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined. Singapore became independent in 1965.

Independence from the United Kingdom had been proclaimed on 31 August 1957, under Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs records that the General Assembly, at its twelfth session, admitted Malaya as the 82nd member by resolution 1134 (XII).

The state admitted in 1957 comprised territories on the Malay Peninsula, without Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. Membership continued after 1963 through a change in the representation’s name, not a new admission. Malaysia later took part in peacekeeping operations and served as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

This article does not treat the Federation of Malaya as identical with present-day Malaysia. 17 September 1957 is the first UN seat; 16 September 1963 is the formation of the wider federation, a different event.

Admission came weeks after independence and belongs to the wave of postcolonial states that joined the organisation in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sixty-nine years later, UN records still list 17 September 1957 as the start of the membership continued today by Malaysia.

Image: Dendodge, UN Headquarters, New York. Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Not a photograph of the 1957 admission. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: United Nations — Malaysia (member states); Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia — History of Malaysia at the United Nations.