The Chronicle of Malaysia

The Chronicle picks up the story of Malaysia in January 1957 with the run–up to independence. Merdeka itself is given special coverage. The events of 1958 and 1959 are covered next, including the opening of the Klang Gates dam and the holding of the first general election.

The pages of the Chronicle are designed with a newspaper–like format. Headlines, concise texts and photographs combine to give a fascinating insight into the Malaysia story. A timeline of international and regional events provides context for local news. At least six average pages of the book are devoted to each year.

This roller-coaster decade is brought to life with coverage not only political highs and lows—the formation of Malaysia and the events of 13 May 1969—but also of P. Ramlee’s artistic success, the opening of the first A&W store and Malaysia’s first Thomas Cup victory.

The articles in the book are based on research from a vast array of sources including international magazines and news archives in the UK, Australia and Singapore
as well as local newspapers and magazines. Photographs and illustrations are drawn from an even wider range of sources.

At the same time as the nation adjusted to the NEP and Malaysianisation, it experienced the fashion excesses of bell-bottoms and the afro-look. Botak Chin was brought to justice, singer Hail Amir made his mark and the national teams excelled
at football and hockey.

The book is illustrated with hundreds of photographs in
both colour and black and white as well as selected newspaper front pages, book, record and
magazine covers and specially commissioned cartoons by Lat.

Economic development took centre stage: the national car
was launched, the Penang Bridge, KOMTAR and the North-South Highway opened, and foreign investment shot up. Pink minibuses hit the streets of KL, Gila-Gila magazine was first published and Sudirman and
Jamal Abdillah topped the charts.

The stories and photographs selected for inclusion in the Chronicle of Malaysia have been carefully vetted by the project’s illustrious Editorial Committee chaired by Tun Mohd Hanif Omar and by its Consultants to ensure exciting and accurate coverage of each year.

A decade of contrasts‚from tiger economy to the Asian financial crisis, and from the construction of the PETRONAS twin towers to the collapse of the Highland Towers. Designer Bernard Chandran opened his first shop, Mona Fendy committed murder and Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Games.

As well as major political events, stories included in the book
focus on the human side of the Malaysian experience, covering sports, fashion, music and
the arts, to everything from architecture, lifestyle, disasters, crime and the social scene.

As Malaysia approaches fully developed nation status, the Chronicle of Malaysia brings you bang up to date with local developments. Air Asia takes to the skies, KL Sentral is opened, Jacqueline Victor wins the first Malaysian Idol and Nicol David storms to the top of the Squash world rankings.

News stories to be included in the book are sourced by an enterprising team of researchers and editors in three continents. Following a rigorous selection process, the selected articles are extensively rewritten and then—together with photographs and other illustrations—laid out by the design team for maximum impact.