States

Flag	Date (century)	Use	Description
	1870 on	Flag of the state of Perlis.	Two equal horizontal bands of yellow and blue.
	1912 on	Flag of the state of Kedah.	A red field with the state coat of arms in the canton.
	1965 on	Flag of the state of Penang.	A blue, white and yellow vertical tri-colour defaced with a betel nut tree.
	1869 on	Flag of the state of Perak.	A white, yellow and black horizontal tri-colour.
	1923 on	Flag of the state of Kelantan.	A red field defaced with a white crescent and star and two white kris and spears.
	1953 on	Flag of the state of Terengganu.	A black field defaced with a white crescent and five-pointed star, with white at the edge.
	1903 on	Flag of the state of Pahang.	Two equal horizontal bands of white and black.
	1965 on	Flag of the state of Selangor.	Red and yellow quartered, with a white crescent and five-pointed stars in the canton.
	1895 on	Flag of the state of Negeri Sembilan.	A yellow field with two diagonal bands of red and black in the canton.
	1957 on	Flag of the state of Malacca.	Two equal bands of red and white, with a crescent and five-pointed star in a blue canton.
	1871 on	Flag of the state of Johor.	A blue field with an arranged crescent and five-pointed stars in a red canton.
	1988 on	Flag of the state of Sarawak. (Ibu Pertiwi)	A yellow field with two diagonal bands of red (top) and black, defaced with a nine-pointed star.
	1988 on	Flag of the state of Sabah.	A blue (top), white, and red tri-colour, with the silhouette of Mount Kinabalu on a light blue canton.

Federal territories

A common flag for the three federal territories was adopted by the Ministry of the Federal Territories on 20 August 2006. The flag is to be used and flown on matters and ceremonies that involve all the federal territories as a whole. An example is in national sporting events; the unified contingent of the territories would be under this common flag. However, the usage of the individual territorial flags would be given preference in events relating to individual territories.^[1]

Flag	Date (year)	Use	Description
	2006 onwards	Flag of the Federal Territories	Three equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), blue, and red with the Malaysian coat of arms in the blue band.
	1965 onwards	Flag of Kuala Lumpur	Three equal bands of white, blue and white with three equal horizontal stripes of red on both white bands. There is a yellow crescent and yellow fourteen-pointed stars on the left within the blue band. Before 2006, this flag was used to represent the entire Federal Territories.
	1984 onwards	Flag of Labuan	Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue, there is a yellow crescent and yellow fourteen-pointed stars in the white band.
	2001 onwards	Flag of Putrajaya	Three vertical bands of blue, yellow (double width), and blue with the Malaysian coat of arms in the yellow band.

City, district, provincial and municipal

For flags of districts, towns, and cities in Malaysia, look for the article for each state's flag where said location is in. Below is a gallery of the flags of several Malaysian state capitals.

• 
  Kuala Lumpur
• 
  Ipoh (Perak)
• 
  Seremban (Negeri Sembilan)
• 
  Shah Alam (Selangor)
• 
  Penang Island/George Town (Penang)
• 
  Johor Baharu (Johor)
• 
  Kota Bharu (Kelantan)
• 
  Kuala Terengganu (Terengganu)
• 
• 
  Kuching (Sarawak)
• 
  Kota Kinabalu (Sabah)

Order of precedence

Per government protocol, if a display contains the Jalur Gemilang and all the state flags of Malaysia:^[2]

• The Jalur Gemilang shall take precedence before the state flags;
• The state flags shall be ordered by the date the state's incumbent ruler takes the throne;
• The Federal Territory flag comes last

State	Current ruler	Taken office
Terengganu	Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin	15 May 1998
Perlis	Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin	17 April 2000
Selangor	Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah	22 November 2001
Negeri Sembilan	Tuanku Muhriz	29 December 2008
Johor	Sultan Ibrahim Ismail	23 January 2010
Kelantan	Sultan Muhammad V	13 September 2010
Perak	Sultan Nazrin Shah	29 May 2014
Kedah	Sultan Sallehuddin	12 September 2017
Pahang	Al-Sultan Abdullah	31 January 2019
Sabah	TYT Juhar Mahiruddin	1 January 2011
Sarawak	TYT Abdul Taib Mahmud	1 March 2014
Malacca	TYT Mohd Ali Rustam	4 June 2020
Penang	TYT Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak	1 May 2021

Sultanate flags

Flag	Date (century)	Use	Description
	15th century – 1500	Flag of the Malacca Sultanate	A red swallowtailed field with a black crescent. The design is recorded to represent Malaqua in the Cantino Planisphere, though its authenticity is not verified with inaccurate designs for known flags, often replacing white for black, and omitting certain symbols such as stars.
	15th century – 1888	Flag of the Bruneian Empire, once rule most of the island of Borneo until Seludong (present-day Manila) and Banjarmasin in Kalimantan	Yellow flag represented the Sultanate of Brunei.
	16th – 18th centuries	Flag of the Sultanate of Sulu. Sulu once rule the eastern part of Sabah after the territory been given by the Sultanate of Brunei after they sending help to settling a civil war in Brunei, although this was denied as supported by a number of old resources.[9]	Centre emblem represented the Sultanate of Sulu identity.
	17th century	Flag of the Sultanate of Mataram, once rule the southern part of Sarawak
	17th century	Flag of the Sultanate of Aceh, once rule the northern part of the island of Sumatra and certain parts of the Malay Peninsula.	Represented the Acehnese identity.
	18th century – 1821	Flag of the Sultanate of Kedah	Red flag represented the Sultanate of Kedah.
	1821 – 1912	Flag of the Sultanate of Kedah	Red flag charged with a pouncing tiger represented the Sultanate of Kedah.
	1731–1881	Flag of the Sultanate of Bulungan, during the area of Tawau in Sabah was under the influence of this Sultanate	Represented the Bulungan identity.
	1853–1887	The flag of the Pahang Kingdom under Bendahara dynasty	Black flag represented the colour of Bendahara.
	1887–1903	The flag of the Sultanate of Pahang under Bendahara dynasty	Black flag represented the colour of Bendahara, with a small vertical white stripe on the left side, represented the ruling Sultan .
	1699 18th century – 1912 18th century – 1879	Flag of the Sultanate of Johor Flag of the Sultanate of Kelantan Flag of the Sultanate of Perak	White flag of several Malay Sultanates.
	1699–1865	Flag of the Sultanate of Johor from 1855 to 1865	Black flag with a small white rectangle in the upleft.
	1865–1871	Flag of the Sultanate of Johor from 1865 to 1871	Black flag with a red canton charged with a white saltire.
	1859–1965	Flag of the Sultanate of Selangor	Quite similar with the current flag except for the yellow crescent and star.
	1912–1923	Flag of the Sultanate of Kelantan from 1912 to 1923	Encompasses a white flag with a blue border enveloping the top, fly, and hoist of the flag, and Jawi scriptures stylised as a feline. The tip of the tail is interpreted as "Kerajaan Kelantan" (denoting the Kelantanese government), while the main body of the animal-based scripture contains two passages from the Qur'an, an excerpt of the 13th ayat of the 61st surah, the Al-Saf.
	1912–1933	Flag of the Sultanate of Terengganu from 1912 to 1933	Black and white flag.
	1933–1953	Flag of the Sultanate of Terengganu from 1933 to 1953	Similar with the first flag but added with a crescent and star.

Colonial and national flags

Flag	Date (century)	Use	Description
	4th and 5th centuries	Flag of The Pallava Dynasty	The Pallava royal insignia was the (lion) and (bull) which was changeable. Narashimavarman used the lion as his emblem and Nandivarman preferred the Nandi. Under the reign of Parameswaravarman was Khatvanga (Skull mace) added to Pallava emblem.
	1025-1070	Flag of The Chola Dynasty	The tiger flag of Chola as mentioned in Periya Puranam.
	1351-1499	Flag of The Majapahit Empire	Nine horizontal stripes alternating red and white.
	1511–1521	Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Portuguese Empire	White rectangle centrally charged with the coat of arms, bearing five escutcheons on a white field and seven castles on an ogival or heater-shaped shield, and surmounted by a royal crown.
	1521–1578	Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Portuguese Empire	White rectangle centrally charged with the coat of arms, bearing five escutcheons on a white field and seven castles on an ogival or heater-shaped shield, and surmounted by a royal crown.
	1573-1636	Flag of The Aceh Sultanate as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire	Red field with a Green Disc in the center and 3 golden crescent moons inside the disc.
	1578–1640	Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Portuguese Empire	White rectangle centrally charged with the coat of arms, bearing five escutcheons on a white field and seven castles on an ogival or heater-shaped shield, and surmounted by a royal crown.
	1580–1640	Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Iberian Union	A red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned (knotted) branches, on a white field.
	1580–1640	Banner of Arms of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Iberian Union	the heraldry of the House of Austria (with the arms of Portugal).
	1580–1640	Royal Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Iberian Union	A red field with the royal arms in the center.
	1616–1640	Putative Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Portuguese Empire	White rectangle centrally charged with the coat of arms, bearing five escutcheons on a white field and seven castles on an ogival or heater-shaped shield, and surmounted by a royal crown.
	1640–1641	Flag of Portuguese Malacca, a colony in the Portuguese Empire	White rectangle centrally charged with the coat of arms, bearing five escutcheons on a white field and seven castles on an ogival or heater-shaped shield, and surmounted by a royal crown.
	1641–1795	Flag of the VOC in Dutch Malacca	Three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white and blue (bottom), with a small logo of the VOC in the centre.
	1641–1663	Flag of the VOC in Dutch Malacca	Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white and blue (bottom), with a small logo of the VOC in the centre.
	1641–1795	Prince's Flag of the Dutch Republic	A horizontal triband of orange, white and blue.
	1652–1663	State Flag of the Dutch Republic	Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white and blue (bottom).
	1680–1782	Flag of Siam. Restored Unfederated Malay States Under Siamese sovereignty.	a simple Red field.
	1777–1862	Flag of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners	a yellow banner with a Chinese Dragon, used during the Lanfang Republic as a tributary state of China.
	1777–1884	Flag of the Lanfang Republic in Borneo	a yellow banner with Chinese Characters that translates into "Great Lanfang System"
	1782–1817	Flag of Siam. Restored Unfederated Malay States Under Siamese sovereignty.	Red field with a white chakra.
	1795–1801	Flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Used by British Forces during the intermittent British occupation during the Napoleonic Wars	The flags of England and Scotland superimposed.
	1795–1806	Flag of the Batavian Republic	A horizontal triband of red, white and blue with the Republic's emblem in the canton.
	1801–1818, 1858–1874	Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	A superimposition of the flags of England and Scotland with Saint Patrick's saltire.
	1817–1832	Flag of Siam. The Great Of Siam	Red field with a white elephant inside the chakra.
	1818–1825	Flag of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. After the occupation and restoration of Dutch rule in Malacca the VOC had since gone bankrupt and all assets had transferred to the Batavian Republic which in turn turned into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Resulting in the use of the plain Dutch flag in Dutch Malacca	A horizontal tricolour of red (Bright Vermilion), white, and blue (Cobalt Blue).
	1826–1858	Flag of the East India Company. With the establishment of the Straits Settlement, the East India Company ruled Malaya until it was designated a Crown Colony in 1867. Its design elements of the Union Jack in the canton and the red and white stripes is purportedly the reference behind the current Flag of Malaysia	Numerous white and red stripes with the Union Flag of the United Kingdom in the canton.
	1832–1916	Flag of Siam. Restored Unfederated Malay States Under Siamese sovereignty.	Red flag with a white elephant.
	1858–1867	Flag of the Bengal Presidency	A Blue Ensign with the Union Flag at the canton, and the Bengal Presidency Emblem displayed in the fly.
	1862–1884	Flag of the Qing dynasty	Triangular yellow flag with a Chinese Dragon, used during the Lanfang Republic as a tributary state of China.
	1862–1884	Imperial Standard of the Qing Emperor	Triangular yellow flag with a Chinese Dragon, used during the Lanfang Republic as a tributary state of China.
	1874–1925	Flag of the Straits Settlements	A blue ensign defaced with a white disc containing a red diamond, in which is a white inverted pall with three crowns, one on each arm.
	1878–1880	Flag of the Austro-Hungarian North Borneo	A horizontal bicolor of black and yellow.
	1880–1933	Flag of The British Raj And The Sarawak	A Red Ensign with the Union Jack at the canton, defaced with the Star of India emblem displayed in the fly.
	1925–1942 1945–1946	Flag of the Straits Settlements	A blue ensign defaced with a red diamond, in which is a white inverted pall with three crowns, one on each arm.
	1949–1957	Flag of the Crown Colony of Penang	A blue ensign defaced with the pre-1985 lesser arms of Penang.
	1951–1957	Flag of the Crown Colony of Malacca	A blue ensign defaced with A Famosa motif.
	1948–1952	Flag of the Crown Colony of Singapore	A blue ensign defaced with a white disc containing a crown within a red inverted pall.
	1952–1959		A blue ensign defaced with a white disc containing a crown within a red inverted pall.
	1896–1946 1946–1948 1948–1950	Flag of the Federated Malay States Flag of the Malayan Union Flag of the Federation of Malaya	Four equal horizontal bands of white (top), red, yellow, and black overlain in the centre by a small white ellipse bearing a running tiger.
	1895–1946	Naval ensign of the Federated Malay States	Diagonally quartered white, red, black and yellow. Also used as ensign for HMS Malaya battleship
	1942–1945	Flag of the Empire of Japan. Used when Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Labuan were under Japanese military governing, and also used in Singapore and Brunei.	Centred red disc on a white field.
		War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army	Centred red disc with 16 rays on a white field.
	1942-1945	Imperial Standard of the Emperor of Japan	16 petal chrysanthemum, colored in gold, centered on a red background.
	1943–1945	Flag of Thailand. Used when Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu were controlled by Thailand.	A horizontal blue stripe between white stripes, between red stripes.
	1943-1945	Royal Standard of the King of Thailand. Used when Unfederated Malay States and Federated Malay States (as Japan. were controlled by Thailand.	A yellow plain square flag with a dancing red Garuda in the center. Usually mounted in front of the car boarded by the King.
	1950–1963	Flag of the Federation of Malaya	Eleven alternating red and white stripes with a dark blue rectangle, containing a gold crescent and eleven-pointed star, in the canton.
	1841–1848	Flag of the Raj of Sarawak	The first flag of the Kingdom of Sarawak (1841–1848) using the St George's Cross, after the territory been ceded by the Sultanate of Brunei.
	1848–1870	Flag of the Raj of Sarawak	The second flag of the Kingdom of Sarawak used from (1848–1870), with red and blue cross in the style of St. George's Cross. The Crown in the centre symbolises the Raj of Sarawak.
	1870–1946 1963 – 1973	Flag of the Raj of Sarawak and later Flag of the state of Sarawak	The third flag of the Kingdom of Sarawak, with red and black cross in the style of St. George's Cross. The black symbolises the ruling class, and the red the people. Similar as on the second flag, the Crown in the centre symbolises the Rajah. This flag was reintroduced upon independence.
	1946–1963	Flag of the Crown Colony of Sarawak	After World War II Sarawak becomes a crown colony. A blue ensign defaced with the former Kingdom Badge was adopted.
	1902–1946	Flag of North Borneo	A blue ensign defaced with the badge of North Borneo Chartered Company.
		Civil ensign of North Borneo	A red ensign defaced with the badge of North Borneo Chartered Company.
	1948–1963	Flag of Crown Colony of North Borneo	After World War II North Borneo becomes a crown colony. A blue ensign was adopted with the new badge instead that of North Borneo Company.
	1912–1946	Flag of the Crown Colony of Labuan	A blue ensign defaced with a ship.

State flags

Flag	Date (century)	Use	Description
	1957 – 1965	Flag of the state of Penang	Similar with the current flag except with a blue and white breakwater.
	1973 – 1988	Flag of the state of Sarawak	A horizontal bicolour of red and white with a blue triangle on the hoist.
	1963 – 1982	Flag of the state of Sabah	Four equal horizontal bar of red, white, yellow and blue, with the brown silhouette of Mount Kinabalu in a green canton.
	1982 – 1988		A horizontal bicolour of blue and white with a red triangle on the hoist.
	1959–1965	Flag of the state of Singapore as a British Self-governing Colony (1959–1963) and as part of Malaysia (1963–1965)	A horizontal bicolour of red over white, charged in white in the canton with a crescent facing, towards the fly, a pentagon of five stars.

Flag dates published references

• (Ben Cahoon) Malay States on worldstatesmen.org