> Quick view: from Monday 28 September, ten holiday dates remain in 2026 — and only two of them, Deepavali (Sunday 8 November) and Christmas (Friday 25 December), are federal. Kelantan is off this Tuesday and Wednesday. Selangor has an extra holiday most calendars still miss: Sunday 25 October for the Sultan's Silver Jubilee, with Monday 26 October in lieu. The school calendar already closes schools on 9 or 10 November around Deepavali. And the next genuinely good leave window is mid-May 2027.

Where these dates come from

Holiday lists online are mostly copies of copies. The dates below come from three official documents, all re-read on 27 September 2026:

  • The Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan dan Negeri 2026, issued by the Bahagian Kabinet, Perlembagaan dan Perhubungan Antara Kerajaan of the Jabatan Perdana Menteri and published at kabinet.gov.my. It runs to 49 numbered entries and marks, state by state, which holidays apply where. The portal's page now carries a *tarikh kemaskini* of 23 September 2026, but the 2026 schedule file itself has not changed since it was issued.
  • Surat Hebahan SUK Bil. 2 Tahun 2026, the Selangor State Secretary's notice dated 29 January 2026 listing Selangor's own holidays as approved by the state executive council (MMKN), published on selangor.gov.my. This is where the 25 October holiday lives. It is not in the federal portal's state grid.
  • The Kalendar Akademik Tahun 2026 (Surat Siaran KPM Bil. 3/2025), whose Lampiran C sets the extra school days around Deepavali.

Where we go beyond those documents — the leave arithmetic, and what happens when a holiday lands on a rest day — we say so, and we cite the Act.

What is actually left in 2026

Merdeka (31 August) and Hari Malaysia (16 September) have now been taken. From 28 September to the end of the year, ten holiday dates remain — two federal, eight state-only.

  • Tuesday 29 September — Hari Keputeraan Sultan Kelantan — Kelantan only
  • Wednesday 30 September — Hari Keputeraan Sultan Kelantan, second day — Kelantan only
  • Saturday 10 October — Hari Jadi Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak — Sarawak only
  • Sunday 25 October — Sambutan Jubli Perak Pemerintahan Sultan Selangor — Selangor only
  • Monday 26 October — replacement holiday for 25 October — Selangor only
  • Friday 6 November — Hari Keputeraan Sultan Perak — Perak only
  • Sunday 8 November — Deepavali — all states and federal territories except Sarawak (federal)
  • Friday 11 December — Hari Keputeraan Sultan Selangor — Selangor only
  • Thursday 24 December — Christmas Eve — Sabah only
  • Friday 25 December — Hari Krismas — nationwide (federal)

That is ten dates but seven distinct occasions: Kelantan's birthday runs across two days, Selangor's jubilee comes with its own replacement Monday, and Selangor appears twice. Note what is not on this list: Hari Jadi Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah moved to 30 March in 2025, so Sabah has nothing left before Christmas Eve.

If you are outside Kelantan, Selangor, Sarawak, Perak and Sabah, you have exactly two public holidays left this year — and one of them falls on a Sunday.

This week: Kelantan, 29 and 30 September

The Sultan of Kelantan's birthday takes Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September. Kelantan's weekly rest days are Friday and Saturday, so its working week runs Sunday to Thursday, and today, Sunday 27 September, is already a working day there.

  • One day of leave (Thursday 1 October) joins the holiday to the weekend: Tuesday 29 September to Saturday 3 October, five days off.
  • Two days (Monday 28 September and Thursday 1 October) stretch that to six, from Monday 28 September.

Government offices and schools in Kelantan close on both days. If you deal with Kelantan offices or suppliers from elsewhere, assume nothing moves there on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Selangor's Silver Jubilee: Sunday 25 and Monday 26 October

This is the date most 2026 holiday calendars are missing, because it is not in the federal portal's state-by-state grid.

Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah marks 25 years on the Selangor throne in 2026, and the state gazetted Sunday 25 October as a public holiday for the whole of Selangor in its January holiday notice. On 11 September 2026, State Secretary Dato' Dr Ahmad Fadzli Ahmad Tajuddin announced that because 25 October falls on a Sunday, Monday 26 October is the replacement public holiday, and that the jubilee celebrations run from 28 September to 1 November, peaking on 25 October. Kosmo, Sinar Harian, Utusan and Media Selangor all reported the replacement Monday the same day.

The replacement follows the rule printed in Selangor's own notice: when a state public holiday falls on the weekly rest day, the next day becomes a public holiday — but a state holiday that falls on a Saturday stays on the Saturday and is not replaced.

Three things to get right:

  • It is Selangor only. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are federal territories, not part of Selangor, so they do not get it. If you live in Petaling Jaya and work in KL, check your employer's holiday list, not your address.
  • The free version is a three-day weekend: Saturday 24 to Monday 26 October.
  • The leave version is the best ratio left in 2026. Take four days of leave, Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 October, and you get Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November — nine days off.

The rest of the long weekends

Sarawak, Saturday 10 October. Falling on a Saturday, it buys most workers nothing extra.

Perak, Friday 6 November, then Deepavali on Sunday 8 November. In Perak that is a clean three-day weekend, 6 to 8 November, with no leave. If a Monday substitute for Deepavali is confirmed (see below), it becomes four.

Deepavali weekend elsewhere. Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November are the weekend anyway. What you actually get depends on the Monday question below.

Selangor, Friday 11 December. A three-day weekend, and it lands inside the school year-end break.

Christmas, Friday 25 December. A three-day weekend nationwide. In Sabah, Christmas Eve on Thursday 24 December makes it four days with no leave. New Year's Day 2027 is also a Friday, so four days of leave (28–31 December) carry you from 24 or 25 December to Sunday 3 January, wherever 1 January is gazetted. It is a state holiday: in 2026, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu did not take it.

Deepavali falls on a Sunday — what that means

Deepavali is listed as 8 November 2026, a Sunday. Four points are worth stating plainly.

First, the official schedule still marks it "subject to change", and as of 27 September the federal list shows 8 November only. No federal replacement Monday has been gazetted.

Second, the substitution rule. Section 3 of the Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369) provides that when a public holiday falls on a weekly holiday, the following day becomes a public holiday. Most summaries miss that if that following day is already a public holiday, the day after that becomes one instead. Section 2 defines "weekly holiday" as Sunday, or Friday in states that observe a Friday rest day. The proviso applies only where the State Authority, or the Minister for the Federal Territory, has not gazetted otherwise, so a Monday off is a gazette decision, never automatic.

Third, Act 369 applies to Peninsular Malaysia only (section 1(2), with section 2 bringing in the Federal Territory). Sabah and Sarawak legislate their own public holidays, so the reasoning above settles nothing there. Sarawak does not observe Deepavali at all.

Fourth — and this is new information most guides have not caught up with — the Education Ministry has already planned around a Monday off. Lampiran C of the 2026 school calendar gives every school one extra Deepavali day:

  • Group B schools (everywhere except Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak): extra day on Tuesday 10 November — the day *after* the expected replacement Monday.
  • Group A schools (Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu): extra day on Monday 9 November. Sunday is a working day in those states, so Deepavali itself already takes a school day and no substitution arises.
  • Sarawak schools: one KPM-allocated day on Monday 9 November, even though Deepavali is not a state holiday there.

So the honest answer: for Peninsular states with a Sunday rest day, the Act's default rule points to Monday 9 November, and KPM has placed Group B's extra day on Tuesday on that assumption. But the gazetted federal list still says 8 November only. Parents can plan on schools being shut through Tuesday 10 November if the Monday is confirmed. Workers should wait for their state's notice before booking anything non-refundable.

Johor is not a Friday–Saturday state any more. It reverted to a Saturday–Sunday weekend on 1 January 2025, so Johor now sits with the rest of the Peninsula on this question. Plenty of 2026 guides — and at least one commercial calendar's Deepavali page — still group Johor with Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. They are out of date.

Christmas falls on a Friday — a question for Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu

This is the mirror image of the Deepavali problem.

Hari Krismas 2026 falls on Friday 25 December, a federal holiday nationwide. In Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, Friday *is* the weekly holiday within section 2 of Act 369. On the face of the statute, the substitution proviso is engaged. Saturday is also a rest day in those states, which is exactly where the section 3 cascade matters.

Whatever the answer is, it will come from those states' gazette notices, and none covering December 2026 had been published as of 27 September. If you work in Kedah, Kelantan or Terengganu, ask HR in November, not on 24 December. Group A schools are already on their year-end break from 4 December, so school families are not affected.

The state holidays outsiders keep missing

If you run a business across state lines, or need to reach someone in another state, these are the dates that catch people out:

  • Kelantan, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September — two consecutive days, this week.
  • Sarawak, Saturday 10 October — the Yang di-Pertua Negeri's birthday.
  • Selangor, Sunday 25 and Monday 26 October — the Silver Jubilee holiday and its replacement Monday. Not KL, not Putrajaya.
  • Perak, Friday 6 November — the Sultan's birthday.
  • Selangor, Friday 11 December — the Sultan's birthday. Again Selangor only; KL, Putrajaya and Labuan do not get it.
  • Sabah, Thursday 24 December — Christmas Eve is a gazetted state holiday in Sabah and nowhere else.

School holidays for the rest of 2026

Group A is Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, the same three states that keep a Friday–Saturday weekend. Group B is everyone else, including Johor.

  • Deepavali extra day — Group A: Monday 9 November. Group B: Tuesday 10 November. Sarawak: Monday 9 November.
  • Year-end break — Group A: 4 to 31 December 2026, 28 days. Group B: 5 to 31 December 2026, 27 days.

The year-end break starts on a Friday in Group A and a Saturday in Group B, so the traffic starts on the evening of Thursday 3 December. Selangor's 11 December holiday and Christmas both fall inside the break, so they add nothing for school families.

The 2027 schedule is already out — and it is a poor year

The BKPP portal also carries the Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan 2027. Six of its fifteen federal dates fall on a Saturday or Sunday: both days of Chinese New Year (6–7 February), Labour Day (1 May), Awal Muharam (6 June), Maulidur Rasul (15 August) and Christmas (25 December). That makes the few good windows valuable:

  • Mid-May is the prize. Hari Raya Qurban takes Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 May, and Wesak is Thursday 20 May. Two days of leave — Wednesday 19 and Friday 21 May — gets you Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 May, nine days off.
  • Deepavali, Thursday 28 October. One day of leave on Friday 29 October makes a four-day weekend.
  • Merdeka, Tuesday 31 August. One day of leave on Monday 30 August makes a four-day weekend.
  • Free: Awal Muharam on Sunday 6 June is followed by the Agong's birthday on Monday 7 June, so 5–7 June is a three-day weekend with no leave.

Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Qurban and Deepavali 2027 are all marked *subject to change*. Our full 2027 public holiday guide goes through every date and the substitute-day rules.

Planning notes

  • Selangor workers: book 27–30 October now. Four days of leave for nine days off is the best ratio left in 2026, and it is the only one that still needs booking this month.
  • Do not assume a Monday off for Deepavali unless you are a parent. Schools have planned around it; employers are bound by gazette notices, which have not appeared yet.
  • Check the state, not the country. Eight of the ten remaining dates apply in a single state only.
  • Act 369 is a Peninsular statute. In Sabah, Sarawak or Labuan, substitution questions are answered by local law, not the Holidays Act 1951.
  • Employers and employees: paid public holidays and replacement days are governed by the Employment Act and your contract, not by this article. This is a summary of published dates, not employment advice.

Sources

Federal and state dates for 2026 and the 2027 federal dates are from the Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan dan Negeri 2026 and the Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan 2027, both from the Bahagian Kabinet, Perlembagaan dan Perhubungan Antara Kerajaan, Jabatan Perdana Menteri (kabinet.gov.my), read on 27 September 2026 from a page updated 23 September 2026. Selangor's 25 October holiday is from Surat Hebahan SUK Bil. 2 Tahun 2026 (dated 29 January 2026, selangor.gov.my). The replacement Monday on 26 October was announced by the Selangor State Secretary on 11 September 2026 (Media Selangor; Kosmo; Sinar Harian). School dates, including the Deepavali extra days, are from the Kalendar Akademik Tahun 2026 (Surat Siaran KPM Bil. 3/2025), Lampiran A–C. The substitution rule, the cascade, the definition of "weekly holiday" and the Peninsular-only scope are from sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369). Johor's return to a Saturday–Sunday weekend from 1 January 2025 was decreed by the Regent of Johor in October 2024. State authorities can declare extra holidays at short notice, so check your state's own announcement before making non-refundable plans.

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*Cover image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0*