> Quick view: the same 8 Merdeka/Malaysia Month 2026 promos, re-checked on each brand's own site on 10 September 2026 — six days before Malaysia Day. AEON's Malaysia Day flyer turned out to be three flyers running two different date windows, two of the four stores we listed as excluded are not excluded at all, Watsons restarted a mechanic we had watched die, and McDonald's has published nothing for six days.

The Malaysia Day flyer we described is really three flyers

August is Merdeka month in Malaysia. Hari Merdeka was 31 August, and the season conventionally runs on to Malaysia Day on 16 September, now six days away.

Three days ago we told you AEON's *Celebrate Malaysia, Together!* was a grocery flyer running 4–17 September at every AEON store except four named branches. Going back to AEON's own promotions index today, that description is too small in two directions, and wrong in one.

AEON has published four separate pieces of artwork under the one campaign name:

  • Page 1 of the main AEON flyer — stamped 4 – 17 SEPT 2026. Cooking pastes, sauces, oil. This is the one we described.
  • Page 2 of the same main flyer — stamped 2 – 16 SEPTEMBER 2026. Same campaign, same footnote, same store list, a fifteen-day window that starts two days earlier and ends a day sooner. Fresh produce, dairy, snacks, rice, tissue, haircare.
  • A MaxValu Prime edition — stamped 2 – 16 SEPT 2026, fresh food, with its own footer: *available at all MaxValu Prime stores & AEON United Point (Kepong) and Danga Bay (JB)*.
  • An AEON STYLE Supermarket Setia EcoHill edition — stamped 2 – 16 SEPT 2026, carrying the identical fresh-food prices for that one store.

That fourth line is the correction we owe you. We reported four excluded stores. Two of them are not excluded from the campaign at all — United Point (Kepong) and Danga Bay (JB) are named on the MaxValu Prime artwork as the stores it covers. They are not cut out of Malaysia Day; they are on a different sheet, with different goods and a different fortnight. Only Ipoh Falim and Kuching Central appear nowhere.

The lesson generalises past AEON: a footnote that reads like an exclusion list is often a routing list. Before you conclude your branch has been left out, look for the edition that names it.

How to tell a survivor from a corpse

Three weeks of watching these eight has not changed the pattern: nothing pinned to 31 August survived, and nothing that survived was pinned to 31 August. Every live offer here ends on a date with nothing to do with Merdeka — 9 September, 10 September, 13 September, 14 September, 17 September, 23 September, 30 September, 31 October, 13 November.

Three tests still apply, and a week of decay has sharpened all three.

  • Read the end date, not the campaign name. AEON's Merdeka hub at aeonretail.com.my/aeonmerdeka2026 is *still* live today, a full week after Merdeka, catalogues and all, closing with a cheerful "Stay Tuned!". The contest inside it died on 31 August. A campaign page outliving its campaign is the normal case, not the exception.
  • Read the shelf tag, not the banner. Watsons remains the extreme case. One tag name, "2nd @ 80%", sits on 95 products across five different end dates, and the biggest of those buckets is not the one we told you about a week ago.
  • Assume no stacking. GSC's RM69 Aurum pass states plainly that it is not valid with any credit card, bank or payment-gateway promotion, except selected Alliance Bank cards. Watsons' terms exclude Buy 1 Free 1 items and anything already at 50% off or more from its promotion codes and eCoupons.

And one test this week has forced us to add, which is the mirror image of the others: a dead mechanic is not a dead mechanic. On 7 September we watched Watsons' "2nd @ RM0.10" tag fall from 46 SKUs to 4 and wrote it off. On 10 September Watsons restarted it — new brands, new artwork, a fresh five-day window — and it now sits on 89 SKUs, more than it had before it died. A promotion tag is a slot in a retailer's calendar, not a one-off event, so when you see one empty out, the useful question is when it refills rather than whether it is over.

Retail & home

1. AEON Retail Malaysia — one campaign name, four sheets, two date windows

The Merdeka Shop & Win gold-bar contest closed at 23:59 on 31 August as scheduled, and nothing has changed there. Celebrate Malaysia, Together! is the live campaign, and re-reading AEON's own promotions index today shows it is bigger and more fragmented than we described on 7 September.

Page 1, dated 4 – 17 SEPT 2026 — pastes, sauces and oil. This is the sheet we published last time, with three lines we had missed:

  • Ayam Brand Cooking Paste 180g (assorted) — RM4.69, normal price RM5.25
  • Maggi Cukup Rasa Seasoning 300g — RM6.79, normal price RM7.45
  • Oriental Cooking Paste 100g (assorted) — RM11.99, normal price RM12.90
  • Neu Vida Omega 9 Cooking Oil 2kg — RM32.99, normal price RM36.13
  • Habhal's Cap Kipas Udang Soy Sauce 645ml (assorted) — RM9.89 and RM11.89, normal price RM10.10–RM12.30
  • Bibik Express Bahan Kisar 400ml (assorted) — RM13.99–RM15.99, normal price RM16.90–RM19.40
  • Meet Mee Sambal 130g–240g (assorted) — RM10.39–RM13.99, normal price RM11.90–RM16.90
  • FG Walet Garlic Chilli Oil 200g (assorted) — RM19.99–RM21.99, normal price RM21.90–RM24.90
  • Tean's Crispy Chilli Oil 320g (assorted) — RM12.99, normal price RM14.99
  • Toh's Daily Chilli Garlic 200g (assorted) — RM18.99, normal price RM21.00–RM22.70
  • Life Sauce Jumbo 725g (assorted) — RM5.79–RM7.29, normal price RM6.24–RM8.33
  • Heinz Squeezable Tomato Ketchup — RM10.19, normal price RM11.60
  • Lady's Choice Real Mayonnaise 450ml — RM13.99, normal price RM15.75

On that page alone, we described the discounts as 7% to 12% off pantry staples, and for page 1 that holds.

Page 2, dated 2 – 16 SEPTEMBER 2026 — and this is where the real money is. Same campaign, same footnote, same store list, two days earlier and one day shorter. We had not seen this sheet on 7 September, and it corrects our own characterisation of the campaign:

  • Pantene Shampoo or Conditioner 300ml (assorted) — RM9.90, normal price RM15.85. That is 37.5% off, five times the depth of anything on page 1.
  • Premier Facial Tissue 4 x 200's — RM13.90, normal price RM19.50 (28.7% off)
  • Aik Cheong White Coffee 3-in-1, 12's — RM10.39, normal price RM15.29 (32% off)
  • Bird of Paradise Basmathi Royale 5kg — RM44.99, normal price RM54.56
  • OatLife Oat Milk 1L (Barista or Chocolate) — RM7.90, normal price RM10.90
  • Kit Kat Dark Borneo 8 x 17g — RM11.39, normal price RM13.90
  • Goodday Aussie Fresh Milk 1L — buy 2 at RM13.99, against a single price of RM9.50
  • Oriental Snek Anak Malaysia Box 660g — RM26.90, normal price RM29, with a colour-changing tumbler in the pack
  • Ramly Burger 420g (chicken or beef) — RM9.39–RM9.99, normal price RM9.75–RM10.55
  • Marinated Chicken Party Set — RM18.90 a set, normal price RM23.90
  • Dole Banana — RM0.69/100g, normal price RM0.86

Pages 3 and 4: the fresh-food editions, 2 – 16 SEPT 2026. One is headed AEON MaxValu Prime, the other AEON STYLE SUPERMARKET Setia EcoHill, and both carry the same prices: Chilean Coho Salmon Steak RM12 a piece (normal RM15.90), Fresh Tiger Prawn XXL RM4.59/100g (RM5.99), Australia Black Angus Rib Yakiniku RM12.99 a pack (RM15.99), Marinated Chicken Skinless Boneless Breast RM4.59 a piece (RM5.90), Premium French Bean 300g RM3.99 (RM5.50), Red Dragon Fruit at 3 for RM10 against a single price of RM4.90, South Africa Nova Mandarin 800g RM10.59 (RM11.90), China Mix Peach 2pcs RM9.99 (RM12).

Now the fine print, which is the part that changed. The main flyer's footnote reads: available at AEON STYLE Taman Maluri and all AEON Stores, except AEON Ipoh Falim, United Point (Kepong), Danga Bay (JB) and Kuching Central. We read that as four stores shut out of Malaysia Day. It is not. The MaxValu Prime sheet's own footer reads *available at all MaxValu Prime stores & AEON United Point (Kepong) and Danga Bay (JB)* — the two are routed to a different sheet, not excluded from the campaign, and the sheet they get is fresh food across 2–16 September rather than sauces across 4–17 September. Only Ipoh Falim and Kuching Central are named on no artwork at all.

Separately, Semangat Jiwa Malaysia is unchanged and re-confirmed on its own artwork today: an AEON Delicatessen menu, 1 Ogos – 30 September 2026, at fixed prices from RM5.90 a set (RM6.90 Keropok Lekor & Sos Cili, RM7.90 Ubi Kayu Rebus & Sambal Bilis, RM8.90 Cucur Udang, RM12.90 Churros Cinnamon, RM14.90 the nasi goreng kunyit plates).

Verdict: the deli menu runs to 30 September, but the grocery sheets carry the deadlines, and there are two of them — 16 September for pages 2, 3 and 4, 17 September for page 1. Work out which sheet your branch is on before you plan the trip: an AEON Store gets pages 1 and 2, a MaxValu Prime or Setia EcoHill gets the fresh-food sheet, and Kepong and Danga Bay shoppers should be reading the MaxValu prices rather than assuming they have been left out.

2. Watsons Malaysia — the tag we buried on 7 September came back bigger

Two things to report here, and the first is a correction of our own framing.

We had been counting the wrong shelf. Our 7 September pass scanned Watsons' own-brand range and reported the 9.9 Raksasa Online Sale at 116 SKUs. Today we ran the count across Watsons Malaysia's entire catalogue of 19,766 products instead, and the 9.9 sale is on 1,626 of them. The 116 was real, but it was one house brand's slice of a sale fourteen times that size. Read across the whole catalogue, this is what Watsons is actually running on 10 September:

  • Instant Rebate @ RM5 Off — 13,922 SKUs
  • 9.9 Raksasa Online Sale — 1,626 SKUs
  • Member @ 5% Off — 1,431 SKUs
  • Instant Rebate @ RM10 Off — 827 SKUs
  • 2X Points — 782 SKUs
  • Instant Rebate @ RM6 Off — 680 SKUs
  • Member Instant Off Special — 639 SKUs
  • 2nd @ 80% — 449 SKUs
  • Buy 1 Free 1 — 139 SKUs
  • 2nd @ RM0.10 — 89 SKUs

And the tag we watched die has restarted. On 7 September we reported that 42 of the 46 SKUs on "2nd @ RM0.10" would expire that night, leaving four. On 10 September Watsons posted two pieces of artwork announcing a fresh wave, and the tag is now on 89 SKUs:

  • Naturals by Watsons — 2ND @ RM0.10, 10/9/2026 to 14/9/2026, all shampoo and conditioner. The artwork names Tea Tree Clarifying, Aloe Vera Anti-dandruff, Coffee Anti-hair Fall, Argan Repairing and Olive Deep Moisturising.
  • Orita — 2ND @ RM0.10, promotion period 10 – 14 Sep 2026, on the 800ml active-charcoal dehumidifier tubs.

Two independent posters, the same mechanic, the same five days. That is the buy-two-pay-for-one-and-ten-sen structure, so on a pair of Naturals bottles you are paying a shade over half price for five days only.

For the record, here is what we found on 7 September within the own-brand range, which still describes that shelf:

A 9.9 sale appeared and was the largest mechanic on that shelf. On 7 September the 9.9 Raksasa Online Sale tag sat on 116 own-brand SKUs — more than any other tag on that range, including the one this page has tracked since 16 August. Sixty-nine of them run to 13 September; twelve more to 9 September, twelve to 23 September, six to 16 September, six to 8 September and seven end tonight. It is, as the name says, an online mechanic. Carriers include Nutrabliss By Watsons nut and drink mixes (RM19.90–RM20.90), the Coffee Anti-hair fall and Aloe Vera Anti-dandruff Shampoos 490ml (RM16.74 each), Hi-Fibre 30 Drink 15g x 15s (RM23.94), and a Squishy Makeup Sponge at RM1.00.

The 2nd @ 80% bucket we told you about shrank by more than half. A week ago we reported 68 SKUs running to 23 September. Today the tag is on 95 SKUs across five end dates, and only 30 of them run to 23 September. A new wave landed instead: 44 SKUs now end 14 September, plus 16 on 9 September, 4 on 8 September and 1 on 13 September. The 14 September wave is the everyday stuff — Wild Berry and Pine antibacterial foaming hand wash refills 285ml (RM6.90), Cool Mint Mouthwash 500ml (RM10.90), 10-in-1 Alcohol-Free Mouthwash 500ml (RM10.90), Pusheen Velvet Hang & Pull facial tissue (RM8.90), paper-shaft cotton buds (RM5.90–RM6.90). The 23 September survivors are mostly the 1-litre cream body washes at RM12.50 and dental floss at RM9.90.

The mechanic is unchanged and still the thing people get wrong: per Watsons' own terms, "2nd @ 80% off" is usually two of the same product, not any two Watsons Collection items. Two RM6.90 refills cost RM8.28, not RM13.80.

The 667-SKU member rebate did not die on 2 September — it rolled over, much smaller. We flagged Member Instant Off Special as the biggest live mechanic with one day left. It is still here, but on 29 SKUs, down 95.6%, with 24 of them ending 10 September. What it now covers is skincare rather than everyday stock: Advanced Sun Water Drop Cream Gel SPF50+ 40ml (RM34.93), Body Moisturising Lotion 500ml (RM55.93), Whitening Roll-On Eye Cream 12ml and Repair SOS Concentrated Serum 30ml (RM95.92 each).

The rest of the shelf today, with the end dates that actually govern it:

  • Instant Rebate @ RM5 Off — 26 SKUs, all running to 30 September. Still the longest runway on this page after IKEA's draw, still sitting on first-aid and travel essentials: Washproof Breathable Plasters 100's (RM7.12), Transparent Plasters 25's (RM3.38), Watershield Plasters 10's (RM2.62), Elastic Bandage (RM5.31).
  • Instant Rebate @ RM8 Off — 40 SKUs, 35 of them ending 9 September.
  • BUY 2 SAVE MORE — 67 SKUs: 30 to 14 September, 24 to 23 September, 6 to 16 September, the rest sooner.
  • 2nd @ RM0.10 — 46 SKUs, of which 42 expired on the night of 7 September, leaving 4 to 13 September. This is the bucket that has since been replaced by the 10–14 September wave described above.
  • Buy 1 Free 1 — 42 SKUs, 30 of them ending on 7 September, 8 to 13 September, 4 to 23 September. Catalogue-wide on 10 September the tag is on 139 SKUs.
  • 5X Points — 42 SKUs. Buy 2 Free 1 — 12. Buy 5 Free 1 — 5.

Verdict: the date that matters at Watsons is 14 September, and it is now the 2nd @ RM0.10 wave rather than the 2nd-at-80% one that sets it. Two rules come out of this entry. Check the tag on the product page rather than the banner, and check the date on the tag — but also do not treat an emptied tag as a closed offer, because at Watsons the tags refill.

3. IKEA Malaysia — unchanged, and still the longest runway here

Re-confirmed on IKEA Malaysia's own campaigns page today: Spend & win a GWM HAVAL H6 HEV. Spend a minimum of RM500 on home furnishing products in a single in-store receipt to enter — three cars, three winners, one drawn every month, 14 August to 13 November 2026.

The IKEA x Touch 'n Go card that shared the same RM500 threshold ran 10–31 August and is gone, so one receipt no longer does double duty. Neither offer was ever a Merdeka campaign — the card sat under IKEA Fest, the draw is a GWM collaboration — which is exactly why the draw is still standing.

Verdict: more than nine weeks of runway and a monthly draw. Nothing here rewards hurrying.

Entertainment & electronics

4. GSC Cinemas — a correction, and a new Malaysia Month redemption

First, the correction. On 1 September this page said that Escape Studio & IMAX at RM69 at Aurum Theatre, The Exchange TRX had closed along with GSC's other Merdeka offers, on the reasoning that it was tied to the 69th anniversary. That was wrong. The promotion is still listed on GSC's live promotions index today, and its own terms page carries no end date — only "promotion is only for a limited time, while stocks last".

What it actually is: an adult single-seat Escape Studio or IMAX Aurum Pass at RM69, inclusive of one snack and one drink, excluding public holidays and pre-public-holiday shows after 6pm. It is not valid with staff discounts or with any credit card, bank or payment-gateway promotion, except selected Alliance Bank cards. By this page's own standard — GSC's index lists every offer it is currently running, so absence is expiry proof — presence is survival proof, and we should have applied it in both directions.

Second, the new one. *Celebrate Malaysia Month with Aurum Theatre, The Exchange TRX* opened for redemption on 3 September and runs while stocks last, with the vouchers themselves valid until 31 October 2026. It is GSC Rewards members only, redeemed through the Rewards Centre in the app or on the website, and it is priced in GSCoins rather than ringgit:

  • ScreenX — 3,500 GSCoins
  • IMAX — 5,000 GSCoins
  • Escape Studio, weekdays only — 6,900 GSCoins

Put the two GSC offers side by side before you spend anything. The Escape Studio voucher costs 6,900 GSCoins; the same hall at the same cinema is RM69 in cash under the standing Aurum promotion, snack and drink included. The coins route only makes sense if you are sitting on GSCoins you would not otherwise spend — and note the RM69 cash route has no weekday restriction, while the 6,900-coin voucher does.

The SPayLater Buy 1 Free 1 remains off the index, confirming its 31 August expiry. The standing cheaper routes we verified on 1 September are unchanged on the index: students RM13 on weekdays before 6pm, kids 3–12, seniors 55+ and OKU from RM12, Rewards Tuesday, RM6 off adult tickets on the GSC Hong Leong card, a free ticket with a 2D purchase on AFFIN cards Fridays and Saturdays, and flat-rate outlets at Quill City Mall, Melawati Mall, LaLaport BBCC and Summit USJ.

Re-reading the same index on 10 September confirms both offers are still there, and surfaces two Aurum comparators worth setting against the RM69 pass. GSC lists a Weekday Promotion at Aurum Theatre, The Gardens Mall from RM50 per person, Monday to Wednesday, and Weekdays Made Sweeter at Aurum Theatre, The Mall, Mid Valley Southkey at RM80 per person over the same three days. The Celebrate Malaysia Month listing's own headline puts its saving at up to 40%.

So RM69 is not automatically the cheapest Aurum seat in the country. It is the cheapest at The Exchange TRX, and it is the only one of the three that includes a snack and a drink. A midweek seat at The Gardens Mall starts RM19 lower with no food attached.

Verdict: if you were told the RM69 Aurum pass ended with Merdeka — by us, among others — it did not, and it is still on the index today with no published deadline. Just check The Gardens Mall's RM50 midweek rate first if you are flexible on which cinema you sit in.

5. DirectD — over, and the page is gone

DirectD's Samsung Galaxy Merdeka Sale ran 3 August to 1 September 2026 and ended on schedule. There is no ambiguity left: directd.com.my/merdeka-sale now redirects to DirectD's page-not-found, and DirectD's homepage carries no successor campaign today.

The one term worth remembering for next time, because aggregators drop it: for Apple products, DirectD's promotions are typically valid only through its Apple online platform at apple.directd.com.my, not in-store.

Verdict: closed. This is the cleanest expiry on the page — the retailer deleted the landing page rather than leaving it up, which is the opposite of what AEON did with its Merdeka hub.

Travel gear & everyday

6. Universal Traveller — the 9.9 ladder is still standing

Merdeka Deal 69 is long gone, and its collection URL still points to Universal Traveller's 9.9 Crazy Shopping Festival, which is live on the storefront today. All six voucher codes were confirmed on the collection page this morning:

  • UT9CS5 — RM5 off a minimum spend of RM130 (3.8%)
  • UT9CS9 — RM9 off RM200 (4.5%)
  • UT9CS19 — RM19 off RM350 (5.4%)
  • UT9CS29 — RM29 off RM450 (6.4%)
  • UT9CS49 — RM49 off RM650 (7.5%)
  • UT9CS99 — RM99 off RM1,200 (8.3%)

One honest caveat: Universal Traveller does not publish an end date on the collection page. The 9.9 branding implies the festival is built around 9 September, and we have treated that as the working deadline, but the storefront itself makes no such promise in either direction.

The ladder's shape has not changed. The rate climbs with spend but unevenly, and between RM650 and RM1,200 you spend RM550 more to gain RM50 more off — a 9.1% marginal rate that only pays if the RM550 was going to be spent anyway. Alongside the codes: single luggage up to 80% off, PP Unbreakable up to 78% off, and Airways Premium from RM239 with a RM20 instant rebate and a free crossbody bag. Free shipping from RM380, with the store warning of 5–7 working day delivery.

Verdict: unchanged and still worth a look, but with no published end date and a 9.9 name, treat this week as the window rather than the month.

7. MR.DIY — all three September campaigns confirmed, plus one we had missed

Every campaign we reported on 1 September is live and dated on MR.DIY's own ongoing-promotions index today:

  • Jom Beli Barangan Malaysia 2026 — 1 to 30 September 2026. Malaysian-made daily, home and lifestyle products, listed for both Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah & Sarawak, while stocks last. Still the genuine Malaysia Day play on this page.
  • Gemilang Toy Fiesta 2026 — 1 to 30 September 2026, at MR.DIY and MR.DIY PLUS stores.
  • Mickey Racing League 2026 — 1 September to 31 December 2026, tied to Formula 1 returning to Sepang.

One we should have listed and did not: MR.DIY Hearttex x Days 2026, which has been running since 1 July and ends 30 September — a Malaysian campaign that sat on the same index throughout, on tissue and everyday paper goods.

The date to diarise is the bazaar. Spend with Visa, Celebrate with Rewards runs to 13 September but only during the MR.DIY Bersama Satu Bazaar. The Sunway Pyramid leg (28–31 August) is done, so the Angsana Johor Bahru Mall stop on 11–13 September is the entire remaining window. Spend RM50 or more in a single receipt at a participating Jalan DIY booth, pay with Visa Mobile Payment — Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Wallet or Garmin Pay — and present the receipt for limited-edition Merdeka merchandise while stocks last.

Also still live: Spider-Man to 14 November, and Winnie the Pooh, which now has one week left — it ends 14 September.

Re-confirmed on the same index on 10 September: every campaign above is still listed and still dated, and the Visa mechanic is indexed 21 August – 13 September. The Angsana Johor Bahru Mall leg opens tomorrow, 11 September, and closes on the 13th.

Verdict: the brand that looked deadest at midnight on 31 August still has the fullest September here. The bazaar is the only part with a hard three-day window, and it starts tomorrow.

Food

8. McDonald's Malaysia — the RM39.90 bundle is over, and nothing has replaced it

The Cuti-Cuti Family Bundle ended on 9 September 2026. For the record, it was RM39.90 for 5pcs Ayam Goreng McD (Spicy or Regular), 6pcs Chicken McNuggets, 2 x Coke (M), 2 x Fries (M) and Bubur Ayam McD, across Drive-Thru, Drive-in, McDelivery, takeaway and dine-in. It ran five days. If you are reading this on 10 September or later, it is gone.

What is worth reporting is what has not happened since. McDonald's promotions index on 10 September still has 4 September as its newest entry — the Samurai and Ninja Wasabi launch. Six days with no new posting, through the expiry of the brand's only dated September price offer, and no successor announced. This is the same pattern that produced the hedge we carried on 1 September, and it is the honest answer to the question people are searching: there is no live McDonald's Malaysia bundle price right now.

Alongside it, McDonald's brought the Samurai Burger back on 4 September and launched an all-new Ninja Wasabi Burger — chicken katsu patty, wasabi shoyu sauce, white cabbage, toasted sesame bun — plus a Mochi Matcha Deluxe Sundae, Mango and Taro Dips and a Taro Pie. No prices or end dates are published for that line-up. A separate receipt-writing contest opened on 3 September; we have covered that one on its own page, linked below.

Still running from August: the free squishy Mystery Toy with every Happy Meal, 27 August to 23 September 2026, via Dine-In, McDelivery or Drive-Thru. And the standing free mini ice cream cone, no published end date, no time-of-day restriction, described on McDonald's own listing as *tanpa had* — without limit. *(Update 24 Sep 2026: the Mystery Toy ended on 23 September; from 24 September at 10am the Happy Meal toy is a free Hello Kitty and Friends x Godzilla set of 8.)*

Verdict: nothing priced and dated is live at McDonald's today. The Happy Meal Mystery Toy to 23 September and the standing free mini cone are the whole offer. If you want the next bundle, watch mcdonalds.com.my/promotion rather than the aggregators, which are still running the RM39.90 as though it were current.

What changed since the 7 September check

  • AEON — the campaign is four sheets, not one, and it runs two windows: 4–17 September on page 1, 2–16 September on page 2 and on both fresh-food editions. Two of the four stores we called excluded, United Point (Kepong) and Danga Bay (JB), are named on the MaxValu Prime sheet as stores it covers. Page 2 discounts reach 37.5%, not the 7–12% we reported off page 1.
  • Watsons — 2nd @ RM0.10 restarted on 10 September, running to 14 September on all Naturals by Watsons shampoo and conditioner and on Orita dehumidifiers; the tag is on 89 SKUs, up from the 4 we expected to survive 7 September. Read catalogue-wide rather than own-brand-only, the 9.9 Raksasa Online Sale is 1,626 SKUs, not 116.
  • McDonald's — the Cuti-Cuti Family Bundle ended on 9 September. The promotions index has published nothing since 4 September.
  • GSC — re-confirmed. Both the RM69 Aurum pass and the Celebrate Malaysia Month GSCoins redemption are still on the live index. The redemption's own listing headline puts the saving at up to 40%.
  • MR.DIY — re-confirmed, all campaigns still dated and live. The Angsana Johor Bahru Mall bazaar opens tomorrow, 11–13 September; the Visa mechanic itself is indexed 21 August – 13 September.
  • Universal Traveller — re-confirmed live; all six voucher codes are still on the collection page and no end date has appeared. We have removed the 9 September expiry we had stored against it, which contradicted our own note that no end date is published.
  • DirectD — re-confirmed dead. directd.com.my/merdeka-sale still resolves to page-not-found.
  • IKEA — re-confirmed unchanged; the GWM HAVAL H6 HEV draw still runs to 13 November.

Corrections

Three, stated plainly rather than quietly edited.

1 September, GSC. We reported that Escape Studio & IMAX at RM69 at Aurum Theatre, The Exchange TRX had closed on 31 August with GSC's other Merdeka offers. It had not, and it still has not — it is on the live index again today. We inferred the expiry from the "69 years of Merdeka" framing rather than from the index we were already using as our expiry test, and that inference was not evidence.

7 September, AEON. We wrote that the flyer's footnote excluded four stores in four states and told you to check your branch by name. The footnote is real, but calling it an exclusion was wrong for half of it: United Point (Kepong) and Danga Bay (JB) are named on AEON's MaxValu Prime artwork as stores that edition covers. We read one sheet and assumed it was the campaign. We also described the campaign as 7–12% off after reading page 1 only; page 2 runs to 37.5% off.

7 September, Watsons. We described the 9.9 Raksasa Online Sale as a 116-SKU mechanic and called it Watsons' biggest tag. That count was taken across the own-brand range, not the shop. Catalogue-wide it is 1,626 SKUs, and it is not the biggest tag either — Instant Rebate @ RM5 Off is, on 13,922. The shape of the finding survives; the number did not, and we should have said which shelf we had counted.

What we left out

ZUS Coffee and Tealive were re-checked on both brands' own websites; neither carries a 2026 Merdeka or Malaysia Day promotion, so both stay out. Shopee's 8.8 Merdeka Sale and Guardian's 8.8 Merdeka Special on TikTok Shop both ended in August and remain expired. MINISO Malaysia and Triumph were reported by third-party aggregators with plausible dates, but we still cannot confirm either on the brand's own website or official social page, so they stay out.

How to pick, in one line

In the next five days: Watsons' 2nd @ RM0.10 runs 10–14 September on all Naturals by Watsons shampoo and conditioner and on Orita dehumidifiers — the deepest simple mechanic on this page, and the shortest. MR.DIY's Bersama Satu Bazaar reaches Angsana Johor Bahru Mall on 11–13 September, and wants RM50 in one receipt paid by Visa in a phone wallet. Watsons' biggest 2nd-at-80% wave also ends 14 September.

Across Malaysia Day itself, 16 September: AEON's *Celebrate Malaysia, Together!* is the one to plan around, but read the right sheet. If you shop at an AEON Store, pages 1 and 2 apply and the deeper cuts are on page 2, which ends 16 September, a day before page 1. If you shop at MaxValu Prime, AEON United Point (Kepong) or Danga Bay (JB), yours is the fresh-food sheet, 2–16 September. If you shop at Ipoh Falim or Kuching Central, none of it applies.

Later, and no rush: MR.DIY's Jom Beli Barangan Malaysia and AEON's Semangat Jiwa deli sets both run to 30 September, as does Watsons' RM5 first-aid rebate. GSC's Malaysia Month vouchers are valid to 31 October, and its RM69 Aurum pass has no published deadline at all. IKEA's car draw runs to 13 November on any RM500 in-store receipt.

Nothing at all: McDonald's. The RM39.90 bundle expired on 9 September and no replacement has been posted.

And the rules that generalise: ignore the word Merdeka; be as sceptical of a declared death as of a declared deal; and when a brand publishes several sheets under one campaign name, find the one that names your branch before you conclude anything about dates, prices or exclusions.

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*Cover image: Jalur Gemilang flying over a shophouse on Jonker Street, Melaka — Brian Jeffery Beggerly, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.*