A social media post by Malaysian minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz about an early morning run in Sabah has reignited debate over whether the country is in the wrong time zone. Although Kuala Lumpur and Singapore lie on roughly the same longitude as Bangkok and Jakarta, they are an hour ahead, aligned with Manila. This shift to GMT+8 pushes sunrise in peninsular Malaysia to around 7am, later than Jakarta's 5.30am or Manila's 6am.
Critics argue that the time zone limits morning daylight and disrupts circadian rhythms. Mr Aziz, an enthusiastic runner, highlighted the contrast, saying Kota Kinabalu's earlier sunrise allowed him to run before an 8.30am engagement. His post on X drew responses urging a return to GMT+7, the time zone of Thailand and western Indonesia.
Peninsular Malaysia operated on GMT+7.30 after World War II, but on 31 December 1981, then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad advanced clocks by 30 minutes to align with Sabah and Sarawak. Singapore followed suit. A niche group has for years urged Malaysia to turn back the clocks, arguing more morning sunlight could help tackle health issues like diabetes and obesity.
When the proposal resurfaced in parliament in March 2024, the government acknowledged health claims but maintained that altering the time zone would carry major economic consequences. “The government is not willing to shift away from what was decided in 1981,” then minister Liew Chin Tong said.
