Tugu Negara’s bronze figures form a memorial to those who died defending Malaya during the Emergency and related conflicts. Designed by Felix de Weldon and unveiled in 1966, the monument’s raised flag and linked figures make national remembrance legible through a dramatic act of mutual support.
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The raised flag is the first gesture your eye follows, but the sculpture’s force comes from the group working together. Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, initiated the National Monument after seeing the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington in 1960.
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- Tunku Abdul Rahman initiated the monument after a 1960 visit to the United States.
- Sculptor Felix de Weldon designed the bronze memorial.
- The monument was officially launched on 8 February 1966.
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