Merdeka Square

This guide to Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur returns to the night of August 30, 1957, when a fifteen-year-old named Kalsom stood among thousands packed onto the old cricket field the British called the Padang, watching the Union Jack fly for the last time as midnight approached. It follows the crowd's mood in those final minutes and, hours later, Tunku Abdul Rahman addressing a separate stadium crowd as Malaya's first prime minister. Look for the marker at the base of today's flagpole, one of the tallest in the world.