Sarawak has 19 public holidays in 2027 on the schedule the Prime Minister’s Department published in August 2026, plus up to three replacement days that the state has not yet confirmed. The table below lists every public holiday in Sarawak for 2027 by date and weekday. The days the Peninsula does not share are Good Friday (Sabah has it too), Gawai Dayak, Sarawak Day and the Governor’s birthday.
The state’s own 2027 notice is still pending, so the replacement days are marked unconfirmed. Four holidays fall on Saturdays and Sarawak gives no day in lieu for those, so anyone on a five-day week gets fewer days off than the list suggests. Last re-checked on 1 November 2026.
TL;DR
- The 2027 list has 19 dates, plus three possible replacement days: 8 February, 8 June and 16 August.
- Chinese New Year day one (6 February), Labour Day (1 May), the Governor’s birthday (9 October) and Christmas (25 December) fall on Saturdays and get no replacement.
- The best stretch runs from 29 May to 8 June: three days of leave give eleven days off, or ten if 8 June is not confirmed.
- Deepavali (28 October) is not a public holiday in Sarawak.
- Aidilfitri and Aidiladha are marked “subject to change” on the federal list, so each can move by a day with the moon sighting.
Sarawak Public Holidays 2027: The Full Table
Of the 19 dates, 13 are national, New Year’s Day is a state holiday most states share, and five are Sarawak’s own or shared only with Sabah: Good Friday, the two days of Gawai, Sarawak Day and the Governor’s birthday. The three replacement days sit on top of that count. The dates and weekdays follow the federal schedule from the Cabinet, Constitution and Inter-Governmental Relations Division of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Cuti umum Sarawak 2027 (checked 1 November 2026)
| Date | Day | Holiday | Sarawak-only? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Fri | New Year’s Day | No (most states) | Fixed |
| 6 Feb | Sat | Chinese New Year | No (national) | Fixed, no replacement |
| 7 Feb | Sun | Chinese New Year, 2nd day | No (national) | Fixed |
| 8 Feb | Mon | Replacement for Chinese New Year, 2nd day | Sarawak rule | Unconfirmed |
| 10 Mar | Wed | Hari Raya Aidilfitri | No (national) | Moveable\* |
| 11 Mar | Thu | Hari Raya Aidilfitri, 2nd day | No (national) | Moveable\* |
| 26 Mar | Fri | Good Friday | Sabah and Sarawak | Fixed |
| 1 May | Sat | Labour Day | No (national) | Fixed, no replacement |
| 17 May | Mon | Hari Raya Haji (Aidiladha) | No (national) | Moveable\* |
| 20 May | Thu | Wesak Day | No (national) | Fixed |
| 1 Jun | Tue | Gawai Dayak | Yes | Fixed |
| 2 Jun | Wed | Gawai Dayak, 2nd day | Yes | Fixed |
| 6 Jun | Sun | Awal Muharram | No (national) | Fixed on federal list |
| 7 Jun | Mon | Agong’s official birthday | No (national) | Fixed |
| 8 Jun | Tue | Likely replacement for Awal Muharram (Monday is already a holiday) | Sarawak rule | Unconfirmed |
| 22 Jul | Thu | Sarawak Day | Yes | Fixed |
| 15 Aug | Sun | Maulidur Rasul | No (national) | Fixed on federal list |
| 16 Aug | Mon | Replacement for Maulidur Rasul | Sarawak rule | Unconfirmed |
| 31 Aug | Tue | National Day (Merdeka) | No (national) | Fixed |
| 16 Sep | Thu | Malaysia Day | No (national) | Fixed |
| 9 Oct | Sat | Governor of Sarawak’s birthday | Yes | Fixed, no replacement |
| 25 Dec | Sat | Christmas Day | No (national) | Fixed, no replacement |
\*The federal schedule marks Aidilfitri (both days) and Hari Raya Haji “subject to change” because they follow the moon sighting. Awal Muharram and Maulidur Rasul carry no such mark.
Deepavali (Thursday 28 October 2027) is a public holiday in every other state but not in Sarawak, and the same goes for Thaipusam, Nuzul Al-Quran and Israk and Mikraj in the Peninsular states that observe them. Hindu civil servants in Sarawak have been able to apply for one day of unrecorded leave for Deepavali since a circular dated 9 November 2023, at the head of department’s discretion.
Which 2027 Holidays Are Sarawak-Only?
Four holidays on the list sit outside the Peninsular calendar: Good Friday, Gawai Dayak, Sarawak Day and the Governor’s birthday. Good Friday on 26 March is a working day in most Peninsular states (Sabah observes it too), so a Kuala Lumpur head office will be open while Kuching is shut, and the same is true of Gawai on 1 and 2 June. Many family-run stalls and shops close for days while families head home, so the city is quieter than the calendar suggests, a pattern explained by the longhouse visits that empty town during Gawai week.
Sarawak Day on Thursday 22 July is a midweek holiday, so one day of leave on Friday 23 July gives four days off. What Sarawak Day marks is set out in its own piece. The Governor’s birthday follows the second-Saturday rule that sets its date, so on 9 October 2027 most workers get nothing.
Long Weekends in 2027 (and the Three Days of Leave That Buy Eleven)
Six weekends run to three days or more without any leave: 1 to 3 January, 6 to 8 February, 26 to 28 March, 15 to 17 May, 5 to 8 June and 14 to 16 August. The February and August ones depend on replacement days the state has not confirmed. The rest need leave, usually one day for four or five days off:
- 1 to 3 Jan (Fri to Sun): New Year’s Day, no leave needed.
- 6 to 8 Feb (Sat to Mon): Chinese New Year, no leave if the Monday replacement is confirmed. Take Tue 9 to Fri 12 Feb and the break runs nine days, from 6 to 14 Feb, long enough to see what Chinese New Year looks like in Kuching or to travel.
- 10 to 11 Mar (Wed, Thu): Aidilfitri, then take Fri 12 Mar for five days off (10 to 14 Mar). The date is moveable, so hold the leave request until the moon sighting is announced.
- 26 to 28 Mar (Fri to Sun): Good Friday, no leave needed.
- 15 to 17 May (Sat to Mon): Hari Raya Haji, no leave needed. Wesak on Thu 20 May plus Fri 21 May of leave gives four days.
- 29 May to 8 Jun: the stretch worth planning around, set out below.
- 22 to 25 Jul (Thu to Sun): Sarawak Day, then take Fri 23 Jul for four days.
- 14 to 16 Aug (Sat to Mon): Maulidur Rasul on the Sunday, with the Monday replacement if confirmed, no leave needed.
- 28 to 31 Aug (Sat to Tue): National Day, then take Mon 30 Aug for four days.
- 16 to 19 Sep (Thu to Sun): Malaysia Day, then take Fri 17 Sep for four days.
The June stretch works because four holidays sit close together: Gawai on Tue 1 and Wed 2 June, Awal Muharram on Sun 6 June, the Agong’s birthday on Mon 7 June and, if confirmed, a replacement on Tue 8 June. Taking Mon 31 May, Thu 3 June and Fri 4 June covers the gaps, so three days of leave give eleven days off, from Sat 29 May to Tue 8 June (ten if 8 June is not confirmed). Two days of leave (3 and 4 June) still give eight days, from 1 to 8 June, and one day (31 May) gives five days off around Gawai alone.
The downside is plain. Chinese New Year day one (6 February), Labour Day (1 May), the Governor’s birthday (9 October) and Christmas (25 December) all land on Saturdays in 2027. Sarawak moves a Sunday holiday to the Monday but does nothing for a Saturday, so those four are ordinary weekend days for anyone on a five-day week and there is nothing to plan around them.
Flights are the first thing that stops being cheap around these dates. Sarawakians working in the Peninsula fly home for Gawai on annual leave, because Gawai is not a holiday there, and fares to Kuching in festival weeks regularly exceed fares overseas. The fixed-fare windows announced for 2026 covered Chinese New Year and Aidilfitri, not Gawai, so Gawai fares from Kuala Lumpur in June 2027 may have no ceiling. Anyone flying in or out of Kuching airport on a peak date should book as soon as the dates are confirmed.
Beach rooms are the second pinch point. Santubong has only six places to stay on Booking.com, with mid-range resorts at roughly RM300 to RM600 a night on ordinary dates, so a stretch like 29 May to 8 June leaves little slack. Reviewers of the older Damai resorts mention tired rooms and say a car is close to essential, so what the beach and resorts at Damai offer is worth settling before you book.
What Is Confirmed and What Can Still Move?
Chinese New Year on 6 February, Wesak on 20 May and Good Friday on 26 March are settled. The rest carry risk from two sources: the moon sighting and the state’s replacement days.
Aidilfitri and Aidiladha carry an asterisk (“subject to change”) in the federal schedule because they follow the moon sighting, so each can shift by a day. A few calendar sites already print Aidilfitri as 9 to 10 March and Aidiladha as 16 May, so treat the federal 10 to 11 March and 17 May as provisional. Awal Muharram and Maulidur Rasul are not asterisked, though they follow the same Islamic calendar.
The replacement days follow the state’s Public Holidays Ordinance, which gives the following Monday when a listed holiday falls on a Sunday. That covers 8 February and 16 August cleanly. The overlap on 6 and 7 June is the weak spot, because the old law is silent when the next day is already a holiday. The state assembly passed an amendment on 13 October 2026 to make Sunday and overlap replacements automatic, but no start date has been published. In 2026 the state covered the same pattern by gazette (Swk. L.N. 202), giving 3 and 4 June as replacement days. That precedent is why 8 June is shown as likely and not as certain.
The state can also add days on its own, as with an extra Aidilfitri holiday in March 2026, so a one-off day in 2027 is possible.
What Closes on a Sarawak Public Holiday?
Banks, government counters and schools shut on a gazetted Sarawak holiday, while malls, supermarkets and most food stalls stay open, and the rundown of JPN, JPJ, immigration and tax counters that close matters most around the June stretch. Vivacity Megamall and The Spring both list 10 am to 10 pm every day of the week, Sundays included, and neither posts separate holiday hours.
How Does 2027 Compare With 2026?
The 2026 list ran to 21 dates once the extra Aidilfitri day and the two June replacements were counted, against 19 plus up to three replacements for 2027. More of 2027 falls on weekends: only two 2026 holidays (21 March and 10 October) fell on a Saturday, against four in 2027. The 2026 table with its extra Aidilfitri day shows the difference date by date.
Re-checked against the federal schedule on 1 November 2026. No Sarawak notice for 2027 had appeared yet, and this page will be updated when the state publishes its list.