Sun Still Up At 7PM In Langkawi

This was that last picture in the previous story where I wondered why the sun was still up at 7PM!

About to set yes, but it was not even near the horizon yet. In the Philippines, 7PM is already dark - any day of year. So I got curious why Langkawi has a 7PM sun, we don't, but we're in the same time zone.

That curiosity comes from a childhood knowledge that: "when it is 12NN, the sun is vertically above a place". Here, obviously it wouldn't be the case, when at 7PM they still have Mr. Sun warming the place!

So I checked the phone I used to take that pic - which placed a 7:03PM time-stamp. I initially thought something was automatically changed/adjusted in and by itself. Well. y'know phones nowadays, they do many things 'on their own', for us users, right? But nothing was wrong, it stamped the correct time!

It was indeed already past 7PM! But, I was perplexed to see the sun still up. Philippines is UTC+8 and there had been no sun ever at 7PM. Sundown in the Philippines is somewhere around 5 to 6PM, right? But Langkawi (Malaysia) is also in the UTC+8 zone, right? Bakit me araw pa sila? Ano, nag-overtime?!

So, I 'asked the ever reliable friend - google - to 'explain why', and I got the needed information pronto!

Here, I grabbed this pic from therakyatpost.com. This shows the time zones in our part of the world!

Let's start by looking at the Philippines as reference. It's at UTC+8 (column with an olive-green color). Then look at the light-blue column to the left. That's UTC+7 - meaning, their time is an hour later than ours - if it's 2PM dito sa atin, it will just be 1PM in the light-blue areas - such as at Jakarta or Bangkok.

Now look at the arrow I drew in the graphic. That's where Langkawi is. Yun naman pala, they're in the next 15 degrees of earth, from our Philippines. It should have just been 6:03PM when I took the photo.

BUT, bakit sila nakiki-7:03PM (which is UTC+8) eh dapat 6:03PM pa lang sa kanila (UTC+7)? Kita mo yun? The left edge of UTC+8 (olive-green) encroaches a big part of the light-blue portion, making the demarcation irregular instead of a straight line. And that 'irregularity' contains Malaysia & Singapore!

So google nanaman! I wanted to know why Malaysia and Singapore use UTC+8 when they should be at UTC+7 [UTC+7:30 to be exact]. And I discovered that this was changed just lately - in 1981 or 1982 - howsoever you want to look at it. Basta on December 31, 1981, at 11:30PM, both countries declared New Year 1982! Hindi naman sa atat na atat. They marked the next minute as 00:01 January 1, 1982.

They advanced their time by 30 minutes to match that of ours in UTC+8. So, bakit nga? Ha?

Ah well, ang nasasagap kong sabi-sabi sa internet eh, ano daw.., si Mahathir Mohamad na kaka-PM lang noong July 1981 nag-suggest daw na dapat pareho ang oras ng buong Malaysia. Eh ang Sabah (Eastern Malaysia sa Borneo, ilalim ng 'Pinas) nasa-UTC+8, tapos sila sa Western Malaysia eh nasa UTC+7. Dapat daw ipareho na lang para hindi magulo. Ayun, ipinareho nga! Sumali pa ang Singapore!

Ganun lang kadali yun? As in? O mga bagets, tara mag-UTC+9 tayo para sabay sa K-Pop at J-Pop!

Seriously, the yearning for more information streamed in my little brain. Like, "bakit naman naki-join si Singapore"? Aba, parang 'wala lang'. May I call lang daw si PM Mahathir Mohamad to PM Lee Kuan Yew.., agree sila.., ayun na, inusug nila ang new year nila pareho ng sa atin! O walang basagan ng trip!

On the other hand, and actually, a probably 'more compelling reason' for the said change in time zone was/is their affinity to China, a big supplier and market of both countries. To synchronize businesses.

Anyway.., reading all those information on the topic, I realized ganun lang pala kadali yun! The idea of having time zones was based on scientific reasoning and logic, but exceptions had to be put in place!

No wonder, if you look at the graphic illustrations of world time zones, the lines are never straight.

And that explains... why Langkawi still has sun at 7PM!