Prior to the adoption of the flag, the three directly governed territories of
Kuala Lumpur,
Putrajaya and
Labuan had utilised the
flag of Kuala Lumpur to represent the
Federal Territories as a collective unit, which was deemed inappropriate by
Minister of Federal Territories,
Zulhasnan Rafique as it did not reflect that there were three different Federal Territories. The
Cabinet of Malaysia decided to adopt an official flag representing them collectively. The government had already sought the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Sirajuddin of Perlis on 12 May 2005 a year prior to the act. On 1 March 2006, a meeting chaired by Zulhasnan Rafique was held. Rafique chose a proposed flag that designed by team from the Universiti Teknologi MARA, his choice was then approved by the cabinet on 26 April 2006. The flag of the Federal Territories was first unveiled by the minister on 23 May 2006 and launched by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 20 August 2006. == Symbolism ==