Badposter rates every country flag

Flag of Malaysia
800px-Flag_of_Malaysia.svg.png

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 26 May 1950 (as flag of the Malayan Federation, which would become independent on 31 August 1957). Current number of stripes and points in the star adopted on 16 September 1963 (Malaysia established).
Part 1
Rule 1: A child may not be able to draw the exact number of stripes or points in the star, but they can draw the rest of the flag from memory.
Rule 2: This may get complex. If you get confused, refer to this chart
In 1826 the British Strait Settlements were founded. They were Penang, Dinding (now known as Manjung), Malacca, and Singapore. Intitially, the Straits Settlements were under the rule of the British East India Company. (all of those territories, excluding Singapore, are now in Peninsular Malaysia).
In 1838 James Brooke, a British man, would come to Sarawak (a region of the island of Borneo), which was facing a rebellion against the Sultan of Brunei, which at that time ruled the area. Brooke would help to crush the rebellion, and to fight piracy, which in 1841 made the Sultan of Brunei grant him the title of Rajah of Sarawak and to cede Sarawak to him. Thus, after 1841 "White Rajahs" of the Brooke dynasty would rule the independent Kingdom of Sarawak.
In 1846 Labuan, a territory made up of the island of Lebuan and six other islands off the coast of Borneo, part of Brunei since the 15th century, was ceded to to the UK after the signing of the Treaty of Labuan. In 1848 Labuan would become a British Crown Colony.
In 1867 the rule of the British East India Company over the Straits Settlements would end, and the Strait Settlements would become a British Crown Colony. The British East India Company woul be dissolved in 1874.
In 1874 a British Residents System was established in Selangor. In the system, a British Resident General would hold the real power in Selangor, while the Sultan would remain as a figurehead. That year, the System would be established in Perak (a Sultanate) and Negeri Sembilan (a monarchy, whose monarch, the Yantuam Besar, is elected by a council of chiefs).
In 1882 Sabah, a region of Borneo, which was ruled by the Sultanate of Sulu, began to be ruled by the British North Borneo Company.
In 1885 Johor (a sultanate) would fall under the British Residents System.
In 1888 Sabah became the British Protectorate of North Borneo, Sarawak (which had annexed quite a lot of land from from Brunei, which was reduced to its current borders) became a British protectorate, and Pahang (yet another sultanate) fell to the British Residency System.
In 1890 Labuan would become part of the North Borneo Protectorate.
In 1895 Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang would be united to form the Federated Malay States, ruled from 1896 to 1911 by Residents General, from 1911 to 1936 by Chief Secreataries to the Government, and from 1936 to 1946 by Federal Secretaries.
The Federated Malay States had a flag with four horizontal stripes, which from top to bottom were white, red, yellow, and black. On the center, the flag had a white circle with a Malayan tiger leaping to left on it.
Red and yellow were used in Selangor's flag, white, yellow, and black were used in Perak's, Black, red, and yellow were used in Negeri Sembilan's, and black and white were used in Pahang's.
In 1904 Labuan was separated from the Protectorate of North Borneo, and in 1906 it became part of the Strait Settlements.
In 1909 the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 was signed. It gave parts of southern Siam (Siam was the name of Thailand before 1939, and from 1945 to 1949) to the United Kingdom. The UK gained the protectorates of Kelantan (a sultanate), Terengganu (a sultanate), Kedah (a sultanate), and Perlis (not a sultanate, but a kingdom). The protectorates gained after the treat, along with Johor, were known as the Unfederated Malay States, because they were the parts of British Malaya that were not in the Federated Malay States or in the Strait Settlements.
In 1912 Labuan was separated from the Straits Settlements. This would be the last territorial change in what is now Malaysia... until 1941, when the Japanese Empire occupied Malaya and British Borneo. After the war ended, and Japan was defeated, Malaya and British Borneo would be under British military administrations. On 1 April 1946 the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States, and the Strait Settlements (except for Singapore, which would become a separate colony) were united to form the Malayan Union, a colony whose flag was the same as that of the Federated Malay States. On 1 July 1946 Sarawak became a crown colony, and on 15 July 1946 Labuan became part of North Borneo, which would become a crown colony.
The Malayan Union was unpopular with the Malays in the colony, due to it giving the Sultans less powers than they had before, and due to its easy granting of citizenships to immigrants. Malays would wear white bands around their heads, symbolizing the loss of their Sultan's political rights. Due to the unpopularity of the union, on 1 February 1948 the Federation of Malaya was founded. I t would be a confederation of nine states plus Penang and Malacca, which were colonies. The Federation of Malaya, at first, had the same flag as that of the Federated Malay States and of the Malayan Union. But in 1950 there was a competition for a new flag for the Federation of Malaya. Three flags were put forwards, and a flag with eleven aternating red and white stripes (with the topmost stripe being red) and a blue canton with a crescent and a five-pointed star (both yellow) on it, designed by Mohammed Hanzah, an 29-year old architect, was adopted, but with one alteration: the star was changed to have eleven points, since the five-pointed star was associated with communists, with which Malaya was fighting against at the time. In the flag, the blue symbolizes the unity of the Malaysian people, the crescent symbolizes Islam (Islam is Malaysia's state religion. 61.3% of Malaysians are Muslims), and the yellow symbolizes the royal colors of the Malaysian rulers. The eleven stripes symbolized the nine protectorates and two colonies of Malaysia, and the 11 points of the star the unity between them. The flag was based on that of the East India Company, which as you may remember ruled the Straits Settlements from 1826 to 1867.
The Federation of Malaya became indepedent on 31 August 1957, and what were once the protectorates and colonies in the Federation of Malaya became states (interestingly, after independence an elective monarchy was established).
On 22 July 1963 Sarawak became self-governing. On 31 August of that year, Singapore became independent and North Borneo would become self-governing. After the Malaysia Agreement came into effect on 16 September 1963, the Malayan Federation, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo would unite to become Malaysia.
Malaysia's flag would be like the Federation of Malaya's, but with 14 stripes and a star with 14 points to represent the three new states in Malaysia.
Singapore and Malaysia did not have a good relation. After economic and political disagreements, and race riots, there was a vote in the Malaysian Parliament (in which no Singaporean delegates were present) on whether Singapore should be expelled from Malaysia. Expulsion was voted for 126 to 0. Even though Singapore was expelled, the number of stripes in the flag remained the same, making it so that the Malaysian flag had a meaningless stripe. However, in 1974 Kuala Lumpur, formerly part of Selangor, became a Federal Territory, and the number of stripes on Malaysian stripes made sense. Even though Labuan and Putrayaja have also become Federal territories, the 14th stripes doesn't symbolize a federal territory: it symbolizes the federal government.
Rule 3: Blue, yellow, red, and white. I like the colors of this flag.
Rule 4: The crescent and star is a simple emblem.
Rule 5: This flag is, interistingly, similar to that of the United States. The flags may be related: Malaysia's flag comes from the East India Company's, while the United States' first flag is either based on the East India Company's or on the Red Ensign.In any case, the emblems on the two flag's cantons are different enough for me to consider them distinctive.
Part 2
Federated Malay States (1895-1946) Malayan Union (1946-1948), Federation of Malaya (1948-1950)
800px-Flag_of_the_Federated_Malay_States_%281895_-_1946%29.svg.png
I'd like the flag if it didn't have the tiger.
Part 3
It's a good flag.
 
Flag of the Maldives
800px-Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 25 July 1965 (one day before the Maldives became independent)
Part 1
Rule 1: This flag is pretty simple.
Rule 2: The very first flag used in the Sultanate of the Maldives was a plain red flag (the Maldives had been a sultanate since 1153, when King Dhovemi converted to Islam. Before then, the Maldives was a Buddhist Kingdom, and before that it was an Hindu kingdom). Some time after that, a series of diagonal white and black stripes were added to the hoist side. (this was the Maldives' flag when it was made a British protectorate in 1887). Sometime between 1926 and 1932 two new flags were created for the Maldives: the first was a national flag which was like the previous, but which had a white crescent pointed towards the hoist on the center, while the second, a state flag, was like the national flag, except the crescent was on a green rectangle.
In 1952 Abdul Majeed Didi, sultan of the Maldives, died. After his death, the Maldivian parliament elected Mohamed Amin Didi as sultan. But Didi declared that he would not accept the crown or the throne. After a referendum, the Maldives would become a republic with Didi as its president. The new republic would have one flag, which was like the state flag, but with the crescent oriented towards the fly side.
The new republic did not last long. While Mohamed Amin Didi was in Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known by then) for medical treatment, a revolt broke out in Malé and the monarchy was brought back, after a referendum in which, officially, 98% of Maldivians voted to bring back the monarchy.
On 25 July 1965 the stripes on the hoist side were removed for the flag, and the next day the Maldives became fully independent.
In the flag, the red symbolizes the willingness of the country's heroes to shed blood for their country, the green symbolizes peace and prosperity, and the crescent symbolizes Islam, the country's main religion (98.2% of Maldivians are Muslim)
On 15 November 1967 there was in a vote in parliament on whether the Maldives should become a republic or remain a constitutional monarchy. Members of parliament voted for the republic forty votes to four. On 15 March 1968 a referendum on whether the Maldives should be a republic or a constitutional monarchy ended with the republican side winning with 81.23% of the vote. The monarchy was abolishes on 11 November 1968, and the Maldives have become a republic since.
Rule 3: Red, green, and white. I like the colors of this flag.
Rule 4: The crescent is a simple emblem.
Rule 5: This flag is different from other stars with crescents. It's distinctive. (also, this flag notably has a crescent but not star.
Part 3
First flag of the Sultanate of the Maldives.
800px-Earliest_Flag_of_the_Maldives.svg.png
Plain red flags have been surprisingly common in history.
Second flag of the Sultanate of the Maldives.
800px-Flag_of_the_Maldives_until_1903.svg.png
I like the stripes on the hoist, but I'm okay with them not being on the current.
National flag (somewhere betweem 1926 to 1932-1953)
800px-Old_National_Flag_of_the_Maldives.svg.png
I like this flag with or without the crescent.
Protectorate of the Maldives (somewhere between 1926 to 1932-1953)
600px-Old_State_Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png
See what I said about the second flag of the Maldives.
The 1953-1965 flag is nearly identical to that of the Protectorate of the Maldives from somewhere between 1926 to 1932-1953, the only difference being that the crescent of the 1953-1965 flag was oriented towards the fly side instead of the hoist side.
Part 3
A nice, simple flag with good colors.
 
Bob Eubanks said:
The second flag in Part 3 is broken, fyi.
Fixed, thanks for telling.
.
Flag of Mali
800px-Flag_of_Mali.svg.png

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 1 March 1961.
Part 1
Rule 1: This flag is a simple tricolor.
Rule 2: From 1880 to 1958 Mali was a French colony, part of the federation of French West Africa, known as French Sudan (technically, it was only known as French Sudan from 1890 to 1900 and from 1921 to 1958, but the changes don't interest me that much). In 1958, there were constitutional referendums in France and almost all of its colonies. In French Sudan, the referendum ended with 97.54% of the colony's population choosing to become part of the new French Community. On 24 November 1958 French Sudan became the Sudanese Republic, an autonomous part of the French Community. The flag of the Sudanese Republic was a French tricolor with a kanaga, a black stick figure of a person whose arms were raised towards the sky.
In 1959, there were plans for a federation between the Sudanese Republic, Senegal, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and Dahomey (now Benin). However, the legislatures of Upper Volta and Dahomey did not ratify the federation. On 4 April 1959 the Mali Federation, made up of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic, was founded. On 20 April 1960 the federation became fully independent. The Mali Federation's flag was a green, gold, an red vertical tricolor with a kanaga on the yellow. The green symbolized the fertility of the land (as you can see on this satellite image of Mali, southern Mali is green, but northern Mali is in the Sahara desert), gold symbolized purity and mineral wealth (except for South Africa and Ghana, Mali is the country which produces the most gold in Africa) and red the blood shed for Mali's independence agaimst the French.
The Mali Federation did not last long, being dissolved after a series of event I will copypaste given I'm not interested enough to write about them:
Wikipedia said:
Tensions quickly arose within the Mali Federation as planning for the implementation of the federation began in 1959 and early 1960. Unlike some other areas of French West Africa, French Sudan and Senegal did not have significant amounts of migration or intercultural movement during the colonial period (although they were linked together in French economic policy and linked by a key railway).[17] More serious than ethnic or linguistic differences though were some of the results of the design of the federation. While the parity principle allowed both countries to join together without fears of losing their sovereignty, it also resulted in political spillover as political disputes moved from one arena to another throughout the organization.[18] Similarly, the PFA tried to combine two political parties which were in very different situations with the French Sudan political party having achieved political dominance while the Senegal party needed an elaborate and complex arrangement of alliances in order to maintain authority.[19] In addition, some of the aspects left vague in the first discussions became key issues of debate between the political leaders of Senegal and French Sudan as their articulation became more important: including armed forces, development of an indigenous bureaucracy, the strength of the federal government, and the precise relationship with France.[12][20] Finally, different visions for the colony between Senghor and Keïta proved very difficult to mediate: Keïta, after the dissolution of the federation, claimed that he pursued socialism while Senghor pushed a bourgeoisie agenda.[1]

The disagreements remained manageable until April 1960 after negotiations with France for recognition of independence had finished. French Sudan began to push for a single executive in the federation with significant independent authority, Senegal preferred to maintain the parity principle as it had been developed in 1959 and restrain the power of any President.[21] When a PFA congress to decide the issue ended in a deadlock, the PFA members from outside the federation were called in to mediate and they recommended the creation of a single executive to be appointed by an equal number of representatives from Senegal and French Sudan, but also that the taxation would no longer be widely shared between the two colonies (a key Senegal position).[22] Although that issue was resolved to the agreement of both parties, a series of misunderstandings quickly followed. When French Sudan attempted to remove a single military base within its territories, this was interpreted as an attempt to eject the French from the entire territory, which was viewed with suspicion by both Senegal and France.[23]

The tensions hit their high point in August 1960 in preparation for the election of the President of the Mali Federation. Cheikh Tidjane Sy, who had been released from prison and became a member of Senghor's political party, approached Senghor and said that he had been approached by representatives from Sudan who had expressed a preference for a Muslim president of the Mali Federation (like Sy) rather than a Catholic president (like Senghor).[24] An investigation by Senghor's political allies found evidence that French Sudan emissaries had visited Sy's uncle, himself a Muslim political leader.[25] At about the same time, Keïta as Premier of the Mali Federation began meeting formally with many of the Muslim political leaders of Senegal, although there is no evidence of discussion of undermining Senghor's leadership.[25] On 15 August, Senghor, Dia, and other political leaders of Senegal began to work on how to get Senegal out of the Federation.[25] Mamadou Dia, as the vice-Premier and person in charge of national defense, began surveying the readiness of various military units in case the political situation were to become hostile. These questions to the various military units resulted in panic by Keïta and the French Sudan politicians. On 19 August, with reports of Senegalese peasants arming in Dakar, Keïta dismissed Dia as the defense minister, declared a state of emergency, and mobilized the armed forces. Senghor and Dia were able to get a political ally in the military to demobilize the military and then had the national gendarmerie which surrounded Keïta's house and the government offices.[12][26][27]

Senegal declared independence from the Mali Federation at a midnight session on the 20th of August. There was little violence and the French Sudan officials were sent on a sealed train back to Bamako on 22 August.[28] The federation may have been salvageable in spite of the crisis but by sending Keïta and the others back on a hot, sealed train during August, rather than a plane, led Keïta to declare that the railroad be destroyed at the border after the trip.[29] Independent nations of Senegal and the Republic of Mali were recognized by most countries by mid-September and accepted into the United Nations in late September 1960.[28]
Though Senegal left the federation on 20 August 1960, the Sudanese Republic officially kept being part of the federation until 22 September 1960, when it changed its name to the Republic of Mali. The Republic of Mali, at first, had the flag of the Mali Federation as its flag. However, Islamic fundamentalists believed that the kanaga, as a depiction of an human, was idolatrous, and so on 1 March 1961 the kanaga was rempved from the flag.
Rule 3: Green, gold, and red. I like the Pan-African colors, even if they're overused.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: This flag is very similar to Guinea's, the only difference being that the positions of the red and green on Mali's flag are swapped in Guinea's flag, and vice versa.
Part 2
Sudanese Republic (1958-1959)
800px-Flag_of_French_Sudan_%281958-1959%29.svg.png
French colonial flags are mostly bad, but sometimes they're good, like this one.
Mali Federation (1959-1960), Republic of Mali (1960-1961)
800px-Flag_of_Mali_1959-1961.svg.png
I like this flag. The kanaga is a simple emblem which makes this flag distinctive.
Part 3
A bland tricolor whose flag is too similar to Guinea's. Bad flag.
 
Flag of Malta
800px-Flag_of_Malta.svg.png

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 21 September 1974 (Maltese independence)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could not draw the Cross from memory.
Rule 2: From 870 to 1091, Malta was part of the Emirate of Sicily. (before then, it was part of Phoenicia, Carthage, the Roman Empire, and the Eastern Roman Empire). In 1091 Malta was conquered by Roger I of Sicily, a Norman count who had previously conquered Sicily. This is the time when, according to legend, Malta's flag originated. It is said that when Roger's fleet entered Malta, the Christians living there volunteered to fight the Muslims along with the count. In response, Roger I would rip off his checkered red and white flag and the pieces to the Christians so he could tell them apart from the Muslims. However, the legend originated in the 19th century, and is most likely, false.
After being conquered by Roger I, Malta would become part of the Kingdom of Sicily. It would be ruled by the Normans until 1194, when it would pass to the House of Hohenstaufen. In 1266 the kingdom was conquered by the Capetian House of Anjou, The Angevins imposed heavy taxes in Sicily, which they spent on foreign wars, which made them rather unpopular, which led to the Sicilian Vespers, after which the House of Anjou was overthrown and replaced with the House of Barcelona. The legitimate members of the House of Barcelona became extinct in 1410, and the Kingdom of Sicily became part of the Crown of Aragon, which would in 1516 pass to Charles V of the House of Habsburg (who would become Holy Roman Emperor in 1519). who gave Malta to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1530. The Knights Hospitalier would rule Malta until 1798, during the French Revolutionary Wars, when Napoleon captured Malta. Malta would be occupied by the French, who would take over church property and loot it to fund the war. This led to the French occupation being unpopular in Malta.
After the Siege of Malta, Malta would become a British protectorate. After the 1814 Treaty of Paris Malta became a British colony.
During WWII, Malta was sieged and heavily bombed by the Axis powers. Malta's heroism caused King George VI of the United Kingdom to award the George Cross to Malta in 1942 (Malta was the only collective receiver of the award until 1999, when the award was given to the Royal Ulster Constabulary). After that, Malta's official flag was like most British colonial flags (though there was a George Cross in the flag's coat of arms), but it also had an unofficial which was a red and vertical bicolor with a blue canton which had the George Cross on it. When Malta became independent on 21 Septembver 1964 a version of the unofficial flag without the blue was adopted as Malta's flag.
Rule 3: Red and white. Some flags with this combination are good, but some are boring.
Rule 4: The George Cross has is pretty complex, and it has text. It's also pretty small, which is bad for something so complex.
Rule 5: The George Cross makes the flag distinctive imo.
Part 2
Malta has been ruled by a lot of countries (plus the Knights Hospitalier), and Malta has always had the flag of the county that ruled, except for when it was a British colony, but I don't like writing British colonial flags (for the curious, Malata as a British colony had 4 flags, the first was used from 1875 to 1898, the second was used from 1898 to 1923, the third was used from 1923 to 1943, and the last, which had the George Cross, was used from 1943 to 1964. You can look at them in Wikipedia's List of Flags of Malta, in the "historical flags" section).
part 3
The George Cross is pretty complex, and I think the rest of the flag is boring. I prefer Malta's civil ensign, which is simple and distinctive.