In Singapore in 2027, the most a single day of leave can buy is four days off in a row, and three days taken on 18, 19 and 21 May buy nine. In Kelantan and Terengganu, for anyone whose employer observes the state's full list of holidays, one day of leave on Wednesday 19 May joins a nine-day break. We built a 2027 calendar for Singapore, Hong Kong and each of Malaysia's 16 states and federal territories from the official lists and weekend rules, and checked every break that contains a public holiday.
All three 2027 lists are out: Singapore's from the Ministry of Manpower, Hong Kong's from GovHK and the Labour Department, and Malaysia's from the Prime Minister's Department, whose 2027 list is a PDF dated August 2026 with a table for every state. Malaysian figures below use each state's full list. The Employment Act owes a private-sector worker 11 of those holidays, five of them fixed and six chosen by the employer, so a Malaysian break may be shorter at work than on the calendar. Every figure assumes a Monday to Friday week, except in the Malaysian states that rest on Friday and Saturday. Mainland China and Taiwan, which swap working days around their holidays, are outside this guide.
Ahead of Lunar New Year, a Friday's leave opens five days in Hong Kong
Lunar New Year's first two days fall on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February. Hong Kong makes Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 February general holidays, the fourth day standing in for the second, which fell on a Sunday. One day of leave on Friday 5 February therefore gives five days off, what Hong Kong pages would call 請1放5, "take one, get five". The pages we read headline 請3放9 instead, taking 10 to 12 February for nine days from 6 to 14 February.
In Singapore the second day's Sunday moves the holiday to Monday 8 February, which the Holidays Act does for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday, so Chinese New Year is a three-day weekend with no leave. In Malaysia, the same rule in section 3 of the Holidays Act 1951, which covers Peninsular Malaysia, gives Monday 8 February in the states that rest on Saturday and Sunday, but the 2027 table lists no replacement days at all. That date, and the others like it below, follows from the Act on our reading, and we found no 2027 notice confirming any of them.
Around Hari Raya Puasa, Kuala Lumpur's break runs to nine days
Hari Raya Puasa is listed for Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 March in Malaysia, marked 「Tertakluk kepada perubahan」, subject to change, as the dates for Hari Raya Qurban and Deepavali are too. If it holds, one day of leave on Friday 12 March gives five days off in Kuala Lumpur, and three days, on 8, 9 and 12 March, give nine from 6 to 14 March. Singapore marks only one day, Wednesday 10 March, so two days of leave on 11 and 12 March give five days off.
At Easter, Hong Kong's general and statutory holidays part company
Hong Kong has 17 general holidays in 2027, the days banks, schools and government offices close, and 15 statutory holidays, the days every employee is owed by law. The two lists differ at Easter: Good Friday on 26 March and the day after it are general holidays but not statutory ones. Good Friday becomes statutory from 2028 and the day after it from 2030, according to the Labour Department's guide to the Employment Ordinance. The lists also differ at Christmas, where the statutory holiday is Winter Solstice on 22 December or Christmas Day, at the employer's option.
With the general holidays, four days of leave from 30 March to 2 April join Easter to Ching Ming on Monday 5 April for eleven days off, the 請4放11 that Hong Kong's holiday pages lead with. With statutory holidays only, the same four days give ten, or five days give eleven. The same guide says annual leave "should be granted for an unbroken period", and that where the entitlement is ten days or fewer, up to three days can be granted separately if the employee asks. The employer sets the dates after consultation.
On Labour Day, Singapore's Saturday holiday becomes a day off or a day's pay
Three of Singapore's 2027 holidays fall on a Saturday: the first day of Chinese New Year, Labour Day on 1 May and Christmas Day. By our count, that leaves eight on a weekday, against ten in 2026, when only one fell on a Saturday. Several leave planners describe a Saturday holiday as lost, and one says Labour Day and Christmas give "a 3-day weekend at best". For an employee covered by the Employment Act, section 88(1)(c) says that when a holiday falls on a day the contract does not require them to work, the employer "may either pay the employee for that holiday" or "give the employee a day off in substitution". The Ministry of Manpower's own guidance says that on a five-day week, Saturday is the non-working day. Employees outside the Act get what their contract says.
Neither Singapore's calendar nor Malaysia's moves a Saturday holiday. Malaysia's Act replaces a holiday only when it falls on the weekly holiday, which it defines as Sunday, or Friday in the states that rest on Friday. So Malaysia's Awal Muharam, on Sunday 6 June, moves to Monday 7 June, which is already the Agong's birthday, and on to Tuesday 8 June; Maulidur Rasul on Sunday 15 August moves to Monday 16 August. Hong Kong gives a replacement when a statutory holiday falls on an employee's rest day. We could not confirm how Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu treat a holiday on their Saturday.
In mid-May, a Wednesday off turns into nine days in Kelantan
The nine days in Kelantan and Terengganu come from a chain of holidays against a Friday and Saturday weekend: Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May, Hari Arafah on Sunday 16, Hari Raya Qurban on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18, a day of leave on Wednesday 19, Wesak on Thursday 20, then the weekend of 21 and 22 May. Hari Raya Qurban's dates are subject to change, and none of those four holidays is among the five the Employment Act fixes for private-sector staff.
Malaysia's list works more like sixteen lists. New Year's Day is a state holiday in 11 of the 16 and is not observed in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis or Terengganu. Deepavali is not a Sarawak holiday. Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu rest on Friday and Saturday, according to a National Security Council news item, which also records that Johor went back to Saturday and Sunday on 1 January 2025. The Employment Act 1955, section 60D, names the five fixed holidays: National Day, the Agong's birthday, the Ruler's birthday or Federal Territory Day, Workers' Day and Malaysia Day. The employer must post the other six before the year begins.
The same week works in Singapore, where Hari Raya Haji is on Monday 17 May and Vesak Day on Thursday 20 May: leave on 18, 19 and 21 May gives nine days, from 15 to 23 May. Every planner we read agrees on this one. Until 30 September 2026, our leave optimiser used one Malaysian list with a Saturday and Sunday weekend everywhere, and said Malaysia's 2027 list was not yet gazetted. In Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, four of the five days it suggested on a five-day budget were Fridays, already their weekend. It now plans each state on its own list and weekend.
By Christmas, Hong Kong's last break of the year runs into 2028
Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, and Hong Kong makes Monday 27 December a holiday as the first weekday after it. Four days of leave, from Tuesday 28 to Friday 31 December, then carry the break through Saturday 1 January 2028 to Sunday 2 January, nine days in all. It is the only 2027 break that ends in the following year.
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