CONTENTS
OF THIS SECTION
|
Malaysia Based Tamil Related
Websites... |
Malaysian Tamils Back the Cause of
Eelam |
Hindu
Rights Action Front |
Language
& Literature
|
�மலேசியத்
தமிழ்
கவிதை
களஞ்சியம்
(1887-1987)� An Anthology of
Malaysian Tamil Poetry (1887-1987)
� A
short review by Geetha Ramaswami |
Tamil Literature in
Malaysia Narration |
Malaysian Tamil
Writers Gallery |
மலேசிய
நூல்கள் -
விருபா |
A Portrait of the Imagination as
a Malleable Kolam: K. S. Maniam's In a Far Country
- Shanthini Pillai |
Teaching Of
Tamil In Malaysia National Schools To Start,
2005 |
Malaysia Tamiz
Kavithaik Kalanchiyam |
Malaysian Tamil
Novels before Independence |
Malaysian Tamil
Novels After Independence |
Tamil Schools:
The Cinderella of Malaysian
Eduation |
Malaysian Tamils
and Tamil Linguistic Culture |
The Malay-Tamil Cultural Contacts with Special
Reference to the Festival of "Mandi
Safar"
S. Singaravelu |
Tamil Newspapers published in Malaysia
-
Makkal Osai
Malaysia Nanban
Tamil Nesan
Vanakkam Malaysia |
Tamil Place Names in Malaysia -
Wikipedia "The very name Malaya is a
combination of two Tamil words, Malay or Malai
(hill) and ur (town) meaning
hilltown� (Malaiyur). According to
Dr. Thriunavukkarasu the word Malaysia means the
Mountains of Asia. There is also another hill-town
in Sumatra (Malayadvipa) which had been given the
same name Malai-Yur which later became Malayu (see
Melayu Kingdom)." |
Victoria
Institution
|
Reminscences of R.Thampipillay at
Victoria Institution "...Mr. R.
Thampipillay (1879-1974) was born in Ceylon (now
Sri Lanka) and joined the Victoria Institution as a
pupil in 1895 on his arrival in Malaya. He was a
brilliant scholar and on graduation joined the V.I.
teaching staff in 1898. He played a prominent part
in the formation and training of the Cadet Corps,
holding the rank of Lieutenant. Throughout his
career he taught a total of some fifteen thousand
pupils, all of whom carried away with them fond
memories of a dedicated, versatile and exemplary
teacher..." Nadesan Satyendra is one of his
grand sons. |
Victoria Institution
Web Page |
Politics of
Hindu Revivalism
|
"Weapons of the
Meek": Ecstatic Ritualism and Strategic Ecumenism
among Tamil Hindus in Malaysia - Willford
A "This article
examines the politics of Hindu revivalism among
Tamils in Malaysia. In examining the dramatic
pilgrimage and ritual of Thaipusam and the
activities of a leading Hindu reform and performing
arts organization, it is argued that the present
resurgence of Hinduism is related to a growing
sense of displacement experienced by Tamils in
Malaysia. Thaipusam, while representing a
collective assertion of Tamil and Hindu identity,
also signifies "Indian" within an Islamic-modernist
discourse of the Malaysian nation. Becoming an
ethnic subject within a multicultural nationalist
discourse, in turn, produces ambivalence among some
Tamils which is manifested in status concerns and
social distancing within the Tamil community. Many
elite Hindus, in turn, are drawn to the apparently
ecumenical and modernist teachings within Hindu
reform organizations. The vicissitudes of Malaysian
Hinduism bring into focus some of the complex ways
that diasporic sentiments are produced and
differentiated along lines of status and class
within and against modernist state-ideologies.
" |
Vallalar
Manram |
Second National Saiva Siddhanta
Conference 2000 |
Thaipusam in
Malaysia |
Kalaivani, a Malaysian Tamil
Information
Exchange
|
Agamic
Psychology |
Books by S.
Durai Raja Singam at
adebooks.com
|
Temple Bells - A
Study of Hindu Festivals and Temples in
Malaysia. |
Malayan Place
Names
(ISBN:111270227X) |
Langkasuka:
Glimpses of Indians in Malaysia in Ancient
Times |
India and Malaya
Through the Ages (A Pictorial
Survey) |
|
Tamils - a
Nation without a State
Malaysia - மலேசியா
- an estimated 1,060,000 Tamils live
in Malaysia -
|
Chalangai (Dancing Bells) - A
Malaysian Indian Story - a film about Malaysian
Indians told in a Malaysian way Trailer 1 - Trailer 2
"Chalanggai portrays some
of the social, cultural and economic conditions
of Malaysian Indians who struggle to keep up
with the rapid growth of developing Malaysia.
The film is set in Brickfields, an Indian
street at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the
capital of Malaysia. The film looks into the
aspects of urban living social issues of ethnic
Indians such as education suppression,
unemployment, dysfunctional family values as
well as racial segregation that most Malaysian
Indians encounter in their daily lives.
The film is a cry that
hopefully, will create a sense of history,
self-rediscovery and an inspiration to all
Malaysians. It also intends to be a reminder to
the younger generation of the hardship and
treatment endured by their predecessors.
'A race of people is
like an individual man: until it uses its own
talent, takes pride in its history, expresses
its own culture and affirm its own selfhood, it
cannot fulfil itself" "- Malcom X
|
The Indian Minority & Political
Change in Malaya 1945-1957 - Rajeswary
Ampalavanar
"Large scale migration of
Indians from the sub continent to Malaya
followed the extension of British formal rule
to the west coast Malay states in the 1870s. As
early as 1901 the Indian population in the
Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay
States was approximately 120,000, and by 1947
it had grown to almost 600,000 for Malaya and
Singapore. At the time of Independence in 1957
it stood at a little over 820,000. In this last
year Indians accounted for approximately 11 per
cent of the total population of Malaya and
Singapore. The overwhelming
majority of migrants from India were Tamil
speakers from the south of the sub continent.
In 1947 they represented approximately 77 per
cent of the total Indian population in Malaya
and Singapore."
|
On Tamils in Malaysia - Shan
Ranjit, 8 December 2007
"..Malaysia has been in the news
of recently. The Tamils in Malaysia
especially those of Indian origin have begun
agitating for their civic rights. I had written
an article - attached below - in the mid
nineties during a visit to Malaysia. I was
shocked at the way that non Malays - especially
those of Indian and Eelam origin were treated.
And I was saddened by the way these
Malaysians of Indian and Eelam origin accepted
the open discrimination of their government. I
had the opportunity of meeting very highly
educated and wealthy Malaysians of Eelam origin
during the visit. When I pointed to them about
their unconditional support for the racist
policies of the Malaysian government, they
laughed at me and told me that it was the Eelam
Tamils who were real fools. They pointed out
that had the Eelam Tamils followed their
policies - accepting political discrimination
for economic concessions the Tamils of Eelam
would not be in their present sorry state. All
of them were unanimous in their opinion that
the Malaysian government would never allow
another " 69 " ( a major riot which broke out
against the Chinese and the
Indians).."
|
Tamils in Malaysia Protest Against
Discrimination by Malaysian Government, 25
November 2007
" The record of
racial discrimination practiced by the
Malaysian government as well as by government
agencies is an open secret. Figures in this
list are estimates. The Government of Malaysia
has the most correct figures. Is the government
of Malaysia too ashamed to publicise their
racist acts by publishing the statistics? The
Record Speaks.." more
|
Malaysian Indians: a Third
Class Race - C.S.Kuppuswamy, 2003
"The plight of the
Malaysian Indians can be attributed in part to
a dependency mindset nurtured on the
plantations and this has to be overcome. There
is a significant and emergent need for a change
in the leadership of the Indian parties in
power to take up the cause of the Indians to
get them their due rights free from racial
discrimination and have full access to jobs and
education."
|
Economic Identity &
Malaysian Indians - Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu,
President, Malaysian Indian Congress, May 2003
"..Sir, while the Indian
community has been successful at the macro
policy level, there has been a serious concern
over the implementation and delivery of this
policy. To date there has been no action taken
by any of the Government agencies. The Economic
Planning Unit is supposed to undertake a study
and draw up specific strategies. However our
understanding is that no action has been taken.
The Mid -Term Review of the Eighth Malaysian
Plan is due for tabling in Parliament towards
the later part of the year. The MIC therefore
urges you to review this matter and direct the
relevant agencies to take the appropriate
action."
|
Malaysian Tamils and Tamil Linguistic
Culture - Harold F.
Schiffman, 1998
"The purpose of this paper
is to examine the position of Tamil as an
ethnic minority and language in Malaysia, and
to make some predictions about the prognosis
for survival of Tamil in the twenty-first
century. Tamils are the largest of the language
groups that form the `Indian' minority in
Malaysia, which constitutes around 9% of the
population, or 1.5 million. Within this number,
people classified as Tamil-speaking are about
85%.... .. (But) increasing number of Tamils
... are not actually Tamil speakers.... The
Tamil language will probably survive in
Malaysia into the twenty-first century, but
perhaps only in isolated rural pockets, or
as the language of a marginalized urban
underclass... Tamil has no economic
value in Malaysia, and is therefore maintained
by the socio-economically destitute as a last
vestige of primordial ethnicity. Since even
in the developed western countries (e.g. the
US) a similarly destitute urban underclass
persists, and continues to maintain its own
variety of English despite teachers' attempts
to extirpate it, the prognosis for Tamil is
unlikely to be any different in
Malaysia"
|
Language Shift in the
Tamil Communities of Malaysia and Singapore: the
Paradox of Egalitarian Language Policy
- Harold
F.Schifmann, 1996
"...If
language maintenance does not occur, there can
be several results. One is language death;
speakers become bilingual, younger speakers
become dominant in another language, and the
language is said to die. The speakers or the
community does not die, of course, they just
become a subset of speakers of another
language. The end result is language shift for
the population, and if the language isn't
spoken elsewhere, it dies. In the case of Tamil
in Malaysia, we do not speak of death because
Tamil continues to live on in Tamilnadu, but
the effect is the same. For the speakers who go
to their death as Tamils still, it is a kind of
death to see their children shift to another
language..."
|
Social and Political Ferment in the
Malayan Indian Community 1945 to 1955 -
S.Arasaratnam, 1968
"...(the) political and
social changes broadly outlined here follow the
pattern of similar changes that have taken
place in India and Ceylon in post-war years. As
long as the English educated middle class was
the only articulate and opinion-forming group
in a community, its political and social
activity was centred round wider and more
universal loyalties, and divisive factors
played down. When other layers of leadership
emerge, which do not share this common
experience and values of westernisation, there
takes place a certain degree of centrifugalism
of political and social forces. In Ceylon we
have seen the polarisation of politics into
a Sinhalese and a Tamil nationalism cutting
into whatever common ground there was of a
Ceylonese nation. In India, the nation is rather
dangerously poised on top of a number of
separate and sometimes conflicting linguistic
nationalisms."
|
Culture and Economy: Tamils on the
Plantation Frontier in Malaysia Revisited,
1998/99 - Ravindra K. Jain, 2000
"There is a caste war going
on among Indians in Malaysia. Let me delineate
the general process and recent history...
" more
|
The Changing Positions of Two Tamil
Groups in Malaysia - 'Indian' Tamils &
'Ceylon' Tamils - Clarence E. Glick, 1968
"...Higher education or
specialized education in preparation for
professional and technical positions holds some
promise for advancement, but many of the
younger, educated Indian Tamils, like the
younger Ceylon Tamils, feel a sense of
uncertainty and insecurity about their future.
Perhaps this is another instance of the "
rising expectations " syndrome: as a minority's
self-conception improves, the ambitions of its
members rise faster than the opportunities to
satisfy them. But ironically, the youths of the
formerly advantaged group, the Ceylon Tamils,
are now facing the same problems as the
educated youth of the Indian Tamil group.
However, the Ceylon Tamils are a minority
within a minority, having to cope with a more
drastic re-evaluation of their group status..."
more
|
Ethnic Tensions
in Malaysia: A wake-up call for the Malaysian
Indian Congress - C.S. Kuppuswamy, 2001
"Ignored by government
Policy, hidden from mainstream Malaysian
society, the Indian labour force indeed becomes
Malaysia�s forgotten
people"
|
Heritage Denied - Anthony
Spaeth, 2002
"Decades of official
discrimination have turned Malaysia's ethnic
Indians into a disgruntled
underclass"
|
Political & Economic
Marginalisation of Tamils in Malaysia, Asia
Studies Review, September 2002 - Fee L.K |
Sojourners to citizens : Sri
Lankan Tamils in Malaysia, 1885-1965 -
Rajakrishnan Ramasamy |
The Indian Minority
& Political Change in Malaya 1945-1957
Rajeswary Ampalavanar, Oxford University Press,
1981
"Large scale migration of Indians from the sub
continent to Malaya followed the extension of
British formal rule to the west coast Malay
states in the 1870s. As early as 1901 the Indian
population in the Straits Settlements and the
Federated Malay States was approximately 120,000,
and by 1947 it had grown to almost 600,000 for
Malaya and Singapore. At the time of Independence
in 1957 it stood at a little over 820,000. In
this last year Indians accounted for
approximately 11 per cent of the total population
of Malaya and Singapore.
The overwhelming majority of migrants from
India were Tamil speakers from the south of the
sub continent. In 1947 they represented
approximately 77 per cent of the total Indian
population in Malaya and Singapore. Other South
Indians, mainly Malayalee and Telegus, formed a
further 14 per cent in 1947, and the remainder of
the Indian community was accounted for by North
Indians, principally Punjabis, Bengalis,
Gujeratis, and Sindhis.
These ethnic divisions corresponded closely to
occupational specialisation. For example the
South Indian Tamils were predominantly labourers,
the majority being employed on rubber estates,
though a significant minority worked in
Government public works departments. The Telegus
were also mainly labourers on the estates, whilst
the Malayalee community was divided into those
who occupied relatively more skilled labouring
positions on the estates and those who were white
collar workers or professionals. The North
Indians, with the exception of the Sikhs, were
mainly merchants and businessmen. For example,
the Gujeratis and Sindhis owned some of the most
important textile firms in Malaya and Singapore.
The Sikhs were either in the police or employed
as watchmen.
There were, in addition, three further ethnic
and religious groups whose political and economic
importance in Malaya far exceeded their numerical
strength. Two were important business communities
the Chettiars, a money lending caste from Madras,
and the South Indian Muslims (Moplahs and
Marakkayars) who were mainly wholesalers. The
third group were the Ceylonese Tamils who were
employed principally in the lower levels of the
Civil Service and in the professions.
The close correspondence between the ethnic
and occupational divisions of the Indian
community was inevitably reflected in the
community's geographical distribution in Malaya.
The South Indian Tamils were concentrated mainly
in Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan, on the
rubber estates and railways, though a significant
proportion found employment on the docks in
Penang and Singapore The Telegus were mainly on
the rubber estates of Lower Perak and parts of
Selangor, while the Malayalees were located
predominantly in Lower Perak, Kuala Lumpur, parts
of Negri Sembilan, and Johore Bahru. The business
communities, the Gujeratis, Sindhis, Chettiars,
and South Indian Muslims, were concentrated in
the urban areas, principally Kuala Lumpur,
Penang, Ipoh, and Singapore. The Ceylon Tamils
were also mainly an urban community, though some
were found in rural areas working as subordinate
staff on the estates...."
|
Malaysian
Indians - the Third Class Race -
C.S.Kupuswamy, South Asia Analysis Group, 28
February 2004 |
[ see also Tamils in Malaysia Protest Against
Discrimination by Malaysian Government, 25
November 2007]
�A race of people is like
an individual man: until it uses its own
talent, takes pride in its history, expresses
its own culture and affirm its own selfhood, it
cannot fulfill itself� ---
Malcom X
The third largest ethnic group in Malaysia
after the Chinese and the Malays are the
Malaysian Indians. Despite the fact that the
Indians constitute about 8% of the
country�s population of 22
million they own less than 2% of its national
wealth. According to The Economist (22nd Feb
2003), �they make up 14% of its
juvenile delinquents, 20% of its wife and child
beaters and 41% of its beggars. They make up less
than 5% of the successful university
applicants.� The story of the
Indians has been a case of progressive
deterioration from the time Malaysia became
independent in 1957.
The mass Indian (South Indian) immigration can be
traced back to the early 20th century when the
Britishers brought them to meet the labour force
requirements in the colonial public services and
in private plantations. While the bulk of the
Tamils were employed in the plantations, the Sri
Lankan Tamils and Malayalees were in supervisory
or clerical positions. Of the North Indians, the
Punjabis were in the police force, while the
Gujaratis and Sindhis were in the business
(mostly textiles). Despite the mass exodus of
South Indians back to India after independence
and after the racial riots of May 1969, the
Tamils (South Indians) constitute about 80% of
the total Indian community.
The Indians themselves are to some extent
responsible for their present unenviable and
ignominious status, and the policies of the
Malaysian Government since independence had not
been helpful either. Ignorance born out of
poverty in the plantations resulted in many of
them not getting citizenship which was offered in
1957 when Malaysia became independent. This
prevented them from getting jobs.
A major setback for the Indian labour force was
the steady closure of the rubber plantations
giving way to tea and oil palm plantations. Their
numbers started dwindling and they had
competition from the illegal Indonesian
immigrants. Unlike the Chinese who lay great
emphasis on education, it was not given due
importance by the Indian working class. The Tamil
schools in the estates were often mere apologies
and offered no opportunity for progress in higher
education. The undue importance on Tamil
education has also weakened the Indian community
in competing with the indigenous Malays and the
Chinese. One of the major reasons for the low
percentage of Indian origin students in the
tertiary institutions in the country is the lack
of merit and as a result, even the quotas set for
the Indians remain unutilised.
Despite their economic backwardness, the Indians
were a peace loving people and were not involved
in any racial riots either in May 1969 or later
except for a few incidents of clashes on account
of religious sentiments. However in March 2001,
the ethnic clashes between Indians and Malays in
a village in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur,
brought into focus the plight of the Indian
community in Malaysia. The incident has since
been forgotten on the assumption that the clashes
resulted on account of poor living conditions in
the villages than the racial differences. There
has been no introspection of this incident by the
Government or by the Malaysian Indian Congress
(MIC), the leading political party of the
Indians.
The MIC, a constituent of the coalition
government at the center since independence does
not have much political clout and has not been
able to do anything substantial to improve the
lot of the Indians. Datuk Seri Samy Vellu is the
President of the MIC since 1979. Charles
Santiago, a Malaysian economic consultant, in an
interview on 5 Feb. 2003 to Radio Australia (Asia
Pacific) said � He (Samy Vellu)
is in, very much in control of the party, and the
party�s run almost on feudal
organisation where almost all the decisions are
made by the President himself�.
A lot of Indians are critical of
MIC�s role in the coalition
government � the Indian middle
class dose not want to associate itself in the
MIC and largely making the MIC a working class
party." This in brief sums up the state of
affairs of the leading Indian party and its
leader in the coalition government.
On January 9, 2003, India celebrated the Parvasi
Bhartiya Divas (Day of the Persons of the Indian
origin and Non resident Indians), and ten eminent
persons of Indian origin were given the Indian
Diaspora award. Datuk Seri Samy Vellu was one
among them. One wonders whether Government of
India made any enquiry about Datuk Seri Samy
Vellu's contributions to the Malaysian
Indians.
Referring to the grand mela organised by
Government of India for the people of Indian
origin, Dr. P. Ramasamy of Malaysia in a letter
to the Far Eastern Economic Review (Feb., 27,
2003) said �like previous
(Indian) governments it continues to betray the
interest and welfare of million of Indians locked
in poverty and misery overseas�.
It wants to develop the links with the wealthy
segments of the overseas Indian community while
turning a blind eye at the less savory side of
the diaspora.�
The Malaysian Government policies since
independence have also been consistently to the
detriment of the non-Malays in general though the
Indian community seems to be most hard hit. The
first major step was the introduction of work
permits for the non-citizens when a majority of
Indian workers had not obtained Malaysian
citizenship. Subsequently in 1971 with its New
Economic Policy, the Government championed the
cause of the Malays by the policy of
"Bhumiputras"(sons of the soil).
The Bhumiputras were to have a major share in
the public sector while the private sector
remained secure with the Chinese. The
introduction of quotas for the different races in
the educational institutions has also adversely
affected the Indian community. The New
Development Plan for the period 1991-2000 was
also designed to achieve the socio-economic
upliftment of the Bhumiputras and the
MIC�s efforts to place the
Indians in a separate ethnic grouping seems to
have made no headway with the Malaysian
Government. Being a minority, they do not have
the numerical strength to exert any political
influence nor do they make any significant
contribution to the national economy. The ruling
government�s apathy to the
Indians is therefore understandable.
But what about the leaders like Samy Vellu and
what has been their contribution towards the
alleviation of poverty of the poor people of
Indian origin? There has been none.
The following observations elucidate some of the
reasons for the current state of the Indians and
the bleak chances of their betterment:
*"Malaysians have failed to integrate in any
meaningful fashion, even after almost forty years
of independence.�
� Edmund Terrence Gomez in the
book � Ethnic Futures
� The state and identity
politics in Asia�
* �Indians have little prospect
of advancement, since Malaysia�s
Chinese minority dominates business and Malays
control the bureaucracy�-
P.Ramasamy (The Economist 22nd February
2003).
* �Despite the
country�s veneer of racial
harmony and opportunity for all, many in the
Indian community have limited access to housing ,
education and jobs. About 54% of Malaysian
Indians work on plantations , or as urban
labourers and their wages have not kept up with
the times.�
�Santha Oorjitham (Asiaweek
January 26, 2001).
* �The Scope of government help
(to the Indians) is also limited by the realities
of the race politics in Malaysia, which
effectively means the problems of the majority
Malays will always come ahead of those of the
Indians�. �
Simon Elegant (FEER April 20, 2000).
* �Malaysia�s
Indians are at the bottom of the
country�s social and economic
scale and their ebullient yet stubborn political
leader Samy Vellu is not helping
matters�. Simon Elegant (FEER
April 20, 2000)
Conclusion.
The plight of the Malaysian Indians can be
attributed in part to a dependency mindset
nurtured on the plantations and this has to be
overcome. There is a significant and emergent
need for a change in the leadership of the Indian
parties in power to take up the cause of the
Indians to get them their due rights free from
racial discrimination and have full access to
jobs and education.
As proposed in the Conference on the
�The Malaysian Indian in the new
millennium �rebuilding the
Community� held at Kuala Lumpur
in June 2002, problems such as the loss of self
esteem within the community, external derision
and the absence of unifying factors to forge a
single identity have to be addressed by the
leading cultural, social and political
institutions and embark on an action plan.
However the effort has to come from within the
community and has to be sustained as such
deliberations have been there in the past also
with no major impact on the Government.
Till now the Indian Government has done very
little in this regard. Since the Government of
India has now embarked upon a programme for
interacting with the Overseas Indians, especially
with the affluent sections in the Western
nations, it should also look after the interests
of the under privileged Overseas Indians in
countries like Malaysia. As part of the
� Look East�
policy interaction with Malaysia especially in
the field of education will be beneficial to the
Indian community. The High Commission of India in
Kuala Lumpur used to award scholarships to the
poorer sections of the Indian community in the
late 80�s. The system , if
continuing, can be augmented further to help the
community. Setting up IIT type institutions and
exchange programmes can also be considered. There
is need to make a proper selection and not go by
the recommendations of the big wigs.
As of now the problems faced by the Malaysian
Indians are not being attended to by the
Malaysian Government nor does the community have
the economic or political clout to demand their
redressal. One wonders whether the Indians belong
to the third major race or to a third class race
in the country. We are not aware what
recommendations the High Power Committee of
Government of India ( really high powered with
extensive tours all over the world, five star
hotels and lavish receptions etc) have made for
the poorer sections of the Indian community
abroad. Acceptance of the dual citizenship for a
selected class is not going to be helpful either
for this hapless lot.
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