Indian Malays

MALAYSIAN INDIANS History of their migration & their impact on

Malaysia’s development

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

1) Amos Danladi PBE 153011

2) Fabi Jonathan PBE 153012

3) Hamza Momade MKA 141080

4) Izah Ngozi Linda PGH 153029

5) Kyaw Naing Win MKA 141125

6) Olamide Funmilayo MSCM 152076

Malaysian Society & Culture UHAZ 6123

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Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 2

Demographic Features of the Country ................................................................................... 2

Capital .................................................................................................................................... 2

Population .............................................................................................................................. 2

Age Structure ......................................................................................................................... 2

Labour Force Participation .................................................................................................... 3

Language ................................................................................................................................ 3

Ethnic Group .......................................................................................................................... 3

2.0 Indian migration to Malaysia .......................................................................................... 4

Background ............................................................................................................................ 4

The Historical Antecedent of the Indian-Malay .................................................................... 4

First Wave: Pre-colonial period ............................................................................................. 5

Second Wave: Colonial period .............................................................................................. 6

Third Wave: Post-colonial period .......................................................................................... 7

3.0 Contribution to Nation Building ..................................................................................... 8

Impact in different sectors ..................................................................................................... 8

Agriculture ............................................................................................................................. 8

Construction ........................................................................................................................... 9

Professionals .......................................................................................................................... 9

Management cadre ............................................................................................................... 10

Education ............................................................................................................................. 10

Business ............................................................................................................................... 10

Politics.................................................................................................................................. 10

Media and the performing arts ............................................................................................. 10

Cuisine ................................................................................................................................. 11

4.0 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 12

5.0 Reference ...................................................................................................................... 13

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1.0 Introduction

Demographic Features of the Country

Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim nation but the influence of early Hindu rulers and their

language, Sanskrit, is palpably present. According to 2000 Malaysian Census, 79.7% people

live in urban centres and only 20.3% in the rural areas.

Capital

Kuala Lumpur

Population

30,331,007 (2015)

Age Structure

Figure 1.4: Shows the age structure in Malaysia based on 2015 Population Count

32.60%

62.60%

4.70%

Age Structure

0 - 14 years 15 - 64 years 65 years ++

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Labour Force Participation

a) Agriculture 14.50%

b) Industry 36.00%

c) Services 49.50%

Language

a) Bahasa Melayu (Official Language)

b) English

c) Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien)

d) Tamil

e) Malayalam

f) Punjabi

g) Thai

h) Telugu

Ethnic Group

Figure 1.7: Shows the percentage of the ethnic groups in Malaysia

50.40%

23.70%

11%

7.10%

7.80%

Ethnic %

Malay Chinese Indigenous Indian Others

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2.0 Indian migration to Malaysia

Background

From the abolition of slavery and the recruiting of unskilled labour under indenture to the

consolidation of the laws regarding the migration of such labour. This period extends over the

75 years, 1833—1908;

The dawn of a national policy, 1908—1922. In this period of 14 years indentured labour was

stopped and the law of 1922 removed many of the evils of colonialism. The execution of a

national policy in regard to emigration. This period extends from 1922 to the present.

In early times emigration took place from India to Ceylon, Java, and Cambodia. There were

two streams of emigration to Ceylon: one was Dravidian from Orissa and the other mainly

Aryan from Kathiawar. The emigration to Java took place, probably, in the seventh century

from western India.

During this period the emigrants were: Unskilled labourers under indenture, as in Mauritius,

the West Indies and Natal, or under a special system of recruiting, such as was adopted in

Ceylon and Malaya. The system of indenture brought many troubles in its train and was

abolished in 1917.

Skilled labourers and persons belonging to the trading, clerical, and professional classes.

Emigration of this class has usually followed the emigration of unskilled labour, because the

ex-indentured labourers and their descendants form themselves into communities abroad and

are Indians in various walks of life who may not be described indiscriminately as coolies or

labourers.

The Historical Antecedent of the Indian-Malay

In order to have a clear understanding of this write up, it seems necessary to have a brief

historical excursion into the origin of Indians in Malaysia. The origin of Indian Malay was

traced to the acquisition of Penang, Melaka, and Singapore by the British dated back in 1786

to 1824. The presence of the British necessitate the inflow of the Indian people as labour which

comprises, traders, security outfits as policemen, soldiers, and plantation labourers. Besides,

for the Indians better ability to communicate in English language, the British found them more

useful as supporting workers in the running of their government. [Ref: 8] The Tamils ethnics

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in India were the most migrant and were so many in population both in Malaysia and in

Singapore around 1947, Wikipedia, (201?). Prominent among the Migrant were single males,

with their family back in India, so there were on and off in their movement into Malaysia then.

Figure 2.2: Shows an artistic description of Indian migration to Malaysian Peninsula

According to numerous journals, the population of the Indians had drastically reduced since

the exit of the British and their companies due to Malaysia independent from the British,

however, a certain percentage of the Indians are still around, and they are into activities such

as; construction, engineering, restaurants, information technology, finance and finally resident

in the country as Indian Malay.

First Wave: Pre-colonial period

Ancient India exerted a profound influence over Southeast Asia through trade, religious

missions, wars and other forms of contacts. Pre-colonial Malaysia was part of 'Indianised

Kingdoms' like Srivijaya, Malacca, Kadaram and the Majapahit, which formed part of a

cultural region known as Greater India.

The Arab and Indian traders had travelled this region including the southern tip of South East

Asia the peninsula with maritime trade, the Sailendra kings of Java originating from Kalinga

were able to take control of the Peninsular and part of southern Siam. The kings welcomed

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Buddhist missionaries from India, accepting their teaching of the Mahayana sect, which spread

through their territories. However, central and northeastern Thailand continued to adhere to the

Hinayana teachings of the Theravada sect, which had been introduced by missionaries sent by

the emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. Another theory of the introduction of Buddhism

after Indian arrived in the peninsula is that after Kalinga conquered lower Burma in the 8th

century their influence gradually spread down the peninsula? The ancient Indian Kalinga was

located in southeastern India occupying modern day Orissa and northern Andhra Pradesh. In

the 7th century an Indonesian kingdom was named Kalingga after the aforementioned Kalinga

in India. Chinese sources mention this kingdom (Holing) as a center for Buddhist scholars

around 604 before it was overshadowed by the Sanjaya or Mataram Kingdom. The most

famous Kalingga ruler is Ratu Sima.

There is evidence of the existence of Indianised kingdoms such as Gangga Negara, Old Kedah,

Srivijaya since approximately 1700 years ago. Early contact between the kingdoms of

Tamilakkam and the Malay Peninsula had been very close during the reigns of the Pallava

dynasty (from the 4th to the 9th century CE) and Chola dynasty (from the 9th to the 13th

century CE). The trade relations the Tamil merchants had with the ports of Malaya led to the

emergence of Indianised kingdoms like Kadaram (Old Kedah) and Langkasugam.

Furthermore, Chola king Rajendra Chola I sent an expedition to Kadaram (Srivijaya) during

the 11th century conquering that country on behalf of one of its rulers who sought his protection

and to have established him on the throne. The Cholas had a powerful merchant and naval fleet

in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Three kinds of craft are distinguished by the author

of the Periplus – light coasting boats for local traffic, larger vessels of a more complicated

structure and greater carrying capacity, and lastly the big ocean-going vessels that made the

voyages to Malaya, Sumatra, and the Ganges. In Malacca Sultanate, the Chitty people, played

a huge role in Malacca's administration of the local ports such as Raja Mudaliar, Syahbandar

(Chief of Port) of Malacca and Bendahara Tun Mutahir, a famous Bendahara of the Malaccan

Sultanate.

Second Wave: Colonial period

Following the Portuguese colonization of Malacca (Malaysia) in 1511, the Portuguese

government encouraged their explorers to bring their married Indian women who were

converted already to Roman Catholic Christianity, under a policy set by Afonso de

Albuquerque, then Viceroy of India. These people were Goan Catholics (Konkani Catholics)

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and East Indians (Catholics of Marathi descent). Kuparis who were of mixed Samvedic

Brahmin, Goan and Portuguese descent also arrived. Sinhalese and their children from

Portuguese that include Portuguese Burghers from Portuguese Ceylon also came later. Their

children already intermarried with Malay population, losing their ethnic identities. British

acquisition of Penang, Melaka,and Singapore - the Straits Settlements from 1786 to 1824

started a steady inflow of Indian labor. This consisted of traders, policemen, plantation laborers

and colonial soldiers. Apart from this there was also substantial migration of Indians to work

in the British colonial government, due to their general good command of the English language.

The Indian population in pre-independence Malaya and Singapore was predominantly adult

males who were single with family back in India and Sri Lanka. Hence the population

fluctuated frequently with the immigration and exodus of people. As early as 1901 the Indian

population in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States was approximately

120,000. By 1931 there were 640,000 Indians in Malaya and Singapore and interestingly they

even outnumbered the native Malays in the state of Selangor that year.

However, during World War II many Indian men and women left for Burma as part of the

Indian National Army with thousands thought to have perished. As a result, the population of

Indians in 1957 had only increased to 820,000. While immigration was a major factor for the

increase in population until Independence, the population growth began falling after that as the

white collar classes in the civil service and plantations left when British institutions and

companies left the country. Since then, lower birth rates and emigration to countries like

Singapore, Australia, UK, etc. in search of better educational and economic opportunities

meant that Indians continue to see their share of Malaysia's population decline just as is the

case with the Chinese. Today, Malaysian Indians account for approximately 7 per cent of the

total population of Malaysia (approx. 2 million) and 9 per cent in Singapore (450,000). There

has also been a significant influx of Indian nationals into Singapore and Malaysia in recent

years to work in construction, engineering, restaurants, IT and finance with many taking up

permanent residence in Singapore where they account for nearly a quarter of the Singapore

population.

Third Wave: Post-colonial period

A much smaller wave came after the 1990s, holding the citizenship of Republic of India. They

come in to work as professionals (Mainly in the IT Sector and teaching) and unskilled labor.

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The unskilled labor mainly works in Indian restaurants. There are also foreign spouses from

the Indian Subcontinent who are married to local Indians.

3.0 Contribution to Nation Building

Impact in different sectors

In summary, the breakdown of the Indian Malay as per their contribution to the transformation

agenda of the nation Malaysia are in this overall statistics of Malaysian Indians.

Figure 3.1: Shows popular Indian figures living/working in Malaysia

Agriculture

In Malaysia, Agriculture, along with activities such as fisheries and forestry accounts for 7-8

per cent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product, which is a high level for a country at Malaysia’s

stage of economic development. The sector also involves around one million workers, with

about half of these being temporary migrants. Agriculture was identified as good potential for

the future transformation. Malaysia is currently the world’s largest exporter of palm oil

although Malaysia is the second-largest producer of the oil after neighbouring Indonesia.

Astro TV -Ananda Krishan

Lawyer -Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan

Soccer Player -Arul Suppiah

Singer -Jaclyn Victor

Air Asia - Tony Fernandez

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In Agricultural sector: The implementation of the ETP gave the oil palm industry a new focus

after it was identified as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) to drive the

nation’s economy. Oil palm is dominating with a total estimated crop area of 6.8 million

hectares, followed by smaller extents of rubber and rice. Palm oil commands relatively high

international prices, which are sustained by high persisting demand in both the food and non-

food sectors. The latter is especially connected with biofuels, where petroleum is predicted to

grow scarcily in relation to burgeoning global consumption. Rubber too remains a vital

industrial product. It was Indian labour (mainly South Indians) that was the backbone of the

rubber industry. Indian labour opened up the forests, established the rubber plantations. Indians

have contributed significantly to the building of Malaysia since the 19th century. The presence

of Indians had been of significantly assistance in the provision of large number of unskilled

labour for the clearing of land for the establishment of rubber plantations in Malaysia.

Construction

The construction and management of roads, railways in early Malaysian days, setting up of

transmission lines, building of seaports and airports, had been so possible due to a good number

of Indian workforce in those days. Hence, another specific area of their contribution to the

transformation agenda of the nation Malaysia is the area of construction and infrastructure

development and management. Indian labour was a primarily responsible for building the

roads, railways and bridges besides constructing ports, airports and government buildings.

Virtually every mile of railway track which totalled over 1,000 miles and about 6,000 miles of

metaled main roads and several hundred miles of tertiary roads by 1957 were built through

Indian labour. There are many Indian contractors that contributed their quotas on road

construction, railways and bridge erection. They were also involved in ports, airports and

buildings construction. Built the roads, railways, set up the transmission lines, built the ports

and airports. Indians built most of the roads in Malaysia as contractor, set up transmission lines

as well as managed early Malayan railways, ports and airports. The development of any nation

depends on level of construction in that

Professionals

A good numbers of professionals are also recorded as being from Indian Malay. These range

from: Indian doctors, and veterinary doctors, pharmacists, a greater proportion of medical

professionals in Malaysia are from Indian Malay. In the legal profession, we were also made

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known that prominent Lawyers are of the Indian Malays ethnic group. Similarly, existing in

Malaysia are a good number of well-informed professionals in upper and middle cadre.

Management cadre

It was recorded that a bulk of the civil service even from before and after Malaysian

independent were of Indian civil servants. These may be attributable to their good command

of English language which made them found useful to the British, as such a good number of

Indians many Indians are in the working class in Malaysia.

Education

The proficient spoken of English language by the Indians made them prominent as teachers in

Malaysia and this serve as stronghold behind their education most especially in the missionary

schools and in the private education sector.

Business

In the world of business, renowned among the prosperous businessmen in Malaysia are Ananda

Krishnan and Tony Fernandes. These are business guru or Indian Malay origin. Similarly, the

Sindhis, Gujeratis and Punjabis have been formidable businessmen There are also a good

number of business ownership by the Indians in some places in Malaysia.

Politics

According to Wikipedia and confirmed from interview conducted, we were made to understand

that the earliest and the biggest Indian political party in Malaysia is the Malaysian Indian

Congress. Abound in Malaysia are some other political Parties that has membership of Indian

majority, such as; The Indian Progressive Front, (IPF), The People’s Progressive Party (PPP),

People’s Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), The Socialist Party of Malaysia

(PSM)

Media and the performing arts

In the world of media and the performing arts, a good number of Indian origin show are

prominent on satellite providers, such as; Tamil satellite television channels, Astro Vaanavil

and even state – owned RTM TV2. Abound in Malaysia also are a good number India-based

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channels, such as; Sun TV, Java TV, Chutti TV. Thanga Thirai and Velli Thirai are Indian

origin movie channels, however, Hindi movie is being produced by Astro B4U channel. The

bulk of the market and patronize of the Indian origin film industry are majorly of the Malaysian

Indian. Also available are; 2- Tamil radio stations of the state-owned Minnal FM and the

privately owned THR Raaga. It is also customary for major Malaysian corporations to produce

television commercials in conjunction with Deepavali. They generally pay tribute to the

contributions of the Indian community to the nation and are well received by Indians of all

faiths. The heart-warming Deepavali commercials by the state petroleum company Petronas

are especially popular. Wikipedia, (). Moreover, in the Malaysian entertainment industry, a

good number of Indian Malay had a name as popular musicians. Among these are; Joe Chelliah

in the mid1960s had a popular pop band of non-Malay, made a record with purely Indian

Musicians and the records were of high commercial value at that time. Similarly, some recently

emerged Indian Malaysian artists that has the affection of the different races, are; Reshmonu,

Jaclyn Victor, and Alleycats. Besides these, a noteworthy contribution into the English drama

has being attributable to the Indian Malays such as; Yogi B, Chakra Sonic, a rapper who started

Tamil hip hop in Malaysia, and so many others. Notable again is the classical dance of India,

Bharata Natyam which form a significant feature in Tamil culture and thus prominent in

Malaysia. Recorded are two non-Indian Malaysians who had got interested in this dance and a

world reputable performers. The importance of this dance is seen in the establishment of this

traditional academy as training school of music and dance at the Temple of Fine Arts in

Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Also the kind of traditional Indian drums urunee and the wind

instrument, nadaswaram, occasionally form part of instrumentals played in many of the events

either cultural, Indian wedding in Malaysia, and religious circle.

Cuisine

Another area of specific contribution is the establishment of restaurant through Malaysian

Indian Cuisine activities. The influence of Indian Malay to Malaysian cuisine is highly

remarkable. The restaurant of the Indians are well patronized by all the ethnic groups regardless

of their religious belief. Indian Malay cuisine has become part of the Malaysian nutritional life,

apart from Indian’s dishes of different kind of food such as; Roti canai, nasi kandar, maggi

goreng and pasembur (Mamak rojak) that are well accepted by all and sundry in Malaysia, the

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Indians restaurants are also another spot for customers to watch life televised football matches.

Moreover, a good number of Muslims found it more convenient to patronize Indians Muslim

restaurants called Mamak restaurant, where exclusive dish like Nasi kandar is sold. The

ingredients for preparing this are exclusively protected from the public. Mostly prepared dishes

by the Indian Malays are of Southern Indian cuisine sort for breakfast. These include; idli,

vadai and dosa (spelled in Malaysia as 'thosai') are common. The appam is a favourite breakfast

dish in Indian homes. Other India Malay dishes are, Murukku prepare during the celebration

of Deepavali, meal of rice served in the restaurant on banana leaves with various vegetable,

meat and many other condiments. Goat meat known as Mutton is highly preferred by the people

and is either served as dry curry, called varuval or curry with a thick gravy, known as pertal.

Many other assorted dishes preferred by the Malays are prepared by the Indian Malay cuisine.

4.0 Summary

Indians contribution to the Malaysian Society. As discussed earlier, the impact has been

significant. Whether its entertainment, civil aviation, or even food, they are everywhere. Who

doesn’t like to have a roti canai!

What matters most is that Malaysia is built up of three different races and it’s the most peaceful

place to be. Keep it up, Malaysians!

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5.0 Reference

Amarjit K. (2013): Indian migrant workers in Malaysia part 1. A guest contribution, available at:

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2013/02/20/aliens-in-the-land-indian-migrant-workers-

in-malaysia/. Accessed on 8th April 2016.

Engku Elini Engku Ariff and Stephen Ramsden, The Effect of Climate change on Rice. Production

in Malaysia Economic and Social Science Research Centre, MARDI Headquarters, Persiaran

MARDIUPM, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Malaysia Agriculture, Information about Agriculture in Malaysia". Encyclopedia of the Nations.

Retrieved 12 September 2010

Malaysia - Agriculture. Encyclopedia of the nations. Retrieved (12 September 2010) from

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Malaysia-AGRICULTURE.html.

Selamat, Ahmad; Ismail, Mohd. Razi (2009) Pertanika Rice -- Planting; Consumption

(Economics); Food Security; Food crops; Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science | 2009-08 |

32:2 | 267(25) ISSN 1511-3701

W. A. Gibbons (1939): The Rubber Industry, 1839-1939, Ind. Eng. Chem. 31 (10), pp 1199- 1209,

October.