The majority of emigrants were the inevitable product of British colonialism and an integral part of a migratory policy supporting the expansion of imperialistic rule.

- P. D. Pillay (1971)

Aliens in the land – Indian migrant workers in Malaysia

Amarjit Kaur – 20 February 201 , New Mandala -- In the past 130 years, the number of foreign migrant workers in Malaya has grown from about 84,000 in 1880 to more than three million in 2010. Originally, foreign workers were predominantly from China and India and most were locked into semi-permanent “labour circulation” arrangements through their employment contracts. (.....more)

A Heritage Denied Decades of official discrimination have turned Malaysia's ethnic Indians into a disgruntled underclass
By anthony spaeth
Bujang Valley
Time Asia

Indians in Penang by: DERRICK VINESH and K. KASTURI DEWI

"The important characteristics to note about Indian migration to Malaya are that, firstly, the great bulk of this movement has been of an ephemeral character, with approximately 4 million entering and 2.8 million leaving the country between 1860 and 1957. Secondly, much of the 1.2 million net immigration appears to have been wiped out by disease, snake-bites, exhaustion and malnutrition, for the Indian population of Malaya in 1957 numbered only 858,615 of which 62.1 percent was local born." - 1957 Federation of Malaya Census Report

 

Nationalist power
Modern Malaysia's strong labour movement that involved many Indians had its roots in the nationalist Indian movement that influenced Indian immigrants before World War II, writes Prof P. RAMASAMY.

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 affirms its own selfhood, it cannot fulfill itself - Malcom X

 

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