History of Malaysian Indians

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Friday 08/25/2000 3:20:00am
Malar KL, Malaysia
Hi, very interesting website this. Anyway I think you are being too pessimestic about the future of Indians. Don't forget the majority of Indians who were brought to Malaysia were virtually bonded labour. In fact I think the Indians in Malaysia have done VERY WELL and all this in a very short span of time too. Of course the social problems of bringing a predominantly estate community into an competitive urban environment exist. In fact if you look at the whole scenario in Malaysia analytically it is the Indians who have had most rapid growth with minor social casualties as compared to other races. Keep up the good job.

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)

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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