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Tamils in Malaysia
R. RAJARAM
The first foothold the British got in the Malay Peninsula was due to Sir Stamford Raffles. As the Governor of Java, he secured the island of Singapore from the Sultan of Johore in 1819. The Malay Peninsula consisted of several small states ruled by Malay princes. They were always at loggerheads with one another and sought the intervention of the British resident of Singapore or Penang. The British gradually extended their influence a
nd became resident advisors to most of the Malay rulers.
Once their position became stable, the British started developing the land by introducing cash agriculture. They introduced the Hevea Braziliensis, a rubber tree from Brazil, in 1879. It needed a massive labour force, which was not then available in Malaya. The rubber plantations had to depend on imported labour, partly Indian and partly Chinese. The rubber industry flourished under the British. In 1954, about two million acres of rubber estates employed about 290,000 workers, of whom 48 per cent were Indians, and 30 per cent Chinese.
The Tamil immigrants lived in small squalid hamlets scattered within the plantation, which had one central nucleus around the factory. They were paid meagre wages, enabling them to lead a hand to mouth existence.
After the Japanese occupation of Malaya in 1945, Malaya attracted a lot of Indian emigrants, particularly from Tamil Nadu. These were a highly motivated and enterprising lot who set up small to big businesses with their own capital. Many also became employees in the ventures started by their countrymen.
Malaya attained Merdeka (independence) in 1957 from Great Britain. Then the Federation of Malaysia came into existence, under the benign leadership of the Kedah prince Tengku Abdul Rahaman. He had a soft corner for Indians and encouraged them in all manners to start businesses and industries.
Thus we find that the immigrant Tamils made significant contribution to the economy of Malaysia. From 1960 to date, the Tamils have prospered in most fields like business, education, administration and service industries. Today some of the notable richest Indians in Malaysia are Tamils.
Then how did this problem of ethnic Tamils crop up? It is not a sudden phenomenon. Its roots could be traced back to the late 1950s and the early 1960s.
Opportunities
There were some over enthusiastic immigrant Tamils and Chinese, who found immense opportunities in buying and selling large rubber plantations. When the British left Malaysia, they sold their large holding of rubber plantations to these enterprising immigrants at throwaway prices. These in turn fragmented larger plantations into small estates of 100 or even 50 acres and sold them at high margins.
Thus we find that many turned millionaires overnight. This resulted in many of the ethnic population being displaced from their traditional employment of latex collection and processing these in the factories. Many faced unemployment and did not have the skill to take up other jobs, like their counterpart immigrant countrymen.
Meanwhile their children of the third and fourth generation had acquired some education and aspired to be given jobs in the government.
Bhumiputras favoured
However the Malaysian government has a policy of recruiting only the Bhumiputra (sons of the soil, namely Malays) to key posts in government. It is akin to our communal reservation system for the oppressed and backward communities. Hence the ethnic Tamils feel marginalised and segregated when aspiring for government jobs.
Malaysia is still a land of great opportunities for the daring and enterprising people. There are still several lakhs of Tamilians who are doing very well in self-employment and other works outside the government sector.
Many areas like Madurai, Karaikudi, Paramakudi, Ramnad have prospered due to the remittances from immigrant Tamils working in Malaysia. Of late plenty of highly skilled people in science and engineering hailing from Tamil Nadu have secured employment in public sector undertakings in Malaysia.
Ever since Malaya attained Merdeka and transformed into Malaysia, the liberal triumvirate comprising the UMNO-MCA-MIC has ruled it. Every race has been represented in this alliance. The ethnic Tamils should represent their grievances to the Malaysian Indian Congress leaders who are part of the government. They are more or less naturalised citizens of Malaysia, and have every right to voice their demands to their own leaders, instead of dragging India into their problem.
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