Hi Guys.. In my previous entry, I post about Malay origin, so now I'm going to tell you about Indian people in Tanah Melayu just before we gain our independence.
Malaysian Indians are a people in Malaysia which descended from those who migrated from South India during the British rule in Malaya.
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| Sikh people |
HISTORY
The Indians had migrated to Malaysia since 2,000 years ago. Community groups such as Chitty Melaka and Mamak community are descendants of migrants during the Malacca Sultanate and later during the occupation of Malacca by Portugal and the Netherlands. Proceeds Straits - Penang, Malacca and Singapore - by the British between 1786 to 1824 to start a recharge unfailing consisting of labor, traders, Supai, and prisoners involved in the construction, agricultural trade, defense, and trade. However, migration of Indians in large numbers from the Indian subcontinent to Malaya is when the expansion of British rule into the Malay states in the West since the 1870's decade, and the growth of rubber plantations later. Indian population in Malaya and Singapore before independence consisted mainly of adult men that leave their families in India and Sri Lanka. Thus, with the advent and their return, the number of Indian population fluctuates frequently. In 1901, the Indian population in the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States was approximately 120,000. By 1931, this number had risen to 640,000 in Malaya and Singapore, and in the state, their number exceeds the Malays in the year. Population of India virtually unchanged until 1947 because they went to Burma during the Japanese occupation as recruits for the Indian National Army, and coolies for Death Track. In 2005, the people of India is about 7% of the population in Malaysia (around 1.8 million).
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| Army of Sikh in Tanah Melayu when British rule. |
Tamil migration
Some very large Indian migrants consists of speakers of Tamil from Tamil Nadu state. In 1947, they were 77% of the total Indian population in Malaya and Singapore. South Indian people, especially the Malayalee and Telugu, a further 14% in 1947, and the remaining Indian communities made up of people of North India, especially Punjabi, Bengali, Gurjarati, and Sindhi.
Other ethnic groups
Apart from India group mentioned above, there are also three ethnic and religious groups that have a political and economic interests far beyond the numbers. Two of the business community, is:
Tamil Chettiar caste trader that is from Tamil Nadu, and
South Indian Muslims, the people of Kerala and the Moplah Marakkayar from Tamil Nadu, a majority of the wholesalers.
The third group is the Tamils of Sri Lanka that mostly working in the public service and professional fields.
Indian people have been resided in Tanah Melayu before the British even rule our country. This shows the culture have been mix and meet since then and Malay people was the first to resided in Malaysia before other races started to migrate in Tanah Melayu.
To be continued...
