Tragic Orphans
Tragic Orphans

Author: Carl Vadivella Belle

Publisher: Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 9814620955

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In 1938, noting that the bulk of the Indian population formed a "e;landless proletariat"e; and despairing of the ability of the factionalized Indian community to unite in pursuit of common objectives, activist K.A. Neelakanda Ayer forecast that the fate of Indians in Malaya would be to become "e;Tragic orphans"e; of whom India has forgotten and Malaya looks down upon with contempt"e;. Ayer's words continue to resonate; as a minority group in a nation dominated politically by colonially derived narratives of "e;race"e; and ethnicity and riven by the imperatives of religion, the general trajectory of the economically and politically impotent Indian community has been one of increasing irrelevance. This book explores the history of the modern Indian presence in Malaysia, and traces the vital role played by the Indian community in the construction of contemporary Malaysia. In this comprehensive new study, Carl Vadivella Belle offers fresh insights on the Indian experience spanning the period from the colonial recruitment of Indian labour to the post-Merdeka political, economic and social marginalization of Indians. While recent Indian challenges to the political status quo - a regime described as that of "e;benign neglect"e; - promoted Indian hopes of reform, change and uplift, the author concludes that the dictates of political discourse permeated by the ideologies of communalism offer limited prospects for meaningful change.

Indians in Malaya
Indians in Malaya

Author: Kernial Singh Sandhu

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-06-03

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9780521148139

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Professor Sandhu discusses the Indians who lived in Malaya and the effects on Malayan social and economic development, 1786-1957.

Indian Communities in Southeast Asia (First Reprint 2006)
Indian Communities in Southeast Asia (First Reprint 2006)

Author: K S Sandhu

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 1029

ISBN-13: 9812304185

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In Indian Communities in Southeast Asia thirty-one scholars provide an analytical commentary on the contemporary position of ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia. The book is the outcome of a ten-year project undertaken by the editors at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. It is multi-disciplinary in focus and multi-faceted in approach, providing a comprehensive account of the way people originating from the Indian subcontinent have integrated themselves in the various Southeast Asian countires. The study provides insights into understanding how Indians, an intra-ethnically diverse immigrant group, have intermingled in Southeast Asia, a region that itself is ethnically diverse.

Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Melaka
Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Melaka

Author: Samuel S. Dhoraisingam

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 9812303464

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This book offers a glimpse into an almost unknown but distinct community in Singapore and Malaysia: the Peranakan Indians. Overshadowed by the larger, more widespread and more influential Peranakan Chinese, this tightly knit community likewise dates back to early colonial merchants who intermingled with and married local Malays in Malacca. Most Peranakan Indians are Saivite Hindus, speak a version of Malay amongst themselves, and have a cuisine influenced by all three major cultures of Malaysia and Singapore (Malay, Indian, Chinese). Bringing together original interviews and archival material, this accessible book documents the all-but-forgotten history, customs, religion and culture of the Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Malacca.

Fleeting Agencies
Fleeting Agencies

Author: Arunima Datta

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1108837387

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Critically examines the agency and history of long-silenced coolie women and their role in colonial economy and transnational movements.

Yearning to Belong
Yearning to Belong

Author: Patrick Pillai

Publisher: Iseas Publishing

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789814519687

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Malaysia is among the most ethnically diverse and culturally rich nations on earth. Yet much of its cultural wealth lies buried beneath the rubric of its main Malay, Chinese and Indian "race" categories; the dazzling diversity within and outside these groups remains largely unexplored. This book uncovers some of this fascinating diversity through the stories of five little-known acculturated ethnic groups in Peninsula Malaysia. The author, a Malaysian sociologist, delivers an insightful and lucid study of these groups, with some surprising findings. These communities illustrate how much more cross-cultural mingling, sharing and co-dependence there is within Malaysian society than we care to recognize, admit or celebrate. This raises various questions: Is a similar process of spontaneous inter-ethnic interaction possible between larger ethnic groups today? How can we foster such acculturation, and can it by itself contribute to ethnic harmony? The author also discovers that despite their long settlement and deep acculturation, segments of these groups are anxious about their future, and pine for an indigenous identity. What are the implications of this trend for ethnic relations, and how can it be resolved? This book traces the acculturation journey of these communities and draws lessons for ethnic relations in one of the most complex multi-ethnic nations in the world. It will appeal to scholars, students, laymen and visitors interested in migration, history, culture, ethnicity and heritage in Malaysia and the region.

India and Malaysia
India and Malaysia

Author: Venna Sikri

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 9789814414500

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"This book offers a panoramic yet in-depth historical analysis of the inter-linkages between India and Malaysia, which are a microcosm of the much larger relationship between South Asia and Southeast Asia, as these have evolved for more than two millenia. Both regions shared rich traditions, first of their Hindu and Buddhist, and later of their Islamic heritage. Till the arrival of European colonialists about five hundred years ago, the people of South and Southeast Asia interacted freely and peaceably. Trade, religion and culture were the leitmotifs of this interaction, and technological prowess in shipbuilding its mainstay. By the end of the eighteenth century, colonial machinations, including the forced demise of India0́9s shipbuilding industry, had impoverished large swathes of people aross South and Southeast Asia, and severely restricted their interaction. Indentured labour and convicts, overseers and foremen, railway workers and members of the police force: these were the categories that served the interests of the colonial power. The book documents in chilling detail the tribulations faced by the enormous movement of manpower between India and Malaysia. The book brings out the role played by Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, among others, in shaping the relationship between India and Malaysia in the twentieth century. The book details the intricacies of the negotiations in the run-up to Malaya0́9s independence, together with the key issues of cooperation between Indian and Malaysian leaders, including Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak."--Publisher's website.

Battle for Malaya
Battle for Malaya

Author: Kaushik Roy

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2019-12-02

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0253044227

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The historian and author of The Army in British India analyzes the British Indian Army’s devastating loss to the Imperial Japanese during WWII. The defeat of 90,000 Commonwealth soldiers by 50,000 Japanese soldiers made the World War II Battle for Malaya an important encounter for both political and military reasons. British military prestige was shattered, fanning the fires of nationalism in Asia, especially in India. Japan’s successful tactics in Malaya—rapid marches, wide outflanking movement along difficult terrain, nocturnal attacks, and roadblocks—would be repeated in Burma in 1942–43. Until the Allied command evolved adequate countermeasures, Japanese soldiers remained supreme in the field. Looking beyond the failures of command, Kaushik Roy focuses on tactics of the ground battle that unfolded in Malaya between December 1941 and February 1942. His analysis includes the organization of the Indian Army—the largest portion of Commonwealth troops—and compares it to the British and Australian armies that fought side by side with Indian soldiers. Utilizing both official war office records and personal memoirs, autobiographies, and oral histories, Roy presents a comprehensive narrative of operations interwoven with tactical analysis of the Battle for Malaya.

Thaipusam in Malaysia
Thaipusam in Malaysia

Author: Carl Vadivella Belle

Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Published: 2017-02-13

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 9814695750

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"This is an important book by Carl Vadivella Belle which argues that Hinduism and its manifestations in the diaspora has important significance in binding not only the Hindus but also encourages 'others' to revisit Hinduism, especially in a multicultural society like Malaysia which is dominated by communally infused discourses structured upon race and religion."— Ajaya K. Sahoo, Editor, Journal of South Asian Diaspora "Dr Belle weaves his magical journey over nearly half a century, offering poignant and potent insights into the socio economic and spiritual realities of Hindus in Malaysia. Numerous books maybe available on Tamil Traditions and Hinduism in Malaysia, but none seem to have succinctly and encapsulated the very essence and heart of these veritable subjects. I would unreservedly recommend this book, to all those interested in matters pertaining to Indians and Hinduism in Malaysia."— Professor Bala Shanmugam, Academic Director, Federation University, Malaysia "This is a work of immense inspiration. Combining personal pilgrimage with ethnographic perseverance, it is at once a document of ritual power and cultural change and a biography of religious encounter. By becoming the religious Other, Carl Belle creates a new dimension in the understanding of Thaipusam as both ethnic and individual experience. Dauntlessly frank and insightful, it is without doubt a rare achievement."— Raymond Lee, Universiti Malaya (retired)