Assessment for East Indians in Malaysia

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Risk Assessment | Analytic Summary | References

Risk Assessment

The Indians in Malaysia have only one of the factors that increase the likelihood of future protest: generally high levels of group organization. However, protest is unlikely to escalate beyond moderate levels. Factors that could inhibit protest actions include Malaysia's history of democratic rule, a lack of repressive actions against group members, and no support from kindred groups outside the country.

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Analytic Summary

While the Indians are dispersed throughout Malaysia, there are significant concentrations of group members in the country's plantation regions. There has been little group migration across Malaysia since the early 1900s.

The majority of Indians are Hindus (80%) but a minority follows Islam which is the main religion of the dominant Malay community (BELIEF = 2). Most group members speak Tamil instead of the country’s main language, Malay. Indians constitute a physically distinguishable subtype of the same Asian racial stock as Malaysians (RACE = 1).

The Indians are primarily the descendants of Tamils who were brought to the Malaysian peninsula from southern India during British colonial rule as a source of cheap labor for the plantations on the west coast. The economic status of the group has changed little since colonialism as the Indians remain concentrated in the plantation sector and they are reported to be among the poorest sectors of society.

Relations between Malaysia's two main communities, the majority Malays and the economically dominant Chinese minority, have overshadowed the social and political position of the Indians. Communal distrust between the Malays and Chinese was exacerbated in the post-WW II period as the Chinese supported the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) which attempted to seize political power (1948-60). During the 1969 election campaign, the Indians chose to support Chinese efforts to challenge the political dominance of the Malays. Widespread ethnic rioting between the Chinese and the Malays in the summer of 1969 spread to the Indian community. Some 60,000 Indians chose to emigrate after the Malays quashed the Chinese challenge. By the late 1990s, the Indian proportion of the Malaysian population declined to 8% from a high of more than 15% early in the 20th century.

In 1970, the year following the communal riots, the government enacted the New Economic Policy (NEP). It sought to redress Malay disadvantages through the provision of subsidies to Malay-owned businesses, job quotas, and requirements that non-Chinese personnel be included in new large ventures. The effect of the NEP was to institutionalize the low economic status of the Indians while limiting the economic dominance of the Chinese.

In the past few decades, the Indians have sought to work within the Malay-dominated political system as the main political party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), has been a part of the ruling National Front coalition. The MIC has largely pressed for social and economic assistance for the Indian community. The financial crisis that swept across Asia in the late 1990s had a limited impact on the Indians in comparison to the country's other groups as the Indians were largely exempt from the benefits of Malaysia's rapid economic growth during the previous decade. The Indian proportion of the Malaysian population continues to decline.

The Indians are economically and politically disadvantaged in relation to the country's majority population. They face significant poverty and under-representation in the economic arena due to historical practices by the Malay community. In fact, Indians control only 1.5% of national wealth in Malaysia (ECDIS06 = 2). Given that the MIC has long been a component of the ruling coalition, Indians have retained legislative representation despite the fact that not a single state or parliamentary seat in the country has an Indian majority. Nevertheless, the MIC is not a particularly strong component of the ruling coalition and only about 30% of the Indian population was officially registered to vote in 2004. Furthermore, there are few public policies that seek to redress Indian disadvantages (POLDIS06 = 2).

Economic and social issues form the primary grievances of group members. The Indians are seeking a greater share of public funds, more employment and educational opportunities, improved working conditions, especially in the plantation sector, and the protection of their land and jobs from being diverted for the benefit of other communities (ECGR06 = 2). Social issues of particular concern include freedom of religious belief and the promotion of the group's culture including the right to use the Tamil language for educational purposes and in dealings with the government. Most recently, in 2006, a number of Indian organizations expressed grievances over the demolition of Hindu temples and shrines in Malaysia (CULGR06 = 1).

The Indians are represented by conventional organizations that draw their support primarily from group members. The main political party is the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) which is a part of the ruling National Front coalition government. However, the MIC is a junior partner in the ruling coalition and has not been able to influence policy to benefit the Indian community in Malaysia. Divisions within the MIC in 1989 led disgruntled members to form a new political party, the Malaysian Indian Progressive Front. Smaller parties include the People’s Progressive Party and the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma). While the Indians are a factionalized group, there was no intragroup violence from the years 1998 to 2006.

Relations between the Indians and the Malays erupted in violent hostilities in the northern state of Penang in 1998 over the site of Hindu temple; however, there were no incidents in the years 1999 and 2000.

Since the early 1960s, group members have undertaken low-level protest activities to press for their goals (PROT60X = 2; PROT99 = 2; PROT01 = 3; PROT06 = 3). Indians have not engaged in any rebellion against state authorities.

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References

The Europa Yearbook, The Far East and Australia 1993.

Far Eastern Economic Review, 1990-94.

C.S. Kuppuswamy. 2003. “Malaysian Indians: The third class race.” South Asia Analysis Group. http://www.saag.org/papers7/paper618.html

Lexis-Nexis news reports, 1990-2006.

Phase I, Minorities at Risk, overview compiled by Monty G. Marshall, 08/89.

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