The Colonial Period: Its Impact on Indians in Malaya and Burma

The history of migration in India is among the most diverse and complex in the world. South-East Asia is closely linked to the colonial history of the arrival, distribution and settlement of Indians. As a result of British colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent, Indians were able to move to Burma and Malaya. The majority arrived as labrouring classes, while the minority came as workers and businessmen, and many Indian revolutionaries fled The object of the present study is to explore the historical, social, economic, political and cultural dimensions of the Indians who moved to the Malaya and Burma countries during the colonial period. The Malaya and Burma region being the immediate neighboring area to us and being the area of the earliest migration, the study of the Indians in region obviously needs greater attention. Burma and Malaya received the maximum number of Indians. Mass migration of Indians started taking place from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Manpower was required by the colonial powers for the exploitation of natural resources that India could provide. Huge plantations were coming up where cash crops like rubber, tea, coconuts, tobacco, coffee, sugarcane and spices were grown. Plantations were the greatest legacies of colonialism. These plantations, especially in the British colonies, attracted cheap Indian labour. The indigenous people were indifferent towards working on the plantations as most of them were already involved in traditional farming. With the influx of the Indians, Southeast Asian societies became the examples of plural societies, "where it is said the various groups mix but do not combine."¹

The conditions of the Indians who came as labourers were pitiable. They were no better than slaves. The British were indifferent to their problems. The colonies were viewed by the British as glorified commercial undertakings. As a result the Indian immigrants were viewed from a totally selfish point of view i.e., as tools for the advancement of British commercial interests. There was no question of their having political rights; they were there to earn a living and then go back to where they came from. Neither did the Indians expect the British to be politically responsible towards them. They were loyal and industrious and gave no trouble as long as they were allowed to live as separate entities, maintaining their links with "Mother India". There was no intermixing with the other races.