Tracing the history of Malaysia-India ties
FORMER Indian High Commissio-ner to Malaysia Prof Veena Sikri was in the country for the launch of her book, India and Malaysia: Intertwined Strands.
"I decided to write this book as I realised there is minimal awareness of the rich history of interaction between India and Malaysia,'' she said during the launch at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) recently.
In her book, Prof Sikri traces the development of relations between India and the Malay peninsula over two millenia. It was initially driven by trade and strengthened through religion and culture — Hinduism and Buddhism, and later Islam.
"The people of South and South-East Asia interacted freely and peaceably then. It was a mutually beneficial relationship which did not have any element of conquest,'' she noted.
It has been almost 10 years since Prof Sikri left as High Commissioner in December 2003, however, her ties with Malaysia remain strong. In fact, her uncle PK Baskhi came from India as a teacher in 1953 and his family still lives here.
Prof Sikri worked on the book while she was a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South-East Asian Studies (Iseas) in Singapore from November 2008 to October 2011.
She left diplomatic service after 38 years to join academia and is now a lecturer with Jamia Millia Islamia (National Islamic University) in New Delhi, India.
She is the Ford Foundation Chair of the Bangladesh Studies Programme. Prof Sikri had also served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
The book outlines how the arrival of the European colonialists about 500 years ago changed the pattern of interaction. The Portuguese, Dutch and English exploited the resources and people of both India and South-east Asia. "The colonisers sought to continue earlier trading patterns, but supplanted Asian traders in order to maximise profits."
Later, economic considerations led the British to bring in workers from the Indian sub-continent to meet the Malay Peninsula's labour needs. This had far-reaching consequences which are still felt today, said Prof Sikri, and cited the Hindraf movement's championing of the Tamil and Hindu community's rights.
"The division of labour among the Malays, Indians and Chinese for economic reasons led to segregation of the races. The Malays stayed in the kampung while the Indians cultivated rubber and the Chinese were brought in for tin mining. This obliterated memories of the pre-colonial interaction which had taken place over the centuries."
The welfare of Malaysian Indians here had always been of concern to Indian leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru. On his first trip in 1937, Nehru spent almost two weeks meeting Indians in places such as Taiping, Port Dickson and Batu Pahat to find out about their conditions.
He made a second trip in 1946 and according to Prof Sikri, advised Indians here to stay united. "Nehru told them they had a role in bringing prosperity to Malaya as it was now their country."
The excellent relations between Malaya and India was exemplified in the close friendship Nehru enjoyed with Bapa Merdeka Tunku Abdul Rahman, said Prof Sikri, noting that his daughter, Indira Gandhi used to address Tunku as "Uncle".
New Delhi's strengthening relationship with Asean has come full circle with India's elevation from dialogue to strategic partner in December 2012. Prof Sikri said the vision statement adopted by leaders at the Asean-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi last year, which charts the future direction of Asean-Indian relations, recalls the pre-colonial interactions.
"If the recommendations are implemented in the full spirit they were made, it will go far in bringing India and South-East Asia, including Malaysia, closer together."
However, Prof Sikri said the full potential of the relationship cannot be realised unless the Malaysian Indian issue is addressed, in particular the problem of stateless Tamils. "It is a perception issue which should not be brushed off as an internal matter. There is great potential in reaching a fair and humanitarian solution,'' she said, adding some matters should not be left only to governments to resolve.
An advocate of people-to-people links, Prof Sikri called for more partnerships between the two countries. This could be in the form of educational exchanges such as bringing teachers from India to Malaysia to teach at Tamil primary schools.
Also present at the launch were ISIS chief executive Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Datuk Dr Muthiah Alagappa, Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Vijay Gokhale and former Malaysian High Commissioner to India Datuk Tan Seng Sung.
India and Malaysia: Intertwined Strands, jointly published by Iseas and Manohar, is available at selected bookstores for RM150.
For details, call the book's distributor, GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd at 03-7957 8342 / 8343 or email to: sird@streamyx.com or marketing@gerakbudaya.com
"I decided to write this book as I realised there is minimal awareness of the rich history of interaction between India and Malaysia,'' she said during the launch at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) recently.
In her book, Prof Sikri traces the development of relations between India and the Malay peninsula over two millenia. It was initially driven by trade and strengthened through religion and culture — Hinduism and Buddhism, and later Islam.
"The people of South and South-East Asia interacted freely and peaceably then. It was a mutually beneficial relationship which did not have any element of conquest,'' she noted.
It has been almost 10 years since Prof Sikri left as High Commissioner in December 2003, however, her ties with Malaysia remain strong. In fact, her uncle PK Baskhi came from India as a teacher in 1953 and his family still lives here.
Prof Sikri worked on the book while she was a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South-East Asian Studies (Iseas) in Singapore from November 2008 to October 2011.
She left diplomatic service after 38 years to join academia and is now a lecturer with Jamia Millia Islamia (National Islamic University) in New Delhi, India.
She is the Ford Foundation Chair of the Bangladesh Studies Programme. Prof Sikri had also served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
The book outlines how the arrival of the European colonialists about 500 years ago changed the pattern of interaction. The Portuguese, Dutch and English exploited the resources and people of both India and South-east Asia. "The colonisers sought to continue earlier trading patterns, but supplanted Asian traders in order to maximise profits."
Later, economic considerations led the British to bring in workers from the Indian sub-continent to meet the Malay Peninsula's labour needs. This had far-reaching consequences which are still felt today, said Prof Sikri, and cited the Hindraf movement's championing of the Tamil and Hindu community's rights.
"The division of labour among the Malays, Indians and Chinese for economic reasons led to segregation of the races. The Malays stayed in the kampung while the Indians cultivated rubber and the Chinese were brought in for tin mining. This obliterated memories of the pre-colonial interaction which had taken place over the centuries."
The welfare of Malaysian Indians here had always been of concern to Indian leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru. On his first trip in 1937, Nehru spent almost two weeks meeting Indians in places such as Taiping, Port Dickson and Batu Pahat to find out about their conditions.
He made a second trip in 1946 and according to Prof Sikri, advised Indians here to stay united. "Nehru told them they had a role in bringing prosperity to Malaya as it was now their country."
The excellent relations between Malaya and India was exemplified in the close friendship Nehru enjoyed with Bapa Merdeka Tunku Abdul Rahman, said Prof Sikri, noting that his daughter, Indira Gandhi used to address Tunku as "Uncle".
New Delhi's strengthening relationship with Asean has come full circle with India's elevation from dialogue to strategic partner in December 2012. Prof Sikri said the vision statement adopted by leaders at the Asean-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi last year, which charts the future direction of Asean-Indian relations, recalls the pre-colonial interactions.
"If the recommendations are implemented in the full spirit they were made, it will go far in bringing India and South-East Asia, including Malaysia, closer together."
However, Prof Sikri said the full potential of the relationship cannot be realised unless the Malaysian Indian issue is addressed, in particular the problem of stateless Tamils. "It is a perception issue which should not be brushed off as an internal matter. There is great potential in reaching a fair and humanitarian solution,'' she said, adding some matters should not be left only to governments to resolve.
An advocate of people-to-people links, Prof Sikri called for more partnerships between the two countries. This could be in the form of educational exchanges such as bringing teachers from India to Malaysia to teach at Tamil primary schools.
Also present at the launch were ISIS chief executive Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Datuk Dr Muthiah Alagappa, Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Vijay Gokhale and former Malaysian High Commissioner to India Datuk Tan Seng Sung.
India and Malaysia: Intertwined Strands, jointly published by Iseas and Manohar, is available at selected bookstores for RM150.
For details, call the book's distributor, GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd at 03-7957 8342 / 8343 or email to: sird@streamyx.com or marketing@gerakbudaya.com
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