Sri Lankan Malaysians are people of full or partial Sri Lankan descent who were born in or immigrated to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

History

The Ceylonese (mostly

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

with smaller numbers of

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

and

Burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...

s) started arriving in Malaya with the advent of the 19th century. They were sought after by the British to assist in the administration of the British Government of Malaya.An Introduction to the Malaysian Ceylonese Community and the Malaysian Ceylonese Congress
, ''penangstory.net''. The British offered them readily available appointments in its service as it was not the practice of the British Government to employ persons direct from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Instead they advertised vacancies in its service in prominent dailies of Ceylon inviting suitable applicants to apply for the posts. After the

Pangkor Treaty of 1874 The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was a treaty signed between Great Britain and the Sultan of Perak on 20 January 1874, on the Colonial Steamer Pluto, off the coast of Perak. The treaty is significant in the history of the Malay states as it legitimis ...

, the British embarked upon the construction of roads, railways, schools, hospitals and government offices in the Malay Peninsula, to develop the country and to increase its revenue and the Ceylonese were brought to survey the railways and to build and man them, to be apothecaries in the hospitals, to be technical assistants to qualified engineers and to staff the clerical services on which an expanding government was bound increasingly to depend. With the establishment of the

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

, a large number of clerks, surveyors, hospital assistants, teachers and technical assistants from Ceylon began to arrive.

Settlement

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, the Ceylon Tamil population was mainly concentrated in

Brickfields A brickfield is an open site where bricks are made. Place names are often formed from the word. Brickfield, Brickfields or Brickfielder may specifically refer to: Australia *Brickfielder, an arid wind * Brickfield Hill, an area of Sydney *Brickfie ...

and Sentul because of the proximity of the Administrative Centre of the Malayan Railway (opposite the railway station) and the Sentul Workshop. The Government provided accommodation for the white and the blue collar workers in these areas. The Ceylon Tamils living in both these areas are mostly devout Saivites and as they fervently believed that "no one should live in a place that has no Temple ", they soon began to organise themselves into Associations. This led to construction of the Sri Kandaswamy Kovil, which has become a landmark and tourist attraction in the city, showcasing Sri Lankan Tamil and Hindu architecture at its finest.

Politics

In 1958, the

Malaysian Ceylonese Congress The Malaysian Ceylonese Congress (MCC; ms, Kongres Ceylonese Malaysia, ta, மலேசிய சிலோனீஸ் காங்கிரஸ், si, මැලේසියානු ලංකා කොන්ග්‍රසය) is a political ...

was established as a political party with the aim of giving support to the then Alliance party. MCC has continuously supported the

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

and the Government. It was formed to promote and preserve the Political, Educational, Social and Cultural aspects of the Malaysian Ceylonese Community. Notable politicians of Sri Lankan origin include S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, Ramon Navaratnam,

D. R. Seenivasagam Darma Raja Seenivasagam ( Tamil: தார்ம ராஜா சீனிவசகம்) (1925, Ipoh - 15 March 1969, Ipoh) was a prominent leader of the People's Progressive Party (Malaysia) (PPP) which before 1959 was known as Perak Progre ...

, and E. E. C. Thuraisingham.

References

External links

Malaysian Ceylonese Congress
{{Sri Lankan diaspora

Sri Lankans This is a demography of the population of Sri Lanka including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Sri Lanka is an island in the ...

Immigration to Malaysia Malaysia–Sri Lanka relations

History

Settlement

Politics

See also

References

External links