South Indians in Sarawak.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
South Indians in Sarawak. |
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Author :
T. Komarusamy |
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Abstract:
The articles on display in Sarawak Museum indicating the presence of Indians in Sarawak have been dated the earliest as from the 12th century A.D.. Tom Harrisson in his essay “Indian Pioneers in Borneo (500 A.D.)” states (Quote) “It is thought that Indians came to Borneo at least as early as the 5th century A.D.; from a Sanskrit inscription in stone found in Kutei in the South-east (Indonesian Borneo) celebrating King Mulavarman. The ruler took part in what Professor Coedes calls “une recrudescenc de I’hindouisation de I’lnde exterieure”. Recent historians date of establishment of Indianized kingdoms in this part of the world as early as the first century B.C.. But today, in terms of actual people, their descendents have lost their separate identity by complete assimilation with the local population. During the 19th century, during the Rajah’s reign there were Indian immigrations into Sarawak and these fall into three distinct categories namely, the Tamil South Indian Muslims who came as merchants, the Punjabi Sikhs who came as members of Sarawak constabulary and the Tamil South Hindian Hindus who came as workers to run the Matang tea estate. The subject matter of this paper is on this last group of people, who today form the majority group among the Sarawak Indian community. This paper proposes a treatment on the following three aspects:— 1. History 2. Present situation 3. Future direction
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Komarusamy, T. (1989). South Indians in Sarawak. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XL (61): 237-252 |
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References
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