HISTORY | The Malayalee connection in Malaysia

HISTORY | Despite forming the second largest Indian ethnic group in Malaysia after the Tamils, very little has been written about the Malayalees (also spelt as Malayalis) and their contributions towards nation-building, particularly in the early development of British Malaya. Thus, this article seeks to fill the gap by narrating the immigration of Malayalees to Malaya, their distribution, growth and progress as a community as well as their roles and contributions towards nation-building.

The Malayalees, who originate from the present-day state of Kerala (then comprising Malabar district and the princely states of Travancore and Cochin) on the southwest coast of India, started immigrating to Malaya in considerable numbers beginning from the first decade of the 20th century. It should be noted that before the independence of India, the Malabar district was part of the larger Madras Presidency under the British colonial administration.

Renowned for their entrepreneurial spirit and great pride in their rich and diverse cultural heritage, the Malaysian Malayalees can be generally divided into four main subgroups: Hindus, Muslims, Syrian Christians (Marthomites and Jacobites), and Roman Catholics. Remarkably, these Malayalee subgroups are bound and unified by a common entity – the Malayalam language, which according to Anitha Devi Pillai, co-author of ‘Kerala to Singapore: Voices from the Singapore Malayalee Community’, provided “a sense of familiarity and togetherness in a foreign land”.

Historically, the earliest records of Malayalees in Malaya can be traced back to 1511 when Alfonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese Viceroy of India, captured Malacca with a military force comprising about...