How many Tamil Indians in Malaysia are able to speak and write fluent Tamil language?
This is similar to how many Chinese Malaysians can speak and write fluent Chinese language Hua Yu 华语/華語 ?
It is interesting that linguists or culture researchers are always linking the language and the tribe or race. For example, Indians in Malaysia are Tamil speaking, Chinese are Mandarin speaking, Malays are speaking Bahasa Melayu.
But, the Chinese Malaysians may not able to speak Mandarin but instead they speak the Hokkien, Min Nan Yu 闽南语, Cantonese. Hakka, Hai Nan, etc.
Similarly, the Kadazan Dusun language is borne with the two tribal and they interchange the language thus it is call Kadazan Dusun. Of course, few of the tribal people are not happy that they have lost their own language just to join the other group.
Dr. Santhiram R. Raman needs to more aware that not all Indians in Malaysia are from Tamil Nadu and they also due to the colonial system, they have change the religion from Hindu to Christianity.
The good example is the CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandes, he is a Malayalis and of course, many other Malayalis too, who may not feel like to learn Tamil
Does the religion play a role in altering the language too ? How about the Chinese Muslim and Indian Muslim in Malaysia, do they speak Malay or their respective tribal languages?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalis
Do not forget another group called Telegu, they have taught the language for free for their community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_language
We do not want to go on more other language which the Indian Malaysia community has to unearth and compile it.
Now you know why Tamil language is not popular in Malaysia, Non Tamil tribal, like Telegu, Malayalam families do not send the children to the Tamil primary schools, it is a sort to convert the Telegu to Tamil. Is this fair.
That is why UNESCO passed the resolution to call the member countries to teach Esperanto in the primary as the second language of the country, not only save much money. Leave more time for other tribal people to learn their tribal language but British colonial master murdered many languages in the world.
Now, it is the Malaysia Indian Congress (MIC) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Indian_Congress should be dissolved as a political party to a cultural centers. As we have said about the Malaysia Chinese Association too. dissolve it and stop the racial problem in Malaysia. https://malaysiakusayang.blogspot.com/2023/11/malaysia-mca-mic-dissolve-racial-parties.html
Diwali is a religious event but not a culture event
Festivals
Pongal is a major and multi-day harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in the month of Thai according to the Tamil solar calendar (usually falls on 14 or 15 January).[384][385][386][387] Puthandu is known as Tamil New Year which marks the first day of year on the Tamil calendar and falls on in April every year on the Gregorian calendar.[388] Other major festivals include Karthikai Deepam,[389][390] Thaipusam,[391][392] Panguni Uthiram,[393][394] and Vaikasi Visakam.[395] Aadi Perukku is a Tamil cultural festival celebrated in the Tamil month of Adi and the worship of Amman and Ayyanar deities are organized during the month in temples across Tamil Nadu with much fanfare.[291] Other festivals celebrated include Ganesh Chaturthi, Navarathri, Deepavali, Eid al-Fitr and Christmas.[396][397][398]
We have called the Tamil speaking community or other language speakers to celebrate Puthandu instead of Diwali.
https://malaysiakusayang.blogspot.com/2025/04/happy-puthandu-to-malaysians.html
https://malaysiakusayang.blogspot.com/2022/06/religious-day-and-culture-activities.html
We will come back to discuss the cultural, language issues from time to time. However, we hope, get the idea right, the tribal language and religion is not the same in line, one speaker can have other religion belief but he/she still can speak the tribal language.
This is an essential listen for educators, parents, and policymakers invested in the future of ethnic minority education in Malaysia. Chapters 00:00 – Missing the boat to social cohesion thanks to vernacular education 06:25 – Prioritizing preservation of culture over competency in education 09:07 – Tamil schools keep Tamil alive 10:53 – Focusing on the fundamentals 13:25 – Preserving Tamil culture 14:58 – Transient Indians 18:35 – Breaking the stereotypes around Tamil schools 23:57 – A parent’s role in social mobility 27:60 – PERALIHAN classes create class groups 32:33 – Tamil schools and the levels of proficiency in BM and English 35:36 – Intra-racism among Indians 39:05 – The lack of self-esteem among Tamil school children 48:26 – Are Tamil schools inferior? 49:25 - Tamil schools as cultural citadels 51:13 – Representation of Indians in the national educational 53:13 – Systemic, subtle, and powerful ways racism is propagated 54:41 – Your recommendations 56:42 – The fate of racist teachers 59:03 – Only the crying baby gets milk 62:28 – Is there a need for Tamil schools? 68:01 – Special schools for Indian students 71:20 – Mainstream students’ lower sense of self 74:08 – Purpose behind the book 77:36 – Solutions for the betterment of Indian students
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