Story and photos by EDWARD RAJENDRA
OLD photographs on the migration of Indians to Malaya in the 1800s are being sought to give an insight into the lives of the migrants that will be narrated in a book to be published soon.
Author, M. Janakey Raman who has published The Malaysian Indian Dilemma in the Tamil language is now working on an English version that will narrate the lives of the migrants through a collection of old photographs.
Janakey was trained to conduct in-depth research in the Fatima Community Develop-ment Training Centre under the guidance of a Catholic priest Reverend Y. Carno in the mid-60s.
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Priceless : Old photograph such as this is wanted by the author. This picture shows men from India arriving at Port Klang jetty in the mid-1900s to work in the plantations.
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“Our nation is 50-years-old and we want to celebrate it with the publication of an English version of the book that will give a better understanding of the history of Malaysian Indians,” he said.
Janakey added that the first batch published in the Tamil language by OMS Publishers was a hit in Malaysia and even as far as Mauritius.
“It is a well-researched publication as it traces the origins of the Indians who came to Malaya as migrants in 1786, their struggle in the new land before and after independence, the National Economic Policy pertaining to the Indian community and future challenges,” he said.
Janakey who started life as a rubber tapper at the Jawa Selangor Estate in Batang Berjun-tai, Selangor took 15-years to gather the information for the Tamil version.
“The English version would be out in the first week of December,” he said.
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The man behind the book : Author Janekey Raman with OMS Publisher P. Thiagarajan having a look at the old photographs collected for the book to be written in English.
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One interesting fact highlighted in the book was the lifestyle of the Indians in the plantations and how they had been sidelined due to rapid development.
Janakey pointed out that between 1860 and 1957, there were four million Indians, in particular Tamils in Malaysia with 2.8 million later returning to India.
Janakey added that of those who stayed back, some died of disease and hardship, including 90,000 who died building the Death Railway to Burma during the Japanese Occupation.
For those with old photographs, please call M. Janakey Raman at 013 392 7727.