Abstract
Malaysia has always been the centre of attraction for Indian skilled and unskilled labourers from the colonial phase to present times, given its geographical proximity , viable economic opportunities and cultural similarities . The colonial phase was marked by liberal immigration policies coupled with the state acting as an agency for transporting, regulating and managing Indian labourers. The regular mobility of Indian labourers has gradually led to permanent settlement of an Indian community in Malaysia. After the independence of Malaysia in 1957, there has been a shift in foreign labour immigration policies to the diminishing role of state in regulating and controlling foreign labour force under a neoliberal economic regime. In the face of stringent foreign labour immigration laws of the country, Indian labourers embark upon myriad ways and means for their mobility given the perennial demand for foreign labourers in certain critical economic sectors of Malaysia. Successive structural economic changes have propelled the increasing inflow of skilled and unskilled Indian migrants; this has eventually resulted in dichotomization of Indian community into ‘Old Indian migrants’ and ‘New Indian migrants’. This chapter sheds light on the emerging trajectories, trends and tensions of postcolonial Indian labour migration, especially with regard to unskilled Indian labourers . I also highlight the continuities between colonial and postcolonial Indian labour migration to Malaysia.
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- 1.
Interview with Mr. Siva Somasundaram, Secretary, MEETPPU (Migrant Employees Education for Transformation, Prevention and Protection Union) Trust which is based in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Interview Dated 14 December 2013.
- 2.
Interview with Mr. T. Kamalanathan, founder of Global Rescue Community, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dated 20 December 2013.
- 3.
MEETPPU (Migrant Employees Education for Transformation, Prevention and Protection Union)Trust unclassified document titled ‘Issues of Indian Migrant Labourers in Malaysia’.
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Marimuthu, M. (2016). Postcolonial Indian Labour Migration to Malaysia: Trajectories, Trends and Tensions. In: Lian, K., Rahman, M., Alas, Y. (eds) International Migration in Southeast Asia. Asia in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-712-3_6
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