Malaya’s Ceylonese Connection

By Preveena Balakrishnan

July 2019 LEST WE FORGET
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Group photo of Jaffna Tamils in Ipoh, 1948.
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The relationship between Malaya and Ceylon was established long before East India Company days through trade in spices, tin, elephants and peacocks.When exactly the Ceylonese first came to Malaya will probably remain unknown, as the British categorized them within the general Indian population. Formally, though, Sri Lankans, referred to as Ceylonese, had been settling in Malaya since the nineteenth century.1 They, together with the Indians, formed an important human resource for the British Crown Colonies.The Ceylonese – comprising Tamils, Sinhalese,...

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Preveena Balakrishnan

is based in Penang. She runs her own research studio, Vamssa Research Studio, which researches and documents the heritage of the Indian community in Malaysia.


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