Tamil Malaysians
மலேசியத் தமிழர்கள் | |
|---|---|
A group of Tamil people in British Malaya, 1898. | |
| Total population | |
| Approximately 1,971,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia) Singapore | |
| Languages | |
| Malaysian Tamil, English and Malay | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tamil, Tamil Muslim, Myanmar Tamils, Indian Singaporeans, Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka, Tamil South Africans, Tamil Mauritians, Malaysian Malayali, Telugu Malaysians, Dravidians |
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Tamil Malaysians, also known as Malaysian Tamilar, are people of full or partial Tamil descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia from Tamil Nadu, India and the Tamil regions of north-east Sri Lanka. The majority of 1.8–2 million people 80% of the Malaysian Indian populations in Malaysia were from Indian Tamil ethnic groups from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The bulk of Tamil Malaysian migration began during the British Raj, when Britain facilitated the migration of Indian workers to work in plantations under Kangani system. There are, however, some established Tamil communities from before British colonialism.