Telugu Diaspora- Countries

Telugu in Malaysia by Dr.Satyanarayana Gavarasana

Brief Biography:

Dr. Satyanarayana Gavarasana: Born in Pithapuram, East Godavari District, A.P., India on September 4, 1936. Living with wife Subhadra in Norwood,MA, USA. Parents: Srimati Appalanarasamma and Sri Venkanna. A graduate of Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam, A.P. Fulbright Scholar –1966. Practised as a surgeon in Gollaprolu village of East Godavari District. Founder Managing Trustee and First Medical Director, Lions Cancer Hospital, Visakhapatnam. Co-founder of Dr. M. V. R. MPP School in Gollaprolu. Donated half a million Rupees to Malireddi Umamba MPP Upper Primary School, Gollaprolu in March 2003. Interested in preservation and propagation of Telugu language and in cancer research.

Telugu in Malaysia

Malaysia is formed in 1963 and it was carved out of a Federation of Malay, comprising of Singapore and Malay. Telugu is spoken by 300,000 people in a country of 24.5 million people with an area of 329,758 sq km. Indians constitute seven percent of the population with Tamilians in the lead followed by Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi speaking people. The official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia, but Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Telugu, English and Punjabi are spoken. It is predominantly a Muslim nation but the influence of early Hindu rulers and their language, Sanskrit, is palpably present. The suffix Jaya is added to towns like Petaling Jaya where my son and his family live. A brand new satellite city under construction near the capital Kuala Lumpur is called Cyber Jaya. Putra Jaya, another satellite city, houses various government departments. The word 'Denda' is used to denote 'fine' or as punishment. If one can understand a Sanskrit word like 'Danda' or a phrase like 'Sama-bheda-dana-dandopayalu,' one can understand a Malaysian word for fine, Denda. Coming back to Telugu, I can confidently say that it is alive and well in Malaysia. My grandchildren living in Malaysia speak in Telugu and how many grandparents living in the US can make the same assertion? My wife and I visited a roadside restaurant in Kuala Lumpur along with our grand children while my son and daughter-in-law went in search of 'masala dinusulu' on the Sambandan Street. We could not control grandchildren's unwanted activities in the restaurant. We told them in Telugu that the server would punish them if they misbehave, while pointing out to one of the servers. The server swings around and admonishes them in Telugu, to our surprise. The restaurant is under the management of Telugus and the orders for tiffin and tea were transmitted in Telugu like the way they do in the small towns of Andhra Pradesh. Even the décor of the Telugu restaurant is the same as in the old Andhradesamu, with the same type of wooden tables covered with either a plastic laminate or with marble tops. The menu is very interesting. It has separate components of rice, rasam, sambar, chepala pulusu, fish fry, chicken curry and chicken fry - all displayed in a glass case. I asked for the price of a thali (meal) and I am informed that there is no concept of thali meal and each component is charged as picked up by the customer. 

Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayam, Malaysia (Blue Print)


When we were visiting Merdeka Square (Independence Square), a popular tourist spot, we ran into a worker in an underground restaurant who spoke to us in Telugu while we were debating in Telugu as what to order to eat. We met a fourth generation Telugu person, Dr. Paul Naidu, at his residence, who spoke Telugu fluently but he does not know how to read or write Telugu. He told us that he learnt Telugu from his parents. He assured us that there are schools in Malaysia where Telugu is taught at Primary School level. Sri B. Murthy, President of Telugu Association of Malaysia informed me that Telugu is taught as "Peoples Own Language" (POL Classes) upto the secondary school level in areas where Telugus predominantly live. Owing to the poor response from the students and obviously from parents, the Ministry of Education has ceased to conduct examinations in Telugu language. However this situation may be reversed with the active intervention of Telugu Association of Malaysia. At the present time there are two government schools where Telugu is taught and they are located at Bagan Datoh area. At the secondary school level, a class to teach Telugu is organized if more than 15 students demand teaching of Telugu as a subject. Telugu is not taught as a subject at the University level. 

I wonder how Telugus who have migrated to Malay four generations ago kept the Telugu language alive and at the same time I wonder how the Telugu speaking people in America are unable to come to grips about teaching Telugu to their children. The immigrants to Malay who came to work in the rubber or palm plantations in the late 19th Century or early 20th Century hailed mostly from rural areas of north Andhra coastal districts. The lure of steady employment and possible riches in the far Malay pulled many illiterate agricultural laborers into becoming immigrants. Their language was Telugu and almost all, with a few exceptions, knew not how to write or read Telugu but spoke Telugu. It goes without saying that they did not know any other language like English as our current immigrants to the USA do. So the immigrants to Malay from Andhra had no choice but to speak in Telugu with one another and they were placed in the same colony along with other Telugu-speaking people. It is interesting to note that the British landlords who owned the plantations chose to segregate these workers based not only on the caste but also on the language. Tamils who outnumbered Telugus were placed in different plantation colonies. It is the proximity of other Telugus in a given location and conduct of their day to day affairs in Telugu allowed Telugu language to flourish without any plan or design. Even the management of the plantations kept a Telugu speaking person in charge of the labor administration and recruitment. Thanks to the illiterate Telugu plantation workers, Telugu and the culture of Telugus was kept alive when they sang Telugu songs in the evening as a form of entertainment and Bhajans and Chirutalu were sung in Telugu at the time of festivals. A few enlightened individuals among these plantation workers chose to learn Telugu as a language at the behest of the plantation management. 

To preserve Telugu language and culture, men with foresight formed an association of Telugus in Malay in 1955 in Lower Perak, Perak, which blossomed into 24 functioning branches. The headquarters of Malaysia Telugu Sanghamu is located in Kuala Lumpur, a federal region. The current president of Telugu Association of Malaysia is Sri B. Murthy, a Barrister at Law, who studied at Lincoln's Inn. The Telugu Association of Malaysia (TAM) has embarked on an ambitious project to construct a Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayam in an area covering 2.5 acres, located north of Rawang town. This project is the brain-child of a past president of TAM, Dr. Paul Naidu, who donated RM 25,000. Dr. Naidu now heads the committee to build Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayam. Though I did not have time to go to the area where Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayam is under construction, but a set of blue prints of the Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayam are given to me by Dr. Paul Naidu with a request for possible collaboration between TAM and Telugu organizations in the US, like TANA, ATA or TFAS etc. Even Sri N. Chandrababu Naidu, on a visit to Malaysia promised financial assistance to build the Telugu Saamskruthika Nilayamu in Malaysia.

One thing that struck me as significant in Malaysia is that men and women could speak freely in their own language with out any suspicious looks from their fellow passengers in the suburban trains as they do in the US post-9/11. I have also seen women wearing saris and bhindis on their foreheads without fear of retaliation in Kuala Lumpur compared to the women of Indian origin in New Jersey who faced the dot-busters and Hindu hate-mongers. When I asked for an explanation of this strange but welcome phenomenon in Malaysia, Dr. Paul Naidu said, that though Malaysia is a predominantly a Muslim country, the people have respect and tolerance for other religions. He said that Malaysia is an ideal example of racial harmony and every body else in the world should emulate the Malaysian model. I believe him.

I am glad to report that Malaysian Telugus who moved away from the plantations, though many still live there, have climbed up the social ladder and occupied various posts in the government and service sectors. There are lawyers, doctors, engineers and captains of life insurance industry. Due to the historical reasons, according to Sri B. Murthy, the earlier Telugu settlers have not participated in the political process. As a result there are no political leaders from the Telugu community but their Tamilian brethren participated actively in the politics of Malay and as a result the Tamilians occupy political and ministerial berths. What could be the historical reason for non-participation of Telugus in the political process? Telugus were good at becoming coolies in the old days in Malay and even now, Telugus are good at becoming "Computer Coolies, or Engineering Coolies" etc. Even the distance in time and space make no difference in the attitudes of Telugus! The expatriate Telugus are not interested in the political process except for the lone NRI elected as an Indian M.P.!

Will Telugu language live in Malaysia in the future? With the benevolent tolerance of marriages among various castes and language groups in Malaysia, survival of Telugu as a language is a question. With the available opportunities of higher education and employment to those Malaysian Telugu young girls and boys outside their home, the chances to marry someone outside the Telugu language group are real. What is not accepted yet in Malaysia is a marriage between races. The Malaysia Telugus do not accept a marriage between a Telugu person and Chinese or Malay.

Will Telugu live and thrive in Malaysia? Will Telugus ever climb the ladder of political leadership in Malaysia? Only time will tell.

Source:

Dr. Satyanarayana Gavarasana, “Telugu in Malaysia” in the ‘America Bharathi’ (Magazine of American Telugu Association, March-June, 2003,  Page 6-7, Published at P.O. Box 4496, Naperville, IL 60567.

(Written on April 6, 2003 at Norwood, MA 02062-5482, USA and peer reviewed by Sri B. Murthy, President of Telugu Association of Malaysia).

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