Malaysians of Indian descent in Penang
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A group of Tamil women in Province Wellesley (known as Seberang Perai today), Penang, 1907.
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (173,000 10.1% of Penang total population (2010)(Not include Non resident Indians):) |
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| Regions with significant populations | |
 Malaysia (Georgetown and Seberang Perai) |
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| Languages | |
| Tamil (Malaysian Tamil), English, Malaysian, Telugu, Punjabi, Malayalam, Penang Malay, Manglish | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism (predominantly), Christianity, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, Bahá'í Faith, Jainism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Malaysian Indians, Chitty, Chindian |
Penangite Indians (Malaysian: Kaum India di Pulau Pinang, Tamil:பினாங்கு இந்தியர்கள்), also known as Chulias are Malaysian Indians that live primarily in the state of Penang, Malaysia. Most are the descendants from those who migrated from India during the British colonisation of Malaya. However, historical sources prove that the ancient Indians arrived in Penang during the Chola dynasty. Today, the Penangite Indians are one of the most successful ethnic groups in Penang state and whole of Malaysia. Penangite Indians forms a large percentage of the state's professional labours such as business, law and medicine as well as politics, it can be proved by the appointment of Dr P.Ramasamy as deputy chief minister of Penang. It made him the first Malaysian of Indian origin to hold the post of deputy chief minister in any state of Malaysia. In addition, first Tamil Vernacular School in Malaysia was established in Penang.
Already in the 1790s, Light mentions Chulias (that is, people from the Coromandel Coast of India) as shopkeepers and farm labourers in Penang. Light estimated that about two thousand men came to work in this manner each year. however, in contrast to the Chinese, these labourers did not create a permanent settlement in Penang. They would, rather, work long enough to save money and then return to their families in south India. This group of migrants comprised the ‘Adi Dravidas,’ a group of impoverished labourers originating in the hinterlands of the Tamil country and Andhra Desa who, facing insufficient work in their homeland, went abroad for survival.
Another class of Indian migrants was a class of people hailing from the Kaveri delta areas (from the Sivaganga district of Madras) known as ‘Nattukottai Chettiars’ who were by occupation money-lenders. Their presence in Penang and elsewhere where plantations sprang up aided merchants, miners, and planters, as these Chettiars were advancing required working capital in the absence of any effective banks. Light also encouraged migration by the Chettiar community as part of his plan to create a cash economy on Penang.
Unlike the Tamil migrants, Telugu migrants from the northern Coromandel Coast came to Penang as families. For this reason, many did not leave when their work terms expired, but rather continued working on plantations or as merchants. Over 1,500,000 south Indians who worked in Malayan plantations, more than three-fourths returned to India, nearly all of them Tamil.
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