MALAYASIA - WHERE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN WERE TAKEN BY THE BRITISH TO WORK AS INDENTURED LABOURERS ON RUBBER PLANTATIONS

MALAYASIAN INDIAN-ORIGIN PEOPLE - JOURNALIST AND EDITOR - BALAN MOSES - SPOKE TO SUBRY GOVENDER DURING THE PRAVASI BHARATI DIVAS CONFERENCE IN CHENNAI, INDIA, IN JANUARY 2009

IN JANUARY 2009, I WAS ONE OF 19 INDIAN-ORIGIN JOURNALISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WHO WERE INVITED TO ATTEND THE PRAVASI BHARATI DIVAS CONFERENCE HOSTED BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT IN THE CITY OF CHENNAI. BESIDES SOUTH AFRICA, THERE WERE JOURNALISTS FROM GUYANA, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO AND SURINAME IN THE WEST INDIES, MAURITIUS, SEYCHELLES, FIJI, MALAYSIA AND AUSTRALIA. DURING THE COURSE OF THE CONFERENCE, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF TALKING TO SOME OF THESE JOURNALISTS AND COMPILED A SERIES OF RADIO FEATURES ON SEVERAL COUNTRIES WHERE INDIAN-ORIGIN PEOPLE HAD SETTLED OVER THE PAST 300 YEARS. THIS IS THE FIRST REPORT ON MALAYSIA WHERE INDIAN-ORIGIN PEOPLE, MAINLY FROM TAMIL NADU, KERALA AND ANDHRA PRADESH, HAD BEEN RECRUITED TO WORK AS INDENTURED LABOURERS ON RUBBER PLANTATIONS. I SPOKE TO BALAN MOSES, A SENIOR JOURNALIST AND FORMER EDITOR WHO WORKED FOR THE MAIN NEW STRAITS TIME ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER IN KUALA LUMPUR. MR MOSES IS NOW EDITOR OF THE ABN NEWS CABLE TEVEVISION NETWORK.