Indian ǀ South Asian
Photo: Dr. Mahaletchumy Arujanan, a Malaysian scientist of Indian origin. She currently works as an executive director of Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC).
Malaysia is located between Indonesia and Thailand in Southeast Asia. Evidence of modern human habitation in Malaysia dates back 40,000 years. Traders and settlers from India and China arrived as early as the first century AD, establishing trading ports and coastal towns in the second and third centuries. Their presence resulted in strong Indian and Chinese influences on the local cultures, and the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula except Singapore formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore, as well as Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo, joined the Federation of Malay. Bumiputera (Malays and indigenous peoples, including Orang Asli, Dayak, and Anak Negeri) make up about 62% of the population of 30 million people in Malaysia. People of Indian descent—particularly Tamil Indians from Tamil Nadu—who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia make up about 7% of the population. Most are descendants of those who migrated from India during the British colonization of Malaya. Today, they form the third largest group in Malaysia after the Malays and the Chinese. Muslim is the official religion, practiced by about 62% of the population. Followers of Buddhism make up about 20%.
Malaysian – Indian represents 209 unrelated Indian individuals sampled in 2003 by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment in Malaysia.
Source publication: STR Data for the AmpFlSTR Identifiler loci in three ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian) of the Malaysian population, FSI, 2003, 238, p134-137.
[Population 361]
