PIRIṬṬIṢ KĀLAṈIYA ĀṬCIYIṈPŌTU MALĀYĀVĀḺ TAMIḺC CAMUTĀYAM AṬAINTA MĒLĀTIKKANILAI [THE HEGEMONISM ON TAMIL COMMUNITY DURING THE BRITISH COLONIAL RULE

Abstract

Malaya was under colonial rule by the British at the beginning of the industrial revolution in the world. Rubber was considered an essential commodity for the car industry. The UK government approached East India Company entrepreneurs and advised them to set up rubber plantations in Malaya. Those suggestions were accepted and arrangements were made for deforestation in order to plant rubber trees throughout Malaya. The locals retreated to do the work. On the advice of the British rulers, South Indian Tamils ​​were brought to Malaya by the kangani system and by contract system and settled in rubber plantations. The Tamil people destroyed the jungles surrounding Malaya and planted rubber trees. Later, they were hired as rubber tapper in rubber plantations. The Tamil people who worked in this way suffered from the British investors, the Sri Lankan Tamils ​​who worked as plantation managers and the non-Tamil Indians who worked as clerks. C.Vadivelu, a senior Malaysian Tamil writer, has made clear through his short stories the cruelty of the hegemonism of British investors. His three collections of short stories are considered as the primary sources of this study and the historical references of Malaysia as supporting sources of the study. Data collected from short stories have been analyzed based on postcolonial theory. This study reveals the fact that the Malay Tamil people were sociologically and economically dominated by the British colonial rulers.