Telugu people living in Malaysia are evincing renewed interest to learn their language and traditions, and are also keen on reviving their cultural roots with the Telugu States. At least three lakh of the five lakh native Telugu people in Malaysia can speak their mother tongue, in spite of losing contact with the Telugu mainland for decades.
It was 200 years ago that a number of Telugu families were taken to Malaysia by the then British government to work in coconut and rubber plantations. After the cultural churning with the native Malay, Chinese and Tamil communities, the Telugus almost ceased to exist, but for the serious efforts taken by the Telugu Association of Malaysia (TAM) to preserve their identity. Speaking to The Hindu , TAM’s former deputy president Appalanaidu Akiah recalled the efforts taken to revive Telugu on academic and cultural fronts.
The state provides financial aid to the youth teaching the language to the Telugu minorities, owing to the People's Own Language (POL) policy in vogue. After a brief hiatus during the last two decades, there is renewed interest among the students to learn their language. With the Malaysian government's munificent support, the TAM recently built Telugu Academy, tentatively named as ‘Telugu Devalayam’ to perpetuate its academic and literary activities.
“Since 2010, more than 5,000 students have learned to read and write in Telugu,” points out Mr. Akiah, who is currently an adviser on academic issues. The language study is conducted at four levels viz., Praveshika, Madhyamika, Praveena and Visharadha in a tie-up with Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad.
As temples act as ‘cultural carriers’, most activities are centred around Sri Venkateswara temple in Bagan Datoh, where devotional and folk activities such as bhajans, gobbillu, chidatalu, spiritual discourses and matrimonial meets are organised to help the Malaysian Telugus ‘stay connected’ with their roots. Mr. Akiah is pained at the lack of support from the Telugu State governments, financial or otherwise.
Even the Telugus who have recently migrated to Malaysia for jobs seldom mix with native Telugus like them. “We meet them only during Telugu film release,” he quips.
The TAM also proposes to reach out to its brethren in Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
