I worked with an intern and a student from Malaysia in late 80s. SHe was studying in a US university and was a daughter of a Judge in Malaysia. She was of “Chinese” ethnicity.

She told me that it was a difficult life for non muslims. That there was widespread discrimination against Tamils and that they were converting rapidly because of that.

She also told that her father was being forced to learn Malay at this late stage in his career. I don’t know much about Malaysian history, so I am not sure why her father was being forced to learn Malay when he likely was in his 50s, but her body language and what she told me made it clear that her father did not have any choice and was very unhappy about it.

She also told that she had come to the US to study because they wanted to immigrate because of the discrimination.

She told me that Tamils were a lot worse off than “Chinese” people. That there was an active campaign to treat the “BhumiPutras” in a more “equal” manner. When I posted a query on the UseNet about what Malaysians think about discrimination, several Indians from Malaysia implored me not to post such queries, lest the government found out.

The way the peaceful demonstrators have been treated in a supposedly democratic country, being accused of being terrorists and all, confirms the experience of my Malaysian colleague.

As for how tolerant Singapore is, that’s an interesting nation-wide social experiment that we are still living out today. You should check out “AirConditioned Nation”by George Cherian ( I think that’s right) for starters.

Looking forward to your continued blogging from the Lion City and beyond!

Do you think having “Hindu courts” in India on the lines of “Sharia courts” in Malaysia would contribute to the “tolerance” in India like you see in Malaysia?. Would you ming being an advisor to the government of India in such matters?. You can take “2 months” trips to Timbuktu, Greenland and other exotic places and come back and report on the tolerance practised there compared to what we have in India.

Having stayed in Malaysia for couple of months and a couple of weeks in Singapore, it’s amazing that how tolerant they are. They have a hugely diverse population, almost as diverse as Indian, and yet they manage to be much more tolerant of each other than Indians are of each other, and somehow each culture has managed to keep their identity.

Wow. I have lived my first 23 years in India, such a diverse place and amazing to see the tolerance. I have not seen a Hindu stabbing a Muslim or a Muslim throwing a bomb into the temple. Amazing to see the tolerance .. isn’t it.

One more thing. Malaysia is just 60% Muslims with 40% non-Muslim and yet it is an “Islamic country”. Compare it with India being 80% Hindus. Do you accept it if tommorrow BJP wins and adds “Hindu country” to the constitution. And BTW read this news report.

Hindu woman loses fight against Shariah divorce .. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s highest court on Thursday rejected on technical grounds an appeal by an ethnic Indian Hindu woman to stop her Muslim convert husband from seeking a divorce in the Islamic ‘Shariah’ court, while upholding the man’s right to change the religion of their youngest son. 29-year-old R Subashini’s petition was rejected by the Federal Court as she had filed it within three months of the conversion of her husband, Saravanan Thangathoray alias Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, 32. Her lawyers said she will again file the petition in the high court to meet the legal requirement that it should be filed three months after the conversion. Subashini is not opposed to divorcing her husband, but she wants the procedure to take place in a civil court. The Federal Court said her Muslim convert husband had a right to approach the Shariah courts. It also upheld his right to convert the couple’s youngest of the two sons to Islam. Saravanan claims the elder child had already converted to Islam with him. The judgement further said that both civil courts and Shariah courts have equal status in Malaysia. A clear picture of the ruling would emerge after a full reading of the verdict, lawyers said. Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, the presiding judge of the three-member panel, noted that “civil courts continue to have jurisdiction, notwithstanding his (the husband’s) conversion to Islam… A non-Muslim marriage continues to exist until the High Court dissolves it.” Subashini, a former Secretary, had appealed the Court of Appeal’s 2-1 majority decision on a March 13 ruling that her husband could go to the Shariah Court and commence proceedings to dissolve their marriage. The appellate court held that the civil court cannot stop a Muslim convert from going to the Shariah Court to dissolve his marriage with his non-Muslim spouse or from initiating proceedings relating to custody of their children. Subashini had brought her appeal to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court in an attempt to reverse the Family Court’s decision to set aside her ex-parte injunction to temporarily prevent Saravanan from commencing proceedings in the Shariah court over their marriage or conversion of their younger son. Subashini married Saravanan, also an ethnic Indian, in a Hindu wedding in 2002. The couple’s sons, Dharvin and Sharvind, are now aged 4 and 2 respectively. Saravanan converted to Islam in 2006 and informed his wife, who attempted suicide and was hospitalised. When she returned home, Saravanan had left with Dharvin, the elder child whom he claims has also converted to Islam. Saravanan filed for divorce and custody rights over the children in a Shariah Court in May 2006, and the right to convert Sharvind, the couple’s younger child. This right was upheld by the court on Thursday.

My understanding is that Tamilian is an anglicized form of Tamizhan. I still cant accept that ‘Tamils’ is a valid word. Any citations. I dont suppose Fowlers would be of help in this case.