The South Indian Labour Fund

The tragic episode of the South Indian Labour Fund Board (SILF) is one which every South Indian in Malaysia must know. It should prick the conscience of the South Indians and a concerted effort is taken to redeem what has been lost to the Community. SILF was created as a Board to look after the interests of South Indian Labour imported from India to work in the plantations in the then Malaya.

Every plantation Company was required to pay a levy of .50 cents for every South Indian Laborer imported into then Malayan plantation. The levy may feel small but the wages of South Indian Labor in the 1900’s was a mere .50cents per day. The Fund at last count had 4 million Ringgit in its kitty. It also provided financial aid to University students. Dato Padma & Dato Subra were also recipients of these assistance. It also had an Old Folks Home on 2 acres of land. Arumugam Pillay the father or uncle of the Lotus Group of eateries owners donated 10 acres of land in Nibong Tebal for Palm Oil cultivation adjacent to the Old Folks Home. This was a time Indian Officers were heading the Labor Department.

When the baton was passed on to Malay heads questions arose as to why old folks of Indian origin are not placed in Old Folks Homes run by the Government. Over time Indian Old Folks refused to be housed in Govt institutions for a variety of reasons. This put an end to the South Indian Old Folks Home at Klang, Nibong Tebal and Chennai. The properties at all these places also were removed from the accounts of SILF. The balance of RM4 million that was in the kitty of SILF was generously donated to the Government coffers by the Leader of the Indian Community to earn some brownie points. The treachery done to Indians by the MIC is tremendous but they got away with it. This has left the Indians a disenfranchised lot. They were lumped along with the Chinese as rich and in need of no assistance from the Government. But the reality on the ground is different Indians make up a bulk of the poor in Malaysia with large numbers employed in the unskilled or low skilled jobs.

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