Malaysian minister keen on rebuilding ties with Tamil Nadu

Speaking to DTNext, Deputy Education Minister Kamalanathan who flew down to call on Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the Apollo Hospitals here said that he had discussed about the student and teacher exchange programmes with finance minister O Panneerselvam and school education minister K Pandiarajan and got encouraging feedback. 

“The education system in TN has been reputed for its curriculum in science, information technology and other fields. Teachers and students from Malaysian schools could benefit by spending time in the campuses here and vice versa,” Kamalanathan said.

Kamalanathan who is a third-generation Tamil with roots in Thanjavur has been actively involved in promoting Tamil language primary schools in Malaysia and has been instrumental in organizing year long festivities to commemorate the 200th year of Tamil education in Malaysia. 

“On October 21, 1816, Tamil was first introduced in a school in Penang and since then Tamil language classes and schools have been on a steady rise. Of the 10,173 schools in the country, a total of 524 schools follow Tamil medium,” he said. In an effort to generate more awareness about Malaysian Tamils in TN, the Deputy education minister said that his government would soon be organising an exhibition in Chennai to showcase 200-year-old Tamil history in their country and also conduct an international debate inviting participants from nations where Tamil community is in large numbers including India. “We are also planning to bring out a postal stamp in Tamil to commemorate the anniversary,” he said.

While the Tamil community in Sri Lanka has traditionally had close ties with TN, Malaysian Tamils have largely been isolated. “That gap is now bridged by Tamil movies. Especially, the recent Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali has greatly helped the Indian Tamils as well as the international community understand about the lives of those in Malaysia. We now see Tamil film industry take a keen interest in Malaysia and its Tamil population, which is very encouraging. Even during this trip, I had discussions with various film industry personalities on their projects in Malaysia,” Kamalanathan said.