Kajian penindasan terhadap masyarakat India di Malaysia dalam cerpen – cerpen karya S.Vadiveloo berdasarkan teori subaltern / Maniyarasan Muniandy

• Main Author: Maniyarasan , Muniandy
• Format: Thesis
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: AC Collections. Series. Collected works; C Auxiliary sciences of history (General)
• Online Access: http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/9077/1/Maniyarasan.pdf; http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/9077/6/TESIS_FINAL_MANIYARASAN.pdf; http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/9077/

This study on “The Opression of the Indian Community in Malaysia in the Short Stories authored by S. Vadiveloo based on the Subaltern Theory” has been carried out with the intention of studying the opression by the British, Japanese and Indian elites over the Indian community in Malaysia as found in S.Vadiveloo’s short stories. This study is important because the findings will show the reality of history as depicted through the creative work in the stories by the authoritative short story writer S. Vadiveloo. That being so, the communities in multi ethnic groups will get the opportunity to understand and appreciate historical reality, especially about the social image of the Indian community in Malaysia. Three anthologies of short stories penned by S. Vadiveloo were chosen for this study. They were ‘Valluvarin Kaathali’ (Valluvar’s Lady Love) written in 1964, ‘Irunda Ulagam’ (The Dark World) written in 1970 and ‘Puthiya Paathai’ (The New Path) written in 1981. These anthologies of short stories were chosen based on their popularity as they were considered to represent the social image of the Indian people who were workers in rubber plantations in Malaya under the supervision of British and Indian elites. Moreover, the selected stories were also considered to portray the oppression suffered by the Indian people who were forced labourers in the death railway project that linked Siam and Burma during the Japanese occupation in Malaya. This study is a literature study that uses the Subaltern Theory introduced by Antonio Gramsci and later developed by Gayatri Chakraworthy Spivek (1998) and the Reflection Model (1971) introduced by George Lucas. The findings of this study show that the first generation Indian community that lived in the rubber plantations were oppressed by the colonizing powers, the Japanese and the Indian elite from enjoying basic necessities and experiencing a healthy living environment. Apart from that, the Indian people also experienced oppression in the routine work that was done by them. The strength of the Indian community was squeezed dry by British investors who owned rubber plantations without consideration for time or gender. Besides that, women were sexually exploited by the Indian elite group. The Japanese army that ruled this country has also been found to have oppressed the Indian community in civilized living. S.Vadiveloo has been found to have used his creative ability to produce short stories of quality as a platform to mirror all the opression that the Indian community underwent during the rule of the British and Japanese in Malaya. The researcher suggests that more studies with the same focus either in the same field or that which involve economic and political aspects that have not yet attracted the attention of researchers. Perhaps forthcoming researchers could use other study materials and various other theories to achieve effects that are varied and more beneficial to all audiences.