ERAS

Chinese
The second largest ethnic group is Chinese who make up 24.6% of the population. They have been dominant in trade and business since the early 20th century. Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur are Chinese-majority cities, while Penang is the only Non-Bumiputera-majority state in Malaysia. The Chinese have been settling in Malaysia for many centuries, as seen in the emergence of the Peranakan culture, but the exodus peaked during the nineteenth century through trading and tin-mining. When they first arrived, the Chinese often worked the most grueling jobs like tin mining and railway construction. Later, some of them owned businesses that become large conglomerates in today's Malaysia. Most Chinese are Tao Buddhist and retain strong ties to their ancestral homeland.

The first Chinese to settle in the Straits Settlements, primarily in and around Malacca, gradually adopted elements of Malaysian culture and intermarried with the Malaysian community and with this, a new ethnic group called babas (male) and nyonyas (female) emerged. Babas and nyonyas as a group are known as Peranakan. They produced a syncretic set of practices, beliefs, and arts, combining Malay and Chinese traditions in such a way as to create a new culture.

The Chinese community in Malaysia speak a variety of Chinese dialects including Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, and Teochew. A large majority of Chinese in Malaysia, especially those from the larger cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Klang and Penang speak decent English as well. There has also been an increasing number of the present generation Chinese who consider English as their first language.

Indian
The Indian community in Malaysia is the smallest of the three main ethnic groups, comprising 7.1% of the population. Tamils make up the largest subgroup, and together with Malayalees-speaking and Telugu people make up over 85% of the people of Indian origin in the country. The rest of the percentage consist of mostly Hindi-speaking Punjabis. Indians began migrating to Malaysia in the early 19th century. They first came to Malaya for barter trade, especially in the former Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang. Other came as teachers or other skilled workers. A large number were part of the migrations from India forced by the British during colonial times to work in the plantation industry.

There is a substantial presence of people of Pakistani origin (estimated to be 200,000, about 1.0%), mainly Punjabis as well as smaller groups of Pashtuns, Sindhis, Urdu-speaking people, Kashmiris and a small number of Afghans and Nepalis. They arrived in Malaysia as British soldiers of the Punjab Rifles Regiment and as businessmen and traders. They were initially listed as others but they have intermarried with local Muslims and most of them list themselves as Malays. People of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin are often included in the "Indian" category for statistical purposes. Some of the well known tycoons and banker are from this ethnic group. Urdu is widely spoken by these groups and some Malays. The Punjabis (mostly Sikhs) are substantial in number with around 100,000 of them in Malaysia. Punjabis were originally brought in as police, guards and soldiers. Many middle- to upper-middle-class Indians in Malaysia speak English as a first language. A Tamil Muslim community of 200,000 also thrives as an independent subcultural group.

When India came under British rule, Indian labourers were sent to Malaya to work on sugarcane and coffee plantations and later in the rubber and oil palm estates. Some of them also came to work on the construction of buildings, roads and bridges. These labourers were mostly Hindu Tamils from Southern India and they were supervised by kanganis (overseers) and mandurs (foreman) who were from the upper caste Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils came to Malaya as white-collar workers, holding jobs like clerks and hospital assistants. As for the Punjabis from Punjab (North India), most of them joined the army in Malaya while some handled the bullock-cart services in the country.
The Indians who came to Malaysia brought with them the Hindu and Sikh culture — its unique temples and Gurdwaras, delicious cuisine and colourful garments. Hindu tradition remains strong until today in the Indian community of Malaysia. There's also the Chitty community in Malacca — similar to the Babas and Nyonyas, it is the result of the assimilation between the Indian immigrants and local culture. Though they remain Hindu, the Chitties speak Bahasa Malaysia and women dress in sarong kebayas instead of sarees. However, other Indian Hindus retain their vernacular languages and dialects. The community celebrates two main festivals — Deepavali and Thaipusam — and many other smaller religious events each year. On the other hand, the Sikhs celebrate Vasakhi, Lodi and Gurpurab. Indians in Malaysia mainly speak Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and some Punjabi.