<p>The Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) and the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation (EWRF) want UM "to strengthen the department or leave it alone", New Straits Times said Monday.<br /><br />P. Sivakumar, MIBA president, said replacing the department with the East Asian Studies Department would be "a great disservice to the good work so far."<br /><br />"The department's research and resource materials are vital for enhancing the community's socioeconomic and cultural development."<br /><br />"The Indian Studies Department in UM is not only a centre for research but over the years has become a historical foundation and a heritage of the Malaysian Indian community."<br /><br />EWRF chairman S. Pasupathi said as a responsible and progressive educational centre, UM needed to strengthen the Indian Studies Department instead of dissolving it.<br /><br />"What is the role of Indians in the country going to be in the future if the single research facility available for it is abolished by a premier university?"<br /><br />Malaysia has a two million-plus population of ethnic Indians, a bulk of whom are Tamils who settled here during the British era. They form roughly eight percent of the nation's 280 million people.</p>
<p>The Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) and the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation (EWRF) want UM "to strengthen the department or leave it alone", New Straits Times said Monday.<br /><br />P. Sivakumar, MIBA president, said replacing the department with the East Asian Studies Department would be "a great disservice to the good work so far."<br /><br />"The department's research and resource materials are vital for enhancing the community's socioeconomic and cultural development."<br /><br />"The Indian Studies Department in UM is not only a centre for research but over the years has become a historical foundation and a heritage of the Malaysian Indian community."<br /><br />EWRF chairman S. Pasupathi said as a responsible and progressive educational centre, UM needed to strengthen the Indian Studies Department instead of dissolving it.<br /><br />"What is the role of Indians in the country going to be in the future if the single research facility available for it is abolished by a premier university?"<br /><br />Malaysia has a two million-plus population of ethnic Indians, a bulk of whom are Tamils who settled here during the British era. They form roughly eight percent of the nation's 280 million people.</p>