Ex-Google Executive Reveals How Sikhs Are Often Referred To As Bengalis In Malaysia

Parminder Singh offered historical origins to shed light on the matter. (Photo Credits: X)

Former Google Managing Director Parminder Singh intrigued the internet when he revealed a surprising observation about Malaysians during his recent trip to the country. Singh, in the recent X post, highlighted that Malaysians often mistake Sikhs for Bengalis. According to him, it’s not just Sikhs who are called Bengalis in Malaysia, people from all over North India are referred to as Bengalis in the country. Singh learned about this misconception during a recent meditation retreat in Malaysia, where Malay Indians shared this fact with him. Interestingly, some even called him “Parry Dada,” a term used for elder brotherhood. In his viral post, Singh offered historical origins to shed light on this matter and garnered numerous reactions on social media.

Singh explained, “In Malaysia, Sikhs are often referred to as Bengalis. I recently learned this fact and the fascinating history behind it. British India had three sea ports, Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. British Malaya was served by ships from Calcutta and Madras. Most North Indians used the Calcutta port, the majority of whom were Sikhs recruited for army, police and security jobs. To the Malay people, everyone who didn’t come from Madras, essentially everyone from North India, was a Bengali.”

“I learned this during a recent Vipassana meditation retreat in Malaysia from some fellow Malay Indians. In a lighter vein, some of them insisted on calling me Parry Dada (the Bengali term for elder brother). I suppose this is the opposite of how many of us North Indians tend to label everyone from the South as ‘Madrasis’,” Parminder Singh added.

Since the post was shared on X, it has gone viral and garnered over 1 lakh views. A user shared that Sikhs are referred to differently around the world due to different levels of knowledge.

Another individual found history to be intriguing on numerous occasions.

An individual claimed that in the southern regions of India, individuals from outside their states are labelled simply as North Indians.

Another highlighted that a traditional salwar-kurta/kameez, is referred to as Punjabi in Odisha.

One more revealed that in East Africa, Sikhs are commonly called Kala Singha, due to an early immigrant named Kala Singh.

In 1955, English Brigadier Hannikar wrote a book called ‘Red Shadow over Malaya.’ He mentioned that Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims, some Dogra and other North Indians were mistakenly called Bengalis. Unfortunately, this misunderstanding went on for many years due to locals’ ignorance and Sikhs’ failure to educate others about their identity. Even after Bengalis started arriving to work in Malaysia in recent years, Sikhs were still generally seen as Bengalis by the locals, while Bangladeshis were called Bangla or Bangladeshi. However, it wasn’t until around 1984 that the educated locals realized their mistake and began accurately referring to Sikhs as Sikhs or Punjabis.