Ethnic Indians in the Cabinet of Malaysia

Malaysian Indians have served in the Cabinet of Malaysia since independence and continue to do so.

Tun Samy Vellu is one of the longest serving ministers in the Cabinet of Malaysia. He held the post of Minister of Public Works and Utilities from 1979 to 2008. Following his departure from the cabinet, he was appointed Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and South Asia.^[1]

Gobind Singh Deo is the first Malaysian Sikh cabinet minister.^[2]^[3]^[4]

List of ministers

This is a complete list of ethnic Indians who have served as Ministers in the Cabinet of Malaysia, ordered by seniority. This list includes ethnic Indians who served in the past and who continue to serve in the present.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

	Name	Cabinet	Portfolio	Year elected	Year left	Constituency
Alliance(MIC)	V. T. Sambanthan	First Rahman Cabinet	Minister of Labour	1955	1957	Kinta Utara
		First Rahman Cabinet	Minister of Health	1957	1959	Kinta Utara
		Second Rahman Cabinet	Minister of Works, Post and Telecommunications	1959	1964	Sungei Siput
		Third Rahman Cabinet		1964	1969
		Fourth Rahman Cabinet		1969	1969
BN -MIC		First Razak Cabinet		1970
		First Razak Cabinet	Minister of National Unity		1974
	V. Manickavasagam	Third Rahman Cabinet	Minister of Labour	1964	1969	Klang
		Fourth Rahman Cabinet	Minister of Transport	1969
		First Razak Cabinet	Minister of Labour and Manpower	1970	1974
		First Razak Cabinet	Minister of Labour and Manpower	1970	1974
		Second Razak Cabinet	Minister of Communications	1974	1976	Pelabohan Kelang
		First Hussein Cabinet	Minister of Communications	1976	1978
		Second Hussein Cabinet	Minister of Transport	1978
	Samy Vellu	Second Hussein Cabinet	Minister of Works and Public Amenities		1981	Sungei Siput
		First Mahathir Cabinet		1981	1982
		Second Mahathir Cabinet		1982
		Second Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Works		1986
		Third Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Works	1986	1989
		Third Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts	1989	1990
		Fourth Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts	1990	1995
		Fifth Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Works	1995	1999
		Sixth Mahathir Cabinet		1999	2003
		First Abdullah Cabinet		2003	2004
		Second Abdullah Cabinet		2004	2008
	Subramaniam Sathasivam	Third Abdullah Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2008	2009	Segamat
		First Najib Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2009	2013
		Second Najib Cabinet	Minister of Health	2013	2018
	Palanivel Govindasamy	First Najib Cabinet	Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2011	2013	Senator
	Palanivel Govindasamy	Second Najib Cabinet	Minister of Natural Resources and Environment	2013	2015	Senator
PH-DAP	Kulasegaran Murugeson	Seventh Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2018	2020	Ipoh Barat
PH-DAP	Gobind Singh Deo	Seventh Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Communications and Multimedia	2018	2020	Puchong
PH-PKR	Xavier Jayakumar	Seventh Mahathir Cabinet	Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources	2018	2020	Kuala Langat
HINDRAF	Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy	Seventh Mahathir Cabinet	Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (National Unity and Social Wellbeing)	2018	2020	Senator
BN -MIC	Saravanan Murugan	Muhyiddin Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2020	2021	Tapah
BN -MIC	Saravanan Murugan	Ismail Sabri Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2021	2022	Tapah
PH-DAP	Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu	Anwar Ibrahim Cabinet	Minister of Human Resources	2022	2023	Batu Gajah
PH-DAP	Gobind Singh Deo	Anwar Ibrahim Cabinet	Minister of Digital	2023	Serving	Damansara

List of Deputy Ministers

	Name	Cabinet	Portfolio	Year elected	Year left	Constituency
Alliance(MIC)	V. Manickavasagam	Second Rahman Cabinet	Assistant Minister of Labour	1961	1962	Klang
Alliance(MIC)	V. Manickavasagam	Second Rahman Cabinet	Assistant Minister of Labour and Social Welfare	1962	1962	Klang
BN-MIC	Athi Nahappan	First Hussein Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Law			Senator
	Subramaniam Sinniah	First Hussein Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Local Government and Federal Territories		1978	Damansara
		Second Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government	1982	1986	Segamat
		Third Mahathir Cabinet		1986	1990
		Fifth Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumerism	1995	1999
		Sixth Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumerism	1999	2003
		First Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumerism
	K. Pathmanaban	First Hussein Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Labour and Manpower			Telok Kemang
		Second Hussein Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Labour and Manpower	1978	1981
		First Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Health	1981	1981
		Second Mahathir Cabinet		1982	1986
		Third Mahathir Cabinet		1986
		Third Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Human Resources		1990
	Samy Vellu	Second Hussein Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government	1978		Sungei Siput
	Prof Dr T. Marimuthu	Fourth Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Agriculture	1993	1995	Telok Kemang
	M. Mahalingam	Fourth Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Human Resources	1993	1995	Kapar
	K Kumaran	Fifth Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Rural Development	1995	1999	Tapah
BN-PPP	M. Kayveas	First Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2003	2004	Senator
BN-PPP	M. Kayveas	Second Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2004	2008	Taiping
BN-MIC	Palanivel Govindasamy	First Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Rural Development	2003	2004	Hulu Selangor
		Second Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development	2004	2008	Hulu Selangor
		First Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities	2010	2011	Senator
	S. Veerasingam	Second Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumerism	2004	2008	Tapah
	S. Sothinathan	Second Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment	2004	2008	Telok Kemang
	Saravanan Murugan	Third Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Federal Territories	2008	2009	Tapah
		First Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing	2009	2013
		Second Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports	2013	2018
	Devamany S. Krishnasamy	Third Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2008	2009	Cameron Highlands
		First Najib Cabinet		2009	2013	Cameron Highlands
		Second Najib Cabinet		2016	2018	Senator
BN-PPP	Murugiah Thopasamy	Third Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2008	2009	Senator
BN-PPP	Murugiah Thopasamy	First Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2009	2013
BN-GERAKAN	A. Kohilan Pillay	Third Abdullah Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities	2008	2009	Senator
BN-GERAKAN	A. Kohilan Pillay	First Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs	2009	2013	Senator
BN-PPP	Maglin Dennis d' Cruz	First Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Culture	2010	2013	Senator
BN-HINDRAF	Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy	Second Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department	2013	2014	Senator
BN-MIC	Kamalanathan Panchanathan	Second Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Education	2013	2015	Hulu Selangor
BN-myPPP	Loga Bala Mohan Jaganathan	Second Najib Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Federal Territories	2013	2018	Senator
PH-PKR	Sivarasa Rasiah	Seventh Mahathir Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Rural Development	2018	2020	Sungai Buloh
PN-PPBM	Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu	Muhyiddin Cabinet	Depity Minister of Federal Territories	2020	2021	Segamat
PN-PPBM	Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu	Ismail Sabri Cabinet	Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture	2021	2022	Segamat
PH-DAP	Ramkarpal Singh Karpal	Anwar Ibrahim Cabinet	Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform)	2022	2023	Bukit Gelugor
PH-DAP	Kulasegaran Murugeson			2023	Serving	Ipoh Barat
PH-PKR	Saraswathy Kandasami		Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives	2022	2023	Senator
	Ramanan Ramakrishnan			2023	Serving	Sungai Buloh
	Saraswathy Kandasami		Deputy Minister of National Unity	2023	Serving	Senator

References

^ "Raus Sharif, Samy Vellu, Michael Chen receive 'Tun' title". Free Malaysia Today. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
^ "Indian-origin Sikh man becomes Malaysia's first cabinet minister - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
^ "Gobind Singh Deo is Malaysia's first Sikh minister". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ Thomas, Maria (22 May 2018). "Malaysia has appointed its first Sikh minister: the "little lion of Puchong"". Quartz India.
^ "Representatives List of Members". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ "Senate List of Senators". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ "Representatives Archive List of Members". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ "Senate Archive List of Senators". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
^ "Pembentukan Kabinet Pertama Persekutuan Tanah Melayu". Archived from the original on 3 March 2008.
^ "Arkib Negara". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
^ "Arkib Negara".
^ "Seven ministers from Sarawak". BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
^ Chu, Mei Mei (10 June 2014). "Najib Announces New Cabinet Lineup With Larger Chinese Representation". SAYS.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
^ "Cabinet Members - Office of The Prime Minister of Malaysia". googleweblight.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

[1] "Raus Sharif, Samy Vellu, Michael Chen receive 'Tun' title". Free Malaysia Today. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

[2] "Indian-origin Sikh man becomes Malaysia's first cabinet minister - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 July 2018.

[3] "Gobind Singh Deo is Malaysia's first Sikh minister". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

[4] Thomas, Maria (22 May 2018). "Malaysia has appointed its first Sikh minister: the "little lion of Puchong"". Quartz India.

[5] "Representatives List of Members". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

[6] "Senate List of Senators". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

[7] "Representatives Archive List of Members". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

[8] "Senate Archive List of Senators". Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

[9] "Pembentukan Kabinet Pertama Persekutuan Tanah Melayu". Archived from the original on 3 March 2008.

[10] "Arkib Negara". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

[11] "Arkib Negara".

[12] "Seven ministers from Sarawak". BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

[13] Chu, Mei Mei (10 June 2014). "Najib Announces New Cabinet Lineup With Larger Chinese Representation". SAYS.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

[14] "Cabinet Members - Office of The Prime Minister of Malaysia". googleweblight.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

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