Malaysia has a Tamil population of 1,800,000 making up 6.3% of the Malaysian population as of 2018 starting mainly from 1901 when it was called British Malaya. Initially the migration was to work in the rubber plantations but later turned to trade and other professions mostly in the government sector such as the railways and the Public Works Department. The first Tamil school was there as early as 1876 but by 1925 it rose to 235 and by 2018 they had 530 schools. Due to intense brain drain and citizenship problems, there is an estimated 250-300,000 Tamils which are yet to be recognized by the Government of Malaysia.