I recently wrote a piece on indigenous rights in Malaysia, but for “technical” reasons, it did not see print. I am re-producing it here, instead of leaving it in my PC, and I really dont care if I get into trouble for posting it on my blog.
Here’s the story:
HAVING toiled their ancestral land for generations, growing tropical fruits, leafy green vegetables and hill padi, a group of farmers only have one wish — to become proud owners of land titles.
“We have native customary rights over the land we live and work on, but from what has happened to villagers in other parts of the country, we know that we will not be safe without land titles issued by the government.
“About nine years ago, there was some hope when we were told we will soon get titles. Today, we are still waiting,” said Linus Leo Lansama, the headman of Kampung Kibunut in Penampang, about 45 minutes away from the bustling city of Kota Kinabalu.
The fear of one day being forced to abandon their homes and farms is real not just for the 700 Kadazandusun people at Kampung Kibunut, but also for the millions of indigenous communities worldwide who are often marginalised when governments fail to recognise native traditions and institutions practised before modern laws were written.
In Malaysia alone, indigenous people from more than 80 ethno-linguistic groups make up about 4 million, or some 15 per cent of the population, but are collectively among the poorest in the country following non-recognition of their rights, according to findings of the Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS).
Now that Malaysia has voted and adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UN-DRIP), there is some hope for indigenous people to uphold their rights, although it is at the same time becoming increasingly clear that the road ahead is not going to be smooth.
A recent march by JOAS members to hand a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the Istana Negara was stopped half way through by the authorities, and just days later, Orang Asli Affairs Department director-general Mohd Sani Mistam said natives had nothing to do with the event, claiming that they were easily influenced by NGOs “harbouring certain agendas.”
JOAS president Adrian Lasimbang begged to differ on Mohd Sani’s allegation that the march was an attempt by certain parties to hijack the Orang Asli agenda.
Lasimbang pointed out that unlike the department (which only has jurisdiction over indigenous people in peninsula Malaysia), JOAS is made up of and governed by indigenous peoples’ organisations and that non-native people who joined the march had done so with consent.
“We find it insulting that in this day and age the department still thinks of indigenous people as being unable to make up their own minds and that if we are not convinced by the department’s policies, we must be influenced by some other body.
“It is our continuing poverty, bad interpretation of customary rights and international rights are reasons we came up with the memorandum for the King.
“We are asking for Malaysia to implement locally its commitment to UN-DRIP which contains the conditions necessary for a fully developed and secure indigenous community. Indigenous people whether from Sabah, Sarawak or peninsula Malaysia are an integral part of this nation and our issues need to be discussed in public spaces and not swept under the carpet,” Lasimbang who has for many years been involved in working with indigenous people mainly in his homestate of Sabah, said.
One of the requirements of the UN-DRIP is that indigenous people must consent to giving away land which they have rights over, and in the event that they do so, adequate compensation must follow. The same document also states that indigenous people cannot be forced out of their land and territories for relocation programmes without “free, prior and informed consent.”
According to Lasimbang, consulting natives on what they want is important as it empowers them and provides communities with an opportunity to have a say in programmes which governments claim would help eradicate poverty.
“But today, there is a big gap. Native customary land is taken away without consulting indigenous people, who are then told that large plantation schemes are aimed at creating job opportunities for them.
“The indigenous people do not want to become employees on land they have rights over. Once they are not needed, or if the company running a scheme pulls out, they will be jobless and landless. How will this reduce poverty? Sometimes there is a feeling of hopelessness,” he said.
Lasimbang shared that in the case of Sabah, native chiefs were removed from district level land utilisation committee meetings more than a decade ago, proving his point that there was almost no recognition for native customary rights.
Partners of Community Organisations (Pacos) Land Rights programme co-ordinator Galus Atos said he has found that civil servants in charge of land matters in Sabah are ignorant about native customary rights although it is recognised in the state’s Land Ordinance.
Atos said according to the legislation, any indigenous person who has lived on a piece of land for more than three years and has worked on his plot can remain there as provided for under native customary rights.
“In many cases, land is awarded to outsiders and natives end up in police lock ups when they protest. When I bring up the fact that natives have rights over land, staff at district offices are often ignorant that it is provided for in the law.
“I met one villager who travelled the whole day by boat to the Tongod district office (in central Sabah) to check on his land application, only to be told that he will have to come back another day. At that same district, I have seen villagers who have been displaced when land was awarded to plantation companies from outside. These villagers end up at the sides of roads, or they move in with relatives.
“Land is the root of everything. If indigenous people have land, they can work on it and feed their families. When they don’t have land, youths seek jobs in the cities and many end up doing wrong types of work, which then leads to social problems,” Atos said.
Consulting and empowering indigenous people is all that the government now needs to do, meeting its obligation to the UN-DRIP which has entered its second year. Until then, Lansama and other natives will continue to plant crops until their land is pulled from under their feet.
