Assessment Item 2: POLICY REPORT ON PROTECTING THE LAND RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MALAYSIA

Assessment Item 2: POLICY REPORT ON PROTECTING THE LAND RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MALAYSIA

Introduction

Asia region has the highest population of the indigenous people, with an estimate of 260 million people. The native people are distinct in various ways, such as economic activities practices, religion, culture, and language. Despite forming the majority of the Asian demographic, the indigenous people have in the past suffered immensely due to poverty, land displacement, non-inclusion in decision making, weak healthcare systems, lack of education, and deprived of the economic exploitation of the resources they own. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) calls for owning, using, and control over resources such as land and preserving and protecting their cultural heritage, knowledge, and expression (Erni 2009). This report aims to provide an overview of the land rights policies the government of Malaysia has put in place concerning the rights of the indigenous people in ensuring sustainable development is attainable equally with other non-native communities in the area.

Indigenous people in Malaysia are estimated to be 13.8 % of the total population.  It is worth noting that if indigenous people are given full rights on the ownership of land, they will protect the property and other resources, as it is the source of their livelihoods ( Nepal 1995).

Box 1: Different countries, land policies and the judicial or civil society interventions

Analysis of Compliance on the Government Policies

The government of Malaysia has always seen the native people as primitive and backward. The indigenous people call for the development and eradication of poverty. However, they are resistant to letting the resources be exploited (Errico, 2017). The British government had put down policies to ensure that the indigenous people’s land rights are respected, which policies are still in place. However, the government is not implementing the laws and policies. The indigenous people continue suffering from all the social injustices in Malaysia. The British government established the small reserves in encouraging the Orang Asli people who were practicing shifting cultivation to settle at one point permanently.  The British staged war against the rebellious Orang Asli community into camps that were being guarded so that they would not hide in the forest areas. The Malaysian government has slightly made modifications to the laws they inherited from the British government.

Resettlement policies are still carried out in Malaysia, with little being done to acknowledge the land rights of the native people Program Bersepadu Daerah Terpencil (PROSDET) (Abdullah 2016).  Resettlement was aimed at integrating the indigenous people with the other communities to derive benefits of improved healthcare, education, poverty eradication, and having permanent agricultural projects of earning income. However, people still live in extreme poverty.  The indigenous people have sought judicial land civil society interventions for recognition and respect of their rights to occupy their own and use land. For example, Malaysian National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has called the government to resolve the land issues with the Orang Asli community (Khoso et al. 2017).

Another policy was established, which required the government and the industries with the intention of constructing dams to seek the consent of the indigenous people. However, this has continuously been violated. For example, the Sawarak Energy company failed to seek consent to resettle 20,000 people when they built the Barama dam. Various policies have been established to ensure that the indigenous people have customary rights over the ownership and use of land. The native people were threatened to sign forms or else risk being displaced without any compensation. This led to resistance and blockading of the area for 300 days by the indigenous people until the project was terminated in 2016 (Cooke et al. 2017).

Another land policy is in Malaysia is the sustainable forest management program. The indigenous people depend on the forests as the source of their livelihoods and use it for conservatively to ensure its sustainability. The native people have been involved in the conservation of the forests. However, the growing increase in demand for agricultural products has increased the requirement of vast lands to carry out farming of palm oil in Malaysia has led to deforestation to pave the way for large scale commercial farming. However, this has subsequently led to an increase in floods within the areas (Bahar 2018).

Besides, REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) program policy that contributes to the conservation of forest and funding of various communities programs. The program is aimed at ensuring Malaysia become a cleaner country in Asia free from carbon emissions. However, the program might fail if it will fail to include the indigenous community in the good cause of managing climate change. The indigenous community has always been viewed as the ideal instrument in preventing adverse climate change. This is because they use natural resources such as forests and land conservatively as they understand its livelihood is based on those resources (Rajiani et al. 2017).

The governments have formed policies on the rehabilitation of the depleted forest resources through community participation. The rehabilitation policies require that the indigenous people plant timber trees in areas they have been destroyed and use the land for their economic activities. However, native communities are not accorded any rights to benefit from the timber trees. This proves to be unfair policies that favor the companies and the government instead of the native communities. There is also another policy on traditional natural forest management program policy, which directs that the indigenous people have customary rights on using the forest resources and managing them to enhance its sustainability.

Moreover, the Malaysian government has policies in place for identifying indigenous people. The identification of the tribal communities helps the governments in formulating specific legislations for the tribal communities. Many countries have recognized the existence of the traditional governing institutions for the people and solving the land-related issues. Others have been provided with specific processes in ensuring they participate in public affairs and are consulted in crucial national matters that affect them. Some countries have reserved special seats in the elective positions in parliament and municipalities. However, the legislations are not adhered to as the traditional governance institutions’ decisions are not recognized by the state hence limiting the right for self-determination and governance of the tribal communities (Perera 2009).

There are also policies involving the indigenous people of the management of parks. The communities living around the protected areas need to be involved in the management of parks. Failure to include them will lead to conflicts with the administration and the wildlife in the park (Kunasekaran 2016). The indigenous people should also be engaged in consultations when marking certain areas on their land as world heritage sites. This helps in determining ways in which the heritage sites will be beneficial to the indigenous people in preserving their cultural identity and heritage.

Protecting the land rights of the indigenous people and their territories has been noted as the best way of dealing with climatic changes. Allowing the tribal communities to own and utilize land with traditional methods such as shift cultivation conserves the environment, unlike the modern scientific methods.  Many countries have realized that, according to the indigenous people, right over the land has positive impacts on the people. The legislations the governments have put in place in protecting the rights of indigenous people have not been effective, as the same governments have used the legislation in protecting the organizations in exploiting the tribal communities. The companies that carry out extractive activities do not play a role in the reduction of poverty of the indigenous people. They continue living below the poverty lines compared to the other demographics in Malaysia. In many cases, the tribal have taken organizations and administrators concerning land acts and their interpretation to secure their customary rights over occupation and use of their ancestral land.

Conclusion

Despite laws and policy formulation, its implementation is far from being executed, which has led to continuous conflicts over land. The deprivation of the rights of ownership of land to the indigenous people stirs aggression among the people and design other strategies of getting the rights. Companies should take the corporate social responsibility policies seriously and ensure that the communities around their factories or plants gain benefits over the use of their resources. There should be due procedures and processes of involving and consulting with the native populations in deciding on concessions, compensation, and proper resettlement of the native people in paving the way for development projects.  The critical lesson derived from the report is that proper policy making and implementation will help to go a long way in dealing with the land issues in the Asian region and any other part of the world.

It is sad noting that the same government enacting laws in protecting the land rights of the Indigenous Malaysian people never implements the laws it enacts. The government should be honest when resettling the native people in improving their lives in all aspects of education, health, economy, and social. The people’s view should be respected or handled before any resettlement is done to avoid aggressive activities from the native people. This further pushes them in dire poverty as they waste time-fighting for their rights instead of working like other communities.

It is highly recommended for the continuous creation of awareness among the indigenous people of the right to own and use their territorial resources and land. This can be achieved through the involvement of the local and international Non-Governmental Organizations and civil society movements. The government should be at the forefront in ensuring that the indigenous people’s right to ownership and use of land is respected at all levels. The indigenous communities should be involved in the mapping of the land and territories to avoid conflicts. The government should also stop violating the rights of the indigenous people through forced relocation, confiscation of their ancestral lands, and forceful removal from forest areas.

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