Respect Orang Asal territory
KOTA KINABALU: Despite Malaysia’s endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007, which outlines the rights that the government should respect and recognise, serious gaps continue to persist in our laws, policies and administration in recognizing Orang Asal customary land.
The finding is part of a seminar held during the national-level Perayaan Hari Orang Asal SeDunia (PHOAS) to celebrate the achievements of the Indigenous Peoples, hosted by Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS).
The seminar attended by over 300 participants, highlights the theme this year, ‘Territorial Domain: Indigenous Peoples’ source of life and heritage’, discussed issues surrounding the recognition of territorial domain and what bodies like the Bar Council and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), who were represented as panelist by Andrew Khoo and Suhakam Commissioner Francis Johen respectively, can do to support the recognition of territorial domain.
The Orang Asal of Malaysia, which make up 13.8% of the population, each have their own terms to explain the territorial extent of their lands based on geographical features and various forms and methods of land and resource use to refer to their communal and individual customary land.
In Sabah, the Kadazan/Dusun people refer to it as kampung or pomogunan, the Ibans in Sarawak calls it pemakai menoa, while the Semai Orang Asli from Peninsular Malaysia calls it nenggerik.
“Our biggest challenge in the recognition of “customary territorial domain” is that it is not comprehensively expressed in Malaysian law. It is not defined in our Federal Constitution, nor is it clearly spelt out in our various land ordinances, forest ordinances or in our indigenous peoples legislation. This makes it difficult to argue in court, even though it is the basis for how land has been owned, occupied and managed by the Orang Asal for generations well before Malaysia was formed,”
JOAS Secretariat Director, Jannie Lasimbang explains.
“Although court decisions have recognised the concept of native customary land, without actual amendments to our laws and policies, the actual application of this concept will always be open to be challenged,” stressed Andrew Khoo. Then, he added, we would continually have to relitigate these issues, at great cost and expense to the indigenous peoples.
Part of the findings from JOAS’ research on Orang Asal customary land was also presented, with the following recommendations towards the recognition and respecting of Orang Asal customary territorial domain.
Respect and accept Orang Asal’s rights to defend their territorial domain. Amend current law to acknowledge Native Customary Rights (NCR) to Orang Asal customary territorial domain.
Form a National Commission on Orang Asal to guide and advise the government on all matters concerning Orang Asal, including the process of recognizing Orang Asal customary territorial domain.
Establish a compulsory consultative process along the lines of the Misuku mechanism (Dusun for consultation) for obtaining collective community consent for development of Orang Asal customary lands.
Map out Orang Asal customary territorial domain in collaboration with the Orang Asal to be kept as official records and maps.
PHOAS is observed on August 9 each year to promote and highlight the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples since the United Nations General Assembly on December 23, 1994, decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples should be observed annually.
The International Day also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve many of the world’s issues such as environmental protection and climate change.
The Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) has hosted the national celebration annually since 2008. The celebration venue rotate between the three regions of Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
The 3-day celebration leads up to 9th August where the celebrations will be launched by Dr. Victor Karunan from the United Nations Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF), in conjunction with the launch of the JOAS Children Network.
The Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) is a national organization of 89 local community organizations in Malaysia and has been engaging with the UN system and other bodies for the promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples.