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Orang Asli Development Blueprint must recognise their customary land rights

  • Publication Date | April 25, 2019
  • Document Type | Media Statement
  • Programmes | Development & Planning
  • Issues | Indigenous Peoples, Planning
  • Tags | National Orang Asli Development Blueprint, UNDRIP
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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) supports the New Straits Times editorial published on April 24, 2019, titled, NST Leader: “A meaningful future for the community.” 

The editorial was written in conjunction with the recently held 2019 Orang Asli Convention, where the Prime Minister announced the plan to develop a National Orang Asli Development Blueprint. 

SAM welcomes the announcement of the blueprint and shares the view that such a national plan is long overdue.

The editorial raises at least three important points that must be taken into account in order to ensure that the blueprint will meaningfully serve its purpose. 

First, the development of the blueprint requires comprehensive consultations with the Orang Asli community themselves. 

Second, it must envision development which complements the lives and culture of the community and does not harm the cultural norms that they wish to maintain. The Orang Asli community must no longer be labelled as anti-development just because they oppose the destruction of their customary forests, which threatens their way of life. 

Third, a balanced development must recognise the centrality of protecting the Orang Asli customary land rights.

The Orang Asli community clearly know what is best for them, for they are the last remaining guardians of our forests. Today, they continue to sustainably utilise the forests and other natural resources in ways that modern society has even not fully comprehended. 

Consequently, the blueprint must not ignore the importance of integrating the protection of the Orang Asli customary land rights within the governance of our forests, natural resources and environment.

As a Party to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (UNDRIP) the government must recognise as stated in the Declaration, “the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources.”

The blueprint must therefore take into account the various provisions of the UNDRIP and give effect to them, so that the rights of all indigenous peoples, including the Orang Asli, are fully recognised, protected and realised through the actual implementation of the right policies and laws.

In addition, the blueprint must also take into account the 18 recommendations made by SUHAKAM’s Report on the ‘National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2013.’ The first of these is the need to recognise the indigenous customary rights to land, by addressing the security of tenure of such rights, ensuring that the various concepts on customary tenure is clarified within our governance system and by providing restitution for the non-recognition of customary land in the past. The final recommendation calls for the establishment of an independent national commission on indigenous peoples.

If the blueprint is able to incorporate these concerns, then the possibility of a meaningful future for the Orang Asli community may finally materialize.

S. M. Mohamed Idris

President

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Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah satu badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang telah sekian lama berjuang mempertahan kelestarian alam. Ia juga mendidik masyarakat tentang pentingnya kebersamaan dalam pemikiran dan tindakan agar alam ini dapat kita wariskan kepada generasi hadapan dalam keadaan yang elok dan terpelihara. Dalam pada itu juga SAM giat membantu golongan nelayan pantai dalam memperjuangkan hak-hak mereka sehinggalah tertubuhnya Persatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING). Nelayan pantai sepenuh masa ini dididik oleh SAM sehingga mereka mampu memainkan peranan sebagai pemimpin nelayan yang meneruskan kesinambungan memperjuangkan hak-hak nelayan pantai lainnya. Sebagai contoh SAM telah berjaya menyedarkan masyarakat nelayan keperluan menjaga hutan paya bakau untuk kebaikan hasil tangkapan nelayan itu sendiri.
Jamaluddin Mohamad Bualik
Jamaluddin Mohamad BualikPersatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING)
During the 1980s, I used to read about the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) in the news. After retirement, some time in 2001, while lazing around, I read news about the construction of a carbon in leach plant using sodium cyanide to extract gold in Bukit Koman. My friends and I visited CAP and we were introduced to SAM and her legal team. We discussed the details of filing a case against the gold mining company and the department of environment with Ms Meenakshi Raman and her legal team. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between lawyers from SAM and many of us from Bukit Koman. We had many ups and downs in our struggle to shut down the gold mine that was causing a nuisance in our village. But, as a community we never gave up because SAM had our backs.
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Hue Fui HowSecretary, Bukit Koman Ban Cyanide in Goldmining Action Committee (BCAC)
Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah sebuah NGO yang memperjuangkan nasib masyarakat luar bandar khasnya. SAM menerima aduan-aduan masyarakat dan menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi. SAM telah mewujudkan ramai aktivis-aktivis sosial dan alam sekitar. Pada era 1980 dan 90an SAM sangat dihormati oleh masyarakat dan agensi kerajaan. Apabila media sosial menguasai maklumat maka SAM pun terkesan dan masalah masyarakat terus disalurkan dengan pelbagai cara. SAM perlu mewujudkan aktivis-aktivis pelapis yang muda untuk terus membantu masyarakat. SAM juga perlu membuat perubahan supaya banyak turun kelapangan dan jangan mengharapkan laporan media sahaja. Tingkatkan prestasi sebagaimana pada zaman kegemilangan SAM di era 80-90an.
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SAM taught me the importance of social activism and the role it plays in upholding the rights of people and the protection of the environment. In my experience, SAM has never hesitated to speak up in defence of people and their environment, and has gone the extra mile to champion their rights, by helping communities take their battles to the higher ups and even to the courts.
Jessica Binwani
Jessica BinwaniPublic/Private Interest Lawyer
Semenjak kami kenal SAM, banyak pengalaman dan pengetahuan yg kami dapat. Kami telah belajar cara membuat baja asli daripada SAM. Semenjak itu, bermulalah minat kami dalam aktiviti pertanian. Dengan memperolehi kemahiran dalam membuat baja asli dan penanaman lestari, kami juga telah dapat menambahkan pendapatan sampingan kami. Ini lebih baik daripada tanah kami terbiar dan tidak diusahakan. Terima kasih SAM kerana sudi memberi bantuan dan tunjuk ajar kepada Persatuan kami.
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My journey with SAM started when her community organisers took me to the meet the paddy farmers of Kedah, connecting my growing interest in environmental law with our people who struggle to work the land in the face of pollution, replacement of traditional seeds with commercial hybrids and their accompanying chemical package of fertilisers and weedicides. I then had the honour to work with SAM in the struggle for the rights of the native communities of Sarawak, in defence of their forests from massive logging and destructive mega-projects. In every issue that SAM takes up, she combines rigorous research with the realities and voices of the communities to advocate for policies and laws that care for people and nature. From the courts to the elected legislators to policy makers and implementers and to the United Nations, SAM walks side by side with the communities in Malaysia. How can I not be inspired by the vision and passion of the generations of women and men who coalesce to form SAM?
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Tel: +604 827 6930
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