Orang Asli Community Organising for Ancestral Lands

Orang Asli Indigenous communities in Malaysia are facing serious land issues against the land developers and government agencies who actively log and open commercial plantations on their ancestral lands. These tracts of land occupied by indigenous people for several generations are often regarded as vacant land & forest areas or “government land and are usually not charted in the government maps.

The Malaysian law “Akta Orang Asli 134” (Indigenous Peoples Act 134) does not recognise the ancestral boundaries and Indigenous People’s ownership of land thereby posing very serious threats upon their land and their resources.

 

                     

For the past 10 years, a strong resurgence of community organising initiatives to protect the ancestral lands and an extensive network of Orang Asli villages have evolved mainly due to the people’s feeling of despair and desire to strengthen their efforts to protect their forest and lands.

The March 8th 2008 General elections in Malaysia which saw the opposition front (Pakatan Rakyat) voted in to rule in 5 states gave them renewed hope and vigour to advocate for their ancestral lands. This new political scenario also paved the way for Indigenous people to engage directly with the state government in addressing and finding ways to resolve land issues.

Today these efforts have steadily increased and intensify in their bid to protect their lands from being taken.

Since the early 1990’s KOMAS has been actively engaged in the issue of indigenous people’s land rights by supporting and working alongside with them the past 18 years. In 2005 through the community mapping project supported by KAS (A German International Development Foundation), a core group of community leaders and organisers from the Orang Asli communities were trained in skills and perspectives in this field.

Community mapping has been one of the more effective tools for Malaysian indigenous people to protect their ancestral land against irresponsible corporations and government agencies. A core team of community organisers has been trained to use these maps for community education, awareness building and also for advocacy work with the government.

Creative resource materials have also been produced such as short videos, cartoon booklets on community mapping and the rights of indigenous peoples. A video film about community mapping and the Orang Asli’s efforts to defend their land has been produced as a tool for organisers and leaders to use in their communities.

Each year 2 major events were also organised, namely the “International Indigenous People’s Day Celebration” and also the National Forum for Indigenous Land.

SMSL MEDIA STATEMENT ON AELB’S VISIT TO LAMP ON 19TH APRIL 2012

 

 

Since the approval of the TOL by AELB on the 31^st Jan 2012 to Lynas Malaysia which was awarded within 2 working days after the residents in Kuantan submitted more than One Thousand comments and suggestions to the atomic energy authorities, AELB has been trying real hard to convince the public that, by doing so, they have acted in the interest of the public through weekly media briefing with regards to the safety of the plant.

Previously, all media briefings by AELB were carried out in their own premises but this time they’ve taken the trouble to transport all participating journalists from various media to Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) which is located 289km away from the AELB office.

On the 17^th April 2012, the minister of MOSTI, Dato Seri Dr. Maximus Ongkili hosts an appeal hearing from the appellants that presented strong cogent alternative views on why the TOL should be revoked. The minister has yet to make any decisions but AELB once again is putting the cart before the horse by conducting their weekly media briefing in LAMP which is inappropriate and unethical as it is a sign of prejudice towards Lynas Malaysia. AELB being one of the departments under MOSTI has acted in a manner that reeks of open support for Lynas Malaysia.

Are AELB and journalists invited by Lynas Malaysia to hold the media briefing in LAMP or is it the unitary decision by AELB to have it there?  Since the appeal to the minister to withdraw the TOL is still pending, AELB should steer clear of any shades of suspicion by the public where it should have the wisdom to its regular weekly media briefing in its office. It will not only save the tax payers unnecessary expenditures but help to maintain an image of impartiality! We regret the move by AELB to hold the media briefing in a place that is the centre of dispute between the residents of Kuantan and Lynas Malaysia, as AELB is an interested party. Such imprudence speaks volumes of its lack of integrity and its readiness to assist an interested party that will heavily pollute the air, water and its land that sustained the livelihood of 700,000 people!

 

We condemn unreservedly this move by AELB by not taking into consideration the feelings of the local populations and the arbitration underway by its Ministry! We call upon Dato Seri Dr. Maximus Ongkili to be more responsive in his role as a Minister elected by the people to serve the rakyat by instructing AELB to act and play its role impartially. A watchdog should at no time be turned into a running dog!

 

For further comments, please contact :

Mr Tan Bun Teet, SMSL chairman 0179730576

 

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PRESS STATEMENT (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)  

7th February 2012

 

PERMAS is totally shocked and disappointed with the recent statement by the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin who announced that the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is offering low cost housing loans to low income earners from a funding of up to RM1.5 billion obtained from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).  

It is very obvious that the Federal Government seems to have run out of ideas to tackle the issue of housing for the poor! The people’s savings stored in the EPF has become the scapegoat of the Minister Raja Nong Chik and the Federal government in their bid to try and fulfill promises of housing for the poor, or perhaps is it a sad but risky ploy to buy favour and votes from the rakyat??  
 

Point 1.
We recall clearly that this same Minister was reported in the Malay Mail dated July 19^th 2010 to have said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had instructed Bank Negara to take the initiative to ensure the banks assist the interested buyers and that a meeting was held between the ministry, City Hall and bank institutions resulting in nine major banks expressing they were willing to partake in the effort. The minister had further announced a special fund would be set up, backed by these selected banks and that the Credit Guarantee Corporation was willing to act as a guarantor for their housing loans.  

Raja Nong Chik was also reported to have said that "There should be no cause of concern for the banks to provide financial assistance to the PPR flat buyers as this is a secured asset." And that the ministry would also continue to monitor the development between loan-applicants with the banks on this matter.  

PERMAS questions the sudden turnabout of decision of detracting the responsibility of bank loans from these 9 banks to the EPF. Is it because these banks who had agreed to partake in the special scheme pulled out and the government had to resort to desperate measures to fulfill what was promised one and half years ago?

Point 2.

The Minister was reported to have also announced that “This is a pure business transaction by the EPF with returns of 5.5 per cent guaranteed by City Hall.” He also explained that DBKL would only offer these loans to residents who had no outstanding debts with City Hall. 

He also explained that the deal was guaranteed on many levels including a 20 per cent retention account held by City Hall and the EPF and City Hall could take back the property and sell it to one of the almost 30,000 other buyers in the waiting list in the event a buyer defaulted payment for six months.

But once again we recall that in July 2010, this Minister had explained that City Hall is not a registered financial institution under Bank and Financial Institution Act (BAFIA) and thus cannot be the administrating body of a home-purchase scheme and not authorized to offer hire-purchases of the PPR low-cost homes. 

And yet today Minister Nong Chik declares that DBKL will stand as guarantor for these loans and will back with their reserve of RM 1 billion. The question that begs to be asked – Can DBKL act like a financial institution and play this role since the Minister himself had explained that DBKL is not registered under BAFIA?  
 

Point 3

The Minister also said that “Not more than 10 per cent will default,” and he expected the figure to be as low as five per cent. He said that those renting DBKL flats with good track record, have good chances of buying the houses and that under this scheme, no deposit is required and applicants are eligible for 100% loan.  

However the same minister had informed the public just 18 months ago that "Right now, we have the rental arrears amounting to RM30 million and that the rent arrears could increase to RM90 million if the hire-purchase scheme were to be realized."  

Now another question begs to be asked – If the Minister has said that back rentals has accumulated to RM30 million, now what is the guarantee that the housing loans currently pedaled by the Minister funded by the EPF and guaranteed by the DBKL will not go sour just like the accumulated  back arrears?  

In fact it is well known fact that banks are very wary to extend these housing loans because of the high risk of non repayment or errant transactions happening. That is why for many years PERMAS and other NGOs have been urging both the state and the Federal government to step in to facilitate this process between the financial institutions, the people and the housing developers.  

Lastly PERMAS would like urge the government to act as the guarantor to special housing loans which must be provided by a group of banks who must show their corporate social responsibility by providing low interests bank loans especially to the poor. The government can stipulate such provisions if it is not already in existence.  

Banks have to start acting more humanely rather than merely doing public relations stunts to promote itself as a caring financial institution. They should start to sincerely and genuinely contribute to community building by helping the poor to own homes instead of merely accumulating wealth to fatten itself.  

We would also like to reiterate our call to the government to reintroduce the “sewa-beli” (rent to buy) scheme which was implemented in the early 1980’s for government housing projects such as the PPR schemes. If DBKL cannot stand as the administrative body for this scheme, then make sure to identify the appropriate government agency or body which can play that role.  

Minister Raja Nong Chik, using EPF funds to finance housing loans to the poor is like offering housing loans to the poor at the expense of the rakyat’s EPF savings including the poor who are also EPF contributors!    
 

Tan Jo Hann,
President, PERMAS
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Hp: 019-214541

 

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PRESS STATEMENT   
February 3, 2012

Pusat KOMAS condemns Temiar Blockade arrests

 

Pusat KOMAS strongly condemns the arrest of 13 indigenous people from the Temiar tribe who organized a peaceful blockade to prevent logging companies from encroaching their customary land. Although given assurance that the issue will be settled in January, no action was taken by the Kelantan state government and the land continued to be raped of its resources. The Temiar people could not wait for empty promises anymore and decided to protect their customary land from the logging companies by setting up the blockade.

We are utterly disgusted with the way the police treated the Temiar people by burning down the blockade and at the same time also the adjacent rest area. The 13 arrested were also denied legal representation as their lawyer Siti Zubedah Kasim was also arrested and was prevented from meeting the 13 who were arrested even after repeated requests. They were put through hours of interrogation and not given any food to eat from morning and were only released at 11pm at night.

This is total disregard to Article 5(3) of the federal constitution which says that “A person arrested must be told why he is arrested as soon as possible and be allowed to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice”. The actions by the police also violated Article 5 and 6 of the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) which says that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and "Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law".

The police here have acted in a total inhuman manner and total disregard to the federal constitution and UNDHR. We wonder who are they serving, the people or the logging companies? The police should in fact place the best interest of the people above the irresponsible profit-making logging companies.

“Orang Asli” land issues have long been the hot topic affecting thousands of orang asli in Malaysia. For instance around 2,000 Orang Asli protested strongly against the proposed Orang Asli land title policy by the Federal government on 17 March 2010. Both the federal and state government should start recognizing the orang asli right to land and to ensure a halt to all forms of violation against these indigenous peoples of Malaysia.

State governments should recognize and take effective measures to protect the indigenous peoples land matters and exercise ‘Free prior and informed consent’ of Orang Asli on matters affecting their lands and conduct consultations in good faith. These are principles contained in the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007. Incidentally Malaysia voted in favour of this declaration twice without any reservations.

We urge the Kelantan state government to engage the affected Temiar orang asli communities and to immediately find a solution to this problem. The culture and the lifestyle of the indigenous people are strongly connected with the land they live on.

We also urge that action be taken against the police officers responsible for detaining them without following proper procedures and also for violating their basic rights to legal representation and human treatment.

 

Mr Arul Prakkash,
Grassroots Advocacy Project
PUSAT KOMAS
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel/fax: 03-79685415

 

 

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All is not well in the “land below the wind”

DVD/VCD

  “Hak di Nafikan” (Rights denied) a social documentary about the Orang Asli land produced by KOMAS and local orang asli community video team. (In BM with English subtitles)

 DVD/VCD – “Mari Beraktivism” (Let’s be Activists), “No Damn Right” – a story about Tijah an Orang Asli community organiser and social activist. This is part of the compilation of 3 short stories of activism in this DVD. 

(In BM with English subtitles)

 DVD/VCD -- Suara Asli Tanah Asli (Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Land) A video depicting the struggle of the indigenous people of Malaysia to protect their rights and their ancestral Land. (In BM with English subtitles)

BOOKS
•    Buku Kartun Pemetaan Komuniti (Community Mapping Cartoon Book) A comic book depicting the process and usage of community mapping to protect the Orang Asli ancestral lands. (in Bahasa Malaysia language)

•    “UNDRIP -- Hak Orang Asal Sedunia” – A cartoon book depicting the rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in the UN Rights of Indigenous People’s Declaration. (In Bahasa Malaysia language)

•    Tanah Hak Kami (Land is our right) A community mapping book depicting 11 case studies of Orang Asli villagers and the results of their mapping exercises conducted. (In Bahasa Malaysia language)