A delegation of Sarawak Indigenous peoples under Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) organised a march on 24 November to hand over a memorandum on Sarawak native rights to Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, the Speaker of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
The Sarawak Native Rights Memorandum 2025 outlines key challenges faced by the Natives or Indigenous peoples of Sarawak relating to land grabs, corporate capture, the lack of meaningful free, prior and informed consent and many more issues.
The memorandum addresses the interconnection of securing Indigenous peoples’ rights to genuine planetary sustainability where Sarawak can uniquely position itself as a leader, being a territory with the majority of Indigenous peoples or Natives (as termed in Sarawak legislation)
It also lays out rights-based and practical solutions that, with Sarawak’s active support and cooperation, would secure a stronger and inclusive society, aligned with it “no one left behind” slogan.
“The march to handover this memorandum is significant and we look forward to working together with the government as we include our real lived-experienced as Natives of Sarawak to reform policies and laws that affect our lives every single day,” Hellan Empaing, the president of JOAS, said after handing over the memorandum at the Sarawak assembly.
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN), Maybank a/c 507246118995 or CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a pledge or schedule an auto donation to Aliran every month or every quarter
- Become an Aliran member
“This march and expression of grievances as rakyat is an enshrined constitutional right for us. What we see in this march must not only be supported but encouraged because it shows not only an understanding of our democratic rights but our role in law or policymaking,” said Kimberly Baru, a Lun Bawang lawyer who accompanied the memorandum handover.
Some significant calls to action from the memorandum are:
- Under 3A – Strengthen legal recognition and protection of native customary rights lands.
- Accelerate the official mapping and gazetting of the native customary rights or Indigenous territories.
- Reform legislation to harmonise native customary rights recognition across administrative and judicial systems.
- Remove the arbitrary 1,000-hectare cap on Indigenous land under Section 6A.
- Under 3C – Increase Native rights holders and civil society participation in decision-making.
- Create formal multi-stakeholder engagement procedures to ensure the public interest is considered at the various levels of policymaking or law-making.
- Under 3D – Ensure full access to information necessary to exercise rights to land and decision-making.
- State to adopt and align with the national freedom of information act to enable the public to access all relevant information of public interest across Malaysia.
- Declassify the aerial photographs taken during and prior to 1958 and make them available to the public online and at physical government offices.
- Maintain a public database of native customary rights or Indigenous territories that have been surveyed by the Sarawak Land and Survey Department, as well as pending applications.
Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) is a network of 120 Indigenous peoples (Orang Asal) organisations in Malaysia, supported by Indigenous and related NGOs.
The memorandum is available on the JOAS website here.
– Save Rivers
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
