KUCHING, 26th November: A delegation of Sarawak Indigenous Peoples under Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) organised a march on Monday to handover the Sarawak Native Rights Memorandum 2025 to Tan Sri Datuk Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, the Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly.
The Sarawak Native Rights Memorandum 2025 outlines key challenges faced by the Natives or Indigenous Peoples (IPs) of Sarawak relating to land-grabs, corporate capture, the lack of meaningful Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and many more.
The Memorandum addresses the interconnection of securing Indigenous Peoples rights to genuine planetary sustainability where Sarawak can uniquely position itself as a leader, being the State with the majority of Indigenous Peoples or Natives (as termed in State legislation).
It also lays out rights-based and practical solutions that with the State active support and cooperation would secure a stronger, inclusive, and aligned with their “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, president of JOAS expressed her hope after handing over the Memorandum to the Assembly.
“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 policy-making,” explained Kimberly Baru, a Lun Bawang lawyer who accompanied the memorandum handover.
Some significant calls of action from the memorandum are:
I. Under 3A, Strengthen Legal Recognition and Protection of NCR Lands
- Accelerate the official mapping and gazetting of the NCR or Indigenous territories.
- Reform legislation to harmonize NCR recognition across administrative and judicial systems.
- Remove the arbitrary 1,000 hectare cap on Indigenous land under Section 6A.
II. Under 3C, Increase Native Rights-Holders and Civil Society Participation in Decision-Making
- Create formal multistakeholder engagement procedures to ensure public interest is considered in the various levels of policy or law-making.
III. Under 3D.,Ensure Full Access to Information Necessary to Exercise Rights to Land and Decision-Making
- State to adopt and align to the National Freedom to 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) organizations in Malaysia, supported by Indigenous and related NGOs.
The memorandum is available on the JOAS website at www.jaringanorangasalsemalaysia.org/.