The Orang Asli and the Contest for Resources: Indigenous Politics, Development and Identity in Peninsular Malaysia (original) (raw)
Related papers
ETHNICITY, INDIGENEITY AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS: THE ‘ORANG ASLI’ EXPERIENCE
Queensland University of Technology Law Review, 2015
Orang Asli, the heterogeneous Indigenous minority peoples of Peninsular Malaysia, continue to face formidable challenges in realising their rights as distinct Indigenous peoples despite being ascribed a measure of constitutional and statutory protection and recognition. With reference to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and international definitions of ‘Indigenous peoples’, this paper examines the influence of the externally constructed ethnic term ‘Orang Asli’ and its concomitant legal implications on the Orang Asli quest for indigeneity and the recognition of their rights as distinct Indigenous Peoples.
THE DISCOURSE OF PROTECTION AND THE ORANG ASLI IN MALAYSIA
The Aboriginal Peoples Act of 1954 is arguably the most important piece of legislation governing the lives of the Orang Asli in Malaysia today. This law governs all aspects of the Orang Asli's lives, including land rights, education and who can be defined as Orang Asli. This law effectively sets up the Orang Asli as wards of the state and thus limits their rights as full citizens. In this paper, I trace the formulation of this law over time, highlight how the discourse of protection has been a central theme in the law and how it frames the Orang Asli-state relationship. The discourse of protection provides justification for state policy regarding the Orang Asli and becomes a stand-in for control and power over the community. The Aboriginal Act was first drafted to protect the Orang Asli from exploitation and cultural contact with outsiders who were perceived as detrimental to the community. In this framing, the Orang Asli were labelled as 'primitives' and 'simple' people who needed protection. Later, during the communist insurgency (1948–1960), the government viewed the Orang Asli as a potential security threat in need of protection from the subversive ideology of communist guerrillas. In the post-independence era (1960s-present), the focus has shifted from one of protection to 'advancement' of the community. The Orang Asli are now framed as 'backward', 'anti-development', and needing to be brought in line with the nation's ambitious economic development agenda and aspirations of modernity. I argue that the Orang Asli are trapped between a protectionist law, which positions them as wards of the state with limited autonomy, rights and control over their resources, on the one hand, and the post-independence policy of hyper-development, under which they are deemed to be failed subjects, on the other hand.
Acknowledging Land Rights of the Orang Asli: A Historical Perspective of Laws in Peninsular Malaysia
IIUM Law Journal
The perspective that the Orang Asli communities do not have legal rights to their customary land remains despite common law recognition by the courts in a series of cases since two decades ago. To the contrary, this article argues that such a perspective has no basis under the law. By using a historical research approach, it is shown that it has never been the case under the law, policy and practices that the customary land of the Orang Asli was denied their entitlement. In practice, the law and official policy and their development in history observe and acknowledge the existing rights to land and resources, which arose from custom of the local inhabitants including the Orang Asli. The law inherently recognises the Orang Asli as having their own distinct political and social identities. The article provides a historical perspective of law and official practices in the Malay Peninsula in relation to land rights of the Orang Asli and trace their origin to British conduct in North Ame...
Negotiating orang asli identity in postcolonial Malaysia
2005
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Claims over 'indigenous' identity have been of paramount importance in the construction of postcolonial Malay(si)a. Dominant historical narratives of the nation-state celebrate the persistence, capabilities, and determination of the 'natives' in securing Independence from British colonial masters. In these accounts, Malay(si)a is a postcolonial story of triumph; of 'the colonized' successfully wrestling self-determination and control back from 'Western' colonizers. These national narratives have been written powerfully into visions, policies, and procedures that guide and rationalize the ways in which the peoples of Malaysia are presently constituted within the nation-state. Since the Independence of Malaya in 1957, 'indigenous' identity has legitimized the distribution of economic and political benefits across groups in a 'democratic' society. As a product of British and 'native' political negotiations, indigeneity became articulated in terms of ethnic/ racial identity, the dominant dimension of difference that guided colonial imaginations of the Peninsula. This manner of defining indigeneity has been carried forward to the present-those who are presently 'indigenous' in the Malaysian nation-state are those who fall within certain ethnic/racial boundaries, and those who are not are those who fall into other categories. Genealogies in the land have become less relevant 1. This has become a normalized foundation, an indispensable cornerstone, upon which Malaysian politics, government, law, and civil society currently operate. Writers focusing on identity politics in postcolonial Peninsular Malaysia have focused on dynamics among 'Malay', 'Chinese' and 'Indian' communities, as well as the heterogeneity within these ethnic categories and the blurring of boundaries between them 2. It is the first of these who have been officially identified as 'indigenous' or bumiputera (literally 'sons of the soil') in the geobody of the nation-state, while the latter two have been cast as 'immigrant' communities, or non-'the black experience'. She argues that individuals should be given the freedom to be who they are within the identity of 'blackness', emphasizing that it is necessary to, critique essentialism while emphasizing the significance of 'the authority of experience'. There is a radical difference between a repudiation of the idea that there is a black 'essence' and recognition of the way black identity has been specifically constituted in the experience of exile and struggle (2001:133). Thus, she argues for the treatment of experience without essentialism, and identity without homogenization. Realists or empiricists may claim that deconstructive work reveals that a particular cultural identity is 'false', an 'invention', or a 'dishonest unity' (to borrow the words of Jeremy Waldron (2000) who addresses their criticisms). This assessment reveals their underlying philosophical assumption that 'Real' cultural identities exist, and that by default, they exist in essential, stable, and coherent forms. It is thus necessary to point out that all cultural identities are similarly emergent and located in socio-historical processes, and upon which such discursive construction may thus be performed. I treat Orang Asli identity as thus being no different than all other identities, whether established on the basis of ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender or class. Again, it is important to emphasize that the act of deconstruction does not 'negate' the identity, causing it to disappear or lose its everyday meaningfulness. In relation to the indispensability of identity in the Malaysian and international context, the words of Stuart Hall (1996) are instructive. As he observes, the deconstructive, anti-essentialist critique of identity leaves us not with 'nothingness', but with "idea[s] which cannot be thought in the old way, but without which certain key questions cannot be thought at all" (p.2, my emphasis) 13. Orang Asli identity has become 13 As Modood (2000) comments concerning Wittgenstein (1967)'s treatment of language-an observation I hold relevant here-"(t)he key point is that that one [does] not need an idea of essence in order to believe that some ways of thinking and acting [have] a coherence, and so the undermining of the ideas of essence [do] not necessarily damage the assumption of coherence…".
Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples: The Case of Orang Asli
Asia Pacific Law Review, 2012
This article critically evaluates the idea of 'peoples' as a legal concept under international law and its significance to indigenous peoples as holders of the right to self-determination. It further addresses the issue as to whether indigenous peoples are actually the holders of the right to self-determination and whether the content of the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples equates to the one currently granted to 'peoples' under international law. Finally, this article evaluates the applicability of the idea of indigenous peoples as 'peoples' or 'minorities' in the Malaysian context, particularly concerning the scope and content of the right to self-determination accorded to the Orang Asli.
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Orang Asli Self-Governance and Democracy
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Orang Asli Self-Governance and Democracy
HE ORANG ASLI were once the dominant peoples who inhabited the Malayan peninsula. They governed themselves in customarily-held autonomous areas by developing social, economic and political systems that we now realize have been important in striking a harmonious balance between humans and Nature, and between humans and humans. Their indigenous governance systems, in particular, ensured that every member of the community was the focus of government, but that the interests and continuity of the community took precedence. Today, they struggle to regain control over their lives and lands. How did it get to this? Just what did they lose? And what do they need to do to recover their governance systems? THIS VOLUME is part of a series published by AIPP for a course on “Realizing Indigenous Peoples’ Autonomy and Self-government”. The programme seeks to help Indigenous Peoples critically reflect on the state-of-affairs regarding self-determination and self-government among their own peoples; to help them comprehend the extent of the damage or destruction of their customary self-governance systems; to take stock of what is left; and to explore options to regain, revitalize and reconstruct self-government among their communities and peoples.
From Wards to Citizens: Indigenous Rights and Citizenship in Malaysia
In recent years, indigenous peoples in Malaysia have begun to pursue a new strategy in claiming property rights: they are turning to the legal system, using lawsuits to make their claims. In this article, I suggest that this changed approach marks an important turning point in the Orang Asli-Malaysian state relationship. The legal arena reframes the narrative of struggle from one of " development failure " to one of rights and entitlement. I explore a landmark case, Sagong Tasi and Ors. v. State of Selangor and Ors., in which Orang Asli plaintiffs argued for their rights based on their position as wards of the state, as citizens of the nation, and as indigenous people with worldwide recognition. While the explicit focus of this court case (and others like it) is on property rights, the process involved has raised important questions concerning Orang Asli citizenship rights. In drawing on multiple kinds of positioning and demanding that the state fulfill an obligation to them, the Orang Asli are using the legal space to reconfigure and redefine their relationship to the Malaysian State.
Shaman, 2016
Like many tribal communities worldwide, customary territories are the source of indigenous knowledge, religion, rituals, and social and political adaptation for Peninsular Malaysia's indigenous minority, the Orang Asli. Despite recent challenges to the vibrancy of shamanic practices due to external and internal changes impacting Orang Asli society, the Orang Asli shaman, to some degree, still represents the personal and collective life and well-being of a community and concomitantly, the community's customary territories. With reference to the Semai and Temiar Orang Asli ethnic subgroups, this interdisciplinary paper examines the potential relevance of Orang Asli forms of shamanism in the light of the relatively recent recognition of pre-existing Orang Asli land customs and usages by the Malaysian courts. These rights are established through, amongst other matters, the community's maintenance of a traditional connection with the land claimed in accordance with customs distinctive to the particular community. It is suggested that the increased awareness of the Orang Asli on the legal significance of preserving and maintaining traditional knowledge relevant to demonstrate a traditional connection with their lands may, with guarded optimism, contribute to a resurgence of land and resource-related shamanistic practices in some Orang Asli communities.