Suhakam calls for new Orang Asli commission

The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has called for the establishment of a new national commission on indigenous people to advice the government on laws and policies. 
            
Suhakam's national inquiry into the land rights of indigenous peoples was held over almost two years and the report was handed to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low yesterday. 

The report contains 18 recommendations, which include: 

- Establishing an Indigenous Land Tribunal of mostly retired judges to resolve complaints with regard to land ownership. 

- Reconciling past wrongs in land removal with the returning of land or proper compensation, and also the establishment of a Native Title Court to clear the backlog of cases in the civil court relating to indigenous land issues. 

Speaking at a press conference, Low said that Institute of Integrity (IIM) chairperson Mohd Tab Salleh would head a government taskforce to look into the 18 recommendations. 
    
The inquiry found that in Sabah alone there were 51 complaints of Ministry of Rural Development and government-linked companies ignoring Native Customary Rights in approving plantations. 

The inquiry also found cases in Sabah of the police using excessive force to evict people from their land. 

Orang Asli Dept criticised                    
The report also criticised the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa), saying that the department is failing in its task of protecting and promoting the well-being of Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia.             
"It was widely and repeatedly asserted during the inquiry that Jakoa has not been fulfilling its fiduciary duty. Jakoa has in fact from time to time acted against the interests and advancement of the Orang Asli," the report said.
 
In an interview, a senior official from Jakoa admitted to the inquiry that the principles in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), to which Malaysia is a signatory, were not adhered to.

"The principles were not consciously promoted or internalised within the department (Jakoa) due to the different interpretation of the term 'indigenous'," he had said.

One of the inquiry's recommendations is that a comprehensive review take place into whether the role of representing Orang Asli interests on land matters remain with Jakoa or be given to the community themselves.