PETALING JAYA: Orang Asli communities have been facing harassment, intimidation, arrest, violence and even death threat for protecting their ancestral land from encroachment, a report by Amnesty International Malaysia revealed today.
The findings were highlighted in its "The Forest Is Our Heartbeat: The struggle to defend Indigenous land in Malaysia" report, which documented the problems faced by the community based on interviews with them, local activists, non-governmental organisations, lawyers, academics and journalists.
Its researcher, Rachel Chhoa-Howard, said the situation will only get more serious if there's no effort being made to resolve the matter.
"From the research carried out in July and Aug 2017, and in Jan, Aug and Sept this year, we found that not only were they harassed or abused by people who want to take their land for development purposes, but some even received death threats by hired gangsters.
"It is worrying to see these people being violated for protecting their own land from being encroached. Until today, there's still no solid solution or action taken by the state governments involved to address the matter.
"These indigenous land defenders are denied justice and access to defend what's theirs," she said.
Asked on the statistic or data, Chhoa-Howard said there was none as the research was done based on interviews with 86 Orang Asli communities and others.
She also urged the government to provide proactive solution and action on the issue.
"We hope the new government will impose new policies especially in protecting Orang Asli, as promised in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.
"Little progress has been made in the past and we are looking forward for new solutions by the new government," she added.
Also present were AIM executive director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu and Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan chairman Mustafa Along.
Meanwhile, on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) issue, Shamini said the government should ratify ICERD as it also protects the rights of the Orang Asli.
She said it was also dissapointing that there was no effort by the government to explain and correct the misconception or public's misunderstanding on the ICERD issue.
