‘Indigenous refers to orang asli and orang asal’

KUALA LUMPUR: The term “indigenous peoples” includes the orang asli and Malays in the peninsula and the orang asal in Sabah and Sarawak, said Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam.

“We are not going to be sidetracked by an opinion that the term ‘indigenous peoples’ may not include orang asli.”

Hasmy said this when asked whether the ongoing National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples would exclude the orang asli in light of a recent statement by Depart­ment of Orang Asli Development deputy director-general Nisra Nisran Asra Ramlan.

Nisra Nisran was reported to have said on March 30 that his understanding of the Government position when it adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was that the term “indigenous peoples” referred to the Malays.

“As far as the inquiry is concerned, it would not (and should not) affect the thrust of our exercise as it is focused solely on the minority indigenous groups,” Hasmy said.

Noting that there was no universally accepted definition, he said the inquiry had excluded the Malays in the peninsula as they were the majority and lived in the mainstream.

“However, they are included in Sabah and Sarawak because they are the minority there.”