KUALA LUMPUR: The announcement by the Department for the Development of Orang Asli (Jakoa) in relation to the finalisation of the proposed policy on orang asli land titles has not been well-received by many orang asli.

Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee said that since the Jakoa announcement was reported last week, several members of the community had lodged their grievances with the Bar, which was acting pro bono for a number of orang asli in several claims of intrusion against developers and state agencies.

He claimed that this suggested the Government had once again not consulted with the orang asli and failed to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of those affected in finalising the policy.

On March 17 last year, more than 2,000 orang asli had held a peaceful march in Putrajaya and submitted a memorandum signed by over 9,000 of them to the Government on grounds the grassroots had not been consulted over the National Land Council’s proposed land titles policy drafted on Dec 4, 2009.

Lim said the Government had not responded to the Bar’s call for it to furnish in advance any future policies/amendments to the law affecting orang asli lands to all stakeholders, as it had committed to do in the pledges it had made in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRIP).

He said it was unacceptable that a member state of the UN and Human Right Council disregard UNDRIP principles with such impunity.

Any attempt to deny the status of orang asli and their land rights was also a clear violation of their constitutional rights, he said.

Lim reminded the Government of Suhakam’s ongoing National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“To avoid rendering the inquiry superfluous, we appeal to the Government to desist from proceeding with any land policy affecting orang asli pending its outcome in June next year.”