vi CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE The violations of the land rights of the indigenous peoples take many forms and are perpetrated by a number of actors who mostly knowingly, carry out economic activities in the pursuit of development, that involve encroachments on the traditional land of the community resulting in their eviction or transfer to other less suitable areas, sometimes very far from their original place of stay, or habitat, thus disrupting and affecting adversely their traditional way of life as a community. For the most part, these disruptive activities relate to plantation and logging activities, quarrying, mining, housing and other infrastructure projects, such as highways, gazetting of land into national or State forest reserves and/or parks, catchment areas, etc., which are carried out in areas which the community has lived on for generations, or in adjoining tracts of land which they regard as part of their traditional foraging area or kawasan rayau. A large part of the problem arises from a lack of recognition by the authorities of the concept of customary land of the indigenous peoples, or what constitutes customary land, when much of this land has not been, or is yet to be registered as customary land with the relevant government departments due to ignorance or misunderstanding on the part of the community on the processes involved. In other instances this is due to inefficiency on the part of the government agencies concerned which failed to do the needful in spite of years of “processing” these land ownership claims, much to the chagrin of the natives. As we move rapidly towards becoming a developed nation by 2020 or thereabout, it is incumbent upon us to make every effort to ensure, as citizens of this nation, to extend to our fellow citizens, the indigenous peoples or natives of Malaysia, the kindness, empathy and respect for their rights that they more than deserve as the earliest inhabitants of this hospitable land. We can do this by giving a helping hand to provide protection to them as they begin the difficult adjustments from the simplicity of a traditional lifestyle to the demanding challenges and complexities of life in a fast-paced twenty-first Century. We trust that in presenting this Report of the National Inquiry into the Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia, the three branches of Government -- the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary -- will open up their hearts and minds and their sense of obligations to the plight of these marginalised people, fellow citizens of ours, and do what could be done to redress the situation, in the interest of promoting and protecting their inherent rights, specifically over the land issue, but hopefully on other issues as well. Among other things, there should be greater empathy for, and understanding of, their problems and needs as peoples and communities that are very much steeped in cultural traditions, values and practices, such as their attachment to the concept of a foraging area or kawasan rayau, which ought to be clarified and sorted out through a process of open dialogue and consultations with them, (as well as on other relevant issues) -- the lack or absence of which is their greatest grievance vis-a-vis the authorities and their functionaries. Indeed, a recurring complaint heard during the Inquiry is the lack of consultations with the indigenous peoples, thereby ignoring the principle of free, prior and informed consent as required under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The incorporation of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) principle into Malaysian law would certainly earn respect and enhance the country’s international standing as a human rights respecting nation. The Commission is fully convinced and confident that a new, open approach in dealing with the issues affecting the indigenous peoples would open up prospects for a better understanding and rapport between the authorities and these peoples, who for a long time have felt very much sidelined, even abandoned -- in spite of the socio-economic programmes that have been launched for their benefit and well-being, but which Report SUHAKAM i-xx_a4.indd 6 7/5/13 6:39 PM