I refer to the Malaysiakini report Indigenous people's rights: Msia 'best model' .

Dr Marcus Mojigoh is quoted in the article as saying that Malaysia is the best example in the Asia-Pacific region in handling indigenous peoples' rights. If Malaysia is the best model on offer, the Orang Asli community should be distressed, to say the least.

Here are three key outcomes of the so-called ‘best model’ for the Orang Asli:

(a) non-recognition of their customary lands by the Government;

(b) around 36% of their population in poverty (this figure may well be higher based on non-Jabatan Hal-Ehwal Orang Asli statistics) when the national average is well below 5%; and;

(c) Orang Asli customary land rights taking a backseat to the recent proposed land policy that is reminiscent of the failed homestead policy introduced by the US government for Native Americans in the late 19 th and 20 th century.

The article quotes Dr Marcus Mojigoh as saying that ‘the Malaysian government also recognised the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with regard to the rights of indigenous families and communities to retain shared responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and well-being of their children’.

This may be true but the United Nations Declaration also expressly acknowledges the importance of customary lands to indigenous peoples and calls for the recognition of customary land rights. The Orang Asli possess no such rights.

This in itself shows that the protection of Orang Asli customary rights falls well below best practices as contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region afford much higher protection for indigenous rights. Foe instance, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in Philippines recognises the customary and ancestral lands of all Indigenous peoples.

In addition to the individual state land rights legislation, Australia possesses the Native Title Act that recognises title to Aboriginal traditional lands. The list goes on.

Given that the Malaysian government does not recognise customary land rights of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, it is shocking to even suggest that Malaysia is the best model in the Asia-Pacific region for handling Indigenous rights.

The recent protest by 2,500 Orang Asli at Putrajaya clearly indicates that they are dissatisfied with the way in which they are being treated by the Malaysian government. To say otherwise is to be in a state of denial.

A best model for ‘handling indigenous peoples rights’ surely cannot mean sweeping the issue of customary rights under the carpet as done to the Orang Asli thus far. In this sense, broad statements of the kind made in the article are misleading, ill-informed and worse still, do an injustice to the Orang Asli community.