I refer to the Malaysiakini report Tengku Faris: Non-Malays should not seek equality .

The recent report saying that the crown prince of Kelantan Tengku Faris had uttered racially sensitive comments has hurt the feelings of the non-Malay Bumiputera community of Sabah and Sarawak.

The crown prince or whoever wrote the speech forgot that in Malaysia, there are other bumiputeras apart from the Malays, namely the Kadazandusun-Muruts (KDMs) of Sabah, the Dayaks of Sarawak and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia. Oral traditions of the KDMs, for example, tell us that the Malays are from lands across the sea. When they came, the KDMs had to move further inland.

Similarly, even Malay history shows that the Malays of Sarawak were from Sumatera and that the majority of the founders of the Malay sultanates in the Peninsula are from lands across the sea.

When the Malays came, the KDMs, Dayaks and Orang Asli were marginalised. And this seems to happen to this day. History has shown that the Malays were from lands far-off. Though some people try hard to show that indigenous peoples like the KDMs are also immigrants, there seems to be no historical evidence, only theories. This shows that the KDMs, Dayaks and Orang Asli are truly indigenous to Malaysia.

However, we do not wish to quarrel over this. It only becomes an issue when someone tries to make derogatory comments about the indigenous people. Statements like ‘non-Malays should not seek equal rights’ is very offensive to the KDMs, Dayaks and Orang Asli.

I also found out that PKR, PAS and Umno are going to have a talk on Malay issues. I don't know what is all these talk is about on a community which seems to enjoy everything in this country. If there is any community that has an issue it should be the KDM, Dayak and Orang Asli communities. These are the sons of the soil in the true sense.

Together, these communities outnumber the Indians. But whenever we read news reports, there is only mention of Malays, Chinese and Indians. The indigenous groups seem only fit to fill the pages of tourist brochures with captions like ‘Land of the Headhunters’, ‘Beautiful Sumazau Dancers’, ‘Orang Asli Jungle Trekking Guide’ and so on.

I hope the media, whether foreign or local, would change their attitude towards these communities. And the government should do so, too, by including more non-Muslim indigenous politicians in the federal cabinet.

And please, not only ministries like rural development, science and innovation or the useless prime minister's department. Give important posts where the KDMs, Dayaks and Orang Asli can be seen. Give the posts that others have clung on to for too long.

To our indigenous politicians, don't wait until the states of Sabah and Sarawak become like Australia and the United States where the natives live in reservations. At least there, the natives seem to enjoy considerable religious freedom. Here, we might even lose it, or perhaps already have lost it.