14 theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009

speak up!

Ignore land rights at your peril

by Sonia Randhawa conflict recently has Yet it’s the governments that have issued an apology for the protesters less powerful groups are not exploited
been in the Amazon, encouraged oil exploration, logging who have died. There are news reports and to attempt to ensure development
OWNERSHIP of land where around 30 people and other forms of “development” that the prime minister will resign. But occurs with social justice. We have a
is a funny thing. For died in clashes earlier that have shortened life expectan- the conflict could easily have been few good examples of how it should
generations, in Malaysia this month between po- cies and reduced available land for avoided, according to information from be done here – the Department of
and across most of the lice and Indians. The indigenous people. The 13-year-old human rights groups. The government Wildlife and National Parks engaged
globe, it was considered police claim that they struggle for justice in the Ogoni delta has justified the legislative decrees on in extensive consultation with affected
as nonsensical as own- suffered a high number of Nigeria has moved further forward the grounds that they were necessary communities when gazetting the Pen-
ership of the air. Land of deaths (despite su- with Shell’s “humanitarian” gesture to abide by the US-Peru Trade Promo- ang National Park.
was a trust, a public perior firepower) while of a US$15.5 million (RM55 million) tion Agreement (TPA). However, the Yet, in the meantime, we find that
resource. If you had the the Indians claim the settlement. The award was made to agreement itself calls for changes to one of the first acts once the Barisan
energy (or the slaves)
you might be able to
Freespace police are covering-up.
The clashes were over
the families of leaders, most famously
Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed by a military
be made in a consultative and trans-
parent fashion. The protesters also
Nasional took over in Perak was de-
gazetting forest reserve, that as soon
farm more than your Where young views rule legislative decrees that government in Nigeria. say the decree violates Peru’s com- as the power shift happened the indig-
neighbours. But as your the Indians were con- Back in Peru, the award of a 10.5- mitments under the ILO Convention enous people started complaining of
good-for-nothing sons who had been cerned would make it easier for the million ha concession to ConocoPhil- 169 which concerns indigenous and encroachment by logging companies.
raised by your sweat and blood came government to alienate their land for lips, a large US energy company, had tribal peoples. And the situation is similar in other
into their inheritance, the lands you’d oil and gas exploration. come under criticism for its potential These, ILO Convention 169, the states. Malaysia needs to cast a wary
painstakingly opened up might revert The Peruvian government has impact on indigenous people just UN Declaration on the Rights of eye on what is happening in Nigeria, in
to jungle and common ownership. blamed the clashes on people instigat- weeks before the crisis made inter- Indigenous Peoples and even parts Peru and in other parts of the world,
And then there was the global ing the indigenous population, people national headlines. Two weeks before of the Rio Declaration of 1992, are where laws legalising the alienation
scourge of colonialism. Land that had with some hidden agenda. We’ve that, the government had negotiated attempts at undoing the colonial herit- of indigenous lands have been found
been managed, not always as sustain- heard similar arguments from govern- a concession with a large Canadian age, re-establishing the sovereignty to be violations of pre-existing rights,
ably maintained, in traditional ways ments across the world. The unspoken company. It was not AIDESEP, the or- of the people over their traditional where heavy sums of compensation
for thousands of years, was now a re- assumption is that indigenous people, ganisation being blamed for the crisis, lands. In Peru, unlike Malaysia, there are being paid to indigenous people,
source to be cut up and represented by whether the Penan of Sarawak or the that was involved in these negotiations, are provisions for adherence to the and the trust between the people and
bits of paper, bought, sold and passed Indians of the Amazon, are primitive, but the Peruvian government. And it’s most powerful of these conventions, the government has suffered a series
down to children. It changed relations naïve people unable to identify or rep- negotiations such as these that the ILO 169. But we would do well to note of potentially fatal blows.
within and between communities. It resent their own interests. Malicious protests are hoping to prevent, nego- what happens when the provisions
destroyed entire peoples. And it is still outsiders are able to manipulate this tiations and land alienation. are ignored. The idea of free, prior Sonia thinks liberty and equality are
causing death and destruction. naïvety for publicity and to bring legiti- The Peruvian government has and informed consent was developed the only real guarantors of security.
The most violent eruption of this mate governments into disrepute. said that the law will be repealed and primarily to avoid conflict, ensure that Comment: letters@thesundaily.com.

More than meets

use the ballot box to express
those disagreements.
Indeed, I shall do my
duty in reminding everyone
that there is already a figure
of unity for all Malaysians,
and that is the Yang diPer-
its urban sympathisers. It
was preceded by the party’s
election for party posts, the
results of which have been
widely been interpreted to
be a victory of a “conserva-
tive” faction over a “more
reforms. Several within the
party have called for direct
elections for party posts,
and the president himself
has signalled a need for
reforms and a review of the
party constitution. But we’ll

the eye
UNLIKE the Transformers
(warning: spoilers ahead),
split into the Autobots and
Decepticons whose eternal
enmity has a clear and undis-
puted origin, Malays support-
ing different political parties
have no such back-story.
We, the people of Malaysia,
including all those of us the
government recognises as
Malay, have multiple herit-
ages. The ancient Malay rul-
ers did not collectively forge
a “Keris of Leadership” that
would, if unsheathed in some
distant future, magically slay
discord among the race. What
we do have is a constitution,
wherefrom our institutions,
some ancient and some mod-
ern, derive their continued le-
gitimacy, and through which
the aspirations and freedoms
of the Malaysian people are
supposed to be protected and
advanced.
We’ve discussed this con-
Abiding
Times
by Tunku ‘Abidin
Muhriz
cept of “unity” in this column
before: one could produce a
catalogue of intra-Malay
conflict, including numerous
civil wars and lesser rivalries,
and it would be thicker than
the Port Klang Free Zone
report. Of course, I don’t
condone war, but the point is
that Malays have disagreed
with each other in the past,
and often allied with non-
Malays to emerge victorious.
The difference is that now we
tuan Agong, who represents
all of us regardless of our
ethnic background. His
Majesty takes precedence
precisely because he is our
paramount figurehead. We
ask for his safe reign in
our national anthem after
collectively shedding our
symbolic blood and extolling
the virtues of living with one
another in peace. That is
the unity which, our coat of
arms declares, “is strength”.
The role of politicians does
not feature.
If politicians are to “unite”
there ought to be some good
public policy or ideologi-
cal grounds for them to do
so: if not, the endeavour is
nakedly about power. It’s
otherwise expected that
they should disagree with
each other, and I reckon
most Malaysians prefer it
that way. We want them to
come up with different ways
to tackle the nation’s prob-
lems, secure our freedom
and increase our prosperity,
so that we have a genuine
choice every five years.
Now, although PAS has
re-affirmed its fraternity
with its Pakatan partners,
the episode might have
already incurred electoral
costs to the party among
liberal” school of thought
within the party. There is
much curiosity about how
the party will move forward,
particularly since there was
a furore over the call to ban
Sisters in Islam (which was,
it is now admitted, a mis-
take). On the other hand,
the party is on its way to
opening up full membership
to non-Muslims, which is a
significant step.
In the meantime, PKR
has transformed into a
much more democratic
party, after the passing of
amendments to introduce
term limits and directly
elect the party president,
in addition to lowering the
qualifying age of the youth
wing. The requirement for
women to comprise 30% of
all decision-making com-
mittees suffers the usual
problems of such targets,
which is that more qualified
men may lose out, and some
women might consider it
condescending that they
need this provision, but
overall it’s a big step in the
democratisation of our poli-
tics, and hopefully all other
political parties take note.
Indeed since last year
there have also been voices
in Umno advocating internal
need to wait and see how
extensive these will be.
The Malaysia Think Tank
has been advocating the
democratisation of political
parties for some time now,
so these are welcome signs.
If the parties themselves are
democratic then the state
assemblies and Parliament
will be too. Their ranks will
be much more accustomed
to competing with other
people, and familiar with
the idea that they serve at
the grassroots’ behest.
However, what no party
has yet effectively tackled is
the selection of candidates for
state and federal elections,
which is still determined by
the leadership. Without pri-
maries or caucuses, YBs are
less likely to feel beholden to
their constituents, and less
resistant to defection. I hope
that one of our great politi-
cal parties takes the lead on
this. It’s the most foolproof
method of getting independ-
ent constituency-minded
parliamentarians, instead of
deceptive automatons.
Tunku ’Abidin Muhriz is di-
rector of the Malaysia Think
Tank (waubebas.org). Com-
ments: letters@thesundaily.
com.

letter
letters@thesundaily.com

Give Sikhs a voice

EVER wondered if there are Sikhs in Malaysia in
the hardcore poor group? Like other communi-
ties Sikhs too have unsettled matters. And they
need help and support with their lives.
Many may think that the Sikhs are all right
and have no problems, but they do. Maybe their
plight is just unknown and they have to face the
challenges themselves!
Who is listening to them and their woes? Is
it because they have no political clout that they
are easily ignored?
As I see it, they have many problems in mat-
ters of land (TOL), single mothers, job opportuni-
ties for their youth, language (study of Punjabi),
foreign Sikh priests, and education.
They have made achievements but solely on
their own and with their community’s help.
Surely, the government has a role here.
Some attempts have been made, and occa-
sionally, to have them solved but not effectively.
While it is appreciated to have a voice at state
level, like now proposed in Perak, there must also
be voices at the national level to reach the prime
minister. Sikhs should not be left aside but be
brought into mainstream Malaysian life and their
problems taken heed of and solved.
And that would be in the 1Malaysia spirit.
Bulbir Singh
Seremban