The role of languages and culture in the

protection and promotion of the rights and

identity of Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia

ANDREW AMBROSE MUDI

Performing Artist & Creator // Resource Persons LIRU (PACOS Trust)
Partner Of Community Organizations
EMRIP - Geneva, 10 July 2013
- Comprising Sabah, Sarawak & Malaya
- Population : 28.86 million (2011)
- Mega-biodiversity – 10 major types of
ecosystem
- Mega-cultural diversity – major ethnic-
subgroups : 25 Sarawak, 39 in Sabah, 18 in
Peninsular Malaya and other sub-ethnic
- Sabah / 39 Ethnic Subgroups / 1, 000,000
 Indigenous Peoples Malaysia
Who are WE?

 39 different indigenous ethnic groups

in Sabah are called natives or Anak
Negeri
 50% of Sarawak’s population of 2.5
million people.
 Orang Asli are the indigenous peoples
of Peninsular Malaysia. They number
150,000, representing a mere 0.6% of
the national population.
 Indigenous Peoples Malaysia
What are our Rights?

Articles 1 and 2 of the UN Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
(“UNDRIP”) state that indigenous
peoples have the right to enjoy all
human rights and freedoms from
discrimination, not only as individuals
but also as a collective. Indigenous
collective rights stem from the way
indigenous peoples organise
themselves as a group or community.
 Indigenous Peoples Malaysia
What are our Rights?
In Malaysia, based on the UN
working definition,
“Indigenous Peoples” would
include the aborigines of
Peninsular Malaysia and the
natives of Sabah and
Sarawak, who are also
recognized as such by the
Federal Constitution and
relevant State laws.
 Indigenous Peoples Malaysia
What Are OUR Rights?

For Sabah, Article 161A(6)(b) of the

Federal Constitution provides that for a
person to be considered a native of
Sabah, the following must be fulfilled:
(a) a citizen of Malaysia (b); is the child
or grandchild of a person of a race
indigenous to Sabah; and (c) was born
either in Sabah or to a father domiciled
in Sabah at the time of the birth.
However, the Federal Constitution does
not provide an enumeration of who
constitutes a native of Sabah.
 Indigenous Peoples Malaysia
What rights do we want?

• LAND
• HUMAN RIGHTS
• CULTURE
• LINGUISTICS
 IDENTITY MARKERS OF IPs

LANGUAGE, HOUSING, PRACTICES, CULTURE,

FOOD, TRADITIONAL SINGING etc
 ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN MALAYSIA

Spoken both by the Majority IPs of Sabah &

Sarawak (2.5million population) and Minority IPs
of Peninsular Malaya (106,131 population)
 Mother Tongue Language
What Are our Challenges?
• Recognizes that the production process
is not the end in itself.
• To develop a market for its
publications. A possible future step is
enabling the schools to use
publications as supplementary material
in the classroom.
• Our ultimate goal is to create a reading
culture in the community.
• To develop new technology
• Train The Trainers
 How do we move forward?

• Kadazandusun Language Foundation

(KLF), which is a non-profit
organisation, was established in 1995
with the objectives of preserving,
developing, and promoting the
Kadazandusun language as well as
other indigenous languages.
• PACOS Trust established CLC
(Community Learning Center) in the
villages throughout Sabah to promote
and use mother tongue.
 What are the Key Results?

• Kadazandusun Language
Foundation (KLF), four
programme areas:
* Linguistics and Anthropology
* Literacy and Literature,
* Translation and Community
Service
* Training and Development.
 What are the Key Results?
• PACOS Trust
established 22 CLC
(Community Learning
Center) in the
villages throughout
Sabah to promote
and teach pre-school
children using
mother tongue.
 Key Activities – Language Training
• Sabah Education Department called
upon KLF to provide technical advice
and consultancy.
• Began to provide this service in 1995 to
key personnel from the Department in
the first national- level meeting to
draft the Kadazandusun language
curriculum and give consultancy on a
needs basis.
• Assisted the University of Malaysia
Sabah in the preparation of their
Kadazandusun language classes, which
they offered as an elective since 1998.
 Key Activities – Writers Training
Workshops
•Training and workshops have been
highly useful in mobilising more
community involvement in mother
tongue preservation and to provide them
with skills in literature production.

• Writers’ workshops to increase writers’

motivation and to provide them with
skills in literature production.

•Workshops are also conducted at the

village level.

• Editors’ an Shell Book Production

Workshops are conducted to add to the
 Key Activities – Production of Local
Literature
•To date, 35 titles have been published
and circulated. KLF continues to tap into
local talent for materials written in the
mother tongue in many ways.
• By conducting a yearly writing
competition, members of the community
have been encouraged to put folktales
and short stories down in writing.
• Since 1997, winning entries in the
competition have been compiled into
volumes and made available at book fairs
and exhibitions.
Key Activities – Translation Services
•Providing translation services to several
government agencies for such materials
as health brochures, advertisements,
press releases, and patriotic songs.

• In health pamphlets among the rural

communities in particular, it is especially
important to be able to provide
instruction in the mother tongue, as
there is a great likelihood that clients
only have basic literacy acquisition.
 UNDRIP
• We have UNDRIP in 2006 but our
linguistic initiative started in 1994 and
started teaching Kadazan & Dusun in
schools by 1997.
• Require UNDRIP as a document to
recognize Self Determination.
• National Education Officers tried to
force KLF to accept the Malay writing
system. But the sound-system of
Malays is not the same. An intervention
on UNDRIP Article 13 was recognized
by the Officers.
 CONCLUSION

• It is up to us IPs; we must be
available for the work
because we are the once
wanting it because it is our
identity.
• Language is the embodiment
of our identity and culture.
Recognition & Special Thanks
Rita Lasimbang
~ CEO of KLF, KadazanDusun
Language Foundation

Anne Lasimbang
~ Executive Director of PACOS Trust
“POUNSIKOU – Thank You”