Malaysia

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia, where FPP has been working since 1990. Alongside our partners, we work on community strengthening, FPIC protocols, commodity certification, traditional knowledge, youth empowerment, and biodiversity conservation.

Country Overview

Malaysia has ratified relatively few international human rights treaties. while statutory laws severely limit customary rights and other human rights. In Peninsula Malaysia, laws heavily curtail Orang Asli rights, while in Sabah and Sarawak States in Malaysian Borneo, while mechanisms exist to title customary rights they are applied very restrictively. The result is that, more often than not, forest peoples’ lands are allocated to other interests – such as logging, plantations, mines, dams, conservation areas and carbon offsets - with minimal provision for their rights and livelihoods and there are hundreds of cases of land disputes.   

However, the national indigenous rights movement has made some progress in the courts in obliging State bodies and corporations to recognize the customary rights of specific communities based on precedents in English Common Law. Despite recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission that, in line with these judgments, national and State laws should be revised and / or adopted to speed up the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, such reforms are being blocked by commercial interests.

Main activities and current work­­

We support forest peoples affected by oil palm estates to actively engage in certification complaint mechanisms and support development of community-based biodiversity monitoring and sustainable use.