The role of languages and culture in the protection and promotion of the rights and identity of Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia

ANDREW AMBROSE MUDIPerforming Artist & Creator // Resource Persons LIRU (PACOS Trust)

Partner Of Community OrganizationsEMRIP - 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 groups (more than 2, 606,131 or 11.5% of population)

- Sabah / 39 Ethnic Subgroups / 1, 000,000

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 Who are WE?

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 Are OUR Rights?

•LAND •HUMAN RIGHTS•CULTURE•LINGUISTICS

Indigenous Peoples Malaysia What rights do we want?

LANGUAGE, HOUSING, PRACTICES, CULTURE, FOOD, TRADITIONAL SINGING etc

IDENTITY MARKERS OF IPs

Spoken both by the Majority IPs of Sabah & Sarawak (2.5million population) and Minority IPs of Peninsular Malaya (106,131 population)

ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN MALAYSIA

• 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

Mother Tongue Language What Are our Challenges?

• 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.

How do we move forward?

• 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.

What are the Key Results?

• 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 – Language Training

•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 skills of the body of local writers.

Key Activities – Writers Training Workshops

•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 – Production of Local Literature

•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.

Key Activities – Translation Services

• 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.

UNDRIP

• 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.

CONCLUSION

Rita Lasimbang ~ CEO of KLF, KadazanDusun Language Foundation

Recognition & Special Thanks

Anne Lasimbang ~ Executive Director of PACOS Trust

“POUNSIKOU – Thank You”