Developing a Compensation Framework for the Acquisition of Orang Asli Native Lands in Malaysia: The Professionals’ Perceptions

Abstract

This research explores the issues of land rights and land acquisition compensation related to the Orang Asli (the Malay term for indigenous peoples) in Peninsular Malaysia. Acquisition of Orang Asli native lands is inevitable as land is scarce to meet the national growth agenda and socio-economic developments. As an independent country, Malaysia provides constitutional guarantees, and customary land tenure is recognised and respected. Unfortunately, due to the ambiguity in Malaysian legal system in relation to the definition of land rights of Orang Asli native lands, the practice of payment of compensation to acquisition of the land tends to be unstructured, and disparity exists among the different states. It is therefore pertinent to propose a uniform compensation framework for the acquisition of Orang Asli native lands. This research adopts a questionnaire survey as the method of study, the descriptive and inferential analysis technique to present the results. The study showed that laws of Malaysia are deficient with regard to the protection of Orang Asli lands and rights to fair and just compensation. This research found that the position of Orang Asli land rights has not improved much. Due to this unresolved land rights issue, the present structure of compensation as spelt out under Sections 11 and 12 of the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 is perceived as inadequate. As currently practised, in the absence of proper guidelines and regulations, the determination of compensation is entirely at the discretion of the various authorities. Some authorities apply the legislation rigidly, while others are too generous. This research also led to the recommendation that the compensation framework for land acquisition of Orang Asli native lands should possess two categories of compensation -monetary and non-monetary components.