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Article: Consider same land rights for Orang Asli
- Article from:
- New Straits Times
- Article date:
- August 14, 2009
- Author:
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Salleh Buang
New Straits Times
08-14-2009
Consider same land rights for Orang Asli
Byline: Salleh Buang
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Property
Column: Land matters
I WAS asked whether natives are entitled to the same land rights enjoyed by all Malaysians. In the past they didn't, I replied. They merely enjoyed the right to occupy, use and roam through a limited area of our vast forests. The right is collective, granted to their tribe as a whole and not to individuals.
However, the Mabo case (1986) in Australia woke the world up to the concept of native title under common law, and native communities worldwide demanded that these customary rights to land be legally recognised and upheld.
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