Climate Disinformation in Malaysia: Appropriating Indigenous Peoples’ Entitlements
This report analyses how climate disinformation sustains exploitation, resulting in the exacerbation of the appropriation of Indigenous People’s protections and rights.
In Malaysia, the concept of Bumiputera, established following the declaration of the Malaysian state, grants a “special position” to both Malay-Muslims and Orang Asals – an overarching term encompassing all Indigenous People in Malaysia – as natives of the land.
Comprising approximately 11 percent of the population in Malaysia, Orang Asals meet the internationally recognised human rights concept of “Indigenous Peoples (IPs)” due to their distinct cultural and forest-based systems, while Malay-Muslims do not due to their political, economic and social dominance.
However, the appropriation of Indigeneity within Malaysia’s Bumiputeraframework systematically transfers Indigenous entitlements to the Malay-Muslim majority, while leaving Orang Asalspolitically marginalised, legally insecure and culturally eroded. Climate disinformation, spread by state-aligned media, entrenches this power imbalance by obscuring the true environmental and social impacts of development and falsely promoting “green” efforts.
This report analyses how such narratives sustain exploitation, resulting in the exacerbation of the appropriation of Orang Asals’ protections and rights. It makes three key contributions. First, it identifies four distinct forms of climate disinformation. Second, it demonstrates how such forms of climate disinformation impact Indigenous Peoples in four ways, each legitimising the Malay-Muslim-led state institutions in appropriating Indigenous Peoples’ entitlements. Third, the report outlines a set of recommendations for key stakeholders to start addressing climate disinformation and its impacts on Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia.
IMS co-authored the report with the Asia Centre.
