KUALA LUMPUR – Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Ramli Mohd Nor today proposed that provisions involving the welfare and customary land of the Orang Asli in the federal constitution be amended.
He said the proposal was due to the loopholes in the source of power in the existing federal constitution which could only be resolved through amendments.
“The welfare of the Orang Asli is under the federal government which is Item 16 (in the Federal List), while land matters are placed under the State (List). If you look at Sections 6 and 7 (of the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954), although the final say comes from the federal government in collaboration with the state, the state can at any time withdraw,” he said.
He said this after the winding-up debate on the Human Rights Commission’s 2020 annual report by Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Rubiah Wang.
Ramli’s proposal was also supported by Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad (Kuala Selangor-PH) who said that the matter should be raised in a bipartisan manner.
Meanwhile, Rubiah said Ramli’s proposal would be refined because there is a need for the Orang Asli-related laws to be updated. – Bernama, June 14, 2023
