62% of the population of indigenous peoples in Sabah East Malaysia are generally not involved or consulted in planning processes and lack the resources and capacity to defend their land rights which has resulted in the further marginalization of the indigenous peoples by ‘development’ of which corporations and the wealthy elite are the main beneficiaries.
As a nation State that relies heavily on the exploitation of its natural resources for the development of its economy there is a clear tension between the rights of the indigenous to their ancestral lands and the government’s desire to utilize the natural resources.