Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Indigenous Land Back In Malaysia: Capturing Orang Asal Resistance Through #Kembalikantanahadat, Tarchithaa Chandra Sekharan

Senior Theses

The rise of a pan-indigenous network has been empowered by digital media in the 21st century. Universal concepts such as “landback” have traveled beyond the boundaries of language and borders. For indigenous peoples in Malaysia, the Orang Asal, online resistance is a reclamation of space long suppressed historically and physically. With actions like spreading local news on land rights court cases and development projects, indigenous reclamation from within the Orang Asal as well as indigenous allyship from citizens and diasporic Malaysians alike is possible. #KembalikanTanahAdat in Malay, #ReturnCustomaryLand is one of the many hashtags for a move towards increasing awareness …