"Malaysia: New Business Plan Should Be Enforceable", 18 March 2025

Malaysia should move swiftly to strengthen its proposed National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights by ensuring that its key provisions are enforceable, a coalition of three Indigenous, human rights, and environmental groups said today in responding to the Malaysian government’s draft plan. Priorities should include meeting Malaysia’s domestic and international commitments to halt and reverse deforestation, and to mitigate climate change while respecting rights.

The draft plan describes proposed reforms to address corruption, labor, and environmental issues …

“We have a long history of voluntary corporate commitments providing no real protections to environmental and Indigenous rights defenders or their territories,” said Celine Lim, manager of Sarawak-based Indigenous organization SAVE Rivers. “We need strong laws, we need tribunals to enforce those laws, and we need real penalties for companies when they violate those laws.”…

The draft national plan commits the government to “implement” the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Malaysia should go further by adopting federal legislation to enable enforcement, the group said. Such legislation should codify Indigenous peoples’ the right to free, prior, and informed consent in Malaysian law and include state-level measures to oversee its robust enforcement…

A freedom of information act should ensure public access to environmental information and in particular to communities affected by business activities and government-sponsored projects. Further, the public should readily have access to social and environmental impact assessments, maps of land concessions, surveys of Indigenous territories, and aerial photographs that are often used in Malaysian courts, the coalition said.

A bill to protect whistleblowers from judicial harassment should prohibit vexatious, malicious, or frivolous legal actions against journalists and rights defenders, commonly known as Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP…