Climate Disinformation in Malaysia: Appropriating Indigenous Peoples’ Entitlements

In Malaysia, climate disinformation aids the appropriation of Indigenous Peoples’ (IPs) entitlements.  Although IPs are legally classified as “Bumiputera”, this category centres Malay-Muslim dominance by conflating the broad national category of Malay-Muslim as “Indigenous” with the international human rights concept of “Indigenous Peoples” reserved for non-dominant groups. This reinforces and intensifies the appropriation of IPs’s entitlements – who make up 11% of the population and largely reside in climate-vulnerable forested areas. Climate disinformation reinforces this identity hierarchy by falsely legitimising state control over IP territories and portraying extractive development as environmentally or socially beneficial. Amplified by the rapid expansion of digital media since the early 2000s, such disinformation manifests in greenwashing, narratives of false climate solutions, the denial of deforestation and the appeal to “wellbeing” in order to justify continued carbon-intensive business practices. Such impacts include their exclusion from decision-making processes, forced evictions from ancestral lands, large-scale deterritorialisation and the criminalisation of those calling for accountability. Together, these dynamics result in the cyclical impoverishment and cultural erosion of IPs. The report advances targeted recommendations for government institutions, international bodies, civil society, the media and technology companies. Ultimately, addressing climate disinformation is essential for ensuring the entitlements of Indigenous communities and safeguarding inclusive, rights-based and effective climate action in Malaysia.