A Strategic Policy Framework for the Amendment of the Interpretation (Definition of Native) Ordinance (Sabah Cap. 64)
By Remy Majangkim
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s current indigenous legal framework is a relic of stagnant, colonial-era drafting that leaves Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and demographic integrity highly vulnerable to external exploitation.
This policy paper outlines a comprehensive legislative reform to fortify indigenous land sovereignty, eliminate administrative identity fraud, and harmonize state jurisdictions.
By establishing Anak Negeri as an unassailable macro-legal political shield while explicitly protecting distinct tribal identities—such as Anak Negeri Kadazan or Anak Negeri Tatana—this reform provides a dual-layered armor that mirrors successful international indigenous legal frameworks, including the Cherokee Nation model in the United States.
1. Introduction: From the “Momogun” Backlash to Constitutional Realities
The ongoing public discourse surrounding Sabah’s native identity has reached a boiling point. The recent push to adopt a unified “Momogun” umbrella category triggered intense public backlash, deep semantic bickering, and fragmented tribal anxieties. Rather than addressing the core issue, status-quo political leadership and recycled opposition teams have exploited these divisions to stall reform completely, keeping native communities trapped in a safe, distracted debate over acronyms while our ancestral assets remain exposed.
This manifesto marks a strategic evolution in that debate. By moving past the semantic traps of the “Momogun” nomenclature, we anchor the necessary collective umbrella directly to Anak Negeri Sabah—a term already codified under Article 161A of the Federal Constitution. This shift disarms the critics. Opponents can no longer claim that a macro-label threatens their localized tribal identities; instead, they are forced to confront the actual, underlying mechanics of state sovereignty and asset protection.
2. The Philosophical Framework: The Dual-Layered Identity Shield
A persistent fallacy pushed by critics is that a unified native label will erase individual tribal heritages or invalidate localized land claims. This argument represents a fundamental misunderstanding of political sovereignty versus cultural preservation.
To defeat this regression, Sabah must look to international precedents. In the United States, an indigenous person holds the macro-legal status of Native American before the federal government to secure grand constitutional protections, yet they belong to the Cherokee Nation to claim specific tribal lands and govern local custom. The macro-label does not blend the culture; it builds the fortress that protects the culture.
This manifesto introduces the exact same sophisticated model for Sabah. The term Anak Negeri (Native) must be codified as the definitive, unassailable macro-legal identity used to face the state and federal governments as an unbreakable legal bloc.
Simultaneously, the state must legally mandate the hyphenation of specific tribal pride at the grassroots level (e.g., Anak Negeri Kadazan, Anak Negeri Tatana, Anak Negeri Murut). By explicitly separating political protection from cultural heritage, we stop the “alphabet soup” fragmentation that leaves native lands weak, fragmented, and vulnerable to state or corporate encroachment.
3. Constitutional Harmonization and Sovereign Jurisdiction
Under List IIA of the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, the determination, regulation, and adjudication of native status is an exclusive state prerogative. Sabah has the absolute sovereign right to define who its natives are, completely immune from external redefinition or administrative overreach by federal registries.
The reformed ordinance explicitly ties the term Anak Negeri to Article 161A clause (6) paragraph (b) of the Federal Constitution. This ensures that any individual certified under this state framework is the definitive, exclusive beneficiary of the special position, rights, privileges, and reservations allocated to the natives of Sabah under Article 153.
Furthermore, this reform aligns Sabah with international human rights standards. In strict accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), particularly Articles 9 and 33, this framework affirms that the Anak Negeri possess the inherent right to self-determination. No erasure, dilution, or modification of this native identity shall be permissible by any external administrative mechanism or federal policy.
4. Jurisdictional Boundaries and Legal Pluralism
To prevent conflict between overlapping legal systems in Malaysia, the framework establishes a strict, three-dimensional boundary that guarantees absolute native judicial independence.
The jurisdictions governing the Anak Negeri are legally demarcated as follows:
The Native Court retains exclusive, final, and absolute jurisdiction over all Anak Negeri, regardless of their religious affiliation, concerning all matters of Native Customary Rights (NCR) to land, traditional leadership, customary fines (Sogit), and the fundamental declaration of native status.
The Shariah Court retains exclusive jurisdiction over Muslim Anak Negeri strictly concerning matters of Islamic personal law, including marriage, divorce, and Islamic inheritance (Mirath).
The Civil Courts possess zero jurisdiction to intervene in, review, or overturn any native status or customary determination made by the Native Court, in strict accordance with the constitutional firewalls of Article 121 clause (1A).
This structure ensures that whether an Anak Negeri is Christian, Muslim, or practicing traditional customs, their inherent, ancestral land rights always remain anchored under the sacred protection of the Native Court.
5. The Triple-Lock Integration Test and Anti-Fraud Firewalls
Historically, Sabah’s indigenous demographics have been subjected to systemic manipulation and fraudulent entry schemes (such as past Project IC maneuvers). To permanently secure native status, this framework institutes a rigorous, multi-tiered verification process known as the Triple-Lock Integration Test.
For any applicant claiming native status through a single parent or second-generation lineal descendant (up to a grandparent), they must cumulatively satisfy three strict statutory conditions:
Cultural and Social Assimilation: The applicant must prove continuous, active integration within a recognized Anak Negeri community, verified by an unassailable record of community involvement.
Customary Adherence: The applicant must demonstrate functional submission to the Adat and customary obligations of their specific sub-ethnic community.
Linguistic or Geographic Continuity: The applicant must demonstrate proficiency in the traditional native language or dialect of their ancestral tribe, or alternatively, prove continuous residence within a recognized native settlement or state-declared customary land area for a minimum of ten consecutive years.
To eliminate institutional corruption, the framework strips individual village heads or native chiefs of the power to unilaterally issue native certificates. Every new application requires the unanimous, signed resolution of a District Native Verification Panel, comprised of the local Village Head, two independent Native Chiefs from outside the district, and a representative from a state-recognized ethnocultural body representing the applicant’s specific sub-ethnic group. Where ancestral birth records are incomplete or contested, the applicant must submit to a certified DNA kinship test to irrefutably establish biological descent before any panel review may commence.
6. Cryptographic Security and Penalties for Economic Treason
Paper certificates are highly vulnerable to forgery and administrative corruption. Therefore, the framework mandates the creation of the centralized, digital Sabah Native Registry, managed under the independent administrative authority of the Office of the Majangkim.
This registry operates on a decentralized, encrypted digital ledger. Upon judicial approval of native status, the individual’s biometric data—specifically iris scans and fingerprints—are permanently and immutably locked to a unique registry number. No federal or state registry possesses the authority to inject, alter, or duplicate entries within this database without an En Banc public order issued directly by the Native Appeal Court.
To back this security with real power, the framework introduces severe penal consequences:
Any public servant, Native Chief, or Village Head who willfully certifies or facilitates the granting of native status to an unqualified individual or non-citizen shall be deemed to have committed an act of cultural and economic treason against the State of Sabah.
Conviction carries a mandatory term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years and not exceeding 20 years, the immediate forfeiture of official titles, pensions, and state honors, and total asset forfeiture—including the immediate seizure and return to the State of all native land held by the offender.
Any native certificate or land title obtained via historical collusion or fraudulent misrepresentation is declared void from the beginning (ab initio) and shall be summarily canceled upon discovery, regardless of elapsed time.
To enforce these protections independently, a five-member watchdog body known as the Sabah Native Identity Ombudsman—comprising retired Native Court Judges and recognized cultural historians—is established. Any collective group of ten registered Anak Negeri within a district possesses the automatic statutory legal standing to petition the Ombudsman to audit and judicially challenge any suspected fraudulent registration in their jurisdiction.
7. Absolute Protection of Ancestral Wealth and Cultural Assets
The core of indigenous sovereignty is land. The framework explicitly declares that the ownership of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land, native land titles, and any real estate designated for exclusive native ownership shall vest solely, permanently, and permanently in registered Anak Negeri. Any sale, transfer, lease, charge, trust agreement, or power of attorney that purports to grant proprietary interest, executive control, or beneficial ownership of native land to a non-native individual or foreign national is declared strictly void and unenforceable under law.
To block the generational erosion of native wealth, the framework enforces a strict Statutory Reversion Firewall. Upon the death of a native landowner, the land title passes exclusively to native beneficiaries registered under this ordinance. If a native landowner leaves behind only a non-native spouse or uncertified descendants who fail the Triple-Lock Integration Test, the absolute legal title cannot pass to them. Instead, the legal title automatically reverts to a State Trust for the next qualified native kin, while the surviving non-native spouse is granted a heavily supervised life interest strictly in the economic yield of the land.
Furthermore, marriage to an Anak Negeri shall never confer native status upon a non-native spouse, regardless of gender or nationality. Any non-native spouse who resides within a recognized native settlement or enters a domestic union with a native is deemed to have legally submitted to the civil and customary jurisdiction of the Native Court, making them fully liable to customary fines and Sogit.
8. Bio-Sovereignty and Intellectual Property
Indigenous sovereignty extends far beyond physical soil; it encompasses the genetic and intellectual heritage of the people. This reform establishes that the traditional knowledge, innovations, folklore, oral histories, musical traditions, and architectural heritages of the Anak Negeri are the collective, inalienable intellectual property of Sabah’s indigenous nations.
No commercial enterprise, foreign national, or external institution may record, digitize, patent, or commercially exploit any element of native traditional knowledge without obtaining the prior, informed, and written consent of the State Native Affairs Council. Any authorized commercialization is subject to mandatory, legally binding benefit-sharing agreements funneled directly into the State Native Trust Fund.
In line with international biodiversity standards, the framework establishes absolute Indigenous Bio-Sovereignty. The unique biological resources, endemic flora and fauna utilized in traditional medicine, and the genetic data of the Anak Negeri are strictly protected from bio-piracy. Any sampling, research, or genetic sequencing conducted by external entities within native territories is completely prohibited unless expressly sanctioned by a special En Banc warrant from the Native Court.
9. Conclusion: Moving Past the Status Quo
For decades, Sabah’s native political leadership has been trapped in a cycle of stagnation, preferring to bicker over shifting acronyms to signal representation rather than executing the heavy lifting of structural legal reform.
This fragmentation has left our communities exposed, our demographics compromised, and our ancestral lands vulnerable.
The Sabah Native Sovereignty and Indigenous Identity Reform Bill 2026 provides the exact legal blueprint needed to break this cycle. It does not create a “cultural blender” to erase the distinct, beautiful pride of the Kadazan, the Tatana, the Murut, or the Rungus. Instead, it builds the ultimate constitutional fortress around them.
By unifying under the legally codified shield of Anak Negeri, we secure an unbreakable, permanent foundation for our people.
It is time for our leaders to step out of the past, reject the weak illusions of federal administrative policies, and table this vital reform to protect the ancestral wealth and sovereignty of Sabah’s indigenous nations for generations to come.
It is time to get this over with, move forward.
