Climate action and green development narratives in Malaysia are being used to justify the appropriation of Indigenous Peoples’ land and entitlements, according to a new report presented at a national convening on climate disinformation.
The findings were shared on Jan. 7 during the launch of Climate Disinformation in Malaysia: Appropriating Indigenous Peoples’ Entitlements, a study by Asia Centre in partnership with International Media Support.
The report documents how misleading climate narratives obscure land rights violations, displacement, and the criminalization of Indigenous resistance, while portraying extractive and development projects as environmentally responsible.
“Climate disinformation, spread by state-aligned media, entrenches this power imbalance by obscuring the true environmental and social impacts of development and falsely promoting ‘green’ efforts,” the report said, adding that such narratives sustain exploitation and deepen structural inequalities faced by Indigenous communities.
The convening brought together Indigenous representatives, civil society groups, journalists, and academics to examine how climate narratives are shaping public discourse and policy on land and development.
Researchers said Indigenous Peoples remain largely excluded from decision-making on climate and land-use policies, leaving them vulnerable to projects framed as climate solutions.
The report identifies four dominant forms of climate disinformation in Malaysia: greenwashing, false climate solutions, appeals to well-being, and denial of deforestation.
These narratives, the study said, work together to legitimize the erosion of Indigenous entitlements while shielding state and corporate actors from scrutiny.
The findings place climate disinformation within Malaysia’s Bumiputera framework, which the report argues conflates the political dominance of Malay-Muslims with the international human rights concept of Indigenous Peoples.
This conflation has enabled the appropriation of Indigenous entitlements while denying Indigenous communities substantive protection of their customary lands, the study said.
According to the report, climate narratives tied to modernization and development often mask land grabbing, displacement, and the erasure of Indigenous history and identity.
These narratives also frame Indigenous resistance as an obstacle to progress, enabling criminalization and suppression while reinforcing existing power structures.
Asia Centre said feedback from the convening would be incorporated into the final version of the report and used to strengthen collaboration among research institutions, civil society, and media groups.
The Malaysia study is part of a regional series examining how climate disinformation undermines Indigenous rights across Asia, with related reports already published on Cambodia, India, and Thailand, and forthcoming studies on the Philippines and Indonesia.
