Stand up and speak out for landless people

Land is life.

It provides the foundation for human survival. We eat what the land yields, drink water drawn from it, and rely on it for medicine and shelter.

Without land, the source of life itself, what would become of our world? For many people worldwide, a life without land is already a reality. Without land – the source of life itself – what would become of our world?

Tenaganita and ReAct recognise the struggles of refugees as intertwined with those of Indigenous communities, small farmers, plantation workers, asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers.

On 29 March, the Day of the Landless, we stand to highlight the struggles of landless people across the world. A landless person is anyone who does not own or have secure access to land for living and working.

Landlessness often stems from systemic exploitation, displacement due to development or conflict, and unjust land governance that prioritises profit over people.

In Tenaganita and ReAct’s work with marginalised communities, being landless means more than just a lack of property; it represents a denial of security, identity and belonging.

For Malaysian women working in the plantations, migrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees, being landless leads to being left without protection in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, land is repeatedly taken from the most vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous communities or small farmers.

This pattern is also mirrored globally with the refugee crisis near and far from us. Palestinians being forced out of their homes from land grabbing by Israeli forces, and ethnic minorities in Myanmar losing their land as sources of livelihood to the military junta and corporations are examples of how land grabbing is used as a tactic of abuse against persecuted populations. Land grabbing is used as a weapon of control, violence and erasure.

Government-backed infrastructure projects in Malaysia cut through areas where people live and work. While these projects aim to promote Malaysia’s development, they also destroy people’s homes, farms and livelihoods.

Large corporations especially in the palm oil, rubber, and timber industries expand operations in rural areas to generate capital. This focus on monoculture plantations, combined with weak land tenure, depletes soil fertility and accelerates environmental degradation.

Beyond displacement, these conditions make it harder for small farmers to grow crops and earn a living.

Indigenous communities such as orang Asli and orang Ulu including many more in East Malaysia are often the target of forced evictions due to these land-grabbing practices. Even if they fight hard for their land rights in court, the Malaysian government’s flawed recognition of native customary rights grant state governments and corporations the upper hand in land battles.

“We have stayed here [on this land] for five generations, yet we cannot even farm here for our own food,” a community leader from a plantation estate said.

With the women in plantations, we learn that landlessness not only strips people of land ownership, but it also limits their access to food security on the land.

Plantation companies that legally own land forbid workers from growing crops around their homes. As a result, workers must buy food and other necessities from grocery shops within the vicinity of the plantation grounds.

This practice displays one of the many ways that plantation companies profit further from already-exploited workers, maintaining the generational economic hardship inflicted on these workers. Many of these workers are Malaysians with poor living conditions inside the plantations.

Initiatives aimed at alleviating poverty and increasing food security, such as teaching plantation workers to grow their own crops, are often banned by company owners.

“Crimes against humanity like gang rapes from the junta on the Rohingyas, Myanmar- Muslim, Karen and other ethnic women and girls in Myanmar are also one of the tools to take our land,” said a refugee community leader, who wanted to remain anonymous.

Land holds crucial significance to people’s identities, livelihoods and sense of history. People who are forcibly displaced or who have migrated from their home country leave behind their origins for the sake of survival.

Weak institutions or non-existent legal recognition persist to expose asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia to exploitation, forced labour, trafficking, and exclusion from basic rights due to systemic discrimination.

Faced with food insecurity, exploitative working conditions, financial burdens, lack of state services, traumatising experiences and the absence of a place to call home, many landless people experience a growing sense of hopelessness.

Such situations can lead to substance abuse, including alcohol and sleep medication, as well as gender-based violence, which, we have observed, has sharply increased in recent years.

Tenaganita and ReAct view land not just as a resource but as a source of dignity, agency and survival. To be landless is to be pushed to the margins economically, politically and socially.

Tenaganita and ReAct call for solidarity and action in the struggles of women in plantations, asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers in Malysia due to landlessness.

Addressing landlessness requires structural change, recognition of historical injustices, and a commitment to centring the rights and voices of those who have long been denied access to land.

Together, we advocate for policies that ensure the rights and dignity of all individuals, regardless of their legal status.

Land is life. Stop land grabbing now!

Defend the rights of Indigenous communities, plantation workers, small farmers, asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers. – Tenaganita/ReAct