Building a Better Indigenous Future
Through community organizing, a faith-based organization helps Indigenous leaders in Sabah tackle challenges and preserve their way of life
After the Eucharistic celebration on a Sunday, the villagers of Kipouvo in Donggongon town, Penampang district in Sabah, Malaysia, gathered under a covered area outside the church for a communal lunch.
Despite the threat of rain, the shared meal symbolized their unity, reflecting the Indigenous community’s deep-rooted traditions.
The lunch was more than just a meal; it was a gathering where the elderly exchanged thoughts, the youth bonded, and children played.
“Here, every household is a host, everyone has a place at the table, and all food is shared. We pray together, eat as a community, and discuss issues collectively,”
This spirit of unity did not emerge overnight but was nurtured over time through consistent community organizing efforts.
Anne Lasimbang, founder of the PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah), began this work in the 1980s, inspired by her experience as a Catholic student activist.
"We started as a Catholic student movement... We were sent to different villages in Sabah, staying with families for two or three days. Afterward, we conducted social analysis, prepared reports, and returned to the community to share our findings," she said.
At university, Lasimbang told LiCAS News, Catholic Social Teaching was introduced to guide them in engaging with various political and social issues.
“We began to recognize the importance of addressing social issues like poverty. Although Sabah was considered wealthy at the time due to timber revenue, this wealth masked widespread poverty,” she said.
“We faced issues such as lack of roads, inadequate health services, and insufficient access to clean water. Logging activities further polluted many water sources,”
In the 1980s, during the regime of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, emergency laws were used to detain dissidents. Members of the Sabah Christian Movement, including Lasimbang, initiated protests and organized petitions against these repressive policies.
During that time, Catholic student activists in Sabah also organized solidarity efforts against the dictatorship of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
“Our activism led the bishop to ask us to disassociate from the Catholic Church, which prompted us to form PACOS as a separate project under the Sabah Christian Movement,” said Lasimbang.
Initially named Project for Awareness and Community Organizing in Sabah, PACOS was later rebranded as Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah and officially launched in the 1990s
PACOS identifies as a faith-based organization dedicated to empowering Indigenous communities by “systematically building and strengthening community organizations”, enabling them to act collectively and independently.
Anne Lasimbang, founder of the PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah)
Anne Lasimbang, founder of the PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah)
One of its first practical experiences in community organizing was fighting against the Babagon Dam project in Tampasak village.
The dam's construction displaced the Indigenous community, with inadequate compensation and irregular support during resettlement.
Farmland was lost, and the new settlement offered limited farming opportunities. Residents, denied access to the dam's water, relied on rainwater collection.
Flooding disrupted traditional routes, severing cultural ties between neighboring villages. Government restrictions further constrained their socio-economic activities to protect water quality.In over 30 years, the community has planted more than 15,000 trees, with around 70 percent surviving despite challenges like extreme weather and other natural disasters.
Producing organizers to amplify Indigenous voice
Sabah's population consists of 33 Indigenous groups who communicate in over 50 languages and 80 ethnic dialects. The Kadazandusun, the largest ethnic group in Sabah, comprises nearly 30 percent of the state's population of over 3.5 million.
For Lasimbang, community organizing is a powerful tool to protect Indigenous rights, amplify their often-overlooked voices, secure legal titles to customary lands, and preserve their culture, language, and belief systems.
Today, PACOS runs programs designed to equip community organizers with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.
The training focuses on enhancing the capacity of Indigenous community organizers to address the various challenges their communities face.
“Through this process, issues are identified and transformed into actionable plans or projects. These initiatives are then implemented and managed collaboratively by the organizers and the community organization, with PACOS offering continued guidance and support throughout the journey,” said Lasimbang.
Taking part in this process is Razak, a 22-year-old Indigenous youth, who traveled from Kelantan, a rural state in northeastern Peninsular Malaysia, to Sabah to undergo training in community organizing.
It was his first time leaving his village and engaging with other Indigenous communities, but the experience opened his eyes to the shared struggles and resilience of Indigenous peoples across different regions.
“This inspired me to bring back the knowledge and skills I gained here to empower my community. We are learning so much here. PACOS not only teaches us how to effectively organize ourselves as an Indigenous community but also equips us with knowledge about new agricultural technologies and practical tools that can improve our livelihoods and sustain our cultural practices,”
PACOS employs a structured 10-step process to empower and sustain local leadership. The journey begins with entry into the community, where trust and relationships are built to foster openness and understanding.
Organizers then focus on listening to stories to gain insights into the community's unique challenges, leading to issue identification to pinpoint specific problems requiring attention. Once these are clear, the process shifts to building passion and awareness, motivating the community to address these issues collectively.
This momentum leads to organizing groups, where members come together to discuss solutions and plan actions. During planning actions, strategies are developed collaboratively, followed by preparation, which equips the community with the necessary skills and resources to execute their plans.
The next step is implementation, where actions are carried out, and then evaluation, where the community reflects on outcomes and lessons learned. Finally, the focus turns to sustainability, fostering long-term leadership to ensure self-reliance and lasting change.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth from various regions of Malaysia undergo training with PACOS Trust's 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program.
Indigenous youth from various regions of Malaysia undergo training with PACOS Trust's 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program.
Anne Lasimbang (right), founder of the PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah), inspects a green house that was destroyed by flash floods in October 2024.
Anne Lasimbang (right), founder of the PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah), inspects a green house that was destroyed by flash floods in October 2024.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth spend weeks of training under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust.
Indigenous youth spend weeks of training under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust.
Indigenous youth from various regions of Malaysia undergo training with PACOS Trust's 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program.
Indigenous youth from various regions of Malaysia undergo training with PACOS Trust's 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth, under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust, learn sustainable ways of maintaining livelihood initiatives.
Indigenous youth spend weeks of training under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust.
Indigenous youth spend weeks of training under the 'School of Experiential and Entrepreneurship Development in Sabah (SEEDS) program of PACOS Trust.
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