Empowering Indigenous Voices to Shape the National Conversation

The Challenge

The indigenous Temiar community of Kelantan faces critical environmental and land rights issues, but their stories were struggling to break through into the national media landscape. As activists, they had the passion and the firsthand knowledge, but needed the journalistic skills to frame their experiences in a way that was credible, newsworthy, and powerful enough to capture the attention of major newsrooms. The logistical hurdles were immense, involving remote work in areas with little to no communication and significant personal risk for the participants.

Our Insight

The most powerful and authentic advocates for the Temiar are the Temiar themselves. Our role was not to tell their stories for them, but to empower them to become journalists in their own right. The key was to provide not just a one-off training, but deep, long-term editorial mentorship and strategic oversight to bridge the gap between activism and impactful, professional reporting.

Our Action

Engaged by Internews, Suluh undertook a challenging three-month remote training and mentorship program with a group of Temiar activists. We provided intensive investigative training, editorial management, and crucial safety protocols for reporting in high-risk environments. Despite weeks without communication and navigating the difficulties of remote collaboration, we mentored the team through the entire journalistic process—from ideation and investigation to writing and pitching.

The Impact

The project culminated in a powerful investigative story that was instantly published by MalaysiaKini, one of the nation's most prominent news portals.

In a monumental achievement, the story was published with the Temiar activists' own bylines, giving them direct ownership and a national platform. For the first time, this group of indigenous activists saw their own voices, framed with journalistic rigor, shape the national conversation. This project proved that empowering a community to tell its own story is the most authentic and impactful form of communication.