DATUK Ts Dr Ramzah Dambul, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), placed indigenous stewardship within Sabah’s broader economic landscape.
He argued that sustainable development has been too narrowly defined by economic indicators, overlooking the principles that should underpin inclusive growth.
“When we are talking about sustainable development, the core pillars are justice and equality.
“It is not about economic growth. It is not about how many jobs you create. It is not about how many economic values we generate,” he said at the panel session on sustainable development through indigenous stewardship.
Sabah, he noted, continues to record respectable economic growth rates and produces a larger economic output than several other Malaysian states, yet remains among the country’s poorest because wealth is unevenly distributed.
“Our problem is not about economic growth,” he said. “It is about distribution.”The challenge is particularly acute because nearly 60 per cent of Sabah’s population lives in rural areas, many of them indigenous communities with limited access to infrastructure, investment and economic opportunities.
Ramzah said development policies have historically prioritised what he described as the “high-level economy” — large-scale investments concentrated in urban and coastal areas— while neglecting grassroots economic development that directly benefits rural communities.
“We are focusing so much on the high-level economy and not on the grassroots economy,” he said.
He stressed that he was not advocating abandoning large investments, which remain important for government revenue and economic expansion, but argued they must be matched by policies that strengthen community enterprises and indigenous-led initiatives.
“If we are talking about sustainable development, it is about justice. It is about equality. It is not just about economic growth,” he said.
Together with Ramzah, other panellists during the session presented indigenous stewardship not simply as environmental conservation, but as a framework for rethinking development itself, one that integrates cultural identity, local knowledge, economic opportunity and ecological resilience.
For investors gathered at the summit, the message was equally clear: impact investing should not merely finance projects in indigenous communities but should empower those communities to shape, own and benefit from development on their own terms.
As Sabah seeks to position itself as a leader in sustainable investment, the panel argued that its indigenous peoples possess something increasingly valuable in a changing world, not only forests and biodiversity, but generations of knowledge on how to live with nature rather than simply extract from it.
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