A/HRC/44/40/Add.3 secure career while they are still undergoing sentence, and continuity in employment. In 2019 this program was expanded to normal prisoners (not parolees) who are still serving their prison term. • Corporate Smart Internship Program Year 2017 2018 2019 (August) Total No Participants No of Companies/ (Prisoners) Location/ State 576 4/9/4 1,237 30/48/12 1,222 57/103/13 3,035 • To support this initiative, the Government in its 2019 Budget has announced tax relieve for employers who employ ex-prisoners and parolees. The Prison Department also has embarked on Resettlement Programme since 1st July 2019 for prisoners who are due to be released. This programme has successfully given employment to 120 ex-convicts till to date. Education • In terms of education to cater for young prisoners, Prison Department established school syllabus with the collaboration from Ministry of Education in 9 of its prison and 4 Henry Gurney Schools with a total number of 1,005 academic students (2019) with 100 teachers while another 862 undergo Technical and Vocational training. • 37 prisoners are pursuing their education in tertiary level, whereby Prison Department is affiliated with Open University Malaysia (OUM). • Loan application is processed without checking the student's background such as if they were ever incarcerated. • Verification is made only on the family income or citizenship status. • Therefore, post-conviction students are qualified to apply for the PTPTN loan subject to being offered a place to further their studies in any higher learning institution. VII. Populations of Concern Indigenous peoples Paragraph 50 Some 13 percent of Malaysia’s population is indigenous, including an estimated 70.5 percent of Sarawak’s 2.7 million people, 58.6 percent of Sabah’s roughly 3.8 million people, and about 0.7 percent in Peninsular Malaysia. Official statistics obscure poverty among indigenous peoples because they combine outcomes for indigenous peoples and Malays within the umbrella Bumiputera category. Outdated figures from a decade ago, the most recent available, reveal indigenous poverty rates that vastly exceed national averages: 31.16 percent for the Orang Asli in 2010, as well as 22.8 percent in Sabah and 6.4 percent in Sarawak in 2009. Comments from the Government of Malaysia: • Based on 2010 Census, indigenous population are estimated to be 161,000 persons in Malaysia. • Officially, poverty rate among indigenous population are not published based on survey coverage. 26