Mahkamah Tinggi Jenayah 3
Di hadapan Yang Arif Dato Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah
Pihak-pihak:
PP: NH, WCK, MMM, NAA (kecuali MY, MHZ dan NB)
PB: KS, SN, Datuk Param Cumaraswamy
Sebutan kes 45-09-2009
[9.21 a.m.] Pihak-pihak masuk ke dalam Kamar Hakim.
[9.32 a.m.] Pihak-pihak keluar dari Kamar Hakim.
Kes ditetapkan untuk sambung bicara pada 14 Februari 2011 hingga 25 Mac 2011.
Dear Friend, I am wiring to you regarding this proposal due to certain conditions about my employment contract with my present company. My proposal is buying and selling. The commodity is Crude Palm Oil. Our company is interested in buying 1000 MT of CPO for the start; the purchase could increase to 12, 500 MT. I have a supplier in Malaysia who sells at the rate of $ 490/MT. The company I work for could pay as much as $700/MT. If you are interested, I will introduce you to our company as the supplier so that our company can contact you directly for the purchase, then I will give you the contact of the Malaysia supplier. But you must make sure that our company does not have any direct contact with the original supplier in Malaysia so that we wouldn't stand the risk of losing out on this deal. I will be waiting for your kind response Regards Jimmy Gary |
Sarawaks Bakun Dam continues to arouse controversies and conflicts, not least because Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, on his latest state visit to Sarawak (15 January) decides to meet the villagers at the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme. Officially, at least, Najib wants to address outstanding issues such as the Native Customary Rights land around the dam area. However, following Barisan Nationals conventional practice before any upcoming elections in this case, the Sarawak state elections which must be held before June there is wide speculation that Najib will be dishing out compensation to villagers displaced by the RM7.3 billion Bakun Dam.
The Bakun Dam story is long and tortuous. It is not the first hydropower project in Sarawak, but it is by far the biggest in southeast Asia and, from the time the hydro potential of Bakun was first surveyed in the early 1960s until now, it has had a highly controversial history spanning nearly three decades. The Bakun Dam has been halted and revived several times since 1986 and, until recently, said to be completed. However, the few monopolising the benefits of the project undoubtedly have been enriched in the form of lucrative contracts to their own subsidiaries and their corporate and political allies.
In sharp contrast, those directly affected by the damming of the Balui river and the poorer people downstream of the Bakun dam invariably end up bearing considerable human suffering. In particular, nearly 10,000 indigenous peoples, mainly the Kayan, K! enyah, K ajang, Bhuket and Penan were forced to evacuate from their ancestral homes and moved to Sungai Asap in 1998. Some families who refused to live in Sungai Asap had returned instead to the forests near their original homeland in higher grounds within the catchment area. One reason was because Sungai Asap simply lacked lush jungles with the flow of a river or tributaries where they could roam, hunt and gather, fish, cultivate and collect forest products for handicraft making or other uses.
Besides flooded forests and dispalced peoples, the Bakun dam on its own raises questions about the ecological and environmental impacts and, more specifically, questions about the economic costs of the project.
This is Bakuns forgotten history, hidden from public view. There is no need to repeat the long list of negative implications of dams and resettlement this is already widely known and obvious.* What most citizens are unaware about is, apparently, decisions relating to the Bakun Dam affecting native lands and territories, and in particular which require their relocation, have been pushed through by the Malaysian and Sarawak state governments in breach of the principle of right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Consultation associated with resettlement is seemingly limited only to a handful of local community leaders mostly government-appointed, state agencies and ruling state and parlimentary representatives. Most citizens may not even realise that their tax payments contribute to the financing of the Bakun Dam or who actually pockets a major share of the benefits. It is also hardly surprising that the warnings of independent analysts and critics of Bakun Dam three decades since the project was first mooted that such an enormous project was a huge waste of money have been ignored.
It is worth recalling the World Commission on Dams (WCD) had released the report, Dams and Development in November 2000, which outlined a set of principles and priorities critical for more informed and transpar! ent deci sion making regarding dams. How far has the Bakun Dam in Sarawak complied with any precepts of national and international laws and United Nations declarations on indigenous peoples rights, and the recommendations of the WCD Report?
Noting that the state government is going ahead with the construction of more dams in the state, namely 12 mega-dams purportedly to be built by 2020, Sarawaks Land Development Minister James Masing has most recently called for the setting-up of a Resettlement Ministry. The plans to built these mega-dams was never disclosed to the public, rather it was leaked through the Internet.
Who needs the power? These dams are necessary to meet energy demands in the state, so says Taibs government. The combined total of 7,000 MW from the 12 proposed dams is expected to feed large energy intensive industries like aluminium smelter plants and for export, primarily to Peninsular Malaysia. Who needs the REAL power? Dont ask Taib, he wont tell. Just read online blogs such as Hornbill Unleashed or newsportals such as Sarawak Report and the answer would naturally be, power from these hydroelectric projects are allegedly connected with Taib and his family. We know, Taib is mute on the allegations exposed by Sarawak Report that he has amassed billion dollars worth of foreign properties in Australia, Canada, the US and London, native customary rights (NCR) lands being leased to his crony companies and members of his family and land grab issues. Put simply, during the three decades rule of Taib, he has made himself a multi-billionaire.
No wonder Taib continues to embrace the establishment of Sarawaks controversial energy masterplan labelled as Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) and the identification of 12 large hydropower dams across Sarawak, given his rich experience in exploiting the states dwindling ! natural resources to strengthen his own power grid and heavy investments worldwide. Taibs control of three key portfolios Sarawak Chief Minister, states finance minister, and planning and resources management minister of Sarawak allows him the power to develop projects, to control land, timber, minerals and other resources, and directly be responsible for handing out concessions via state acquisition of native lands. Hence the dams proposed were never brought to the fore of public debates or tabled in the state assembly by the Taib-led government. Havent we heard, the people who enjoyed the wealth, the members of the Taib family, the owners of logging companies and politicians who benefitted are often tireless when it comes to defending Taib? They repeatedly come up with new justifications and insist that the dams should be allowed to happen.
I cannot resist the temptation of repeating what James Masing, reportedly, said As an anthropologist, I dont mind undertaking the resettlement projects. However, without the proper setting up of a ministry, I was neither the authority to apply for allocations for engaging experts to look into the resettlement issues nor the power to negotiate better terms of the affected people.
Is Masing trying to say he wants to be the Resettlement Minister, if he expects Taib to give clearance to creating the post? Masings call has apparently been inspired by a recent trip to see the worlds biggest dam, Chinas Three Gorges Dam: the project involved the resettlement of one million inhabitants and it has been done well because the resettlement budget took up as high as 45 percent of the construction cost.
Perhaps Masing has missed the point. The fact is, the high budget allocation for resettlement in the Three Gorges dam is expected because these relocated people are on such a massive scale one million people, as the Chinese government says, while other estimates vary between 1.3 and two million people, moved because their homes have been flooded by the rising water of! the res ervoir. There was no mention of the QUALITY of the resettlement in the new site: the landscape and vegetation, the land that is planted with trees and other crops, the flowing rivers, the historical and cultural sites and artefacts, as found in the ancestral villages of people forced to move in order to make way for the dam project.
This writer has, for over two decades, followed closely the issue of dam-induced displacement and resettlement worldwide and it is hardly surprising why governments and dam proponents look favourably on resettlement they approved, often backed by positive findings of their appointed experts. The pros and cons of resettlement, especially forced resettlement, are complicated and will continue to be debated long after the project is complete. Meanwhile, the most critical actors and the most affected, particularly indigenous peoples and women, remain largely absent from public decision-making in policies and programmes.
Clearly, in Sarawaks case, even as a significant number of the states population continues to have no access to electricity, Taib is encouraged to play the role for which he is best suited developing the natives idle lands via development projects like mega-dams.
* For readers unfamiliar with the Bakun Dam debates, the Fact Finding Mission report of The Coalition of Concerned NGOs on Bakun, may 1999, is a must read it highlights in a very human way the causes and consequences of the Bakun resettlement from the point of view of the affected indigenous peoples. Enquire from Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), the human rights non-government organisation (NGO), email:suaram@suaram.net
Hydropower projects in Sarawak 2008-2020
Utusan Malaysia called off a domestic inquiry on its Hata for his critical comments against the Umno-owned paper this morning.
But Hata said he is unsure as to whether the inquiry has been adjourned or dismissed.
He said the inquiry panel chairman, Mohd Bashir Abdul Rahim, only said that they would send him a letter.
“I don’t know what has happened. I am in a dark room and I cannot do anything,” he said.
“But I will continue fighting for media freedom. The mainstream media must return to bring credible and not just be government propaganda,” he added.
He said that starting tomorrow, he would station himself outside Utusan Malaysia’s office under a makeshift tent to continue to show that “Utusan is still in my heart and I just want it to serve the public not the government.”
He also said the Utusan Malaysia branch of the NUJ would organise a protest at the end of the month to coincide with the “50th anniversary of 1961 when it became the voice of Umno.”
Umno took over ownership of the Malay-language broadsheet in 1961 before which, Hata said, it was still credible and objective.
Union secretary-general V. Anbalagan said Mohd Bashir, who is the company’s marketing general manager, called off the inquiry when talks broke down over representation for Hata and whether the proceedings could be recorded on video.
“Utusan said only they can record the proceedings and denied Hata’s request to do the same. Hata said it was unfair,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Anbalagan also said Utusan did not allow him to represent Hata, who was elected the union chief last year.
The newspaper had suspended Hata last week pending the inquiry.
“After taking into consideration the seriousness of misconduct allegations against you, the company has decided to suspend your service effective January 17, 2011 until the domestic inquiry on your actions has been completed,” said Utusan’s suspension letter addressed to Hata.
The letter, which was sent to Hata on January 11, stated that the senior reporter would be denied entry into any Utusan office throughout the course of the inquiry, and needed to seek permission from the company management if he wanted to enter the office.
“During the period of your suspension, you are required to be in a place where the company management can contact you, and you are not allowed to leave your neighbourhood,” said the letter.
“Now I don’t know whether I am still suspended, whether I am still getting a salary or what I can do since I am on ‘house arrest’,” Hata told reporters today.
Hata has been attacked by his own company for issuing statements to news portals The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini, Merdeka Review, and The Sun newspaper between September 21 and October 14 last year.
Hata also blamed the drop in the national daily’s sales on the editors for pushing what he called racial rhetoric.
“In my 16 years in Utusan I had not seen it accusing a chief minister of being anti-Malay,” he said, referring to the newspapers attacks on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Sim Kwang Yang
Elections in Western democracies is based on the cardinal principle that the vote must be free and fair. The system of party politics has evolved through many centuries of trial and error in Europe and North America.
In a young democracy like Malaysia’s, the political institutions are a long way from developing the kind of political maturity practiced by Western nations. It will take us many decades, perhaps centuries, to ensure that voting is free and fair, and that all corrupt practices are punished mercilessly by the political system.
The Achilles’ heel of our Malaysian system, especially in the context of Sarawak, is that the sanctity of the vote as an act of free and independent choice is never widely respected even by the electorate – the voters themselves.
In the eyes of the many illiterate rural voters, the vote is just another commodity that has a price and can be bought and sold just like anything else.
In every election in Sarawak, vote-buying, whether individually or in blocks, is a standard practice in many rural areas.
Voters offer political support to the highest bidders, and therefore, the person with the biggest amount of campaign funds will very often win the election. Massive corruption through payment for votes is a common phenomenon.
Any general election, especially in the rural constituencies, is an opportunity for the long-neglected voters to gain the exclusive attention of the politicians and their agents. The contesting parties will be treated like royalty wherever they go, and requests for cash and kind will be treated favourably.
Agents of the ruling party
The campaign machinery of the ruling Barisan Nasional is often manned by thousands of hired workers and representatives of the candidates.
The function of these underlings is to distribute cash and material rewards to the masses of voters, especially on the eve of the voting itself.
Occasionally, concerts and entertainment are also provided free of charge for the voters.
Cash can also be directly paid to the voters through the existing system of tua kampung (village chiefs). The standard payment is made in the name of minor development funds, which can amount to RM60 per voter.
The tua kampung in Sarawak is often regarded as agents of the ruling party and their duty includes the payment of cash for votes. They are paid approximately RM450 a month by the government, and so for all practical purposes, they are but the servants of the politicians who control the state.
Many of the instruments of control against vote buying are ineffectual because of the sheer size of the state of Sarawak. That is why corruption of the vote has gone on for so long, without effective counter measures to protect the sanctity of the vote.
Cheap talk will never win
That is why the results of general elections in Sarawak are so predictable. The groups of powerful politicians who can fork out the largest amounts of campaign funds will usually win any electoral contest. Money really talks, and cheap talk will never win.
In recent elections, there has been a wave of discontent against the BN candidates, mostly among the Chinese voters in the towns.
In all urban centres in Sarawak, the predominantly Chinese voters are financially independent and so are better informed, by virtue of the ease of communication.
That is why vote-buying has been much less successful in urban constituencies. Urban voters tend to behave more independently, hence the relative lack of success of money politics in the towns and cities.
But the majority of Sarawakians still live and work in ‘ulu’ areas. As long as they are imprisoned within their isolated remote rural enclaves, future elections in Sarawak will continue to be influenced by the corrupt practice of vote buying.
The political parties with the most money and best organisation will always enjoy this unfair advantage over their cash-strapped rivals in the opposition.
SIM KWANG YANG was member of parliament for Bandar Kuching, Sarawak from 1982 to 1995. He can be reached at sky8hornbill@gmail.com. All comments are welcomed.
CLICK HERE to see the vision, mission and slogan of the Malaysian Nuclear Agency. Better still, listen to the audio version! :-)
At the mention of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many still cringe in horror at the remembrance of its victims. What about Cherbnobyl? Wikipedia states that "the Chernobyl disaster was a well-known nuclear accident of catastrophic proportions that occurred on 26 April 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union). It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history and is the only level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. How would you feel if you discovered that Malaysia has her own nuclear plant?
According to THIS SITE:
Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) has a role to introduce and promote the application of nuclear science and technology for national development.From there, I surfed to the MINT website HERE and was surprised to see the site! You have to visit that site to know what I mean.
Established in 19 September 1972, Malaysian Nuclear Agency was then known as Centre for Application of Nuclear Malaysia (CRANE) before it was formally named as Tun Ismail Atomic Research Centre (PUSPATI).
On 28 September 2006, following its restructuring, MINT was given a new identity,which is Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia). Its strategic loction, near higher learning institutions, besides its close proximity to the National Administration Centre, Putrajaya, and the Multimedia Super Corridor, Cyberjaya, has stimulated Nuclear Malaysia to meet its aspirations. CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.
By Dr Kua Kia Soong, Director of SUARAM
The Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s visit to the Bakun area on 15 January 2011 was trumpeted as a gracious offer of largesse to the displaced peoples from the Bakun area who have been resettled at Sungai Asap since 1999. He promised a RM62m road linking Belaga and Bakun; a RM46m clinic, and has “agreed in principle” to write off the remaining housing loans of about RM41 million owed by some 1500 families who were displaced by the Bakun dam. Can this offset the “ethnocide” of the displaced Bakun indigenous peoples, the “damned lives” at the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme?
More than 10,000 indigenous natives from at least 15 different ethnic communities had to give up their ancestral homes and preferred environment at a time when the dam had been suspended during the financial crisis at the end of the Nineties. Among these groups of indigenous peoples displaced are the Ukits, who are the only ethnic community of its kind in the world with their distinct language and culture. Theirs is now an endangered culture.
I was amazed to read that Najib was “the first Prime Minister to set foot in Belaga town”! That means that the Prime Minister most responsible for this monstrous project, Dr Mahathir had never set foot in Belaga despite the long drawn-out saga of this accursed dam during his reign!
Now, even when I was a young lecturer at NUS, I managed to visit Belaga in 1978. And soon after the resettlement of the displaced peoples, I again visited the area with the other members of the fact-finding mission in 1999.
Yet no Malaysian Prime Minister had bothered to see for themselves this part of Malaysia where more than 15 different ethnic communities lived in some of the most beautiful forest environments of Malaysia and where the biggest dam in SEAsia was to be built to displace these indigenous peoples!
The only word that sprang to mind when we observed the state and morale of the displaced people and their shocking “new” living environment was ETHNOCIDE. That was just six months after the resettlement:
“Ethnocide may be defined as the process whereby a culturally distinct people loses its identity due to policies designed to erode its land and resource base, the use of its language, its own social and political institution as well as its traditions, art forms, religious practices and cultural values. When such policies are carried out systematically by governments in the pretext of social progress, national unity, economic development, military security, then such governments are guilty of ethnocide…”
(Shanthi Thambiah, “Cultural Diversity and Indigenous peoples” in Kua Kia Soong edited, ‘Mother Tongue Education of Malaysian Ethnic Minorities’, DJZHLC, 1998:19)
Having witnessed this process of “ethnocide” at Sungai Asap, I have always said that this displacement of the 10,000 Bakun peoples was the single most dastardly act of the Mahathir administration and the Taib State Government. For this, all component parties of the Barisan Nasional must bear full responsibility. Permit me to refresh your memory regarding “Operation Exodus”.
Affected Communities Not Fully Consulted
Ever since the project was first proposed, concerned Malaysian NGOs have consistently raised the issue of the lack of clear information and accountability with regard to the Bakun project. Just about every aspect of the project, including the plans for resettlement, was shrouded in secrecy, vague promises and poor consultation with the affected victims and NGOs.
It is clear that the hurry to resettle these indigenous peoples was linked to the fact that the contracts for the Asap Resettlement Scheme had been given out before the onset of the economic crisis. It was also calculated that money could be made from oil palm plantations in the resettlement area. The displacement of the Balui population was thus part of the plan to convert them into wage labourers for these plantations. The State is in fact subsidising these plantation interests not only in creating this pool of cheap labour but in the budget allocation for the Asap Resettlement Scheme.
Empty Promises
The affected people were promised, by the authorities, adequate plots of land (3 hectares), reasonable housing, jobs and other facilities at the Asap Scheme. Yet, until their final exodus, they had no knowledge of how the Asap Resettlement Scheme had been designed. Nevertheless, they were required to sign a Sales & Purchase Agreement on arrival as a condition for obtaining the keys to their new homes.
As a further pressure for the indigenous people to move to Asap, the authorities closed all support services (schools, clinics, etc) in the original long houses and all those who stayed behind or moved further upstream were warned that they were trespassing on state land and liable to be forcibly evicted. Those who refused to move to Asap were told that they would lose their right to their compensation payments.
This is hardly the situation within which such a traumatic experience for the indigenous peoples who had lived for generations in their ancestral homes, should have taken place. Instead of receiving all manner of assistance to settle in to the new life, they had to put up with veiled threats and (empty) inducements. The entire “Operation Exodus” has shown a failure of planning and decision planning. The state of the Asap Resettlement Scheme itself further confirms this fact.
Damned Lives
As a member of the fact finding team in 1999, I was shocked to witness, first hand, the appalling state of the site, considering it was scarcely a year old. Lack of an adequate sewerage system, lack of rubbish disposal, lack of proper access roads were serious faults, threatening the health and longer-term sustainability of the communities. The plumbing, made of PVC pipes, can be seen under the houses, and is connected to the septic tank. Leakages in some of these pipes were already noticeable, despite the newness of the scheme. No apparent remedial action had been forthcoming from the authorities. Sewerage waste at some of the long houses flowed directly into the river near the long houses (we saw this at the Long Geng and Long Ayak resettlement area).
The long houses do not have a proper drainage system. There are no concrete drains and there are already sections of stagnant and putrid water in the mud drains which take discharge from the houses. This is unsanitary and poses a health hazard, being mosquito breeding grounds and pose risks to children who may play with the water.
Rubbish collection is another problem faced by the community in the resettlement area. It is non-existent. The access road is too narrow for the rubbish collection lorries. Rubbish disposal is an essential service. During our stay at the site, we noticed at one long house residents were tipping rubbish into the stream, while at another, it was being dumped in a heap not far from the long house. They had no alternative. The question is: Who planned this site and how could the design have been passed with such basic flaws?
The situation with regard to the housing provided at Asap is also appalling. Not only is the design and condition of the new houses inadequate, but indigenous people were being forced to pay some RM52,000 for a unit through a contract that has not been explained to them and is written in English legalese. The price of the house was extraordinary, given its shoddy quality, its location and the paltry amount of compensation paid for the original buildings which were of far greater substance and relevance to the people. Sarawak is supposed to be one of the world’s main suppliers of wood. (For comparison, a concrete properly finished low-cost house in Peninsular Malaysia costs only RM25,000!)
The longhouses are of standard design. Each longhouse has fifteen units (bilik). They are arranged on two storeys. Downstairs is a hall and a kitchen, with a bathroom and toilet. Upstairs is just one open room, presumably for sleeping. The common balcony ( ) is much narrower than a traditional longhouse design, meaning it is difficult to use for traditional communal activities. Other than the roughly cemented toilet and bathroom floors, and the bathroom and toilet walls which are of asbestos, the houses are made of wood - very poor quality wood at that. The doors and wall panels are of plywood, the floor boards are thin third-grade soft wood with gaps between the planks, while the main pillars are thin belian wood.
The long houses at Asap had been designed without any indigenous peoples’ inputs. Instead, a British-based company (Bucknall’s) was given the contract! And from our investigations, no Certificate of Fitness had been issued before the resettlement and this was a serious irregularity in the planning process for the site. The State authorities had in fact acted against the municipal laws of Malaysia.
Residents claimed that they had asked for ten acres each at Sg Asap. They were promised seven but only received three acres. Three acres of land is hardly sufficient to meet their needs. The fertility of the soil is inadequate for much of the land is situated on swampy or hilly areas. The size of the land is also inadequate. Further, despite prior warnings, the state authorities had failed to provide for the circumstance whereby the indigenous people had to abandon their previous land (and crops) but thus had no time to cultivate the new land. There was thus a dearth of vegetables and fruits available at the site.
Several consequences had emerged from this. Firstly, the pressure on the existing land meant almost immediately that there was a severe shortage of fish, game and jungle products. This, together with the lack of vegetables and fruits, meant that the communities were thrust immediately into a wholly cash economy, spending significant sums on purchasing food and materials which had previously been obtained for free. High transportation costs also meant that the cost of such purchases was relatively expensive.
To attempt to offset this, some of the indigenous people had begun to cultivate state land, outside of the demarcated land for the resettled communities. Again, there was not enough of this extra land, and this had already led to inter-community conflict. In addition, the cultivation of such land (considered “state land”) was likely to incur the wrath of the authorities, sooner or later, meaning such cultivation would be terminated.
It was not coincidental that while the mission was in Sarawak, the State Assembly actually passed an amendment to the Land Code to outlaw squatting on state land. This would have grave consequences for the indigenous peoples at Sg. Asap who had been using State land beyond the three acres they had been given. The mission found that this was a general practice of most of the people there. The other group of people affected by this amendment would be those who have chosen to move further upriver.
The failure by the planners to properly provide adequate alternative land again reflects an apparent inability to respect and honour what the indigenous people themselves had asked for, to properly respect and honour their culture and traditions, to respect and support sustainable farming and to respect and support provision for future generations. It further indicates how the indigenous communities have been treated like objects in a process which has provided a hopelessly inadequate alternative life for them, under the guise of 'development'.
The residents have been displaced from a subsistence/part-cash economy to a totally cash economy. Almost everything has to be paid for, including their staple rice, vegetables, wild boar, fish, even buah pinang and sireh which they used to get in abundance. There was a general loathing toward having to pay electricity and water rates. As they have no income, they have been living off their compensation money and this is almost finished now.
The cost of living for the households has increased dramatically after they move into the new resettlement area at Sg. Asap. Now, the people are burdened with electric and water bills, which they never paid before. In their origin home, they were using a diesel generator to generate electricity (the diesel was provided by the logging company at no cost) and the water supply came from the natural streams.
Although the State Government had envisaged the displaced people as wage labour for oil palm plantations, in 1999 only one company had moved in. Even so, the seedlings would take at least five years to mature and allow harvesting work to be done. From interviewing some local people at Asap, the plantation company Samling prefered to pay local people RM8 per hectare but they paid Indonesian labourers RM20 per hectare. Five companies had been given the green light to open up plantations, including the Sarawak Enterprise but only one had started. This again showed dismal planning by the authorities.
New social problems had arisen such as breakdown of family relations, distrust within communities; lack of social and recreational outlets for the youth; conflict between different communities, and disempowerment of women. We saw widespread despondency among the residents at Sg. Asap; alcoholism had taken root and there was no motivation to produce their traditional handicraft beyond the plain floor mats…the symptoms of ethnocide.
Who Benefits from the Bakun Dam?
The whole displacement process raises the fundamental questions of who defines and who benefits from development. The fact is that the indigenous population affected by the Bakun HEP have been asked to sacrifice their entire natural and cultural heritage in the name of development. Indeed, government spokespeople and others have lambasted critics as being anti-development and traitors. Yet on closer examination of the way this whole project has been planned and implemented, it is clear that the indigenous people feel utterly betrayed and degraded by this so-called “development”. They have been made to change a lifestyle which they controlled and from which they could plan their future, to one where everything has been planned for them and which has robbed them of their dignity, autonomy and ability to sustain their livelihood through integration with their traditional land and its resources.
It must be pointed out that the indigenous peoples of Bakun are by no means “backward” and living primitive lifestyles. Far from it. Most communities have been participating in part cash economy for a long time now. Their original long houses have produced quite a few university graduates and professionals. The Member of Parliament for the area in 1999 was himself a former headmaster who had grown up at Bakun.
What they could have done with to improve their quality of life at their original long houses were better services: transportation, education facilities, clinics and hospitals, marketing and credit, etc. They could do with some sustainable means of power for each of their long house communities. In other words, development must be based on the needs of the community and not the socially destructive projects such as the Bakun dam. Now their forest has been destroyed, their rivers have been depleted of fish and drinkable water and even the only means of transport since the days of their ancestors - the upstream tributaries of the Rajang – has been terminated by the accursed Bakun Dam.
Lest We Forget
For the young Malaysians as well as the grown-up politicians who are particularly prone to selective amnesia, permit me to remind you of the twisted integuments of this long drawn-out project which concerned Malaysian NGOs have consistently condemned as not only socially disruptive and environmentally destructive but also economically disastrous and a burden on Malaysian tax payers.
1970s: Initial studies to assess the hydroelectric potential of Sarawak’s rivers were done by SESCO, the Sarawak Electric Supply Company.
1980: The SAMA Consortium, a joint venture of German and Swiss consultants together with the Malaysian authorities, was commissioned to conduct feasibility studies. Bakun was identified as one of four possible dam sites. It was to have a power generating capacity of 2,400MW even though the projected energy needs for the whole of Sarawak was around 200MW in 1990. This project was thus coupled with the proposal to build a (world’s first) 650 kilometre undersea cable across the South China Sea to carry the excess electricity to Peninsular Malaysia. The SAMA feasibility studies were, and continue to be classified information under Malaysia’s Official Secrets Act (OSA), under which there is a mandatory jail sentence of two years for offenders.
1980s: There were protests against the dam by Malaysian NGOs and the indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands were to be drowned by the Bakun Dam. There were also protests against a proposed heavy energy-consuming and highly-polluting aluminium smelting project in Bintulu.
1986: Bakun project was abandoned because of the economic recession although the Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir announced just before the UN Conference on Environment and Development at Rio that it was "proof of Malaysia’s commitment to the environment” (New Straits Times, 13.6.90).
1987: At least two NGO activists were arrested and detained under “Operation Lallang” using the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows detention without trial, for their anti-Bakun Dam activities earlier.
1993: With the upturn in the Malaysian economy in the early Nineties and the energy crisis with the national blackout in 1992 (See Kua Kia Soong, Malaysia’s Energy Crisis: The Real Issues, Oriengroup 1996) the Government announced the revival of the Bakun HEP project. To cushion the expected protests, the Energy Minister announced in Parliament that it would not be one large dam but “a series of cascading dams” and that it would be a privatised project. Before long, it was announced that the Bakun Dam would be a massive 205-metre high concrete face rockfill dam, one of the highest dams of its kind in the world, and it would flood an area of tropical rainforest the size of Singapore Island (69,640 hectares). Transmission of electricity required 1,500 km of overland wires and four 650 km long high-voltage cables to be laid under the South China Sea. As far as the State government was concerned, "Bakun would ensure that Sarawak will become the powerhouse of Malaysia". The spin-off effects of the project were to be the attraction of foreign investment to the State and therefore industrial development in which the establishment of an aluminium plant, a pulp and paper plant and perhaps the world's biggest steel plant were specifically mentioned; the development of a high-tension and high-voltage wire industry; and the development of the Bakun area as a tourist resort.
1994: The contract for the 2,400 MW Bakun Dam project was awarded to Ekran Bhd without an open tender process.
1995: The first of four Environment Impact Assessments was approved in March 1995 and work started on site clearance for office construction, an airport, reservoir and diversion tunnels.
1997: With the onset of the Asian financial crisis, the Bakun project was put on hold for the second time. Concerned NGOs and indigenous peoples were relieved that at least they could remain in their traditional ancestral homes while the fate of the project was still unclear. Meanwhile, Ekran Bhd had sunbcontracted another Ting Pek Khiing company, Pacific Chemicals, to harvest 1,000 hectares of forest and extracted 79,000 cubic metres of timber within the Bakun area. On 7 September 1998, the federal Government offered to pay Bakun HEC Bhd RM811 million to take over its assets and liabilities in order to enable the federal government to take over the implementation of the project. More than half of this sum was intended for reimbursing Ekran Bhd for the expences incurred in management and implementation of the project prior to its takeover by the federal government. In the process, a total of RM950 million will be paid out by the Government as a result of its decision to take over the project. This includes RM390 million to Ekran Bhd; RM436 million to financial institutions; RM24 million to Dong Ah, the contractor for the river diversion tunnels; RM100 million to equity holders of BHEC whose shareholders are Ekran Bhd (42.6%), Sarawak Government (25.3%), Sesco (12%), Khazanah Nasional (6.67%), Tenaga Nasional (6.67%) and EPF (6.67%). Assets and liabilities of the company include the river diversion tunnels, Bakun Resort, Bakun airport, Tubau jetty and RM100 million in cash.
1999: The Malaysian government announced that the project would be resumed albeit on a smaller 500MW capacity rather than the previous 2400 MW capacity. Despite the fact that the design for the downsized dam had not been prepared and the fact that the area to be filled by the new reservoir would be at least one-fifth the previous size, all the indigenous peoples (nearly 10,000) from 15 longhouses had been forcibly resettled at the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme by August 1999 under “Operation Exodus”.
2000: The Sarawak State Government continues to call for reviving the Bakun HEP project according to the original 2,400 MW scale and the government flip flops over the undersea cable project to transmit power to the peninsula.
2010: The dam was completed in September 2010. The final cost of the dam has still not been finalised but it is expected to exceed its initial cost of RM7.3 billion. Sarawak Energy Bhd is looking into buying or leasing the project from Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, the owner of the dam, and the Finance Ministry, which in turn owns Sarawak Hidro. Meanwhile, another dam, the Murum Dam has started construction and this will add another 944MW capacity by end 2013. Sarawak’s current peak demand is only 900MW while the total installed capacity from these two new dams alone will be 3,344MW, giving rise to a major power glut situation in Sarawak. The impounding of the river in October 2010 left Belaga folk “high and dry” – there was little water flowing from upstream and this affected river transport, the only means of transport in these parts.
The opposition can campaign all they like for a hundred days and a hundred nights. Before dawn on polling day, four wheelers will light up the dark jungles of the interior; helicopters will fly in with tons of cash, crispy ones. Slap them with a minimum RM50, and you have wasted your time and energy campaigning.
By GM, Penampang Sabah
Efforts by certain opposition parties in Sabah to capture the state are at the moment heating up. The battle for Sabah has begun and the opposition will be going all out to ensure that this time the mighty BN will be given a run for its money despite the latter having the advantage of funds and heavily armed machinery.
There are winds of change blowing at the moment that does not favor the BN and it is widely anticipated that Sabah will no longer be a fixed deposit for them.
It is very clear that there are groups within the ruling coalition who are not happy due to reasons that are best not explained, yet. I have just come back from a neighboring district which is Kota Marudu, and I spoke to some local people there. It appears that those living close to the township of Kota Marudu do update themselves on the political ongoings of the state and country.
One group which I met expressed their confidence in voting the opposition alliance (Pakatan), provided Pakatan continues to rule in some peninsular states. They added that with the two party system that now exists in Malaysia, we no longer need to fear of bullying from the Federal Government as should Sabah be an opposition state, we will no longer be alone.
I was of course pleased to hear this, I tested their intelligence by asking; what if Sabah falls to the opposition but the states now currently under Pakatan goes back to then BN? Instead of answering my question, the head of the group cheekily asked me, what if we continue supporting the BN and Pakatan forms the Federal Government in the next election? This group I talked to comprised of farmers and local businessmen, and they are PBS members (no offence).
The group also advised me that to win the State, it is not the urban or technology savvy people that we need to convince, whether the opposition wins or not lies very much on the interior folks. Buy them, and then you get Sabah.
The opposition can campaign all they like for a hundred days and a hundred nights. Before dawn on polling day, four wheelers will light up the dark jungles of the interior; helicopters will fly in with tons of cash, crispy ones. Slap them with a minimum RM50, and you have wasted your time and energy campaigning.
A small percentage of urban dwellers are no good themselves, they too practice this unhealthy habit during elections. It is a problem to most countries in the world and it should have not been practiced from the start. These people need to be educated as they are spoiling the growth of the country and risking the future of their next generations.
So, how do we combat vote buying? I kindly challenge anyone from any opposition party in Sabah to reply to this question. It is too risky to reply via the newspapers, let’s do it on Malaysia Today. Vote buying does not just point to a certain party, even super rich individuals who contest as an independents can do it, the opposition can practice this as well, so I am not referring to anyone or any party specifically. This problem is impossible to eradicate, but can and must be reduced. If we can find a solution to this, then we can move on to the issue of phantom voters.
PETALING JAYA: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has agreed to personally look into the ammunitions depot issue in Sungai Petani, Kedah.
The minister said he would meet with complainant M Annamalai, who wanted the government to acquire a plot of his family’s land that was deemed too close to the depot, this Wednesday.
“We’ll see what we can do from there,” Nazri told FMT.
Meanwhile, Annamalai said he was glad that Nazri, one of the many ministers he had written letters to regarding his problem, had agreed to meet him.
“This is good news. I am optimistic because he (Nazri) was the person who was brave enough to say that he is ‘Malaysian first’. He might very well be the dream prime minister that everyone is hoping for,” he added.
On the same note, Annamalai, who would be driving from Penang to Kuala Lumpur for the meeting, said he was not certain if this would resolve his 15-year problem.
“I’ve met all of them before, I am not sure any minister in Malaysia will be able to help us. Their reactions have become quite predictable.
“Even in Parliament, leaders both from Barisan Nasional and the opposition are not assisting the people,” he said.
On Jan 4, FMT reported that residents living close to the ammunitions depot located within the Sungai Layar army camp in Kedah’s Kuala Muda district could be in danger of a possible explosion.
Annamalai, 37, warned that a disaster was waiting to happen based on government documents he obtained when he tried in vain to both develop and sell a plot of land, located some 300m from the depot, since 1995.
There are also several residential areas and two schools near the depot.
For years documents and letters from government departments stated that the risk of “loss of life and damage to property” in the area were extremely high.
However, after Annamalai’s plight was reported in the media, the government last year told him that the land was “safe”.
Annamalai’s late grandfather originally owned some 136 acres of agriculture land in the area. The government then acquired 92 acres of it in the 1950s to build the Sungai Layar army camp, which opened in 1973.
His land, some 44 acres, is now estimated to be worth RM11 million. - FMT
| The Penang CM does the math on the government’s claims that the ETP will create 35,000 news jobs, asking but at what cost. |
