By Sulok Tawie. Published by The Sun Daily on 18 September 2012.
Over 20,000 natives, who will be directly affected by the construction of the proposed Baram Dam, will not go anywhere to be resettled, SAVE Sarawak's Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) president Philip Ngau told reporters yesterday.
He said these natives are from 26 longhouses, above the dam site at Long Keseh, along the mighty Baram River. "A few thousand more natives from the longhouses located downstream of the dam will be indirectly affected," he said on the sidelines of a public forum on dams to be constructed in Sarawak and native customary rights land.
Ngau, whose longhouse, Long Laput, is not directly affected by the dam, said resettling these 20,000 natives will cause untold problems and miseries to them. "Where do these people go?" he asked, stating that the affected natives had not been told where they would be resettled. "Even if they have been told where to go, they have insisted that they will stay put, regardless," he said. Ngau said SAVE Rivers has asked the natives to stay put.
Borneo Research Institute of Malaysia (BRIMAS) director Mark Bujang said that it is unlikely that the government can solve the problems to be faced by these 20,000 affected natives. He pointed out that the problems faced by the people affected by the Batang Ai dam in Sri Aman Division and the Bakun Dam in Kapit Division have not be resolved.
Over 10,000 people, affected by the Bakun dam, have been resettled at the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme, but many have moved out. "The Sungai Asap Resettlement scheme is 50 % empty because many have left to go elsewhere or returned to the original places above the Bakun dam which are not submerged by the rising water," Bujang said.
"There are also others who built floating houses at the Bakun lake. There are 40 families from formerly from Long Jawe living on the floating houses. They have moved out of Sungai Asap," he said, stating that a few hundreds more families planned to build the floating houses at the lake.
Long Jawe is one of the longhouses submerged by the water of Bakun dam. According to Bujang, Sungai Asap is not a place to reside. "The government allocated three acres of land to each family. Even then the land is not suitable for farming because of the nature of soil," he said. "So, you can't plant padi or cash crop like rubber," he added. Bujang said that the state government has not been definite on when the construction of the Baram dam will start.
The RM4 billion dam, when completed, will generate 1,200MW of electricity. The dam will have a catchment area of about 41,200 hectares or 412 square kilometres of forested areas. Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), the state government-owned power supplier, is currently conducting comprehensive tests on the stability of the rock structure on the dam site.
Related report: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/209262
Sekumpulan kira-kira 50 Orang Asal dari Baram mengadakan protes di hadapan bangunan sekretariat negeri Sarawak di Kuching semalam, membantah projek mega empangan yang akan menenggelamkan rumah panjang mereka. Mereka daripada 18 rumah panjang di Baram Hulu dan Tengah juga menyerahkan petisyen yang mengandungi lebih 1,000 tandatangan kepada Pejabat Ketua Menteri Sarawak.
Petisyen itu menyuarakan tentangan mereka terhadap rancangan membina empangan mega di Baram yang akan membanjiri kawasan tersebut seluas separuh saiz Singapura, serta menenggelamkan tanah nenek moyang mereka, rumah dan ladang-ladang di situ.
Dalam satu kenyataan semalam, Preiden Jaringan Orang Asal seMalaysia (Joas), Thomas Jalong, yang berasal dari Long Anap, Baram, berkata empangan itu akan menjejaskan kehidupan penduduk asal tempatan.
"Empangan akan pasti menenggelamkan tanah nenek moyang dengan lebih 20,000 penduduk dan dalam proses itu, ia akan mengakibatkan kami kehilangan rumah kita," katanya. Dengan itu, katanya, mereka secara tidak adil akan kehilangan tanah mereka, sumber mata pencarian dan rezeki, dan menghadapi masa depan yang tidak menentu,
Menurutnya, tanah itu bukan semata-mata sahaja menjadi sumber ekonomi bagi komuniti Orang Asal tetapi penting kepada identiti sosial, kebudayaan, kerohanian dan politik mereka.
12 empangan mega dirancang
Sementara itu, Rangkaian Selamatkan Sungai Sarawak (Save Rivers), sebuah gabungan yang dibentuk untuk menentang pembinaan 12 empangan mega yang dirancang bagi Sarawak, berkata bantahan itu diadakan untuk mendesak kerajaan mematuhi Deklarasi Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu mengenai Hak Orang Asal.
Presidennya, Peter Kallang berkata kerajaan negeri Sarawak perlu menghentikan semua kerja di atas jalan akses ke empangan kerana ia sudah pun menjejaskan masyarakat Orang Asal. Malah, wakil Jawatankuasa Bertindak Lindungi Baram, Philip Jau berkata perancangan untuk pembinaan empangan Baram tidak pernah telus.
"Mereka tidak bertanya rakyat pandangan mereka mengenai rancangan membina empangan tetapi sebaliknya telah memulakan kerja mengukur jalan masuk ke projek itu," kata Philip.
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