STEPHEN THEN The Star 16 May 15;
MIRI: The Sarawak state government announced that the construction of the RM4bil Baram Dam in interior northern Sarawak would proceed.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem (pic) announced on Saturday that he had secured the support of the majority of the community leaders in Baram for the project that will drown an area half the size of Singapore Island and uproot more than 20,000 people.
"I have secured pledges of these community leaders that they will support the state government in this Baram Dam project.
"The majority of the Baram people want the project to start. It is only the minority who opposed it.
"The construction will commence as soon as possible," he told a press conference after a closed-door dialogue with representatives of the Baram Orang Ulu groups at a hotel here.
Asked on the massive process of relocating the 20,000 or more affected folks in 25 longhouses, Adenan said that it would be dealt with in the best possible manner.
The Baram Dam is to be located at a site between Long Kesseh and Long Naah some 200km inland from Miri.
Based on the proposed construction plan, the dam project will flood some 34,000 hectares of forests - equal to roughly half the size of Singapore.
Asked how the state government will handle the massive relocation exercise, Adenan said the state will use internationally accepted procedures to resettle the affected residents after carrying out dialogues with them to discuss the compensation and resettlement plans.
Baram Dam will be about half the height of the 210 metre tall Bakun Dam in Belaga district in central Sarawak.
Baram Dam will generate some 1000Mws of electricity to be channelled for the use of the industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy belt.
Most community leaders support Baram Dam project, says CM
The Star 17 May 15;
MIRI: The construction of the RM4bil Baram Dam in interior northern Sarawak will proceed following support from most of the community leaders for the project, Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said.
The project is expected to drown an area of 34,000ha of forests, which is about half the size of Singapore and uproot at least 20,000 villagers.
“I have secured pledges from these community leaders that they will support the state government in the Baram Dam project. The majority of the Baram people want the project to start.
“The construction will begin as soon as possible,” he told a press conference after a closed door dialogue with representatives of the Baram Orang Ulu groups here yesterday.
Asked about the relocation of the affected people in 25 longhouses, Adenan said this would be dealt with in the best possible manner.
He said the state would follow internationally accepted procedures to resettle the affected residents after carrying out talks with them on the compensation and resettlement plans.
Malaysian dam project opposed by tribes gets green light: report
AFP Yahoo News 16 May 15;
A banner reading "Stop Baram Dam" is seen atn the main entrance to a blockade camp opposing the proposed dam on the Baram River in Long Lama, in Malaysia's Sarawak state on the island of Borneo, on November 16, 2013
Construction of a Malaysian dam that will flood a rainforested area half the size of Singapore and displace 20,000 tribespeople was given the green light Saturday by the state government, local media reported.
"The construction will commence as soon as possible," Adenan Satem, chief minister of the state of Sarawak on Borneo island, was quoted by The Star as saying.
The announcement will be a major disappointment for indigenous groups who have staged increasing demonstrations and road blockades in the rugged region to stop rampant logging and dam-building in the state, and have made blocking the dam on the Baram river a priority.
Peter Kallang, head of Save Rivers, a coalition of Sarawak NGOs and environmental groups, dismissed Adenan's claim that the project had been blessed by local tribal leaders.
Activists allege authorities in the state have a history of buying off or pressuring community leaders to approve unpopular projects.
"How can the community leaders give their support when there has been no news on compensation and resettlement? They always will say yes to the government and there's no transparency at all," he said.
"Adenan should go and listen to what the poor indigenous people have to say, not the community leaders."
Occupying northern Borneo island, much of Sarawak is a jungled landscape crossed by untamed rivers.
It is one of Malaysia's poorest states despite being rich in natural resources, but authorities have plans for around a dozen hydroelectric facilities as they seek to accelerate economic development.
Three already have been built.
Critics call the projects destructive white elephants that will create far more electricity than the state needs.
But authorities say the power capacity is required to lure industry to Sarawak.
Former British premier Gordon Brown once called the destruction of Sarawak's rainforests "the biggest environmental crime of our times."
Construction of Baram Dam in northern Sarawak slammed
STEPHEN THEN The Star 18 May 15;
MIRI: Human rights organisations and environmental groups have blasted the Sarawak government's decision to go ahead with the construction of the mega Baram Dam in northern Sarawak.
The project - located between Long Kesseh and Long Naah, some 200km inland from Miri - is expected to uproot more than 20,000 people and drown huge traits of forests.
Kuala Lumpur-based Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) and Miri-based Save Sarawak Rivers criticised the decision by Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem over the greenlight given to Sarawak Energy Bhd to proceed with preparations for ground construction.
JOAS president Thomas Jalong and Save Sarawak Rivers chairman Peter Kallang both described the approval of the dam project as an act of gross injustice to the affected natives living in the 25 settlements.
Jalong told The Star on Sunday that the decision by the state government was "shameful".
"It is a shameful attempt by the state government to force this massive project on defenceless poor natives.
"Global organisations had already carried out so many studies that showed that energy needs can be met through less destructive micro projects, and yet the Sarawak government is going ahead with the Baram Dam that will cause massive environment destruction," he said.
Kallang, who is also Orang Ulu National Association chairman for Miri, said the 20,000 affected people had never been consulted.
"Those community leaders who said they support the project are actually government servants as they receive salaries from the state government.
"The state government has committed a serious injustice against the natives who have been living for centuries in the Baram forests," he said.
Kallang said Save Sarawak Rivers would continue to protest and block the access road into the Baram Dam site to prevent construction work from proceeding.
