KEYNOTE ADDRESS
BY BARU BIAN
PUBLIC FORUM ON “DAMMING THE BARAM”
Miri, Sarawak, 6th March 2010
Ladies and gentlemen.
I feel honored to have been given this opportunity to deliver the keynote address at this timely forum. Although the flyers appears to focus on the damming of the Baram River, this is an occasion I believe, where we will no doubt be able to discuss and deliberate in depth on the other eleven proposed dams scattered throughout the State of Sarawak, which has branded us most appropriately as “the most ‘damned’ State in Malaysia”.
A few years ago, in preparation for Hari Kebangsaan celebration, a friend of mine from RTM Limbang, the Lun Bawang Section, traveled up river to my mountain home, at Long Semadoh to interview various people and seek their opinion as they reflect on this important Day. Armed with his tape-recorder he met an old man from the village, and asked him whether there is any difference between the time they were under the British rule and that after the formation of Malaysia. The old man replied, “Son,” he said, “there is no comparison when we were under the British rule”. My friend asked, “Why do you say that?” The old man said, “You know, the British gave us free shot gun, whilst today nothing is free!” My friend stopped the recording and apologized to the old man and informed him that he cannot record the old man’s negative statement about the present Government. The truth was suppressed, and the old man’s true feelings and reflection of his true physical state was concealed.
Today we have not changed much. A lot of things are kept as “secret” or “confidential” by the Government these days so much so that we seems to be living in a ‘secret society’.
The plan by the State Government to build 12 massive dams throughout Sarawak was in fact shrouded in secrecy. But thanks to the ever-vigilant Switzerland-based NGO Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF) who accidentally stumbled upon the Document in cyberspace originated in China. It was reported that the Document revealed a bold ambition of our State Government to construct 12 more dams beginning with my home town Lawas (105MW), Limbang (150MW), Tutoh (220MW), Baram (1000MW), Murum (900MW), Linau (290MW), Belepeh (110MW), Metjawah (300MW), Belaga (260MW), Baleh 1400MW), Ulu Air (54MW) and an extension at Batang Ai (60MW), with a combined potential to generate a total of 7000MW of electricity, including the present Bakun Dam between the year 2008 and 2020, through a slide presentation made by Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) Managing Director, Abdul Aziz Husain in October 2007 at the China-Asean Power Cooperation and Development Forum in Nanning, Guangxi, China.
The question asked by any reasonable man, and I believe many of you here today is whether we really need 12 more dams in Sarawak, especially when we already have Bakun Dam expecting to generate around 2,400MW. More so when our State Government had just announced few months ago that it may not proceed with the plan to transfer power to Peninsular Malaysia. Therefore we the ordinary people and more so those who are likely to be affected by these dams, have the right to question the Government and demand justifications and explanations. State and Federal leaders especially from Sarawak had made their stand in support of these dams saying that these are necessary for the economic development of the State. They lambasted at activists, NGOs and environmentalists alike as irresponsible, noisy (cakap-cakap), and bent only to smear and tarnish the image of the Government internationally.
Friends, I stand before you today as one who fits in all these categories of an activist, NGO and environmentalist. With your presence here today I hope you are too. If you were like me, born and bred in the jungle of Sarawak, I would understand why you have that strong reservation to the building of these dams. The reason is in that country song title called, “green green grass of home”. These dams will destroy our very home. For me, there is no other place greener than my home Sate, Sarawak.
In the early 70s I have to walk three days and sleep two nights along the way to the nearest Secondary School, coming home for holidays only once a year. The 3 days journey helps me to appreciate the mountains, the rivers and the forests. I have seen the best of the environment and the surroundings. You may say that I was emotionally and spiritually bonded with the nature and the environment. How much more, for those who now dwell in and live of the forests for their daily sustenance, like the Penans and the other indigenous communities in Sarawak.
In July 2008, the Chief Minister of Sarawak Abdul Taib Mahmud said that the ‘environmentalists may voice their concerns but the Government decides’. The CM may be right but the Government must exercise that right responsibly because the Government has the fiduciary duty to ensure that the ordinary peoples are not unnecessarily displaced and put in a worst position then they were before. Ideally, such a project if considered a ‘development’ should be able to benefit the affected communities directly or indirectly. In certain instances, they may even be able to participate in the project. It is therefore necessary that the Government must carry out or conduct a free, fair and informed prior consultation with the affected communities to ensure that the projects implementation meet international requirement and standard. I was made to understand that, no such consultation was ever done in the planning of these dams.
In this kind of project, where it involves, the land, forests, environment and the people, there are many issues that must be considered by the Government before implementing it. These are, like the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report that must be transparent and accurate, the usufructuary rights and NCR over land to be recognized and adequately compensated, and that there is compliance to international human rights laws and standards in the execution of the plans. These are perhaps the areas that you would like to look into in our deliberation after this.
Lastly, I have just been informed by a friend who is a Physicist Dr. Idwaar something alarming related to dams. He said there is this so-called “induced earthquakes”. I said, I have heard of an induced baby but not “an induced earthquakes”. He told me, that dam like the Bakun dam could within 10 years after fully operational could induce an earthquake within 400 km parameter of the dam. He said that Sibu town would be in real danger not only because of the effect of the so-called induced earthquake but the possibility of submerged under water as a consequence of the dam bursting either because of the effect of the induced earthquake itself or by any fault of the construction of the dam. So, as a lay man, I told him with the building of 12 more dams in Sarawak, we would be in real danger of experiencing earthquakes related disasters like countries lying within the so-called ‘rings of fire’
With these, I wish you all a lively debate and a meaningful discourse with the sole aim of achieving a reasonable and practical plan of actions and resolutions.
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