BARAM, SARAWAK - Hundreds of indigenous people reportedly erected two roadblocks in the Baram district of Sarawak yesterday to halt the proposed mega-dam planned by state-owned energy provider Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB).
According to a Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) press statement, the natives have set up camps near the blockades for as long as necessary.
“According to the community information received today, one blockade has been erected near Long Lama, a small town on the banks of the Baram river.
A second blockade has been set up near the proposed dam site,” BMF said.
“The blockade sites have been chosen strategically to prevent (SEB) from transporting machinaries and construction equipment to the planned dam site.”
Natives from the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan district were also reportedly calling on all SEB employees and its contractors to stop work on the dam and leave the district.
The native landowners claimed that the dam, which would be built along the Baram river, would encroach on their ancestral lands and rights.
The planned dam would displace up to 20,000 people and submerge over 400km² of the rainforest, according to BMF.
The NGO said yesterday the construction of the access road was ongoing and workers in the area had begun preparing to work on the dam.
“It is unacceptable that any works should commence before the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) has been carried out,” Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network chairperson Peter Kallang was quoted as saying.
The setting up of the blockades came a day ahead of a key United Nations meeting in Geneva today on Malaysia’s human rights record, further pressuring the government here.
This was not the first time that Malaysia and SEB were facing protest from indignant natives. Since Sept 17, about 200 Penans had ben rallying against their resettlement due to SEB’s construction of the RM4 billion Murum dam.
By Anisah Shukry
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