The year-long blockade by native villagers who are against the proposed Baram hydroelectric dam in Sarawak ended today with forestry officers, backed by armed policemen, removing the barricades in place.
BY DESMOND DAVIDSON | Published: 28 October 2014
The year-long blockade by native villagers who are against the proposed Baram hydroelectric dam in Sarawak ended today with forestry officers, backed by armed policemen, removing the barricades in place.
This was the third time that the authorities have removed the logs and fencing which the anti-dam natives had put up across the road near Long Kesseh leading to the dam site.
No violence was reported and Peter Kallang, chairman of the non-governmental organisation Save Sarawak Rivers, said the forest concessionaire Autorich Sdn Bhd and its contractor M M Golden (M) Sdn Bhd have already moved tractors, bulldozers and earth moving equipment into the dam site.
The villagers claimed the proposed dam site is on land that is still in dispute.
The government had acquired the land but the native landowners have taken the government to court to challenge the acquisition.
Kallang said the timber companies had erected their own barricade to keep the anti-dam protestors out of the concession area.
A representative of the people of Long Kesseh and Long Nahah’a lodged a police report in Miri this afternoon against what they claimed was a collusion between the Forest Department, Autorich and MM Golden to intrude and illegally harvest timber on native customary lands.
Long Kesseh is about a four-hour drive from Miri.
The villagers have also lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“We once again appeal to the Forest Department not to be involved and collude with the timber companies Autorich Sdn Bhd and MM Golden (M) Sdn Bhd in illegally harvesting timber on our native customary land,” Anyie Eng stated in his letter to the state director of forests Sapuan Ahmad.
Last Tuesday, forestry officers removed the barricades after the timber concessionaire complained the blockade had hampered the company’s operation.
However, within hours, anti-dam protestors numbering some 200 people erected another barrier further down the road.
The forest officers returned last Saturday to remove the barrier but left without doing anything after they were confronted with a barrage of questions which they said they needed to refer to their superiors.
Sapuan had sent a notice to the natives in July giving them two weeks’ notice to dismantle and cease any kind of timber road blockade in the area.
He stated in the letter that MM Golden and Autorich have the legal right to harvest timber in the area.
Sapuan had also warned the anti-dam protestors that the blockade was in contravention of Section 90(B) of the Forests Ordinance and those found guilty could be jailed up to two years and fined up to RM6,000.
Human rights organisations said the dismantling of the blockade by the forest department and the police amounted to an act of intimidation.
They have appealed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to denounce the action and to raise their concerns with Putrajaya over the actions taken to forcefully dismantle the barricade.
Opposition against the dam is strong among certain sections of the indigenous people living in the areas, notably the Kayan, Kenyah, Orang Ulu, and Iban.
It is believed that the dam when completed could inundate 26 villages, including Long Kesseh, flooding 400 sq km of land and displacing between 6,000 and 20,000 people.
The dam is one of 12 the Sarawak government plans to build as part of its move to generate cheap, renewable energy and shift its oil and timber-based economy to an industrial-based one by 2030. – October 28, 2014.
