Human rights groups fret over fate of protesting Penans at Murum Dam site

BY STEPHEN THEN

A police blockade being set up at the entry point into Murum Dam after more than 200 Penans staged a protest against the Murum hydro-electric dam project. - Pic by Raymond Abin

MIRI: Human rights activists are worried over the fate of some 200 Penans protesting at the Murum Dam site in interior central Sarawak who are running out of food.

Police have "cordoned off" the area near where the protesters are camping.

Representatives of Borneo Resources Institute (Brimas) and Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (SCRIPS) were in Murum the last few days to visit the Penans but found themselves unable to enter.

Brimas state coordinator Raymond Abin and SCRIPS secretary Michael Jok went there on separate occasions and told The Star Online that they were stopped from passing through the police barricade.

Jok, a former Catholic priest turned social activist, said on Monday that he and several officials were trying to deliver food to the Penans.

"Police have set up a roadblock preventing people from entering the Murum Dam site where the Penans are protesting against a hydro-electric project.

"We went into Murum in two 4WD vehicles filled with food rations over the past week. We wanted to give the food to the Penans, who are manning the blockade day and night.

"However, the access road leading to the protest site has been barricaded by a police team at the entry point.

"We have to leave the food at the place where the police blocked the road with a makeshift barricade.

"We asked the police to help get in touch with some of the protesting Penans to come and get the food.

"They agreed to that arrangement," Jok said after he made his way out of Murum, which is about 300kms from Bintulu town.

Abin said he took pictures at the police barricade.

"I tried to pass through the police blockade but was told that nobody is allowed in unless with permission for official business.

"I heard that the protesting Penans may set up blockades at other points along the road into the Murum Dam soon.

"They may be tired and hungry but they are determined to fight for their cause even though they are facing harsh weather conditions staying in makeshift camps," he said.

The Penans are from the remaining four settlements in the Murum Valley who are protesting the move to uproot them to resettlement schemes.

So far, three groups of Penans and Kenyahs have already agreed to move out of Murum Valley to the Tegulang Resettlement Scheme.

Abin and Jok appealed to the state government to again look into the grouses of the remaining Murum Penans who have yet to agree to the relocation plan.

Murum is located some 550km south of Miri and the protests there are by the Penans.

In Ulu Baram, the protests are being staged by more than 300 natives from the Kenyah, Kayan and Penan communities against the proposed Baram Dam site located between Long Kesseh and Long Naah some 200km inland from Miri.

The Star Online Published: Tuesday November 5, 2013 MYT 9:47:00 AM 

SCANE: Amend the Sarawak Natural Resources & Environment Ordinance

Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE) calls upon the Sarawak state government to amend the existing Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance 1994 (NREO 1994) relating to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and allow for public participation prior to the approval of the EIA in the state.

SCANE opines that it is time for the state government to review and amend the NREO 1994 to provide transparency in the EIA processes that requires public participation and scrutiny prior to EIA approval as well as strengthening environmental measures by incorporating the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA), the Equator Principle and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples.

As it is now, the authority of the EIA approval for certain projects in Sarawak is the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) which is subject to the NREO 1994.

Unlike the Federal Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA), the NREO 1994 excludes public participation in the EIA process, unless the project proponent so desires. The nature of the EIA process in Sarawak is non-transparent and contrary to good governance, as there is no right given to the public to scrutinize and give feedback prior to EIA approvals. As a result of this exclusion, there were several shortcomings in the EIA approvals in Sarawak.

SCANE has found several shortcomings and flaws in the EIA processes and reports since the NREO 1994 came into force in 1995. There had been numerous of development projects related to forestry, plantations and dams where EIA have being conducted were approved without the knowledge of the public. The public at large is still in the dark as to how the EIA reports of these projects were approved in the first place. Even the approval of EIA for highly controversial projects such as hydro-power dams remain shrouded in mystery, despite of public outcry.

SCANE has also noticed that certain development projects that involve government-link corporations and certain private companies have started their activities ahead of the approval of the EIAs. In the case of the Murum hydropower dam project, the works have started about 10 months prior to EIA approval.

SCANE is also extremely shocked to learn that the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SIEA) studies for Murum hydropower dam has yet to be completed and approved by the NREB.

The EIA process and practices are clearly a mockery of the NREO, since they are approved despite suffering from serious flaws. As a result, public perception of the NREO is that its job is none other than to legalise stitched up jobs and the collusion of project proponents and the appointed EIA consultants in order to get the EIA approval of out of the way.

SCANE has also noticed that the EIA process under the NREO 1994 is only procedural and meant to pave the ways for the implementation of development projects. In most cases, it seems to serve merely to comply the requirements of the project proponents and their financiers.

SCANE therefore calls for the Sarawak government to amend the NREO 1994 for the sake of transparency and pave the way for free, prior and informed consent in the exercise and enforcement of the laws pertaining to the conservation and management of the environment in the state.

SCANE trusts that amending the NREO 1994 is the only way forward if the Sarawak government is serious about achieving sustainable development and putting in place sound environmental management policy to deal with our sensitive ecosystems.

Sarawak does technical studies on five proposed dams

17 February 2010

The state government, through Sarawak Energy Berhad, is now carrying out technical studies on five proposed hydroelectricity dams with a combined generation capacity of 6,000 megawatts (MW).

Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the dams were Baleh (1,400MW), Pelagus (410MW), Baram (1,200MW), Limbang (245MW) and Lawas (1,000MW).

“Apart from hydroelectricity, Sarawak is also focusing on coal-fired power plants to generate power for the state as well as for export,” he told reporters after the handing over of a feasibility study on the connection of electricity between Sarawak and Brunei here today.

He said two other hydroelectricity dams — the 944MW Murum Dam and the 2,400MW Bakun — would start operations in 2013 and at end of this year respectively.

He said Sarawak now had two coal-fired power plants — in Matadeng, Mukah and in Senari, Kuching — each with the capacity of about 500MW.

On the feasibility study, he said, it showed that Brunei had the potential to import up to 100MW of electricity in 2012 and up to 150MW in 2013.

Meanwhile, Brunei Energy Minister Datuk Seri Pahlawan Mohammad Daud said cooperation between Brunei and Sarawak in energy supply would benefit both sides.

He said Brunei needed additional energy resources due to the growing demand for electricity. — Bernama

Source: Malaysian Insider
Link: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/53446-sarawak-does-technical-studies-on-five-proposed-dams