British firm to relocate the 'village of the damned'

British firm to relocate the 'village of the damned'

By Susan Litherland

LONDON: In July nearly 10,000 people in Sarawak are to be removed from land held by their descendants for thousands of years -- to make way for a reservoir.

Some 15 longhouse villages will be emptied by Sarawak state authorities, with army back up if needed, ahead of the opening of the Bakun hydroelectric dam in 2002, when some 44,000 million cubic metres of floodwater will inundate the area.

According to the environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth, a British company, the Birmingham-based Bucknall Group, has even been given a contract to rehouse them. Although the affected peoples are still fighting a rearguard action against the dam, Bucknall is going ahead with laying the foundations. It aims to complete the task by June so that clearances can start the following month, according to FoE. The company was unwilling to confirm the schedule.

"The Bakun project is nothing short of a nightmare for thousands of Sarawak's rainforest people. Under the resettlement scheme they will deprived of their most basic needs, such as adequate land on which to continue their traditional farming activities," says FoE spokeswoman Sarah Tyack.

The Kayan, Kenyah, Lahanan and Ukit people are subsistence farmers living on the edge of the forest fringing the Balui river.

Earlier this month the chairman of the Bakun Region People's Committee, Bato Bagi, wrote to Bucknall urging it to withdraw from the scheme saying "you will only be guaranteeing the inevitable extermination of our very livelihood". Chief executive David Bucknall has made it clear he can expect no joy from the company.

"Naturally we are aware that there is a degree of controversy surrounding this project," says Bucknall, "but it has always been made clear to us that responsibility for consultation and environmental issues concerning the dam rested with the government and their state planning unit."

The company formed a joint venture with Malaysian firm Hasmi for the project.

Hasmi-Bucknall is staffed two thirds by Malaysians and is using local consultants and local materials to provide a ''well- planned and well-built environment".

"The Bucknall Group is at least trying to consult with the locals," concedes the FoE's Birmingham representative Louise Molloy, "even going so far as to construct a mini village for different tribes peoples so they can see what their new houses will look like and using local materials and typical house designs."

She was present at a meeting last month in which the FoE tried to get the firm to change its mind, but she admits contractual obligations and a reluctance to be a "martyr to the environmental cause" would prevent it from pulling out at this late stage.

David Bucknall says: "The company has carefully considered its involvement in this project from the beginning. We took the view that our role is entirely subsidiary to the major issues being highlighted by the environmental groups and therefore see no reason to reconsider our position."

In June the Bakun Hydroelectric Corporation, which will own and operate the dam, will be listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange and FoE is in the process of sending out hundreds of letters to likely UK investors pleading with them to steer clear of the flotation.

The 200-metre high dam of rock and concrete on the fast- flowing Balui river will flood 700 square kilometers of rainforest and farmland, roughly the size of Singapore. FoE and a coalition of 40 Malaysian NGOs warn it will affect 115 species of protected animals, including the great leaf monkey, Borneon gibbon and Malayan sunbear, and an estimated 1,230 unique plant species.

The fall in water flow above the dam will affect the delta and adjacent coastal areas. Downstream, water could become saline, making it unsuitable for drinking and irrigating land. And the dam site lies close to a fault line, with unthinkable consequences should an earthquake occur, as happened in 1994.

Last month the forest people were devastated by the decision of the Malaysian Court of Appeal to overturn their victory at the High Court last year which ruled that the Bakun Dam was illegal as it had skirted federal environment laws.

The appeal was won by the company Ekran Berhad which is leading the development, and the Federal Government and Sarawak State Government. Now the developers will build under Sarawak state law which means they do not have to clear the dam through the Kuala Lumpur Environment Ministry nor comply with the Federal Environmental Quality Act of 1974.

"The Appeal Court ruling deprives the forest people of their right to full consultation and representation that would have been provided under federal legislation," says Tyack.

Consistently denied an open dialogue with the government, and contemptuous of the deal offered them by its representatives, the Bakun people say they will attempt to launch another appeal.

Included in their list of concerns are the failure of the government to set any compensation figure, and the instruction that they may have to pay for their new houses out of their compensation money.

They consider the gift of one million chicks to rear on their new land to be an insult, and that the three acres allocated to each family is meager compared to the amount they currently own, and it will be nowhere near enough to farm using their traditional rotation techniques.

Resettlement can give a better life to displaced landowners if they are given new land with good irrigation. And if those who had no recognized land title before are granted them for new land they will gain security.

However, the Bakun people are worried that the overuse of too small plots will lead to soil erosion. And they are being forced to give up their own land, supposedly protected under native customary rights, in exchange for the right to work on Ekran- owned land.

The land at the resettlement site in the Balaga region is already inhabited by other indigenous communities and there is fear the move is likely to spark conflict and could lead to the submerging of smaller ethnic communities beneath the cultural weight of larger groups.

The developers are establishing oil palm plantations next to the site and the Bakun people have been advised to work on them; in effect turning them from land owners into waged laborers.

The dam was first mooted in 1982, and after long and bitter resistance was eventually abandoned in June 1990, in the run up to the Rio Earth Summit.

Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was quoted in the local daily Sabah Times as describing the about turn as "Malaysia's contribution towards preserving the global ecology and environment". Why the government changed its mind remains unclear.

There is no doubt that more electricity is needed to cope with Malaysia's rapid industrialization. Demand is increasing at 10 to 15 percent per year and shutdowns and blackouts are common.

But why not a stepped series of smaller dams up the river valley that would flood far less land and ease boat travel, as preferred by environmentalists.

According to a Ministry of Energy report further benefits brought by the dam to the region aside from employment will include transfer of technology, better flood control and navigation, and improved access to interior areas.

But plans to send the bulk of the electricity to the Malaysian Peninsula 650 kilometers away means the forest people will not benefit from their sacrifice.

-- IPS