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