Police spray teargas to end KL dam protest
Police spray teargas to end KL dam protest
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): A peaceful demonstration over the controversial Bakun hydroelectric dam turned ugly yesterday when police sprayed the crowd with tear gas following a scuffle.
More than 20 people including children were directly hit by the spray, and many were seen washing their eyes with water to reduce the burning sensation.
A scuffle apparently started when one of the protesters allegedly hurled abuses at the police. The man was later detained.
"I came here with my children because I was expecting a peaceful demonstration. I can't believe this happened," said Ahmad Sham, a supporter of the call to stop the Bakun project.
One of those directly hit by the spray was Josie Zaini, president of the Education and Research Association for Consumers and a winner of the National Award for Environmental Protection two years ago.
"I was doing nothing, not even shouting. A police officer passed by holding something like a mobile phone, I looked at him and before I knew it, he squirted something straight into my eyes. I think it's inhuman," she said.
About 200 protesters from 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had gathered in front of the headquarters of Ekran Bhd, the main contractor for the 15 billion ringgit (US$5.9 billion) dam project in Sarawak state on Borneo island.
They wanted to hand over a memorandum protesting the construction of the dam, which they say will be an ecological monstrosity, but they were told by the police to disperse as the gathering was illegal.
"We did not anticipate this. All we wanted to do was to gather peacefully, hand the memorandum over and go off. This was totally unnecessary, unprovoked violence by the police," said Sivavasa Rasia, one of the organizers of the demonstration.
The NGOs had criticized the government for allowing work to begin on the project before an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed.
The first phase of the EIA had been approved by the Sarawak state government, which has a stake in the project, allowing Ekran to clear-cut some 80,000 hectares of rainforest and farmland in what would be the dam's reservoir.
Approvals for the second and third parts of the EIA relating to the dam's construction and transmission of electricity are still pending.
Environmentalists and other critics said the study should have been approved as a single package, since if the second and third parts were rejected, a large area of rainforest would have been cleared for nothing.
Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last month challenged activists to give an environmentally-friendly energy alternative to hydroelectric power, and ruled out stopping work while holding consultations with the NGO groups.
Bakun dam, which would be second only in size to China's Three Gorges Dam, will eventually flood an area the size of Singapore and displace 9,000 tribespeople.
Electricity will be transmitted from Borneo to Peninsular Malaysia via a 650-kilometer long cable under the South China Sea.
Activists said local residents had not been adequately consulted about resettlement.
They said industrialized nations no longer build big dams because of safety concerns and the government has not shown a vital need for the Bakun project.
Three tribespeople from the area have brought a suit against the government in the Kuala Lumpur High Court to stop the dam.