Bakun dam to be much worse than PKFZ scandal

Kua Kia Soong | Sep 22, 09 8:41am


Nearly 50 years after independence for Sarawak, we see a comparison with the ‘Highland Clearances’ in Scotland during the 18th century when the highlanders were driven off their lands for capitalistic sheep farming.
MCPX
The English did it with brutality and thoroughness through “butcher” Lord Cumberland and even obliterated the ‘wild’ Celtic mode of life.

What we have seen in Sarawak recently has the same capitalist logic, namely, to drive the indigenous peoples out of their native customary lands so that these lands can be exploited for their commercial value and the indigenous people can be “freed” to become wage labourers.

Thus, even though the accursed Bakun dam had been suspended in 1997 due to the financial crisis, the government still went ahead to displace 10,000 indigenous peoples to the Sungai Asap resettlement camp in 1998.

Well, there is a reason for this - the contract for the Sungai Asap camp had already been given out to a multinational company. After all, the whole Bakun area, which is the size of the island of Singapore and home to the indigenous peoples, had already been thoroughly logged...

All this happened while Dr Mahathir Mahathir was the prime minister. Wasn’t he a liability to the BN government then?

I was part of the fact-finding mission to Sungai Asap in 1999 and even then we could see the destruction of so many unique indigenous communities and their cultures, including the Ukit tribe.

There was only one word to describe what had been done to these indigenous peoples and their centuries-old cultures... wicked!
Banned from my own country

As a result of my concern for the indigenous peoples and the natural resources of Sarawak, I was told at Kuching airport in August 2007 that I could not enter Sarawak. So much for 1Malaysia! So much for national integration! So much for nearly 50 years of independence! I was not even welcome in my own country.

But the contracts for the resettlement scheme and the logging are chicken feed compared to the mega-bucks to be reaped from the mega-dams. Even before the Bakun dam ever got started, Malaysian taxpayers had to compensate dam builder Ekran Bhd and the other “stakeholders” close to RM1 billion in 1997.

How much does it cost to pay our ‘mata-mata’ (police) to investigate the alleged scandalous rape of our Penan women?

The contracts from building the Bakun dam and the undersea cable run in excess of RM20 billion. Malaysian taxpayers won’t know the final cost until they are told the cost overruns when the projects have been completed.

But if the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal is anything to go by, the leaks and non-accountability all along the line will result in Malaysian taxpayers paying billions for the same kind of daylight robbery.

In the early 90s, when the government was trying to assure us that there would be no irresponsible logging in Sarawak, I pointed out in Parliament that if the government could not monitor the Bukit Sungai Putih permanent forest and wildlife reserve just 10 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, how did they expect us to believe they could monitor the forests in Bakun?

Likewise today, if the government cannot monitor a project in Port Klang just half an hour from Kuala Lumpur, how can they assure us that they can monitor a project deep in upriver Sarawak and through 650km of the South China Sea?

How can we be assured that we will get to the bottom of politically-linked scandals when the Sarawak police tell us they don’t have the resources to investigate the rape of Penan women and girls?

How can we be assured that the Sarawak state government cares about its indigenous peoples and its natural resources when NGO activists are banned from entering Sarawak to investigate a part of their own country?

It makes no economic sense

In 1980, the Bakun dam was proposed with a power generating capacity of 2,400MW even though the projected energy needs for the whole of Sarawak was only 200MW for 1990.

The project was thus coupled with the proposal to build the world’s longest (650km) undersea cable to transmit electricity to the peninsula. An aluminum smelter at Sarawak’s coastal town of Bintulu was also proposed to take up the surplus energy.

In 1986, the project was abandoned because of the economic recession although the then PM Mahathir announced just before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that this was “proof of Malaysia’s commitment to the environment”.

So what happened to that commitment, Mahathir?

In 1993, with the upturn in the Malaysian economy, the government once again announced the revival of the Bakun dam project. To cushion the expected protests, then Energy Minister S Samy Vellu gave Parliament a poetic description of a “series of cascading dams” and not one large dam as had been originally proposed.

Before long, it was announced that the Bakun dam would be a massive 205-metre high concrete face rockfill dam - one of the highest dams of its kind in the world - and it would flood an area the size of Singapore island.

The undersea cable was again part of the project. There was also a plan for an aluminum plant, a pulp and paper plant, the world’s biggest steel plant and a high-tension and high-voltage wire industry.

Have feasibility studies been done to see if there will be adequate local, regional and international demand for all these products?

Six years later, after the economy was battered by the Asian Financial Crisis, the government again announced that the project would be resumed albeit on a smaller scale of 500MW capacity.

Before long in 2001, the 2,400MW scale was once again proposed although the submarine cable had been shelved. Today we read reports about the government and companies still contemplating this hare-brained undersea scheme which is now estimated to cost a whopping RM21 billion!

More mega-dams to be built

The recent announcement that the Sarawak government intends to build two more mega-dams in Sarawak apart from the ill-fated Bakun dam is cause for grave concern.


Malaysian taxpayers, Malaysian forests and Malaysian indigenous peoples will again be the main victims of this misconceived plan. We have been told that some 1,000 more indigenous peoples will have to be displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for these two dams.
Apart from the human cost, ultimately it will be the Malaysian consumers who pay for this expensive figment of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s wild imagination. Indeed, enough taxpayers’ money has been wasted - Sarawak Hidro has already spent some RM1.5 billion on the Bakun dam project.

Right now, the country is being fed conflicting reports about energy demand. There is supposed to be a 43 percent oversupply of electricity capacity in peninsula Malaysia. Experienced Bakun dam watchers will tell you such conflicting and mutually contradictory assertions have been used by the dam proponents to justify every flip flop of this misconceived project.

Apart from the economic cost and the wastage, how are investors supposed to plan for the long-term and medium term? What is the long-term plan for Bakun? Can Bakun compete with the rest of the world or for that matter, Indonesia?

The suggestion for aluminum smelters to take up the bulk of Bakun electricity have been mentioned ever since the conception of the Bakun dam project because they are such a voracious consumer of energy. Even so, has there ever been any proper assessment of the market viability of such a project with the cheaper operating costs in China?

Does it matter that the co-owner of one of the smelters is none other than Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Bhd Group, a conglomerate controlled by Taib’s family business interest?

Sarawak’s tin-pot government

Clearly, Bakun energy and Sarawak’s tin-pot governance do not give confidence to investors. First it was Alcoa, and then Rio Tinto - both giant mining multinationals - had expressed second thoughts about investing in Sarawak.

Concerned NGOs have all along called for the abandonment of this monstrous Bakun dam project because it is economically ill-conceived, socially disruptive and environmentally disastrous.

The environmental destruction is evident many miles downstream since the whole Bakun area has been logged by those who have already been paid by Sarawak Hidro.

The social atrophy among the 10,000 displaced indigenous peoples at Sungai Asap resettlement scheme remains the wicked testimony of the Mahathir/Taib era. The empty promises and damned lives of the displaced peoples as forewarned by NGOs in 1999 have now been borne out.

The economic viability of the Bakun dam project has been in doubt from the beginning and the announcement to build two more dams merely reflects a cavalier disregard for the indigenous peoples, more desecration of Sarawak’s natural resources and a blatant affront to sustainable development.

When will Malaysians ever learn?
Dr KUA KIA SOONG is director of Suaram. He was member of parliament for Petaling Jaya from 1990 to 1995.

CABARAN HAPUS ISU PERKAUMAN

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 08:01am

Utusan oleh Mohd. Khuzairi Ismail

SANGAT menyedihkan selepas 52 tahun kemerdekaan negara, kita masih lagi perlu diingatkan untuk meruntuhkan tembok perkauman. Dalam usia separuh abad terbinanya negara Malaysia hasil kesepakatan dan toleransi pemimpin pelbagai kaum terdahulu, semangat itu seharusnya sudah menjadi intipati dan sebati di dalam jiwa segenap lapisan masyarakat.

Malangnya, kita hari ini lebih mengenali diri dan jati diri berdasarkan siapa kita mengikut latar belakang kaum, ras, etnik atau asal-usul. Melayu, Cina dan India akan selamanya dipisahkan sebagai kaum yang berbeza dan bukannya satu bangsa Malaysia. Barangkali disebabkan jurang itu juga, banyak tuntutan dan polemik yang melangkaui sempadan agama dan kaum berlaku dalam masyarakat hari ini.

Jika inilah yang menjadi amalan, maka percayalah soal perpaduan akan terus menghambat negara waima selepas berabad negara mengecapi kemerdekaan sekalipun.

Bukan rahsia lagi cabaran kepada perpaduan itu bermula pada era penjajahan British yang memisahkan masyarakat Tanah Melayu menerusi dasar pecah dan perintah.

Dasar ini telah menyebabkan kita berpecah-belah mengikut pola kependudukan dan penempatan, jenis pekerjaan dan sistem pendidikan mengikut garis kaum. Namun itu bukanlah alasan untuk kita terus-menerus meletakkan kesalahan tersebut kepada penjajah. Ini kerana kesilapan itu boleh diperbaiki apatah lagi negara sudah lama mengecapi nikmat kemerdekaan.

Yang penting ialah sejauh mana dalam persekitaran hari ini, wujud sifat toleransi, hormat dan faham beralaskan kejujuran. Bagaimana elemen ini diterima berdasarkan kepada kekuatan Perlembagaan?

Adakah setiap individu bersedia untuk membelakangkan amalan budaya dan kepercayaan dan memberi keutamaan kepada nilai kemanusiaan?

Ini memandangkan nilai-nilai itu merupakan asas penting untuk meruntuhkan dinding yang memecah-belahkan masyarakat. Perkara ini turut ditekankan oleh Timbalan Dekan Pusat Pengajian Sains Kemasyarakatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Dr. Sivamurugan Pandian.

Lebih jauh, beliau melemparkan pertanyaan sejauh mana setiap daripada kita meletakkan diri dalam sebuah keluarga besar yang ada nilai 'pengorbanan' serta 'kompromi' yang ditinggalkan oleh warisan lepas?

Namun, tambah beliau, timbul dilema siapa yang harus berkorban dan siapa pula harus berkompromi. Kemuafakatan dan keharmonian memberi penghormatan kepada nilai kemanusiaan yang tidak melihat siapakah yang memberi lebih, dan siapa pula yang kurang memberi dan lebih merasa.

''Jika wujud perasaan seperti itu, maka ia boleh berakhir dengan perasaan prasangka antara satu sama lain. Stereotaip akan menebal dan sifat etnosentrik akan mendominasi pemikiran seseorang individu," ujar beliau.

Sejajar dengan proses pemodenan dan pembangunan juga, masyarakat hari ini seolah-olah semakin luntur nilai 'kemasyarakatan'. Yang muncul adalah sifat materialistik dan individualistik yang menyaksikan semakin luntur dan pupusnya sifat kejujuran kerana persaingan ini.

Ada yang berebut kekayaan untuk diri sendiri dan lupa ada masyarakat sekeliling. Ada yang menyoal 'hak' dan 'tanggungjawab' serta 'Perlembagaan' yang hanya dirujuk mengikut keselesaan masing-masing.

Ini menyebabkan lahir ikatan longgar bukan sahaja dalam sesuatu kumpulan etnik tetapi juga hubungan antara etnik. Kerana itu juga tambah Sivamurugan, seiring dengan proses modenisasi, kita semua harus mempunyai rasa bertanggungjawab.

Keluarga harus menanam nilai ini di rumah supaya anak mereka menjadi 'idola' di mana sahaja kerana perpaduan sebenar bermula dari rumah. Ia mencerminkan kesungguhan kita bersama dalam apa sahaja keadaan.

''Kesemua etnik ada sifat etnosentrik untuk menanam semangat kekitaan tetapi lebih daripada itu, jika mereka memiliki perwatakan boleh hormat, faham dan bertolak ansur dengan kumpulan etnik lain, maka perpaduan akan subur dengan sendirinya," tambah beliau.

Dalam masa yang sama, pemimpin juga perlu tampil sebagai individu contoh yang boleh diteladani oleh setiap lapisan masyarakat. Dalam suasana politik yang tidak menentu ketika ini, pemimpin sewajarnya memiliki nilai 'kepimpinan' yang tinggi. Paling utama, ia perlu berasaskan kepada toleransi dan semangat kerjasama yang tinggi seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh pejuang kemerdekaan lampau.

Seperti yang dijelaskan oleh Sivamurugan, politik etnik telah mendominasi sejarah politik tanah air sejak sekian lamanya. Walaupun ramai menyatakan bahawa selepas 8 Mac 2008, pola pengundian menunjukkan bahawa kita sudah melangkaui garis keetnikan, namun sedar atau tidak, hakikatnya kita mempunyai kesedaran yang lebih tinggi ke atas persoalan keetnikan selepas 8 Mac 2008.

''Demokrasi negara akan matang dengan sendirinya jika watak yang terlibat juga matang," tegasnya.

Persoalannya, adakah watak utama dalam politik mengetahui bahawa kita masih terikat dengan sentimen emosi dan bukan rasional dalam hal-hal tertentu walaupun ada ketikanya kita mahukan kebebasan Barat dipraktis di negara ini.

Ada kekangan tertentu yang memberi limitasi ke atas kebebasan dalam sebuah negara yang terdiri dari masyarakat pelbagai etnik. Pemimpin harus berwaspada dalam memainkan sentimen perkauman kerana masyarakat hari ini lebih celik dari sudut ilmu, informasi dan pendekatan yang digunakan untuk mendapatkan maklumat.

Pemimpin ada pengikut dan pengikut yang memberi kesetiaan tidak berbelah bahagi kepada pemimpin dan parti akan taksub dengan pemimpinnya sehingga bersedia untuk melakukan apa sahaja untuk pemimpin tersebut.

Kerana itu juga tambah Sivamurugan, pemimpin perlu lebih bertanggungjawab dan memastikan bahawa walaupun berbeza ideologi politik, itu tidak bermakna kemuafakatan harus dikorbankan untuk mencapai matlamat akhir mereka iaitu mendapatkan kedudukan dan pangkat.

''Paling utama perpaduan tidak boleh dikompromi untuk apa sahaja walau untuk sesiapa sekalipun. Dalam menyoal hak dan tanggungjawab, kita mesti bertekad mempertahan apa yang sedang terbina sekian lamanya," ujar beliau.

Pandangan yang serupa turut dikongsi oleh pensyarah Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi Universiti Malaya (UM), Dr. Noor Sulastry Yurni Ahmad.

Beliau turut melihat permainan politik di Malaysia tidak dapat lari daripada perjuangan berunsurkan kaum yang turut melebarkan jurang kemajmukan rakyat di negara ini.

Justeru bagaimana perpaduan dalam erti kata sebenar boleh dicapai dan masalah integrasi kaum dapat diselesaikan jika parti berbaur perkauman itu masih dikekalkan?

Kerana itu langkah terbaik ujar beliau ialah memansuhkan parti berasaskan perkauman dan mewujudkan satu parti tunggal dengan perjuangan 1Malaysia. Persoalannya mampukah ia dicapai secara aman?

Sesuatu yang pasti ia bukanlah sesuatu yang mudah untuk dicapai kerana jika tidak, parti Barisan Nasional yang tidak pernah gagal memerintah negara sudah melakukannya sejak negara merdeka 52 tahun lalu. Ini kerana masyarakat Malaysia sudah terpisah dengan jurang perbezaan kaum yang sangat nyata.

''Apa yang boleh dilakukan adalah melalui perjuangan ideologi bagi mengaburi perjuangan yang berorientasikan kaum seperti bangsa Malaysia, Wawasan 2020, Satu Malaysia," ujar Noor Sulastry.

Namun, itu bukanlah halangan untuk kita merealisasikan ideologi perjuangan kaum menjadi kenyataan pada satu hari nanti.

Atas semangat perpaduan dan persaudaraan yang tinggi untuk membina satu wajah bangsa Malaysia sebenar, perbezaan itu boleh menjadi persamaan yang mengikat kita menjadi lebih bersaudara.

RESPON :
MENGHAPUS ISU PERKAUMAN SANGAT HAMPIR MUSTAHIL JIKA SETIAP KITA HANYA MENGUTAMAKAN KAUMNYA SENDIRI. APA YANG DIMAKSUDKAN DENGAN MENGUTAMAKAN KAUM SENDIRI?

ASAS KEPADA MEMENTINGKAN "KAUM" SENDIRI INILAH YANG MENUMBUHKAN ISU PERKAUMAN.

KITA LIHAT DI SEKITAR KITA PADA HARI INI, PARTI YANG MEMERINTAH NEGARA ADALAH BERASASKAN "KAUM" YANG DOMINAN IAITU UMNO-MELAYU, MCA-CINA DAN MIC-INDIA. INILAH YANG MENJADIKAN ISU PERKAUMAN INI SUKAR DIHAPUSKAN.

TIDAK GUNA RASANYA KITA MEMINTA ORANG LAIN JANGAN MENGGUNAKAN ISU PERKAUMAN SEDANGKAN PARTI KITA "MENGGUNAKAN DAN MENGAMALKAN PERKAUMAN". IANYA TERSURAT PADA NAMA PARTI SEPERTI UMNO, MCA DAN MIC.

SANGGUPKAH PARTI - PARTI "PERKAUMAN" INI DIBUBARKAN? KALAU TAK SANGGUP, MAKA MUSTAHILLAH ISU PERKAUMAN INI DIHAPUSKAN. KATA-KATA NASIHAT DARI PARTI BERASASKAN PERKAUMAN INI UMPAMA "KETAM MENGAJAR ANAK BERJALAN LURUS"

KALAU PARTI INI DIBUBARKAN MAKA AKAN LEBIH SENANGLAH KITA BERCAKAP SOAL MENGHAPUSKAN ISU PERKAUMAN KERANA PEMERINTAH DAN PIHAK BERKUASA BUKAN LAGI "PERKAUMAN". MAKA SENANGLAH PEMERINTAH MENASIHAT RAKYAT AGAR TIDAK BANGKITKAN ISU PERKAUMAN. TERMASUK MENASIHATKAN PERSATUAN-PERSATUAN YANG BERASASKAN PERKAUMAN. JUSTERU TIDAK AKAN ADA LAGI "KETAM MENGAJAR ANAK BERJALAN LURUS".

CABARAN HAPUS ISU PERKAUMAN BUKANLAH MASALAH BESAR KALAU SEMUA PIHAK TERUTAMANYA PARTI PEMERINTAH TIDAK LAGI MENGGUNAKAN NAMA YANG BERORIENTASIKAN "PERKAUMAN".

KITA HARAP SUATU HARI NANTI ISU PERKAUMAN INI AKAN TERHAPUS APABILA PAKATAN RAKYAT MEMERINTAH DENGAN LEBIH 2/3 DAN MENGHAPUSKAN UNDANG-UNDANG YANG MEMBENARKAN PARTI-PARTI POLITIK YANG BERASASKAN KAUM YANG DIKATAKAN "MENGANCAM KESELAMATAN NEGARA" SEPERTI ALASAN TIDAK MENDAFTAR MALAYSIAN DAYAK CONGRES(MDC). UMNO, MCA DAN MCA BOLEH PULAK DITERUSKAN.

DENGAN ADANYA PIHAK BERKUASA YANG BUKAN BEERASASKAN PERKAUMAN MAKA ADA KUASA DAN WIBAWA DALAM ARAHAN DAN PERINTAH YANG DIKELUARKAN. KERANA SENARIO "KETAM MENGAJAR ANAK BERJALAN LURUS " TIDAK WUJUD LAGI.

FIKIR-FIKIRKANLAH. APAKAH PENDAPAT ANDA?

SENATOR DATUK SERI IDRIS JALA SWORN IN AS MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR: 2 September 2009, Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala had sworn in as Minister in the Prime Ministers' Department today. His appointment as minister considered the highest recognition ever given to native Orang Ulu people of Sarawak towards nation building.

His appointment to the government according to him is as "national service" for the nation. This is because he accepted the offer not for higher pay. He even could earn more in private/corporate sector compare to government post or even compare to his earning in MAS.

The "national service" is something very noble example shown by an Orang Ulu and a good Christian. There are certain quarters who "fight" for ministerial post just to enriched themselves. His "national service" concept should be emulate by all including politicians.