Anti-Baram dam protesters celebrating their year-long blockades with prayers, games and barbecue

BARAM, Oct 24, 2014: The anti-Baram dam indigenous landowners celebrated their year-long peaceful blockades  with games, prayers and a barbecue, yesterday.

The blockades were erected on Oct 23 last year to stop the construction of the proposed Baram dam.

The celebration, however, was clouded by attempts to remove one of their  barricades by deploying a local man who claimed to be a timber license holder.

Picture: The rebuilt barricade at the proposed dam site

Lah Anyi, from the local village of Long Kesseh, went to one of the barricades, claiming to have a concession for logging in the Baram area, although this is no longer true.

Despite his claim being invalid, 50 policemen from the General Operation Force, which is experienced in dismantling blockades, and also representatives of the Forestry Department helped him to dismantle a barricade at the proposed dam site on Tuesday last week.

The indigenous protesters immediately set up a new barricade after Lah Anyi and the police had dismantled their previous one.

The police gave them a three-day period of grace to remove the barricade – and this period ends today. The protesters have now mobilised more people from all over Baram to help defend the blockades against this immediate threat.

The government's support for Lah Anyi is highly problematic, as Lah Anyi doesn’t possess a valid concession for the area and because the local communities have gone to court about the expropriation of their land for the dam and the ongoing logging activities: the case is still pending and is not meant to be heard in court before March 2015.

Picture: The indigenous protesters cutting the birthday cake together with visiting  friends.

Save Rivers Network chairman Peter Kallang said:"Sending a local troublemaker to disrupt the protests is just the latest tactic on the part of the Sarawak government, which is setting out to weaken indigenous resistance to the proposed Baram Dam.

 Picture: The barbecue in full swing 

"The blockades constitute an annoyance for the government and Sarawak Energy in their implementation of the 1200 Megawatt Baram Dam.

"The authorities started sending out Lah Anyi to resolve the situation for them in early September," he said.

Kallang explained: “Lah Anyi and his family held a concession for logging in the Baram Area in the early nineties.

"He later joined the Autorich company, which today holds the concession for logging in the area that will be affected by the proposed dam.

"Lah Anyi, however, is no longer working for Autorich or its subsidiary MM Golden. His claim to hold the rights to log the area is unfounded. We have reported him to the local police.”

Yesterday, the activists were celebrating one year of their successful blockade with cultural festivities, Kallang said.

He said that for the indigenous people to have manned two blockade camps and several barricades for a year constitutes an immense achievement.

 Picture: The blockade camp at km 15 of the Samling road near the proposed dam site

"They have repeatedly chased out workers wanting to conduct studies for the dam or carry out construction work on the access road. Work on the site has come to a complete standstill. "