Angry Penans have not abandoned the blockade on access road to Murum dam

MURUM – Angry  Penans in Murum affected by the Murum Hydro-electric Power (HEP) Dam are still blockading the road leading to the construction site of the dam, contrary to claims by Assistant Minister of Culture and Heritage Liwan Lagang.

Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE) coordinator Raymond Abin, who visited the blockade site, confirmed today that the blockade in Murum is still on, proving that the newspaper  reports, quoting Liwan, that the blockade has been lifted is false.

Abin said: "Liwan did indeed tried to negotiate with the Penans to dismantle the blockade, however the Penans were not happy with him as he could not assure them in writing that the government would accede to their demands."

"The Penans however, did agree to Liwan's suggestion not to bring their children to the blockade site and with this some of the Penans brought their children back to their villages."

Liwan also invited a few Penans with him to Bintulu and then Kuching to meet and negotiate with government officials there.

"I met the elders and leaders in Murum yesterday and they are saying that the blockade is still on," Abin said.

"They told me that only one headman accompanied the few members of the community to Kuching and that they are not in the position to make any decisions on behalf of the whole community," he added, stating that they are still adamant with their demands to the government.

Among their demands are 25 hectares of land for each of the 300 families affected by the dam; RM500,000 cash compensation for each family; 30,000 hectares of land to each of the nine villages; education fund for their children; community development fund for their community; and rights to land which are not flooded (islands created) by the dam.

On Monday, 8 October 2012, it was reported in the Borneo Post that the Penans in Murum have ended their 10 day blockade with the intervention of Liwan, who is also the state assemblyman for Belaga.

The Penans are from Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu and Long Malim, which are located upstream, and Long Peran and Long Jaik in the downstream of the dam project site.

The Murum HEP will inundate and require the forced relocation of about 1,500 Penans as well as the 18 Kenyah-Badeng families in Long Umpa village near Long Malim in Danum River, the upper course of Murum River.

SAVE Rivers is again urging the government to listen to the plights of the Penans and is emphasising the need for the government to abide by the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which Malaysia has agreed to adopt at the United Nations.

SAVE Rivers network notes with great concern that the government has admitted through Minister of Land Development Tan Sri Dr James and now Liwan that there are a lot of weaknesses by the government in dealing with the Penans affected by the Murum HEP project.

SAVE Rivers is shocked to learn about the revelations from the leaked Murum Resettlement Action Plan for the natives to be displaced by the Murum Dam which can be found in the Sarawak Report website that explains how the impoverish Penans are neglected by the government and that the resettlement site is not suitable for them at all.

This is the very reason why SAVE Rivers is against the planned 11 dams which the state government is planning to build across Sarawak’s interior which will flood thousands of hectares of native customary land and displace thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories.

SAVE Rivers will continue to update on the situation of the blockade. Ends

Penans block second route to Murum dam, more Penans are taking part

Kuching, Oct 6, 2012: The Penans are intensifying their blockade on Murum dam construction and against the Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) with another linkage road to the dam site being blockaded yesterday.  

More Penans, including women and children, have joined the blockade, which entered its 10^th day today.

Picture: A young Penan mother, with two-month old baby,is also joining in the blockade.

The second blockade is mounted on an old logging track, passing through an oil palm plantation, and is narrow and only passable by four-wheel drive vehicle.

SEB is using the road as an alternative route to the dam site for the past three days.  

Since the Penans started the blockade on Sept 26, SEB and other companies have stopped using the main access road to Murum dam project site.

The major works on the construction of the dam have been paralyzed over the last one week.

The drivers have left home and let their cement tankers, lorry trucks and trailers with building materials had been hauled over and park at the road side near the blockade site.

The access to the construction site of Murum hydroelectric dam project is totally blocked on all directions with the setting-up of second road blockade by the Penans.

The number of Penans involved in the blockade has increased from 200 to 320 comprising the people from eight Penan villages and a Kenyah-Badeng village of Long Umpa near Long Malim in Danum River.

Within these few days more Penans are expected to join as most of them have completed planting their hill paddy farms.

The Penans are setting camps around the blockade site at Seping River Bridge, about 40 Km from Murum Hydroelectric dam project site.

They are making makeshift huts “sulap” covered with wild-ginger and palm leaves as well as plastic canvases.

Those families came with their babies, young children and elderly parents are occupying an old logging camp workshop nearby the site. 

Some of them made their huts using the deposed old zinc sheets that they managed to salvage at the old logging camp site.

Villageman of Long Luar, Madai Salo said that all his family members are involved in the road blockade. He came with his wife, sons and daughters together with his granddaughter of 2 months old.

Labang Paneh, a representative from Long Wat village stated that the blockade is a collective action of all the Penan villages affected by the construction of Murum dam project.

 “We will not remove the blockade or move out of here until our demands are resolved and fulfilled by the government”, he said.

Villageman of Long Wat, Pinang Bo blamed SEB for being disrespectful to the customs of the Penan community in Murum area.

He said that SEB has intentionally destroying the most important Penan’s scared and historical sites of Batu Tungun, Batu Pebin and Batu Aseu at the project site and with lots more will be destroyed in due time by the construction of the dam.

The Penans reported that the China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation and its Chinese contractor companies have told their Chinese workers not to leave their camps and the Murum dam construction site for fearing of safety and of any untoward incident with the locals.

As to maintain security, peace and order at the project area, the government has deployed some at least 20 police personnel from the General Operations Forces to the blockade site. Some of these police are stationed at the Murum dam construction site.

The blockade, which entered  entered its tenth day, involved the Penans from the villages of Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu and Long Malim, Long Peran and Long Jaik, together with a Kenyah-Badeng village of Long Umpa.

The Penans are protesting against the negligence of the government to act and respond to their issues, problems and demands with regard to the construction of Murum dam project.

They are also protesting against SEB for being disrespectful to their customs by destroying their scared and historical sites without their consent.

SEB, a Sarawak Government-owned power supplier, has awarded the contract work of the Murum dam project to China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation for an estimated cost of RM3 billion.

The progress of the construction work on the major structures of the dam is about 70% completed.

When completed, the Murum dam will flood about 24,500 hectares of native customary rights land and forest of the Penan villages.

The dam catchment area is 275,000 hectares comprising the mainly Pelieran, Danum and Usun Apau Plateau, the ancestral land of the indigenous communities in Sarawak.

The Murum dam project is scheduled to be ready by 2013

 

Baru tells of the unimaginable suffering of the Murum Penans

“It is obvious that nobody in this current government has the will or the desire or the moral courage to do what is right" - Baru Bian

Kuching, Oct 5, 2012: The latest exposes in the alternative media and some mainstream press on the Penan blockade of an access road to the Murum dam in Belaga district over the past few days brings home  the heights of heartlessness and hypocrisy that the Barisan Nasional government has reached.

“The revelations tell of the unimaginable suffering of the Murum Penans who have been treated in the most callous and contemptible manner by the dam-building bullies and the uncaring government headed by the man reputed to be the richest man in Malaysia.

“The Penans have no choice but to create a blockade to get some attention from the authorities and civil society,” Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian told reporters today.

He said the Penans need the support of every citizen of Malaysia who cares about justice and humanity.

“The details revealed in the ‘Resettlement Action Plan’ that was leaked tell the shocking truth about the lives of the Penans and the total neglect of them by the government that plans to wipe out the land which has been their home and provided their livelihood for generations,” Baru, who is also the State Assemblyman for Ba’Kelalan, said.

Some of the details on the lives of the Penans:

·         Assistance from the government is important but it has not been regular and in some cases, zero assistance given

·         They receive an average income of only RM154 per family per month, well below the official rural poverty line index of RM830 per month

·         They begged for teachers for years but none were sent; less than 10% have access to education

·         Women and babies still die in childbirth – no medical support

·         No medical assistance and no doctors; the jungle medicines they depended on have been destroyed by logging

·         No official status as no ICs, therefore no access to poverty eradication programmes

Added to the litany of woes of the Penans, Baru said is the insult of Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing who claims that they are hostile because they lack understanding, and that they were not against the project per se but they were unhappy about some of the things implemented without being properly informed.

“What is there to understand about the shameful way they have been treated?

“How would anyone of us like it if our house is destroyed, our bank accounts taken from us and our source of support obliterated from the face of the earth?

“Can we bear to watch our families suffer the indignities of poverty and the humiliation of hunger and hopelessness?

“Please do not be so blasé about the problems faced by the Penans by waving them off as a problem of communication, and pointing the finger at NGOs for instigating them.

“If anything, the NGOs should be commended for helping them to articulate their troubles as the government has preferred not to extend educational facilities to them to help uplift their lives or to help them in any other way,” Baru  said.

“As for Belaga State Assemblyman Liwan Lagang, sent in to ‘explain’ matters, we shall see what he hopes to achieve at this stage of the development.  

“I hope he would be a real mediator between his people and the Government of the day and be very neutral in this issue,” he said, adding that the truth must be known and be told to ensure there be a permanent solution. 

Baru noted that in the Sarawak State Assembly on  June 29, 2011,  Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud of Sarawak stated that:

           

“In the development of major projects including new dams, the State Government has raised the standard in the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment to be in line with the international requirement embodied in the Equator Principles and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples.

The Equator Principles are voluntary set of standards established by global financial institutions for project finance. The Equator Principles are formulated along the same line as the environmental standards of the World Bank and the social policies with the International Financial Corporation or IFC which is part of the World Bank Group and its objective is to provide loans to improve the quality of lives of people in its developing member countries.

In essence, these international standards can be seen to contain the key elements of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation to the Proposed Action Plan, of Independent Review of Impact Assessment, of Public Discussion of the Impact Assessment and the establishment of a Grievance Mechanism.”

“The total and blatant disregard of the rights of the Penan shows again the hypocrisy of the government and their all too familiar form over substance hallmark.

“Despite what Taib proclaimed so righteously and proudly, the government is in truth completely unconcerned about implementing the recommendations of UNDRIP or the Equator principles, particularly the requirement for free, prior and informed consent prior to the commencement of development projects. How shameful this is.

“I call upon SUHAKAM to investigate the human rights abuses committed against this group of neglected people,” Baru said, calling upon the people of Malaysia to support the Penans by making contributions to the appeal for funds as they are lacking in every basic necessity and are enduring hardships on the site of the blockade.

He also called upon all right-minded people to act upon this outrage, that a group of people are on the brink of devastation because of the insatiable greed of the leaders of this state, while the MACC cries that it is unable to act against a ‘rich state leader’ due to archaic laws despite opening 6 investigation papers.

“It is obvious that nobody in this current government has the will or the desire or the moral courage to do what is right.

“The people are now recognising that this government has far overstepped the boundaries of decency and descended into the den of dam-mad depravity.

“A change of government is the only answer to the insanity that has beset this country. A Pakatan Rakyat government will restore justice to the oppressed and return to them what is rightfully theirs,” he added.