KUCHING,
May 29, 2014: Is there more to it than meets the eye?
Are
there people behind the Penans who lodged a report with the Belaga police against Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and the state
government?
Did
SEB or the state government short-changed them as alleged that prompted them to
lodge the report? Are there truths to the allegations by the Penans?
Was
the report deliberately timed with the visit of the SAVE Rivers delegation, led
by its president Peter Kallang, to Europe and to tell the European governments
of the ill-treatments of the Penans at the hands of the Sarawak government?
There
are no "wrong" and "right" answers to these questions. It
depends on whose sides you are on or supporting.
Yesterday,
representatives from the Penan communities, affected by the Murum dam, lodged
the report against SEB and the State government, claiming that they have failed
to fulfil their promises of giving each Penan family of RM850 per month.
There
are about 1,500 Penan families, affected by the dam, have moved to Metalun and
Tegulang resettlements in Belaga.
The Penan representatives who lodged the report
are Tua Kampung Madai Salo, representing Penan families from Long Luar; Ramlie
Bujang, representing Penan families from Long Tangau; Ngang Buling of Long
Singu; and Liew Bueh of Long Menapa.
In their police report, they claimed that they were supposed to be paid RM850 per month per family as an incentive for them to move out of their original longhouses to new resettlements such as Metalun and Tegulang.
But since January this year, each family is being paid RM250 in cash and an estimated RM600 worth of foodstuff.
“Sometimes, the value of the food bought for us did not come to RM600. For example, they gave us a 10-kilo bag of rice and 5kg of chicken wings, and other times, the value of the food is much less,” said Tua Kampung Madai.
“We have to lodge a police report because we feel that we are being cheated, and want the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption commission (MACC) to investigate.
“We insist that the government and SEB keep their promise and give us cash of RM850. We don’t want them to buy food items for us.
“We know what we want to buy for our needs. Just give us cash as promised,” he stressed, expressing unhappiness over this failure of the government to keep its promise.
The Penans moved out after the impoundment of the dam which began last September.
In their police report, they claimed that they were supposed to be paid RM850 per month per family as an incentive for them to move out of their original longhouses to new resettlements such as Metalun and Tegulang.
But since January this year, each family is being paid RM250 in cash and an estimated RM600 worth of foodstuff.
“Sometimes, the value of the food bought for us did not come to RM600. For example, they gave us a 10-kilo bag of rice and 5kg of chicken wings, and other times, the value of the food is much less,” said Tua Kampung Madai.
“We have to lodge a police report because we feel that we are being cheated, and want the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption commission (MACC) to investigate.
“We insist that the government and SEB keep their promise and give us cash of RM850. We don’t want them to buy food items for us.
“We know what we want to buy for our needs. Just give us cash as promised,” he stressed, expressing unhappiness over this failure of the government to keep its promise.
The Penans moved out after the impoundment of the dam which began last September.
Apart from asking RM850 cash handout to each
family, the Penans also demanded RM500,000 per family for the loss of their
ancestral lands and longhouses, and 23 acres of forest for each family as well
as royalty from the sale of electricity from the dam.
The 944MW Murum dam is to supplement the Bakun dam, also in the Belaga district, to supply electricity to industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score).
The RM4 billion Murum is the third dam to be built after the Batang Ai and Bakun dams.
The 944MW Murum dam is to supplement the Bakun dam, also in the Belaga district, to supply electricity to industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score).
The RM4 billion Murum is the third dam to be built after the Batang Ai and Bakun dams.
The state government will next build the Baleh
dam in Kapit, together with the Baram dam.
Responding to the police report, SEB chief executive officer Torstein Dale Sjotviet said that SEB cannot changed what have been agreed upon between the State government and the Penans before.
Responding to the police report, SEB chief executive officer Torstein Dale Sjotviet said that SEB cannot changed what have been agreed upon between the State government and the Penans before.
Any change must be made through
consultations and discussions, certainly not through the lodging of the police
report.
Sjotveit said he is disappointed
that some Penans have lodged the report against SEB for allegedly
short-changing them in their monthly food allowance.
It was understood that
under an arrangement, each affected Penan household would get a monthly
allowance of RM850, comprising RM250 in cash and the rest in kind, especially
foodstuff.
“How to give them the
monthly allowance? It was agreed to between the state government and the Penan
community, and SEB is only helping the District Office implement it,” Sjotviet
explained.
In any case, he would look
into the Penan complaints.
“I am very sure SEB is not cheating them. I
have been told by my staff that some Penans have wanted the monthly allowance
of RM850 to be paid in cash rather than the pre-arrangement of partly in kind
and partly in cash.
“That has been the key
question, and that could be why they filed the police report.”
ends
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