KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23, 2014: Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) has
urged Malaysian and international human rights organisations to unite and
publicly condemn the actions taken by authorities and logging company
representatives to intimidate indigenous
peoples in Sarawak at the proposed site of the Baram Dam.
JOAS president Thomas Jalong, in a statement today, said
on Oct 21 the combined team comprising the police, Forest Department officers
and personnel representing logging interests from the company MM Golden were
alleged to have pressured residents of
Long Kesseh to abandon their customary lands and disperse from the site, where
they had set up a barricade.
"As a result of the violation of rights outlined in
the national constitution and provisions of the UN Declaration on Indigenous
Peoples, an urgent appeal was submitted on Oct 22 to the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.
"The appeal calls on her to raise concerns with the
Government of Malaysia about the actions taken to forcefully dismantle the
barricade, which had been set up one year ago by local residents of Long Kesseh
to assert their native customary rights (NCR) to land being allocated against
their will for the Baram Dam site,"
Jalong said.
Exactly one year ago, on Oct 23, 2013, the people of Long
Kesseh set up a barricade on an area
of native customary land that would be submerged if the
1200MW Baram Hydroelectric Project is
built as proposed by Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB).
If this dam is completed, it would inundate 26 villages,
including Long Kesseh, flooding 400 square kilometers of land and displacing
between 6000 to 20,000 people.
In response to SEB’s efforts to begin preparatory work
for the Baram Dam, Jalong said residents
of Long Kesseh and surrounding areas symbolically marked their defiance by
building a barricade on their own land.
He claimed that members of longhouses to be affected by
the Baram Dam, including Long Kesseh, have never given consent for any timber
clearance or other preparatory project works to proceed on customary lands.
"Yet, agents working with M. M. Golden Sdn Bhd are
claiming the land is part of a concession they were granted," he said, adding:" Although the circumstances
related to the issuing of their logging
permit remain ambiguous, the company has become
associated Sarawak Energy Berhad’s efforts to
clear timber around the Baram River and help pave the way
for the construction of the proposed
Baram Hydroelectric Project."
According to Jalong, a resident of Baram,, Sarawak Energy
needs access to the area currently being defended by the villagers if they are
to proceed with the proposed Baram Dam.
"Despite the fact that no social or environmental
impact assessments for the proposed dam appear to have been approved, SEB is ready to jump into
preparatory work.
"This confrontation at Long Kesseh is appears to
have the direct aim of opening up grounds for the Baram Dam to proceed.
"However, the personnel involved have failed to
intimidate the villagers into surrendering their land so that it could first be
stripped of timber and then subsumed by a dam," he said.
Serene Lim of the national human rights group, SUARAM,
explained: “Villagers in Baram are defending
their customary property rights and that they have not granted free, prior and
informed consent for their land to be taken by the government or any private
firm.
"That is why the people of Long Kesseh continue to
affirm their rights to the area, and why they decided to rebuild the
barricade.” She added.
“It is unacceptable that the authorities are evidently
backing M.M. Golden’s incursion onto native
customary lands, while completely disregarding clear
legal provisions and precedents protecting the
rights of original landholders. Given the complicity of
government authorities along with agents
hired by logging and energy companies in violating
fundamental human rights, we decided to bring
this case to the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," Serene said.
“We are calling on M.M. Golden, SEB and the Government of
Sarawak to respect the native
customary rights land designation and the rights of
Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed
consent,” said Tanya Lee of International Rivers.
“As a matter of urgency, government authorities,
companies and financiers must accept the fact that the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan
People of Baram have expressed their widespread opposition to the Baram Dam and
to further logging on their land.
"Upholding national and international law along with
industry best practices would mean withdrawing from the area and immediately
returning any land already acquired for the purposes of the Baram Dam to the
rightful landholders.," Tanya added.
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