By Peter Kallang
The recent statement by Dennis Ngau published in the Borneo Post on Feb 7 under the heading “Move to put off the Baram dam project a
sincere one by Chief Minister” made the Baram dam issue even more
perplexing.
The fact is that the Chief Minister has never made an
official announcement that the Baram dam is being cancelled.
In
the article, Dennis Ngau made some critical remarks about those whom
he claimed as “arguing the state government’s sincerity and continuing
to plant seeds of hatred among the people, misleading them with
inaccurate information”.
But the fact is that so far, there is no
assurance from the government that the proposed dam is now cancelled.
What actually happen is that in Long Lama on July 30,
2015, the Chief Minister announced that he is “willing to listen” to
those who oppose the dam as he is willing to listen to those who are
supporting the dam.
The Chief Minister also added that he had not made
his decision on the construction of the Baram dam yet. Meanwhile work is
on a temporary stop or “halted” or moratorium.
Since Dennis mentioned
that Chief Minister, Adenan is “a man of his word” and the people should
not doubt in what he said, Dennis ought to know that is exactly what
those who opposed the Baram dam believe.
They believe what they heard
Adenan said and not what Dennis is trying to persuade them, saying that
the “state government would not proceed with the Baram dam project”, as
stated in the article.
Although
works by the dam builder, Sarawak Energy Bhd, is on a moratorium,
logging is still going on in anticipation of the dam construction.
The
Baram villagers therefor still maintain two manned camp as monitoring
stations to ensure that there is no work for the dam going on and to
stop the logging activities.
SAVE Rivers have heard from an unofficial
source that the Forestry Department gave an order for all Salvage
Logging to be stopped. However, the directive from the Forestry
Department does not seem to be taken seriously on the ground. Logging is
still going on undeterred, if not stopped for the villagers at the
manned camp by the Baram villagers.
SAVE Rivers strongly advise politicians who are fighting for their
political survival not to confuse the people by calling the moratorium
on the Baram dam as a complete cancellation of the project.”
The cancellation is only real when it is in black and white and the
gazette for the dam site and the reservoir is revoked.- Feb 25, 2016
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