I Don't Give A Dam

[jubilee1919]

But apparently Sarawak gave not 2 but planning another to make a total of 3.

Reconsider plans for dams in Sarawak

November 24, 2012

By Alan Ling Sie Kiong

The proposed Baram Dam has created much opposition and protests from inhabitants worried about losing their lands, properties and heritage to being submerged by water.

Do we really need that much electricity by building so many mega dams, now that we already have excess capacity from existing dams like Bakun and Batang Ai?

Must we also move towards heavy industries like the aluminium smelting plant which are generally highly polluting and damaging to the people‘s health and environment?

Is SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy) really the way forward for the economy and people of Sarawak, at the expense of the rich biodiversity of tropical rainforests, native lands and heritage of the indigenous people, and the natural environment?

From the recent Penan blockade of the Murum Dam project, we learned that the state government has failed to ensure participation of the affected Penans in the decision making process.

The government did not obtain free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous people which violated the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous People (UNDRIP) to which Malaysia is a signatory.

UNDRIP explicitly recognises that indigenous communities should have a voice in their own development, including the design of any housing, economic and social programmes on their behalf.

By building dams without their consent, the government is violating their rights.

I urge the state government to reconsider plans for the 12 new mega dams and relocate funds to other more useful and practical projects, like the construction of a comprehensive network of roads and highways much needed by the people.

I believe foreign investors will also welcome the availability of good roads and highways in Sarawak that will ease the flow of their goods and services, and the people will thank the government for improving their mobility and helping to boost the local economy.

Alan Ling Sie Kiong is the state assemblyman for Piasau. He is also an advocate & solicitor.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/11/24/reconsider-plans-for-dams-in-sarawak/

Politicians and big businesses are destroying pristine forests and wildlife in their insatiable greed for personal wealth. It's a shame that the indigenous tribes and locals will not benefit from it.

 

[SecurityGUARD]

This pales in comparison to the three gorges dam.

That one is colossal in scale and historical damage, including livelihood.

 

[OppaGANGNAMStyle]

Could be the superstitions plus nature at play in the hearts of the locals that is the issue here.

 

[Wildfire]

This pales in comparison to the three gorges dam.

That one is colossal in scale and historical damage, including livelihood.

Dams ... Damned if you do, damned if you don't: It's a tough call

The number of new hydropower projects in China could surge as the country's populist premier Wen Jiabao retires
and a new leadership team races to meet ambitious 2020 energy goals.

Dam building slowed considerably under Wen, who personally intervened to block hydropower projects and avoid the
potential for protest from local populations. Projects such as the $59 billion (37 billion pounds) Three Gorges Dam
have been the focus of criticism over the social and environmental cost China is paying for development.

More dams could be a tough sell as an increasingly affluent public pushes back against a "growth at all costs" economic
model.

As China's new leaders consider how to power expansion, however, they have little choice but to push ahead with
the construction of 60 or more big hydro plants given that alternatives like coal or nuclear fuelled power may be
even less palatable to the population.

Considering the available options, the people of Sarawak should be thankful that their government did not opts
for the more prestige nuclear power station or two at their doorsteps.

 

[jubilee1919]

Dams ... Damned if you do, damned if you don't: It's a tough call

The number of new hydropower projects in China could surge as the country's populist premier Wen Jiabao retires
and a new leadership team races to meet ambitious 2020 energy goals.

Dam building slowed considerably under Wen, who personally intervened to block hydropower projects and avoid the
potential for protest from local populations. Projects such as the $59 billion (37 billion pounds) Three Gorges Dam
have been the focus of criticism over the social and environmental cost China is paying for development.

More dams could be a tough sell as an increasingly affluent public pushes back against a "growth at all costs" economic
model.

As China's new leaders consider how to power expansion, however, they have little choice but to push ahead with
the construction of 60 or more big hydro plants given that alternatives like coal or nuclear fuelled power may be
even less palatable to the population.

Considering the available options, the people of Sarawak should be thankful that their government did not opts
for the more prestige nuclear power station or two at their doorsteps.

China has many reasons for wanting the Three Gorges Dam a source of renewable energy which will produce huge amounts of electricity to power her growth as an industrial giant.

On the other hand Sarawak has perhaps a population of only 3 million and one dam is more than sufficient for her needs. The Malaysians needed electricity to be transported using undersea cables to Peninsula Malaysia which has insufficient electricity. But Peninsula Malaysia actually needed less than what the 3 dams can generate and they hope their Singapore neighbour will buy the excess.

Having experienced in the past Malaysia's bad faith in supplying the island's fresh water supply, Singapore probably will not enter into an agreement and be beholden to Malaysia again. Yet, Sarawak is under-developed lacking many public facilities, the public transport system primitive and the infrastructure development below par as compared to Peninsula Malaysia. The opposition leaders from Peninsular Malaysia tend to belittle the progress of Sarawak as poorer than theirs for a fact that the State, after about 50 years of Independence, still does not have a highway. Sarawak has been exploited by UMNO the only ruling party since independence and not much has progress in this state since then.

 

[Wildfire]

On the other hand Sarawak has perhaps a population of only 3 million and one dam is more than sufficient for her needs .....

Yes, Sarawak is a real heartbreaker!

Often under appreciated by mainland Malaysia, over exploited by unscrupulous politicians,
Sarawak is still in the twilight zone of modernization.

Plundered by the British colonial government and squandered by neo-colonial Malaysia
under Chief Minister Taib , Malaysia richest family and most corrupted politician, most
people of Sarawak is still living on the threshold of poverty.

The plundering of Sarawak resources such as timber and oil has immensely compounded
the employment and poverty situation .

Land robberies by local ruling elites and oil thefts by UMNO are also major causes of
discontentment among the more literate, younger generation of Sarawakians.

Major developmental projects such as damming are major opportunity for the ruling
elites to "cream and milk the system".

So it should not come as a surprise on the needs for more dams than actually required.

 

[Cestbon]

Malaysia Bakun DAM in Sarawak is about same price to built China 3 Gorges Dam. Size and capacity only 1/5.

 

[jubilee1919]

Hydro Tasmania will quit Sarawak

December 5, 2012

An aggressive campaign mounted jointly by Sarawak coalition of NGOs Save Rivers, Bruno Manser Fund and the Australian Greens Party in Australia sees a victorious end.

KUCHING: Controversial Australian government-owned company Hydro Tasmania, which Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) had once described as an “essential partner” in the state’s plan to build multiple dams, will withdraw from Sarawak by the end of 2013, leaving Chief Minister Taib Mahmud with a “big headache”.

Hydro Tasmania’s involvement in the RM3 billion Murum Dam project has been at the receiving end of incessant campaigning by local native NGOs and Australians, and it has succumbed to public pressure on Monday and announced it is phasing out.

Hydro Tasmania CEO Roy Adair told Sarawak campaigners Peter Kallang and James Nyurang from Save Rivers, a coalition of Sarawak NGOs, and Peter John Jaban from Radio Free Sarawak that “Hydro Tasmania will leave Sarawak by the end of 2013″.

“Our role is diminishing and there is no plan to replace our current secondees… our secondees are reducing to four at the end of this year and the others will be phased out over the next 12 months,” he said.

He said all four remaining Hydro Tasmania staff seconded to SEB, the main contractors, will be phased out over the next 12 months and not replaced. The remaining personnel, he said, will fulfill their “contractual obligations” and return.

Announcing the good news, Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), which has been at the forefront of a global campaign to bring down Taib and save Sarawak’s rainforests and the indigenous natives from his land development policies, said Adair’s statement was “a significant U-turn” in Hydro Tasmania’s position over the Sarawak dams.

Adair had until recently been staunchly supportive of Taib’s plans to build 12 dams, claiming that SEB was “a first-class professional outfit” and that Hydro Tasmania was “delighted to be working with what is one of the major opportunities in the world”.

Adair said all this during an interview with an Australian TV show ‘Dateline Programme”.

During the show he enthused about Tasmania’s involvement in the proposal to build multiple dams which would eventually force out tens and thousands of native from their lands and destroy the rainforests.

Propaganda backfired

But the propaganda programme, however, backfired on Adair and Hydro Tasmania and raised numerous questions over the hydro projects and the “business, safety and sustainability” standards adopted by SEB helmed by Taib’s cousin Hamid Sepawi.

The programme also noted the disastrous treatment of natives living in Batang Ai and Bakun and that these problems were in existent in Murum and Baram. It also pointed to worrying levels of corruption in Sarawak. In September this year frustrated Penans from eight villagers mounted a blockade on the access road to the Murum dam site. The relentless blockade drew the attention of local and international media.

No amount of ‘cajoling’ by the state government and its agents has convinced the Penans to abort their ongoing blockade. According to Save Rivers, the Penan had been protesting against the dam since 2009 but frustration at the state’s refusal to look into their needs and fulfill promises made had led to the blockade.

Failing to move SEB and the Taib government, Save Rivers took their campaign to Australia aiming to mobilise Australians to pressure state-owned Hydro Tasmania to withdraw from participating in the project in Sarawak. The campaign received the wholehearted support of the Australian Greens party. The Greens are in a formal alliance with the Australian Labor Party in the Tasmanian Parliament.

Greens Senators Christine Milne and Lee Rhiannon, together with Sarawak indigenous leaders, launched a national-level campaign on the issue last week, which resulted in Adair’s announcement of a withdrawal in 12 months.

Said BMF in a statement yesterday: “During our campaign, which was jointly led by Save Rivers, the Huon Valley Environment Centre and the Bruno Manser Fund, more than 5,700 people have sent e-mails to Hydro Tasmania’s Roy Adair, asking the Hydro Tasmania CEO to get out of Sarawak.

“Thank you for your strong support to this cause and to a campaign that is far from over. You can still sign on to the petition to Hydro Tasmania, asking them to withdraw their staff with immediate effect,” the BMF said.

‘Economic sabotage’

The campaign, BMF said, had given Taib a “big headache” leading to his outburst during the recent State Legislative Assembly sitting.

Taib had slammed local NGOs and their global partners, accusing the of “economic sabotage”. Taib said it would be short-sighted to oppose the construction of dams in Sarawak and to listen to outsiders whose real intention towards the state’s continued development was suspect at best.

He urged Sarawakians not to believe the “web of lies and half-truths wrapped around ignorance and twisted logic.” “Increasingly, we notice that negative actions are being organised in Sarawak to gain global attention and a handful of local organisers seem to lead this opposition to get funding from foreigners,” he said, alluding to Save Rivers aggressive campaign in Australia.

Hydro Tasmania’s announcement on Monday brings to a victorious end, a 12-days Australian tour by an indigenous delegation from Save Rivers.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/12/05/hydro-tasmania-will-quit-sarawak/