No charges pressed against community leaders & NGO activists protesting Murum Dam (See original story below)
29 October, 2009 Kuching
Sarawak officials appear to have decided not to press charges against the 15 community leaders and NGO activists who were arrested in Kuching on 16 September, as they were about to present their objections to the construction of the Murum Dam to Sarawak's Chief Minister.
While police claim that their case is still pending, no charges had been filed by the time of the court hearing that had been set for 29 October, 2009 in Kuching, according to Raymond Abin, one of those arrested, and spokesperson for SCANE.
Many thanks for supporters who contacted Sarawak and Malaysian authorities concerning this case, and concerning problems associated with mega-dams in Sarawak.
17 September 2009, Kuching
From: JOAS (Jaringan Orang Asli SeMalaysia; Malaysian Indigenous Peoples Network)
SARAWAK STATE GOVERNMENT NOT LISTENING TO ITS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
On the day that Malaysia was formed, 15 indigenous people who stood for four hours outside the Chief Minister’s office on behalf of longhouses and villages in Sarawak that would be affected by two proposed dams were arrested outside the office of the Chief Minister as they waited to submit a simple memorandum. Among those arrested were JOAS leaders Mark Bujang (BRIMAS), Raymond Abin (SCANE) and Hellan Empaing (WADESA) who were there in support of the Penan, Iban, Kayan and Kenyah representatives of the affected communities.
"We came to Kuching city to give a memo to the Chief Minister because we were not happy with the Murum Dam construction. If this continues, our lands will drown, and how are we supposed to live and survive? This memo contains our concerns so that the state government can listen to our worries." said Sui Along, Penan representative from Long Luar, a village in the affected area of Murum.
The police arrested the 15 after receiving a call from the Chief Minister’s office. After being held for seven hours without food and water by local police, they were charged with illegal assembly and released on bail. They will be expected to appear in court on 29 September 2009.
The proposed Murum dam is the first of 12 new proposed dams to be built throughout Sarawak. Quickly announced by the government after NGOs found plans on these dams on internet websites of the Chinese contractors, these dams were planned without prior consultation of the affected communities, let alone the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples on whose lands these dams would be built. In its inception, the still constructed and highly controversial Bakun dam was touted as being able to supply the energy needs of Malaysia, bringing into question the need for an additional 12 dams.
Rubbishing state leader claims that local NGOs had instigated the incident, BRIMAS Executive Director Mark Bujang said that they had responded to the communities because no one else wanted to listen. “We brought these remote communities together in Kuching to discuss their common concerns. For many of them, this was the first time they had come down to the city centre and they stated to us they wanted their concerns to be heard by representatives of the government and so we lent moral support to them.”
SCANE Director Raymond Abin said that when the representatives of the local government refused to listen, the communities wanted to come to Kuching. “Now that we have come all the way here to where our government leaders are, they still refuse to listen to us,” he said. “This questions their sincerity in saying they are concerned about listening to the indigenous peoples of Sarawak.”
JOAS President Adrian Lasimbang said the arrest and blatant intimidation of the indigenous peoples showed clearly the lack of commitment by the state government to internationally recognized frameworks of consent and consultation that form part of the collective rights of indigenous peoples and added that “In solidarity with JOANGOHUTAN, we support the call to the EU to suspend FLEG negotiations with Malaysia in view of the flagrant disregard of the government for free, prior informed consent and consultation with communities affected by logging and by development projects. We additionally call for the Malaysian government to review its policies to ensure that international law, especially those concerning human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples, is mainstreamed.” This violation is contradictory to article 32 (2) of the UNDRIP that stated States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
The full list of indigenous peoples detained are: Mark Bujang (Executive Director of Borneo Research Institute, BRIMAS), Hellan Empaing (President of Wanita Desa Sarawak, WADESA), Dominic Ng, Johannes Ya, Rukka anak Laku, Philan Yau, Nan Evan, Simon Saging, Ramly anak Datuk, Abin Bira, Sui Alloh, Nang Buleng, Panai Irang, Bujang Dalong, and Koleh Ngo.
BRIMAS – Borneo Resources Institute, Sarawak’s leading NGO and supporting NGO to JOAS
SCANE – Sarawak Conservation Network, a coalition of leading environmental and indigenous rights organizations in Sarawak
JOANGOHUTAN – Network of Indigenous Peoples and NonGovernmental Oragnizations on Forest Issues
WADESA – Sarawak Native Women’s Association
For more information, please contact:
Jen Rubis, Media Liaison
jen.rubis@gmail.com , +60198566251
Press Statement by Penan Communities of Peleiran-Murum River in the Murum Dam area
Telang Usan Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak
15 September 2009
Greetings and Good morning.
My comrades and I are very happy to meet with you all in this historic meeting. For us, this is the first time we have come to Kuching city.
For everyone’s information, we are representatives of all the people of the Penan villages of Peleiran-MurumRiver, Belaga District, Sarawak. The names of our villages are Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu, Long Malim dan Long Uba which contains a population of over 1000 people.
We have not come to Kuching city for pleasure but [have come] full of concern, anxiety and tears. We bring (you) the deep pain in the hearts of all the people of the Penan villages on the Peleiran river because of the heavy concerns with how our lives have been since the start of the construction of the Murum dam project.
If this Murum dam continues, the water from the dam will flood our traditional lands including our villages, properties, gardens, paddy fields and farmlands, fruit trees, graves etc. The forest areas and resources that support our lives will be destroyed. We will be forced to move to an area that we do not know and is not compatible with our life conditions.
We Penan people also want to achieve progress like other communities in Malaysia, especially Sarawak. For many years, we have asked the government for basic development projects like schools, clinics, clean pipe water, farms etc. We do not ask for hydro electric dams like Murum dam.
We realise that dam development projects that have been constructed in Sarawak have failed to improve the lives of local communities. For example, the villagers of the Batang Ai and Bakun Asap-Koyan Rural Growth Schemes face many problems, hardships and narrowness in their daily lives that have not been solved by the government..
We also witness how the lives of the Penan Talun community of Long Belangan in the Bakun Asap-Koyan Rural Growth Scheme have gotten worse compared to before they were forced to resettle because of the Bakun hydroelectric dam.
Us Penan from Peleiran-Murum river would also not be exempted from the problems and impacts of the dam project if the government still insists on continuing the Murum dam development.
We are deeply concerned about the effects and impacts of Murum dam on our future societies and generations.
Because of this, we ask the Government to stop the Murum hydroelectric dam project to safeguard our communities’ lives now and in the future.
Thank you.
Statement read by:
Sui Along,representative of Village Head Along Ju and six other Penan villages in Peleiran Murum, Belaga District, Sarawak.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Original Bahasa Malaysia version:
Kenyataan Akhbar oleh
Masyarakat Penan Sungai Peleiran-Murum di
KawasanProjek Empangan Murum
Tarikh: 15 September 2009
Salam hormat. Selamat pagi kepada tuan-tuan, puan-puan dan suadara-saudari sekalian.
Saya dan kawan-kawan saya sangat gembira kerana dapat berjumpa dengan kalian semua pada majlis yang bersejarah ini. Bagi kami, ini adalah kali pertama sampai ke Bandaraya Kuching.
Untuk makluman semua, kami adalah wakil semua penduduk kampung-kampung Penan di kawasan Sungai Peleiran-Murum, Daerah Belaga, Sarawak.Kampung kami adalah Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu, Long Malim dan Long Ubadengan bilangan penduduk lebih kurang 1,000 orang.
Kami datang ke Bandaraya Kuching kali ini dengan berat hati dan penuh dengan kebimbangan, kerisauan dan ketangisan. Kami membawa keluhan-keluhanpenduduk kampung Penandi kawasan Sungai Peleiran kerana sangat bimbang dengan kehidupan kami sejak bermulanya kerja-kerja pembinaan projek empangan Murum.
Sekiranya projek empangan Murum masih diteruskan, maka takungan air akibat empangan akan membanjiri tanah adat kami termasuklah kampung-kampung, harta benda, kebun-kebun, tanah huma dan temuda, buah-buahan, tapak perkuburan dan sebagainya. Kawasan hutandan sumber-sumber yang mendukung kehidupan kami akan turut musnah.Sekaligus, kami akan dipaksa untuk berpindah ke suatu kawasan yang belum kami ketahui dan tidak bersesuaian dengan keadaan kehidupan kami.
Kami masyarakat Penan juga mahu mencapai kemajuan sepertimana masyarakat lain di Malaysia, khasnya Sarawak. Selama ini, kami sentiasa memohon kepada kerajaan untuk memberi projek pembangunan seperti Sekolah, Klinik Perubatan, air paip bersih, Pertanian dan sebagainya. Kami tidak pernah memohon pembangunan projek empanganhidro-elektrik seperti empangan Murum.
Kami sedar bahawa projek pembangunan empangan yang telah dibina di Sarawak telah dengan nyatanya gagal memperbaiki keadaan hidup masyarakat yang terlibat. Contohnya, penduduk-penduduk di Skim Penempatan Semula Batang Ai dan Bakun Asap-Koyan sedang menghadapi banyak masalah, kesusahan dan kesempitan dalam kehidupan harian mereka yang sehingga kini masih belum dapat diselesai oleh pihak kerajaan.
Kami juga melihat bahawa keadaan kehidupan masyarakat Penan Talun, Long Belangan di Skim Penempatan Semula Bakun Asap-Koyan lebih teruk lagi kalau dibandingkan sebelum mereka dipaksa pindah akibat pembinaan empangan hidro-elektrik Bakun.
Bagi kami masyarakat Penan di kawasan Sungai Peleiran-Murum juga akan tidak terkecuali dari masalah-masalah dan impak-impak projek empangan sekiranya kerajaan masih hendak meneruskan pembinaan empangan Murum.
Kami sangat bimbang akan kesan-kesan dan impak-impak projek empangan Murum ke atas masa depan masyarakat dan generasi kami.
Dengan ini, kami menuntut Kerajaan untuk menghentikan pembinaan empangan hidro-elektrik Murum demikesejahteraan hidup masyarakat kami pada masa sekarang dan sehingga ke anak cucu kami kelak.
Sekian, terima kasih.
Kenyataan akhbar dibaca oleh:
Sui Along,
Wakil TK Along Ju dan 6 kampung Penan yang lain di kawasan Peleiran-Murum, Daerah Belaga, Sarawak.
Arrested Penan: ‘Water from the dam will flood our lands’
The Penan who were arrested last week outside government offices in the Malaysian part of Borneo have released a statement made on the eve of their arrest about their fears that a hydroelectric dam will destroy their lives.
Six members of the Penan tribe were arrested along with nine other indigenous people and activists as they tried to hand in a letter voicing their concerns to the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
The Penan say in their statement:
‘We have not come to Kuching city for pleasure but full of concern, anxiety and tears. We bring the deep pain in the hearts of all the people of the Penan villages on the Peleiran river because of the heavy concerns with how our lives have been since the start of the construction of the Murum dam project.
‘If this Murum dam continues, the water from the dam will flood our traditional lands including our villages, properties, gardens, paddy fields and farmlands, fruit trees, graves etc. The forest areas and resources that support our lives will be destroyed. We will be forced to move to an area that we do not know and is not compatible with our life conditions.’
Murum is the first in a series of twelve new hydroelectric dams planned for Sarawak. It is being constructed by the Chinese state-owned China Three Gorges Project Corporation.
The fifteen indigenous people and activists have been charged with ‘illegal assembly’ and are due to appear in court in 29 September.
Survival has written to the Malaysian government demanding that all charges against them are dropped. It is also urging the government to stop dam construction, logging and oil palm plantations on the Penan’s land without their consent.
Survival International
6 Charterhouse Buildings
London EC1M 7ET
UK
Tel: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700
Fax: (+44) (0)20 7687 8701
|
