Baram natives: Don't submerge our homes

A group of some 50 Orang Asal from Baram protested in front of the Sarawak state secretariat building in Kuching yesterday, against a looming mega dam project that will send their longhouses under water.

The group from 18 longhouses in Upper and Middle Baram also delivered a petition containing more than 1,000 signatures to the Sarawak Chief Minister's Office.

The petition expressed opposition to the plan to build a mega dam in Baram that would flood an area half the size of Singapore, putting their ancestral lands, homes and farms under water.

In a statement yesterday, Jaringan Orang Asal seMalaysia (Joas) president Thomas Jalong, who is from Long Anap, Baram, said the dam would adversely affect the livelihood of the local indigenous population.

"The dam will inevitably submerge the ancestral homelands of more than 20,000 people and in the process, forcibly displace us from our homes.

"We will also be unjustly deprived of our lands, sources of livelihood and sustenance, and face an uncertain future," Thomas said.

He added that the land was not a mere economic resource for the Orang Asal community but central to their social, cultural, spiritual and political identity.

12 mega dams planned

Meanwhile, Save Sarawak's Rivers Network (Save Rivers), a coalition formed to oppose 12 mega dams planned for Sarawak, said the protest was called to get the government to abide by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Save Rivers president Peter Kallang said that the Sarawak government should cease all works on access roads to the dams as this was already adversely affecting the Orang Asal community.

Meanwhile, Baram Protection Action Committee representative Philip Jau noted that even the planning for the Baram dam had not been transparent.

"They have not asked the people what they think about the plan for the dam and instead have commenced surveys for the access road to the project," Philip said.