Opposition rep slams Bung over land clearing accusation

 

Jannie Lasimbang appealed to Bung Moktar Radin to seek alternatives to a dam in Kaiduan.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin has come under fire for allegedly blaming villagers for clearing land and causing serious river pollution at a site formerly earmarked for a dam.

Bung, who is also state works minister, had been quoted in a local daily as saying the Papar Dam will be moved upstream at the Kaiduan area in Penampang as the condition of the water in Mandalipau, Papar, had deteriorated.

He added this was due to pollution caused by forest clearing activities by farmers. He said they had failed to deliver their promises of looking after the river.

However, Jannie Lasimbang, the assemblyman for Kepayan state constituency in Penampang, took issue with Bung’s remarks, saying it was an insult to the people of Kaiduan and upper Papar.

“Where is the evidence of this statement?” she said, adding such a serious accusation should be accompanied by a full technical report.

Lasimbang, who is Sabah DAP women’s leader, said local communities had made efforts to manage the biodiversity of the area, and also revitalised their tagal system to look after the river and its riparian reserves. “They are dependent on the river for their food supply and for their micro-hydro systems,” Lasimbang said.

The tagal is a community-based forestry concept practised by the natives for generations whereby the river is left untouched for a period of time and no one is allowed to fish for food there.

Bung had said the RM3 billion dam will be built in Kaiduan and could last between 85 and 100 years, adding it was vital to solve the water woes faced by the Sabah west coast.

Lasimbang contended the damage to a large part of the forest environment could be due to the private companies starting their oil palm plantations. The Sabah Rubber Industry Board had also terraced the area for rubber planting while road construction had also been carried out there recently.

“Farmers generally do not do massive land clearing,” she said.

She appealed to Bung and the Water Department to consider other alternatives and not rely only on experts from companies that have interests in dam construction or from government agencies or ministries who have already put a lot of effort to secure funding for the project.

She added large dams would disrupt the flow of the river “which means the proposed Kaiduan dam would not ensure sustainable water supply for the next 100 years as Bung wants us to believe”.

In response, Bung said his ministry has started a study on the formation of a Sabah water commission. “We have informed the state government, hence, the reason for this in-depth study. When the time comes, it will be brought to the state assembly,” he said in a statement here today.

Bung had previously said the commission is a long-term solution to the water problem in Sabah. - FMT