A
new documentary shows how developmental projects like mega-dams
have decimated the lives of indigenous people in Malaysia who have been
displaced without proper resettlement or compensation.
The
Borneo Project (BP) has released Broken Promises: Displaced by Dams, the
third film in a series about the hydroelectric dams proposed for construction
in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Broken
Promises tells the story of forced displacement of indigenous peoples to
make way for the dams. Although the dams are being built on native land, BP
claims that indigenous communities have not been properly consulted and are
being forcefully relocated from their communities. While the government
promises full compensation, better schools, access to healthcare, housing, and
adequate farmland, these promises are rarely, if ever, kept, the organization
said.
According
to the conservation group, the Baram Dam, the next in line to be built, is also
going ahead against the will of the indigenous communities. They have been
denied information, excluded from participation in studies and decision-making,
and coerced into accepting the dam through threats and intimidation. They have
thus been denied their rights to their lands, territories, and
self-determination. The Baram people have actively protested the dam through
rallies, conferences and two blockade sites that have halted progress on the
dam since October 2013.
There
is a long history of human rights abuses in Sarawak. Displacement and
resettlement issues began long before the Baram Dam controversies. In 1998, for
example, the government of Sarawak relocated around 10,000 people to the
resettlement area of Sungai Asap to make way for the Bakun Dam. Over 15 years
later these families are still struggling to make a living and Sungai Asap has
been declared a resettlement disaster.
People
were required to pay for their own housing, which forced many families into
debt. Each family was promised 10 acres of farmland but was only provided wit
three acres, often a half-day’s journey away, and often on infertile, rocky
land.
The
dam has polluted the river, poisoning their water source, spreading illness,
and killing the fish they depend on for food and income. The resettlement site
is surrounded by oil palm plantations and the people no longer have access to
their former hunting grounds. Ironically adding insult to injury, the transmission
lines carrying electricity from the Bakun Dam pass directly over Sungai Asap,
but the relocated people cannot access the power for which they were displaced.
Instead, they have government-managed diesel generators that are often locked
because they are unable to afford the expensive costs of diesel.
“The
race to accumulate wealth and money through mega-projects that only benefit the
elite has led to a blatant disregard for human rights,” said Jettie Word,
executive eirector of The Borneo Project.
Broken
Promises was released in conjunction with a rally organized at the town of
Long Lama, near one of the blockades sites, where Chief Minister Adenan is
launching a new bridge. Hundreds of protesters are expected to gather at the
blockade site and cross the river to receive Adenan and make it clear that the
people of Baram do not want the Baram Dam.
Broken
Promises can be viewed in English and Bahasa Malaysia on The Borneo
Project’s website, www.borneoproject.org.
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