The Bruno Manser Fund wants
Sarawak Energy Bhd to declare its finances, contracts and funders linked to the
development of mega dams in Sarawak.
KUCHING: Swiss-based NGO Bruno
Manser Fund (BMF), which has been at the forefront of a global campaign against
Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s land “development” policy which has
stripped the state’s verdant rainforest and displaced thousands of indigenous
natives, is calling for an independent external review of the Bakun, Bengoh and
Batang Ai dams.
It is also demanding for a
moratorium on all Sarawak dam construction and for Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB), a
key player in the development, to sack its chairman, Hamed Abdul Sepawi.
BMF also wants SEB to declare its
finances, contracts and funders.
It is also exerting pressure on
foreign corporations, which it alleged were closely linked to Taib’s global
business empire, to shun the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE)
It claimed “any involvement in
Taib government’s hydropower programme is inextricably linked to corruption,
environmental damage and human rights violations”.
In a report released today
entitled “Sold Down the River. How Sarawak Dam Plans Compromise the Future of
Malaysia’s Indigenous Peoples”, BMF disclosed that many of companies involved
were closely linked to Taib and to his family-linked Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS).
“Foreign corporate actors, such
as Australia’s Hydro Tasmania, Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC), GHD,
the US consultant MWH Global, Norway’s Norconsult, Germany’s Fichtner and
construction companies such as China’s Three Gorges Corporation and Sinohydro have
concluded a ‘pact with the devil’ and are assisting the Taib government with
its dam projects,” it said.
The report also named the
“funding agencies” behind the Sarawak dam plans to include RHB Bank, EON Bank
and AmInvestment Bank alongside Kuwait Finance House and Kenanga Investment
Bank, which is a joint venture between CMS and Deutsche Bank.
The report further examined the
dam plans that form part of SCORE, which is seen as “Southeast Asia’s most
ambitious and most expensive energy project”.
The project, BMF noted, has a
“planned investments of up to US$105 billion by 2030”.
According to BMF, some tens of
thousands of indigenous people affected by the massive project are facing
forced displacement from their traditional lands.
Sarawak has ‘excess’ power
The report noted that under the
guise of “development”, the Taib government is planning to virtually dam all
the rivers in the state’s interior, irrespective of the social and
environmental implications.
“The dam plans are being pushed
ahead under a cloak of secrecy. If implemented, they would entail the cultural
genocide of a significant part of Sarawak’s rich indigenous culture,” it said.
A first series of 12 dams is
currently being implemented by SEB, which holds monopoly on the state’s power
supply.
The report stressed the fact that
Sarawak is already facing a “excess power” situation.
“The current peak demand in
Sarawak is around 1,000 megawatts (MW) and is thus far less than the power that
can be produced by the recently completed Bakun dam alone, which, with a
capacity of 2400 MW, is Asia’s largest dam outside China.”
BMF said that the Taib government
and SEB, as the implementing agency, were facing increasing opposition from the
affected communities.
“Representatives of SAVE Rivers,
a Sarawak network set up to fight the Taib government’s dam plans, are
currently embarking on a tour through Australia.
“The Hydro
Tasmania-out-of-Sarawak tour is aimed at increasing the pressure on
publicly-owned Hydro Tasmania, one of the most important corporate actors
involved in the Sarawak dam plans,” it noted.
On Tuesday, Save Rivers chairman
Peter Kallang said the tour aimed to enlighten Australians on the situation
with the dams and urge the locals to pressure the Australian government into
compelling Hydro Tasmania to rescind its decision to participate in the
venture.
