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Call to the
government of Malaysia to scrap the Bakun hydroelectric project
once and for all We, the undersigned are deeply disturbed by the Federal Government of Malaysia's recent decision to proceed with the construction of the Bakun Hydroelectric Project in the state of Sarawak, at its originally proposed capacity of 2,400 MW. Equally troubling to us is the fact that this is the third time Bakun has been revived in a non-transparent and politically exclusive manner and this decision in our opinion, lacks valid justification -- in financial, social, cultural and environmental terms. We feel that it is extremely unfortunate that the decision is announced at a time when the world community at large is questioning the economic logic, environmental costs, social price and effectiveness of large dams. It has only been 6 months since the World Commission on Dams (WCD) released an indeed unflattering report on the impacts of large dams. This report proposes guidelines and recommendations that would have deemed Bakun unacceptable financially, for its risky and exorbitant spending without sound needs assessment; and in moral terms, both for its neglect of the rights of the affected communities to informed consent and a participatory decision-making process; and its negligence in handling their present plight in Sungai Asap. We therefore
would like to appeal to the Federal Government of Malaysia to reconsider
their decision, because from our point of view, the decision to
proceed has totally disregarded several fundamental issues concerning
large dams. Now that the undersea cables have been shelved, we seriously doubt that East Malaysia with its relatively smaller population and fewer industrial areas could actually absorb 2,400 MW of new electricity. Presently Sarawak is underconsuming the 700 MW of electricity that it produces, and the State is still able to increase its energy generation to 1,000 MW. Combined with Sabah, both States currently have an energy reserve margin of 69.7 percent. We believe the basis for the projected increase in power utilisation of Sabah and Sarawak said to be spurred by the development of power-intensive industries in the two states in the near future as claimed by the Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia, is in essence the anticipation of an artificial demand. In truth, the huge supply of Bakun's electricity has yet to find ready consumers in Borneo. This method of projection is indeed in direct conflict with sound energy management and prudent thinking and cannot be used to justify the need for the dam. Clearly, the revival appears to harbour an agenda of its own. We also doubt the workability of exporting electricity to Brunei and Kalimantan, as no sovereign entity with huge supplies of fossil fuels would risk importing energy across thick rainforests from a hydroelectric source that some experts say may not even last for more than 50 years. We believe this decision dangerously ignores both the past financial problems of Bakun and the findings of WCD that large dams on average exceed their budget estimates by 50 percent. Therefore, while the Malaysian Government can claim that without the undersea cables Bakun would only cost RM9 billion, it still defeats logic to spend and risk such a large amount of money to build a huge socially and ecologically disruptive power generator that a country does not need. Secondly, we find it impossible to justify Bakun in the light of Sungai Asap, the resettlement scheme for the 9,000 affected indigenous peoples from 15 longhouses. Asap violates almost all recommendations the State was advised by one study it commissioned. Investigations by various groups have revealed the deterioration in the social fabric and lives of the resettled people in Sungai Asap. Despite persistent complaints of unfair, non-transparent, prejudicial, insufficient and ambiguous compensation calculations by the affected people, they were still forced to move when the authorities threatened to withhold their compensation payment and closed down basic facilities. We are distressed to learn that today these people are living in huge debts after being forced to purchase RM52,000 houses that were built by a British-based multinational and are severely inferior in quality and much smaller in size compared to their old houses. We are also appalled that Asap is not provided with easy access to water transport or cheap public land transport services and does not even have a secondary school. We are especially horrified to learn that with 3 acres of land for each family (some of which are inaccessible or simply infertile plots), insufficient access to forest and river resources, little farming and animal-rearing assistance and few job opportunities; food shortages and malnutrition are now common in Sungai Asap, with many families consuming a diet without meat or fish daily while some are virtually subsisting on rice and salt or just having one meal a day. When involuntarily resettled communities are troubled by a rise in alcoholism, theft, communal conflicts as their women lose economic independence and mobility and more and more of their children drop out of school, we feel it is very legitimate to question the necessity of the move in the first place. Finally, we are equally concerned with the massive environmental damage that Bakun will generate. Primary forest and protected species, along with the gene pool of various local crops, will be lost. The water level and quality of the Rajang river system will also be changed drastically. This will extensively disrupt ecological balance from upstream areas to the Rajang estuary, the mangroves of Rajang Delta and coastal zones; making possible the outbreak of new waterborne diseases and causing bank collapse, saline intrusion of the water table and coastal erosion. All these will surely harm the livelihood of many communities. On top of that,
the rotting of submerged vegetation will also produce large amounts
of greenhouse gases and the dam is also exposed to the threats of
erosion, siltation and earthquakes.
Carol Yong Sem Kiong
Angin Meng Chuo Sam Hui Dr. Kua Kia
Soong
Ricardo Navarro
Janice Wormworth Tristy Fairfield Ameer H.C. Gabriel Rivas-Ducca Melina Menelacu Elizabeth
Bravo and Natalia Arias Matt Phillips
Rusudan Simonidze Daniel Mittler Anung Karyadi Laura Radiconcini Kåre
Olerud Oscar Rivas Norly Grace
P.Mercado Jon Sohn Karin Nansen Thierry Delforge Bert Van
Mulders Eric Toussaint Herman Brouwer Aurora Donoso Esperanza
Martinez Ludovic Frere Nico Verhagen Kevin Li
and May Wong Irma Yanny Budi Kurniawan
Lothar Luken Toshiyuki
Doi Masahito
Ujiie Kazuyoshi
Okada Goran Eklof Florian Rochat Wanida Tantiwitthayapitak
and Bamrung Kayotha Chainarong
Sretthachau Aviva Imhof Peter Riggs Professor
Mesbah-us-Saleheen Dirk Dumon Chow Kwo
Wing Yee Dai Yu Yuet Chan Shun
Hing Emmanuelle
Bérenger Daniel Künzi |
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