More On The Damned Bakun Dam

WE ARE DAMNED! from Malaysia Today

Posted by admin

Saturday, 03 October 2009 10:20

Why would someone want to generate electricity through a giant hydroelectric plant in an area that does not demand that massive supply? Answer me that question and you can stop reading. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Hakim Joe Why would someone harness the power of moving liquid and transform it into a clean and usable energy? The answer is of course for the electricity that is utilized to operate the multitude of electrical and electronic devices that we have. Simple answer. Now comes the harder question. Why would someone want to generate electricity through a giant hydroelectric plant in an area that does not demand that massive supply? Answer me that question and you can stop reading.

As Sarawak Headhunter has pointed out in an earlier post "A Hole The Size Of Singapore In The Middle Of Sarawak": "And just how much would timber from a virgin forest area the size of Singapore have fetched? The size of Singapore is about 646 sq kilometres, equivalent to 64,600 hectares or 159,626 acres. Based on a conservative yield of 30 tonnes per acre, that would amount to about 4.8 million tonnes of timber, worth RM2.1 billion at RM450 per tonne, if it was all classified as MLH.

Clear felling could easily yield twice the tonnage, while better species than MLH could be sold for between twice to more than quadruple the price of MLH (depending on species). Easily at least RM5-6 billion worth of timber would have been stolen in this manner, just from Bakun alone.

Any benefit to the state? Only nominal, since the bulk of the timber income would have been siphoned off and deposited into overseas bank accounts, in this case by Taib and Ting Pek Khiing.

See Sarawak Headhunter's post on "Timber - How Do They Cheat?" to get an idea of the scale of the stealing that has been going on and perpetrated by Sarawak logging companies."

Any way, continue reading Hakim Joe's long and interesting article here.

In the case of the Bakun dam, the additional energy from this site will hopefully help generate a host of other businesses, assuming that the dam works. Such heavy investments will take a long period of time before its funders can start to recoup their initial investments; in this case it is the state and federal governments. If something goes wrong and the dam becomes yet another white elephant, the government will be the one to financially support it and guess where the money will be obtained from? If this happens, the Sarawakians will be the first to feel the impact. State budgets for other purposes (like medical, education and social services) will be cut to prop up the dam. This would mean a general lowering of the standard of living for all Sarawakians.

Is this what the Sarawakians want?

Read Part II here.