Senyum Kambing - Ada Ahli PBB Yang Berani Membantah?

BN's Continuing Reign Of Bribery & Corruption

So the voters of Bagan Pinang can be bribed after all, and it doesn't take that much either (see below). Nothing new there. Guess they are not much different from the folks of Batang Ai'. Who's wearing the cawat now?

The voters' verdict is not really a vindication of Isa or even UMNO for that matter. They've only decided who won and who lost in Bagan Pinang, not who is right and who is wrong. That's politics, for better or for worse.

If UMNO or BN see it as an endorsement and vindication of their misguided policies and misrule, they are dead wrong and they will never learn. Expect it to get worse.

BN's tyrannical reign of bribery, corruption and misgovernance will continue and worsen until the general populace can take it no more. Until then - we don't know when - it's business as usual for 1Corrupt UMNO and its BN partners.

Disappointed? Yes. Despairing? No.

We fight on, step by step. It's going to be a long war, all the way up to the next state election for Sarawak and GE-13 for the whole country and, if the opposition doesn't get its act together, maybe even longer.

Don't expect it to be a fair fight. UMNO and the rest of its BN cohorts will fight as dirty as they can, and we all know how dirty they can be.

How Much Does It Cost To Buy Votes In Bagan Pinang?

Not much, apparently, according to Wanita UMNO. This is what they have been distributing to voters in Bagan Pinang:

This would probably be sufficient for the rural voters of Sarawak, but Bagan Pinang? Are the voters so hard up or is it UMNO that is so desperate? Probably nothing wrong with this according to the Elections Commission, which is why UMNO is doing it in broad daylight.

Apparently there're also lots of "Duit Raya" for the taking, courtesy of UMNO - nothing wrong with that either according to the Elections Commission, since it is the Raya season!

Hopefully the voters of Bagan Pinang are smart enough not to fall for all this outright and blatant election bribery and corruption. Is UMNO so politically bankrupt of ideas that they have to resort to such desperate measures as we have seen openly in Bagan Pinang?

Are we witnessing UMNO committing political suicide here? Will the voters of Bagan Pinang create history here in spite of all these indecent inducements? Let us dare to hope, for the sake of the future of our divided and misruled nation.

God save us from the tyranny and corruption of UMNO!

UMNO Desperadoes Campaign In Army Camp

UMNO must be really desperate and have thrown all caution to the wind, campaigning openly in the Army Camp (while disallowing their opponents from doing the same) and making all kinds of promises and distributing cash, all amounting to BLATANT election bribery and corruption.

WHERE IS THE ELECTION COMMISSION? Probably deaf, dumb and blind as usual, except to any perceived fault committed by the opposition. Do they think the people are also still deaf, dumb and blind?

Senyum Kambing - Pengundi Perlu Bijak

Senyum Kambing - BN Buat Majlis Sambutan Hari Raya Aidil Korupsi

Muhyiddin Bribes The Voters Of Taman PD Utama With Their Own Money

Will the Election Commission do anything about this blatant and illegal act of election bribery and abuse of Government machinery, staff and resources at a purported Hari Raya celebrations gathering in the midst of a by-election? Don't hold your breath!

This is an election offence, whether the useless Election Commission agrees or not. If Isa wins, it would definitely be the substance of an election petition by Zulkefly to annul the results and any straight judge would agree - if such a judge may still be found in Malaysia.

Voters of Bagan Pinang, take the money - it's your own money they are giving back to you! But vote against Isa!

If you want to know why you should vote for Zulkefly, see the video on the sidebar at the right ("Zulkefly Mohd Omar - Hero Of Broga").

Read & see more at Bagan Pinang > Fight Never Surrender

Senyum Kambing - Hasrat Rakyat Untuk Lebih Korupsi?

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.

UMNO's Money Bags In Bagan Pinang - Watch Out For 1 Tan Sri & 2 Datuks

The wheeling and the dealing has started in Bagan Pinang. This Isa Samad have pledged – with hands on his heart and the other hand with fingers crossed behind his back – that he will win Bagan Pinang. But he will not do what he did when he got caught for money politics in UMNO the last time. That time he was physically handing over the money like nobody’s business – thinking that those that took the money from him will know that he is generous – and that they can count on him to give them more when elected. He was elected but he did not count on Pak Lah’s insistence that they go after Isa and when UMNO members knew that Isa was going to be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ of money politics -the very people who took money from Isa now took money again to declare that Isa had bribed them! As they say there is no honour among thieves. Isa is not sorry for his involvement in money politics – he is just sorry that he was caught.

Who will be UMNO's money bags for the Bagan Pinang By-Election?

They are Tan Sri Dr Gan Kong Seng, Dato' Chua Tiong Moon and Dato' Yap Kat Boon.

Whoever they are or whoever they use, the message to the voters must be "Take their money and vote for PAS!"

See the whole story at "Bagan Pinang - One Tan Sri. Two Datuks." Steady Aku 47, Hussein Hamid's Blog.

Senyum Kambing - Utamakan Peruntukan Pembangunan Sarawak Untuk Siapa?

The 2nd Great Highway Robbery In Progress?

The Malaysian Insider

Wednesday September 30 2009

Asas Serba to brief Najib on Plus acquisition

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 29 — A proposed RM50 billion takeover of Malaysia’s highway concessionaires has taken on a new twist with its promoters now cleared to brief Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on their plans sometime this week.

Only a month ago, the plan appeared doomed after Najib publicly squelched the plan, telling reporters that state investment agency Khazanah “has no plans” to sell Plus Expressways. Plus is the largest of the country’s 22 highway concessionaire companies and Khazanah, through wholly-owned United Engineers Malaysia, holds 64 per cent of the highway firm.

Rising tolls nationwide have been massively unpopular and Najib’s administration had been looking for ways to solve what could potentially be a threat to his government’s popularity in the next general election slated for 2013. One way, which was being actively studied by the Economic Planning Unit, was for the government to take over some of the more busy highways including Plus.

According to the firm’s allies, Najib is now interested because Asas Serba’s bid could be cheaper than the government’s. In addition, its entry would mean that the government, which is facing a budget deficit, would walk away with money. Finally, Asas Serba’s allies argued that the government has no business getting involved in mature businesses and, instead, should concentrate on infrastructure projects that create new jobs and spin off new businesses.

The story began in May or thereabouts when Asas Serba proposed to the Works Ministry that it acquire all 22 highway concessionaire companies for a jaw-dropping RM50 billion. Asas is a private firm manned by four businessmen, two of whom are former senior executives of the former Renong conglomerate.

Before it was nationalised in 2001, Renong owned Plus Expressways, which manages a highway running down the length of Peninsular Malaysia. It is the largest and most profitable toll concession in the country.

Out of the 22 companies, only Plus is owned by the government with the rest being held by private firms, some listed on the stock exchange. Given that position, most analysts believe that Asas Serba’s bid hinges on the acquisition of Plus and Plus alone.

The firm’s allies said that Asas, if successful, would lower toll rates in perpetuity by 20 per cent in return for a longer concession period.

Still, the private firm would require funding which could be tricky without tacit government support. Moreover, Khazanah, which is chaired by Najib, is likely to oppose the deal. Plus is the crown jewel in the United Engineers group with free cash flows expected to rise to RM1.8 billion next year. — Business Times Singapore

See also Sarawak Headhunter's post "The 2nd Great Highway Robbery".

The Fight For Bagan Pinang

See this web site: "Bagan Pinang > Fight Never Surrender"

Senyum Kambing - Apa Itu MMSP?

Senyum Kambing - Idris Jala Pun Tak Boleh Selamatkan Mereka

A Hole The Size Of Singapore In The Middle Of Sarawak

Bakun dam to be much worse than PKFZ scandal

Kua Kia Soong
Sep 22, 09
8:41am

Comments by Sarawak Headhunter in red.

Nearly 50 years after independence for Sarawak, we see a comparison with the 'Highland Clearances' in Scotland during the 18th century when the highlanders were driven off their lands for capitalistic sheep farming.

Highlanders of Sarawak, beware! Not even Idris Jala can save you!

The English did it with brutality and thoroughness through “butcher” Lord Cumberland and even obliterated the 'wild' Celtic mode of life.

Even if not so 'wild', there goes the Sarawak highland native mode of life, just as surely.

What we have seen in Sarawak recently has the same capitalist logic, namely, to drive the indigenous peoples out of their native customary lands so that these lands can be exploited for their commercial value and the indigenous people can be “freed” to become wage labourers.

Freedom to be slaves to the dams and their owners, Taib Mahmud and family and their insatiably greedy "industrialist" cronies.

Thus, even though the accursed Bakun dam had been suspended in 1997 due to the financial crisis, the government still went ahead to displace 10,000 indigenous peoples to the Sungai Asap resettlement camp in 1998.

Well, there is a reason for this - the contract for the Sungai Asap camp had already been given out to a multinational company. After all, the whole Bakun area, which is the size of the island of Singapore and home to the indigenous peoples, had already been thoroughly logged...

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.

Was any real accounting done? Does anyone trust Taib Mahmud?

All this happened while Dr Mahathir was the prime minister. Wasn't he a liability to the BN government then?

What liability? From their point of view of course he was an asset worth billions.

I was part of the fact-finding mission to Sungai Asap in 1999 and even then we could see the destruction of so many unique indigenous communities and their cultures, including the Ukit tribe.

There was only one word to describe what had been done to these indigenous peoples and their centuries-old cultures... wicked!

Evil more like it! That's how Taib likes it!

Banned from my own country

As a result of my concern for the indigenous peoples and the natural resources of Sarawak, I was told at Kuching airport in August 2007 that I could not enter Sarawak. So much for 1Malaysia! So much for national integration! So much for nearly 50 years of independence! I was not even welcome in my own country.

As a threat to a multi-billion RM a year scam, of course you wouldn't be welcome. This is the land of divide and rule, not integration.

What independence? The natives of Sarawak have just traded one colonial master for another, albeit one of their own - Taib Mahmud - who has lorded it over them for more than 28 years. Taib has raided, looted and plundered Sarawak's timber resources, while the other Malayan colonial master BN has done the same to its petroleum resources.

Once Taib is gone, it won't be long before Sarawak starts asking for real independence.

But the contracts for the resettlement scheme and the logging are chicken feed compared to the mega-bucks to be reaped from the mega-dams. Even before the Bakun dam ever got started, Malaysian taxpayers had to compensate dam builder Ekran Bhd and the other “stakeholders” close to RM1 billion in 1997.

How much does it cost to pay our 'mata-mata' (police) to investigate the alleged scandalous rape of our Penan women?

The contracts from building the Bakun dam and the undersea cable run in excess of RM20 billion. Malaysian taxpayers won't know the final cost until they are told the cost overruns when the projects have been completed.

But if the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal is anything to go by, the leaks and non-accountability all along the line will result in Malaysian taxpayers paying billions for the same kind of daylight robbery.

That is the name of the game and that is what we get for voting in such a government and continuing to keep them in power.

In the early 90s, when the government was trying to assure us that there would be no irresponsible logging in Sarawak, I pointed out in Parliament that if the government could not monitor the Bukit Sungai Putih permanent forest and wildlife reserve just 10 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, how did they expect us to believe they could monitor the forests in Bakun?

Likewise today, if the government cannot monitor a project in Port Klang just half an hour from Kuala Lumpur, how can they assure us that they can monitor a project deep in upriver Sarawak and through 650km of the South China Sea?

How can we be assured that we will get to the bottom of politically-linked scandals when the Sarawak police tell us they don't have the resources to investigate the rape of Penan women and girls?

How can we be assured that the Sarawak state government cares about its indigenous peoples and its natural resources when NGO activists are banned from entering Sarawak to investigate a part of their own country?

Taib Mahmud and his evil regime do not care and neither do the Malayan colonial masters in Putrajaya.

It makes no economic sense

In 1980, the Bakun dam was proposed with a power generating capacity of 2,400MW even though the projected energy needs for the whole of Sarawak was only 200MW for 1990.

The project was thus coupled with the proposal to build the world's longest (650km) undersea cable to transmit electricity to the peninsula. An aluminum smelter at Sarawak's coastal town of Bintulu was also proposed to take up the surplus energy.

In 1986, the project was abandoned because of the economic recession although the then PM Mahathir announced just before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that this was “proof of Malaysia's commitment to the environment”.

So what happened to that commitment, Mahathir?

Mahathir a man of commitment? Mahathir has all his life been committed only to grandscale corruption and deception.

In 1993, with the upturn in the Malaysian economy, the government once again announced the revival of the Bakun dam project. To cushion the expected protests, then Energy Minister S Samy Vellu gave Parliament a poetic description of a “series of cascading dams” and not one large dam as had been originally proposed.

Before long, it was announced that the Bakun dam would be a massive 205-metre high concrete face rockfill dam - one of the highest dams of its kind in the world - and it would flood an area the size of Singapore island.

The undersea cable was again part of the project. There was also a plan for an aluminum plant, a pulp and paper plant, the world's biggest steel plant and a high-tension and high-voltage wire industry.

Have feasibility studies been done to see if there will be adequate local, regional and international demand for all these products?

Six years later, after the economy was battered by the Asian Financial Crisis, the government again announced that the project would be resumed albeit on a smaller scale of 500MW capacity.

Before long in 2001, the 2,400MW scale was once again proposed although the submarine cable had been shelved. Today we read reports about the government and companies still contemplating this hare-brained undersea scheme which is now estimated to cost a whopping RM21 billion!

Once it is all under the sea, who's going to know exactly how much it really cost? That's the whole idea. If there are no mass protests, the costs could double or triple without any problem - it will all be justified.

More mega-dams to be built

The recent announcement that the Sarawak government intends to build two more mega-dams in Sarawak apart from the ill-fated Bakun dam is cause for grave concern.

Malaysian taxpayers, Malaysian forests and Malaysian indigenous peoples will again be the main victims of this misconceived plan. We have been told that some 1,000 more indigenous peoples will have to be displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for these two dams.

Apart from the human cost, ultimately it will be the Malaysian consumers who pay for this expensive figment of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's wild imagination. Indeed, enough taxpayers' money has been wasted - Sarawak Hidro has already spent some RM1.5 billion on the Bakun dam project.

It is no longer a figment of Taib's wild imagination but is in the process of being implemented right now. Only his defeat in the next State elections will stop it.

Right now, the country is being fed conflicting reports about energy demand.

There is supposed to be a 43 percent oversupply of electricity capacity in peninsular Malaysia. Experienced Bakun dam watchers will tell you such conflicting and mutually contradictory assertions have been used by the dam proponents to justify every flip flop of this misconceived project.

Apart from the economic cost and the wastage, how are investors supposed to plan for the long-term and medium term? What is the long-term plan for Bakun? Can Bakun compete with the rest of the world or for that matter, Indonesia?

All this doesn't matter.

The suggestion for aluminum smelters to take up the bulk of Bakun electricity have been mentioned ever since the conception of the Bakun dam project because they are such a voracious consumer of energy. Even so, has there ever been any proper assessment of the market viability of such a project with the cheaper operating costs in China?

This also does not matter.

Does it matter that the co-owner of one of the smelters is none other than Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Bhd Group, a conglomerate controlled by Taib's family business interest?

This doesn't matter either.

Sarawak's tin-pot government

Clearly, Bakun energy and Sarawak's tin-pot governance do not give confidence to investors. First it was Alcoa, and then Rio Tinto - both giant mining multinationals - had expressed second thoughts about investing in Sarawak.

"Investing in" or "stealing from"?

Concerned NGOs have all along called for the abandonment of this monstrous Bakun dam project because it is economically ill-conceived, socially disruptive and environmentally disastrous.

The environmental destruction is evident many miles downstream since the whole Bakun area has been logged by those who have already been paid by Sarawak Hidro.

The social atrophy among the 10,000 displaced indigenous peoples at Sungai Asap resettlement scheme remains the wicked testimony of the Mahathir/Taib era. The empty promises and damned lives of the displaced peoples as forewarned by NGOs in 1999 have now been borne out.

The economic viability of the Bakun dam project has been in doubt from the beginning and the announcement to build two more dams merely reflects a cavalier disregard for the indigenous peoples, more desecration of Sarawak's natural resources and a blatant affront to sustainable development.

Does anyone think that they really care?

When will Malaysians ever learn?

When the damage becomes too big to be repaired, mere reform is out of the question and revolution is the only answer.

Dr KUA KIA SOONG is director of Suaram. He was member of parliament for Petaling Jaya from 1990 to 1995.

Dam Facts

FACT SHEET

BARAM HYDRO-ELECTRIC DAM PROJECT

The Sarawak Government plans to build more hydro-electric dams purportedly to meet the state’s future industrialisation needs. In addition to the Bakun dam project, the Sarawak Government are planning to build another 12 hydro-electric dams at Ulu Air, Metjawah, Belaga, Baleh, Belepeh, Lawas, Tutoh, Limbang, Baram, Murum and Linau rivers including an extension to the Batang Ai Dam.

Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), 65 percent owned by the Sarawak is spearheading these dam projects.

The project

The Batang Baram is the second longest river in Sarawak. The river drains much of the Sarawak northern region as it originates in the central Iran Mountains at the Sarawak/Malaysia-Kalimantan/Indonesia border. It flows westwards through tropical rainforest in the Baram District to the South China Sea. The Miri Resort City is located at Baram delta.

The Baram Hydroelectric dam site is located along Baram River at about 306 Km from the river mouth. The location of the dam across the Baram River will be between the inflows of the Sungai Patah and Sungai Kahah from the left and Sungai Hit from the right, as going upstream.

The height of the main Baram dam would be 162 m above foundation level. The dam structure across the Baram River has a crest length of 685 m and the crest level is 180 m above sea level. The construction would be designed as a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam. Due to the topographical conditions in the project area, a 70m high Saddle dam will be constructed approximately 5 Km south-west of the project site.

Who will be affected by the Baram dam?

If the project goes ahead, an anticipated number of at least 20,000 indigenous peoples will be affected and displaced by the dam. These peoples are the Kayans, Kenyahs and Penans whose longhouses and villages are situated along the course of Baram River valley, locally known as Telang Usan. Their settlements are located below, above and around the project site.

The downstream longhouses/villages are Long Laput, Sungai Dua, Sri Kenawan, Uma Bawang, Long Miri (Daleh Pelutan), Long Pilah and Long Kesseh. In the upstream and within the dam reservoir area are Long Na’ah, Long Liam, Long San, Long Selatong (Kiri & Kanan), Long Apu, Long Julan Asal, Long Julan Pelutan, Long Anap, Long Palai, Long Je’eh, Long Moh, Long Sela’an and Long Semiyang as well as some villages in Akah River that are Long Beku, Ba Abang, Long Tap and Long Tebangan.

The Baram dam would submerge an area of 38,900 hectares (389 sq km) of land and forest. The area is mostly native customary land, and consists of temuda, cultivated lands, gardens, villages, churches, graveyards, community forests and sites of historical significance. The people are going to lose their longhouses, villages, properties, lands and forests as a result of submergence and displacement by the Baram dam.

The construction of the Baram dam will create a catchment area of 896,600 hectares (8,966 sq km). Within the catchment area are some major settlements of indigenous communities: the Kenyahs, Kelabits, Sabens and Penans.

The dam will submerge the existing government schools, Medical clinics, airstrip and other building facilities. There are also logging companies actively operating in the area.

Baram Dam Project Features:

Main dam

Type RCC

Crest of dam 180 m a.s.1.

Height of dam 162 m

Length of dam 685 m

Saddle dam

Type Rockfill

Crest of dam 180 m a.s.l.

Height of dam 70 m

Length of dam 1,290 m

Reservoir

Normal water level 178 m a.s.1.

Minimum water level 177 m a.s.1.

Total storage volume 13,2 x 10⁹ rn³

Reservoir area 389 sq km

Power plant

Installed capacity 830 MW

Design discharge 684 m³/s

Design head 138 m

Average energy generation 5,848 GWh/a

Turbine type Francis –vertical axis

Number of units 4

Catchment Areas 8,966 sq km

FACT SHEET

THE MURUM HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT

WHAT AND WHERE IS IT?

The Murum hydroelectric project (Murum HEP) involves the construction of a 944 MW hydroelectric dam. The dam is the 1^st of 12 new more dams to be built by the State Government of Sarawak. The construction work of the dam has been going on since mid-2008. The dam site is on the Murum River, a tributary of Balui River, about 60 KM upstream of the Bakun Hydroelectric project in Belaga District, Kapit Division of Sarawak.

PHYSICAL FEATURES

The Murum dam is a 141-metre-high Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) dam that would be 547 metres above sea level, with a length of crest of 510 metres and crest width of 10 metres. It will flood 24,5000 hectares of land comprising native customary land and forest. The dam catchment area is 275,000 hectares of mainly the Usun Apau Plateau, the ancestral land of several Indigenous communities in Sarawak.

WHO IS AFFECTED?

The project will inundate and require the forced relocation of about 1,000 Penans. There is also some Kenyah-Badengs, who were affected by Bakun dam but have opted for alternative resettlement after refusing to move to the government Bakun Resettlement Scheme at Asap-Koyan in upper Belaga River in 1998.

WHO IS BUILDING IT?

The Sarawak Government has the sole vested interest, being the project proponent and the Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), 65 percent owned by the Sarawak state. The Murum Dam project had been awarded to China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation, which reportedly submitted the lowest bid among eight companies.


The estimated cost of Murum dam project is RM3 billion (875 million USD). To be completed in 2013.

Kenyataan Akbar Penan Murum

Telang Usan Hotel

Kuching, Sarawak.

Tarikh: 15 September 2009

Salam hormat. Selamat pagi kepada tuan-tuan, puan-puan dan suadara-saudari kalian.

Saya bersama kawan-kawan sangat gembira kerana berpeluang dapat berjumpa dengan semua kalian pada majlis yang sangat bersejarah ini. Bagi kami, ini adalah kali pertama sampai ke Bandaraya Kuching.

Untuk makluman semua, kami adalah wakil semua penduduk kampung-kampung Penan di kawasan Sungai Peleiran-Murum, Daerah Belaga, Sarawak. Kampung kami adalah Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu, Long Malim dan Long Uba dengan bilangan penduduk adalah kurang lebih 1,000 orang.

Kami datang ke Bandaraya Kuching kali ini bukan datang dengan senang hati namun penuh dengan kebimbangan, kerisauan dan ketangisan. Kami membawa keluhan-keluhan hati semua penduduk kampung Penan di kawasan Sungai Peleiran kerana sangat bimbang dengan kehidupan kami sejak bermulanya kerja-kerja pembinaan projek empangan Murum dijalankan.

Sekiranya projek empangan Murum masih diteruskan, maka takungan air akibat empangan akan membanjiri tanah adat kami termasuklah kampung-kampung, harta benda, kebun-kebun, tanah huma dan temuda, buah-buahan, tapak perkuburan dan sebagainya. Kawasan hutan dan sumber-sumber yang mendukung kehidupan kami akan turut musnah. Sekaligus, kami akan dipaksa untuk berpindah ke suatu kawasan yang belum kami ketahui dan tidak bersesuaian dengan keadaan kehidupan kami.

Kami masyarakat Penan juga mahu mencapai kemajuan sepertimana masyarakat lain di Malaysia, khasnya Sarawak. Selama ini, kami sentiasa memohon kepada kerajaan untuk memberi projek pembangunan seperti Sekolah, Klinik Perubatan, Paip air bersih, Pertanian dan sebagainya. Kami tidak pernah memohon pembangunan projek empangan hidro-elektrik seperti empangan Murum.

Kami sedar bahawa projek pembangunan empangan yang telah dibina di Sarawak telah dengan nyatanya gagal memperbaiki keadaan hidup masyarakat yang terlibat. Contohnya, penduduk-penduduk di Skim Penempatan Semula Batang Ai dan Bakun Asap-Koyan sedang menghadapi banyak masalah, kesusahan dan kesempitan dalam kehidupan harian mereka yang sehingga kini masih belum dapat diselesai oleh pihak kerajaan.

Kami juga menyaksi bahawa keadaan kehidupan masyarakat Penan Talun, Long Belangan di Skim Penempatan Semula Bakun Asap-Koyan lebih teruk lagi dibanding dengan sebelum-nya mereka dipaksa pindah akibat pembinaan empangan hidro-elektrik Bakun.

Bagi kami masyarakat Penan di kawasan Sungai Peleiran-Murum juga akan tidak terkecuali dari masalah-masalah dan impak-impak projek empangan sekiranya kerajaan masih hendak meneruskan pembinaan empangan Murum.

Kami sangat bimbang akan kesan-kesan dan impak-impak projek empangan Murum ke atas masa depan masyarakat dan generasi kami.

Dengan ini, kami menuntut Kerajaan untuk menghentikan pembinaan empangan hidro-elektrik Murum demi kesejahteraan hidup masyarakat kami pada masa sekarang dan sehingga ke anak cucu kami kelak.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Kenyataan akhbar dibaca oleh:

Sui Along,

Wakil TK Along Ju dan 6 kampung Penan yang lain di kawasan Peleiran-Murum, Daerah Belaga, Sarawak.

Senyum Kambing - Keikhlasan Kerajaan Pusat

Hari Raya Message To Taib From A Friend

A Hari Raya Message to Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud

Dear Taib, my friend,

Allow me to call you my friend even though we never met! As more and more people in Sarawak are treating you as the Public Enemy No. 1, I think you really do need friends like me. Hence I address you as my friend.

Hari Raya is coming. Ramadan has been achieved, that is if you have observed it strictly in accordance with the Holy Koran. The Almighty Allah shall shower you with all His blessings, if you are walking in the righteous path.

Talking on the righteous path, have you prayed five times a day to Allah, nowadays? What have you received after these prayers? Yes, if you have prayed properly and sincerely and repent, you will know what Allah wants you to do! Yes, he wants you to repent and give back all the money you took from the people of Sarawak!

During the past year, Allah the Almighty has called the coming home of your beloved Laila and your granddaughter. From Allah we come, to Allah we shall go. This is the unchangeable rule since time immemorial. This also means your leaving this world in the not too distant future.

Before you depart, I would like to remind you, as a true friend that, when your time comes, all the things in this world, you will have to leave them behind. Born into this world as a naked baby, you will die leaving this world without anything in your hands, except the cloth that wrapped your wretched carcass. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes!

I like Ramadan. It always makes me feel nearer to the Almighty Allah. The hunger makes me feel so vulnerable without food. The Buka Puasa makes me feel the greatness of the Almighty Allah. The sharing of food makes me feel the joy of seeing other fellow human beings happy. It is not only the food that you have to share. It is also the wealth.

Allah the Almighty does not prohibit any one from accumulating wealth on this earth. In fact He encourages it. However, you must not steal and cheat. That, you know, is haram!

As your good friend (though again, I regret I have never met you, since it is forever so difficult to get an appointment to see you), it is my sincere hope to you that you will repent and give back all that you have unjustly taken from the people of Sarawak. Give up politics. Give up your Chief Ministership. Be benevolent to all your fellow Sarawakians. Retire and enjoy your limited days on earth!

May Allah the Almighty shower you with abundant grace in the coming days, upon your repentence!

Your good friend,
Kuching Kia

Selamat Hari Raya 2009

Selamat Hari Raya 2009

To All Sarawak Headhunter's Muslim Friends & Foes Alike