SAVE Rivers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 26 April 2012 MIRI – SAVE Rivers Network condemns the adat ‘ Mayau Dalleh ’ or cleansing ritual that was conducted at the proposed Baram Dam site at Nahah Itun Uvek, just below the village of Long Na’ah last Saturday by the delegation of officials from the state government, Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and a few community leaders headed by Senator Lihan Jok. SAVE Rivers would like to state that the ritual was done for the wrong reasons. According to the adat Kayan-Kenyah, the ritual of ‘ Mayau Dalleh ’ is normally done to cleanse the land after a calamity or disaster has struck the community. However, no calamity or disaster has happened in Baram and by going ahead with the ritual it shows that the delegation does not respect of the customs and traditions of the Kayan-Kenyah community. “How could Sarawak Energy and the government hold our traditional ‘ Mayau Dalleh ’ prayer ritual for blessing a dam which will destroy our Baram culture? This ce...

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Long Liam is the village 2nd nearest to proposed Baram Dam. The Kayan wariors here said; building dam is like slaughtering them with an unseen blade.They would rather die if they were to be relocated to give way for the Baram Dam. Click to see video

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 23 April 2012 MIRI  – A ceremonial event called the ‘ Manyau Dalleh ’ organised by the Sarawak State Government and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) at the proposed Baram dam site to kick start the second phase of soil studies was mired by protest by the people of Baram. The protest was to oppose the planned construction of the Baram Hydroelectric Dam Project. About 30 people from the villagers from Long Liam, Long San, Ba’ Abang, Long Beku, Long Laput, Long Ekang, Long Tap and concerned NGO’s from Miri participated in the protest. Currently, the only means of access to the dam site is by boat. The protesters used longboats powered by outboard engines, displayed their banners and placard while shouting slogans in the various languages spoken in the Baram district urging the government to scrap the controversial project and take heed of the peoples’ concerns. Conducting the ceremony for the State Government were Senator Lihan Jok, Dennis Ngau t...

19 April 2012 North View By STEPHEN THEN It will not be much of a problem for the younger generation but it will definitely be a daunting challenge for the older folk, to start a new life far away from their original home, when the proposed RM4bil Baram dam project takes place. HAVING to face imminent life-changing events can be really daunting. The look of concern and anxiety on their faces says it all ­– they are staring at the winds of change blowing straight in their direction. And the only way these Baram folk know how to display their worries for all to see was by demonstrating. A group of these Baram natives on Monday, staged a peaceful demonstration outside a hotel in Miri where Baram politicians and state authorities had gathered to discuss ongoing plans for the preliminary stages of ground works for the proposed RM4bil Baram dam project, some 250km inland from Miri City. These demonstrators were vocal, chanting slogans against the construction of ...

Kids at Long Na'ah were excited to show us, their visitor to their school which is located at Ulu Baram. They do know that their lovely school will be drowned under 164 m deep water once the Baram Dam starts its impoundment.

Posted Saturday, March 17th, 2012 This post is also available in: Iban , Malay   Former BN State Assemblyman, Lihan Jok, famously lectured his constituents that the Baram Dam was “a gift from God”. But, who does Lihan Jok mean by God? The Baram Dam is a man made project and it will destroy some of the last remaining areas of untouched beauty on God’s Earth. So, by ‘God’ was Lihan Jok employing the term frequently used for his party boss,Taib Mahmud, who has been enthusiastically driving through this project? Taib, who runs Sarawak like a mafia ‘Godfather’, and his BN YBs are all hoping, of course, that the Baram Dam will shower them with even more wealth than before. How?  Well, to build the Baram Dam Taib plans to borrow huge sums of money, which will be guaranteed by the State of Sarawak.  This means that the foreign money lenders will know that ordinary taxpayers will be forced to pay back the money (plus interest) in future years. Read mor...

Video of Protest in front on Parcity Everly Hotel, Miri where Senator Lihan is meeting with community leaders on the proposed Baram Dam

16 April 2012 MIRI - Eight villages from the Baram district have protested against the proposal for constructing Mega Dams in the district. In written and signed statement by the villagers they want the dam project to be cancelled immediately. The letters were submitted to the SAVE Sarawak’s Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) here in Miri and SAVE Rivers have forwarded the letters to the Mr. Thorstein Dale Sjotveit, CEO of Sarawak Energy Berhad, the owner of the proposed Baram dam. Copies of the letters were also sent to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak; the Chief Minister of Sarawak, YAB Pehin Seri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud; the Chairman of SUHAKAM, the Malaysian Commission of Human Right; the Member of Parliament for Baram, YB Dato’ Jacob Dungau Sagan and the State Assemblyman for Telang Usan, YB Dennis Ngau. Copies of the letters and the signatures were also sent to consultants doing studies for the dam construction i.e. MWH Global Headquar...

16 April 2012 MIRI – Members of Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) and some concerned citizens held a peaceful demonstration in front of a leading hotel here to send a strong message to the community leaders meeting with Senator Lihan Jok at the hotel to reject the Baram Hydro-electric Dam Project. Earlier on, church leaders were also invited to attend the meeting with the Senator. About 30 people turned up for the demonstration and even under heavy police presence they clearly stated their displeasure at the Sarawak State Government’s insistence to go forward with the controversial dam project. According to the Chairman of SAVE Rivers, Mr. Peter Kallang, “We in the SAVE Rivers Network have just come back from our visit to various longhouses in Baram. At our meetings with them and during private interviews which are electronically recorded (on audio and video), practically all of the villagers do not want the dam to be built.” Peter stressed that he does...

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Kirk Herbertson April 06, 2012 Malaysia’s government has hidden environmental and economic costs of dams to attract Chinese money, warns Kirk Herbertson. But the investors too must take responsibility – or face the consequences. When Chinese state-owned companies invest overseas, they can be caught off-guard by corruption and environmental risks that arise because they assume the host government will resolve these problems. But after recent events such as the suspension of the Myitsone Dam in Myanmar , Chinese companies have conceded that this may be a flawed approach. In Sarawak —a forested Malaysian state on the island of Borneo— three Chinese state-owned companies are helping to build a network of as many as 51 controversial dams to spur rapid industrial development. (Twelve schemes are firmly on the drawing board for 2020, while there is discussion of building many more by...

 Posted Tuesday, April 10th, 2012 As all Malaysia now knows, BN/UMNO’s grip on power relies on the continuing support of two corrupted Chief Ministers in East Malaysia. Both Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman are up to their eyes in money stolen from their people and from the destruction of their home states through unsustainable logging and oil palm plantation. Many of those stolen billions are used to fund Malaysia’s corrupted ruling party, UMNO, to disrupt the opposition parties and to bribe voters at election time. So, because these two Chief Ministers are able to deliver so much money and also the key number of votes that keep UMNO in power, Najib cannot move against them to deal with their law-breaking, even if he wanted to. To the contrary the Prime Minister has brought these corrupted figures right into the heart of his government. Musa Aman’s brother is the Foreign Minister and Taib’s Jacob Sagan is a Trade and Industry Minister – both are tainted with...