Crikey, 10 December: There is a sober lesson in the Bakun dam saga for other communities along Sarawak’s rivers and elsewhere in south-east Asia, writes freelance journalist Jenny Denton. In the hinterland of Borneo an old lady is perched on a couch improvising into a microphone. A chorus of about 50 people, cross-legged on the … Continue reading
Crikey, 19 November: In Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, hundreds of tribal people are blockading big dam projects that threaten their land. Freelance writer Jenny Denton says Australian businesses with links to government are among the international companies helping to build them. “Good fishing!” Johannes yells from the front of the longboat, where he’s sitting cross-legged … Continue reading
Mongabay.com, 5 November: Hundreds of tribal people in Sarawak have started blockading a second big hydroelectric dam project being built by a government which critics accuse of nepotism and corruption. Late last month around 200 native Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people chased away workers and set up a blockade on a road leading to the … Continue reading
26 September 2013: A Malaysian MP has fuelled the controversy surrounding Adelaide University’s decision to name a plaza after an allegedly corrupt Malaysian political leader – and university donor – warning the university’s image could be “tarnished”. Sarawak State Assembly member and chairman of the opposition People’s Justice Party Baru Bian said there were “compelling” … Continue reading
Malaysiakini 31 August: People who would be displaced by the massive hydroelectric dam proposed for Sarawak’s second-longest river have been protesting against the plan by refusing to provide information for a Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) of the project. Community leaders at Tanjung Tepalit, Long San, Long Tap and Ba Abang in the upper … Continue reading
Malaysian Insider, 6 August: Sarawak will acquire some 4,000 hectares for the Baram hydroelectric project today after issuing a notice last week, although the proposed dam has not yet been assessed or approved. A legal “direction” published in the Borneo Post last Friday said an area of 4090.8 hectares was “required for public purposes, namely … Continue reading
New Matilda, 24 May 2013: Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says “a living culture is facing death” in Malaysian Borneo, where the planned construction of a string of hydroelectric dams would flood the lands of tens of thousands of indigenous people. Brown is in Sarawak, Malaysia’s biggest state, to attend three days of protests … Continue reading
“Why invest in SCORE?”, a poster hanging beside a large map of Borneo reads. The government official sitting in front of it obscures the suggested reasons as he leans forward to work his smart phone. A recent hidden camera video, shot by the London-based NGO Global Witness, documents proposed illegal land deals in the Malaysian … Continue reading
New Matilda, 29 November. Next week two indigenous Sarawakians will meet with the CEO of Hydro Tasmania to protest the Australian company’s involvement in a string of destructive hydroelectric dams in their state. In 1990, former Greens leader Bob Brown won the inaugural Goldman Environmental Prize — a $150,000 award for grassroots activism — for … Continue reading
