Murum dam blockade enters second week, maintains NGO
Save Rivers refutes Belaga state assemblyperson Liwan Lagang’s claim that the Penans had ended their blockade of the dam.
Denying a local press report, a Sarawak NGO has insisted that the Murum dam blockade was entering its second week.
In a press statement, Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network (Save Rivers), a native rights organisation, refuted a
Borneo Post
report in which Belaga state assemblyperson Liwan Lagang had claimed the dam blockade had ended, and insisted that the blockade was still on.
Save Rivers confirmed the on-going blockade by contacting Raymond Abin ( left ), coordinator for Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (Scane), by telephone.
Abin said, “I met the elders and leaders in Murum (two days ago) and they are saying that the blockade is still on.”
He added that Liwan, who is also Sarawak’s Assistant Culture and Heritage Minister, “did try to negotiate with the Penans to dismantle the blockade”.
“However the Penans were not happy with him as he could not assure them in writing that the government would accede to their demands.”
Quoted in the Borneo Post report on Oct 8, Liwan said the Penans had agreed to lift the blockade, ending the 10-day protest.
Since Sept 26, hundreds of Penans have staged a blockade against the controversial Murum dam project.
“The Murum dam will inundate and require the forced relocation of about 1,500 Penans, as well as the 18 Kenyah-Badeng families in Long Umpa village near Long Malim on the Danum River, the upper course of the Murum River,” said Abin.
The natives affected by the dam project are demanding, among others, 25 hectares of land for each of the 300 families there on top of RM500,000 compensation per family.
