The Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam, met with Sarawak government officials this week as part of its investigation into the complaints by natives affected by the Bakun hydro-electric dam project and the encroachment into their ancestral land.

On Thursday, Suhakam led by commissioner Anuar Zainal Abidin, met with state government officials from various agencies, including the state Attorney-General's Chambers, to hear their side of the story after receiving several memoranda from the natives.

The natives have complained of their human rights being violated in the course of the government's construction of the Bakun dam project and the state's acquiescence in allowing certain private companies to encroach into their Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.

The closed-door hearings were held at the Kuching Hilton.

'Unfair compensation'

The natives affected by the Bakun resettlement said, among other things, they had been inadequately compensated for the loss of rights to their ancestral lands on which they had been living and farming for generations and that they had been overcharged for houses built for them by the authorities.

The state government had spent about RM300 million in compensation for some 10,000 Penans displaced by the Bakun project and resettled elsewhere. While the majority of the new settlers had received their compensation monies, the rest had either rejected the offers or were still waiting to receive theirs.

A large number of the Penan families have still refused to budge from their original homes until the authorities meet their demands for fair compensation.

Even those who have moved to the new site at Nanga Aup have complained about the conditions of the houses built for them, apart from the objection that they cost much more than similar types of low-cost houses sold in Selangor.

Prison conditions

Suhakam also heard the government's views concerning the incidents in Niah where Iban longhouse dwellers were in conflict with a private company on the ground which led to the murder of four of the company's employees.

The Ibans had protested that the company were entering their NCR land areas to take timber out and clear the forests for plantation.

Prof Hamdan Adnan, a member of the commission, told malaysiakini that he and several members of the commission would also inspect the conditions of the prison in Miri where the natives were being detained.

Last month, a three-member Suhakam team met with about 200 natives near the Bakun dam site who have refused to be relocated.

The team also held a dialogue session with the Belaga district officer who is in charge of resettled natives from the Bakun dam site.

In addition, the commissioners spent five nights with the indigenous people in long houses and visited the regions of Ulu Baram, Niah, Ulu Bakun and Asap.

Thread carefully

Several quarters interviewed by local newspapers on the hearings conducted by Suhakam said they welcomed this as it now means the state authorities will have to consider their actions very carefully otherwise they can be questioned publicly on possible violations of human rights.

"It also shows that the natives of Sarawak are more conscious of their human rights, and Suhakam provides a useful avenue for them to have such grievances addressed," one said.

On a separate matter, Prof Hamdan who is also a lecturer at UiTM, said there are about 10,000 prisoners held in Malaysian jails today. More than half of them are foreigners, mostly on immigration offences.

According to him, more than 50 per cent of the prisoners in Sabah are foreigners from the Philippines and Indonesia. Of the women prisoners, 90 per cent are foreigners, mostly Filipinas, awaiting to be deported home.