Details on the Sarawak government’s exorbitant plans for dams were exposed by International environmental and human rights organisation Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) today in its call for a moratorium on all such dam construction plans.

Along with this, the BMF also called for the withdrawal of all the foreign companies from the socially and environmentally damaging projects in the state.

NONE The 46-page report titled ‘Sold Down the River. How Sarawak Dam Plans Compromise the Future of Malaysia’s Indigenous People’ examines the dam plans that are a part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), which is said to be Southeast Asia’s most ambitious and expensive energy project, with investments of up to US$105 billion.

The report states that tens of thousands of indigenous people from the rainforests of Borneo are facing forced displacement from their traditional lands due to the hydroelectric power plans of the Sarawak government.

BMF described Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s plan to dam all the rivers in the state as a “cultural genocide’’, with no regard for the social and environmental implications from the dams.

'Pushed ahead under cloak of secrecy'

“The dam plans, which are being pushed ahead under a cloak of secrecy, constitute the core element of the so-called Score. If implemented, they will entail the 'cultural genocide' of a significant part of Sarawak’s rich indigenous culture,” BMF said in a statement released together with the report.

It also claimed that if all the dams were implemented, the indigenous cultures in Sarawak, such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan and Kelabit, would likely face extinction.

The planned Baram dam alone is estimated to cause the forced displacement of 20,000 Borneo natives and flooding of more than 40,000 hectares of rainforests and farmlands.

NONE The extensive report stresses that Sarawak is confronted with an excess of electric power as the current peak demand is around 1,000MW, which is much less than the power that can be produced by the recently completed Bakun dam, which has a capacity of 2,400MW.

The report also highlighted that most companies involved in the dam plans are closely linked to Taib's family and Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS),, the flagship company of the Taib family businesses.

BMF condemned a number of foreign companies as having made a “pact with the devil” to benefit from the strong investments linked to the Sarawak dam plans and assisting Taib’s government with the dam project.

“BMF is calling for a moratorium on all Sarawak dam construction and for an independent, external review of the Bakun, Bengoh and Batang Ai dams.”

It also urged the state power company, Sarawak Energy, to sack its chairperson Hamed Abdul Sepawi, who is also Taib’s cousin, and provide full transparency of its finances, contracts and funders.

BMF called on all the foreign corporate actors to shun Score as any involvement with the extensive hydroelectric power plans by Taib’s government would inextricably be linked to corruption, environmental damage and human rights violations.

The report can be accessed here .