The indigenous community from Baram is appealing to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to pressure the government to stop the Baram dam project in Sarawak.

NONE A total of 11 representatives handed over a memorandum to Suhakam today urging the commission to pay heed as they claim the dam projects have robbed the indigenous people of their customary and traditional rights.

Baram Protection Action Team chairperson Philip Jau ( left ) said that almost all of the indigenous people within Baram area were against the dam construction, especially after the Bakun dam was completed.

“After the Bakun dam was completed, the air in its vicinity is filled with a strange smell and there are signs clearly stating that the dammed water is non-potable.

“One may well imagine that not only the 20,000 local indigenous people will be forced to move away from the area, but the ecological environment there will also be seriously damaged following the contamination of all the water sources downstream once the Baram dam is completed," he claimed.

azlan Jau pointed out that the entire Baram community was kept in the dark while the Sarawak government was planning the construction of the Baram dam, which violated the principle of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) stated in the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with regards to any development projects.

Suhakam commissioner James Nayagam received the memorandum and suggested that the Baram Protection Action Team apply for a court order to stop the dam construction based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

When submitting the memorandum, the Sarawakians ran into a group of indigenous people from Pahang, who also were filing a complaint with Suhakam about an indigenous land issue.

After the submission, both groups from East and West Malaysia posed for a group photo together, shouting "Save indigenous peoples' ancestral lands".