Police have tried to arrest local villagers at a blockade against the Baram dam in Sarawak, at Kilometre 15, Long Lama.

Anti-Baram Dam activist Erang Lawai said policemen at the makeshift barricade across the access road to the Baram Dam construction site told them they were to be arrested, in order to allow loggers into vast tracts of communal land claimed by the natives.

However, the standoff turned into a police farce, when the policemen told the protestors to drive themselves down to Miri, a journey of three hours, to turn themselves in at the nearest police station.

"When we refused to turn ourselves in, the police said they would arrange for a lorry to come down from Miri to arrest us tomorrow," Erang ( right ) told Malaysiakini .

"So we'll wait to be arrested."

Loggers lose patience

The blockade was established about a year ago in defiance of Chief Minister Adenan Satem and state-owned Sarawak Energy Bhd’s plan to erect the mammoth 1,200 megawatt dam.

Sarawak Energy and MM Golden, a timber company granted license to strip the trees in the area before work on the dam starts, appear to have lost patience with the local natives opposing them.

Some 50 police officers have been camping at the Kilometre 15 blockade for the past six days.

They have taken down the protestors' blockade and have allowed heavy logging machinery through.

If the megaproject goes ahead, it will be worth at least RM4 billion to eager contractors, many with close family ties to Abdul Taib Mahmud, the new Sarawak governor.

Sarawak Energy claims the dam will displace "6,000 to 8,000" people, but opponents say 20,000 indigenous people will lose their homes.

Sarawak Energy and the state government insist they have consulted natives affected by the dam and dismiss all dissenters as "minority".

This week, anti-Baram Dam protestors celebrated the first anniversary of the two blockades at Long Lama and Long Kesseh.

The natives have taken legal action against the dam and are claiming native customary rights (NCR) to protect their farmland and longhouses from being flooded.

'Police should not take sides'

"The police should not be taking sides," said See Chee How, a land rights lawyer and PKR state assembly representative for Batu Lintang.

"At this moment, there isn't even any construction yet. It's not about building the dam, it's about the logging."

MM Golden, a subsidiary of Autorich, have been allowed by chief minister Adenan to remove trees from land claimed under NCR by local villagers.

"MM Golden is actually trying to negotiate with the local natives, so the police are just standing around," See explained to Malaysiakini .

"I cannot understand why the state is wasting money to keep the police camp there. How long can they stay? It's just a form of intimidation. It's stupid."

See was bemused when asked about the instruction to protestors to turn themselves in.

"That's a bit abnormal," he smiled.

"In the towns, the police can issue a summons for people to turn themselves in at the nearest police station.

"But in a rural area like Long Lama, it's absurd to ask them to drive three hours to Miri - if it's an arrestable offence in Long Lama, the police should issue a warrant.

"These protestors are hardly a threat to public order. They have been there at the blockade for a year, after all," said See. 

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