The Bakun Dam Situvation

The Bakun Dam is one of the biggest Dam’s in the world is roughly the size of Singapore (Survival, 2010)and is expected to  generate about 300 mega watts of energy ( (Khoo, 2011)). This seems like a flawless plan for the state of Malaysia if seen as the outer shell for achieving  1Malaysia or even the Malaysia 20/20 plan. But what would be the affects of this dam on the people of that region? The Penan tribes have been living in for many centuries in Sarawak, as Survival International indicated in their report that “Creating a dam’s reservoir involves  flooding land, potentially submerging crops, forests, houses, and forcing entire communities to be relocated. “ (Survival, 2010)).  This shows that the Penan tribe have lost their resources of sustaining their life in this matter, but the point to be argued in this matter is that the Dam is a green renewable source of energy which can produce tons of  energy for the survival of  Malaysia’s economic growth. So is removing the ability to survival for a few thousands for achieving the greater good, which is a well developed Malaysia can be justified as a shameful act of justice for society. These were some of the events that had happened to the Penan tribe due to the Dam by the Survival International Report((Survival, 2010)

(This article below is directly quoted from the report.)

As we can see that the energy needed is more that what is needed and the destruction that the dam would cause to the so called invisible people of that land is humongous. Just because the World Bank has its money on a project which does not see the future of tribes in that area does not mean that the government should also bat a blinds eye to this situation. How will the government deal with a situation like this or is it the governments plan to get rid of the tribes of nomadic value, so that  a state like Sarawak which is full of  resources economic  abundance can work to its full potential to enrich the country. Whatever may be the answer to that question, the Penan tribe is still hit hard due to the removal of their survival resources which is almost the size of Singapore. What can the Penan do now to get their land back or even  further stop the construction of such a catastrophe.  Even asking the government for a particular piece of land  in the Sarawak forest may not work as the Penan tribes are travelers , they go from one place to another with their swidden cultivation and set camp till some time but if dam is the case then there wont be enough place to move around to and more water borne diseases will arise, the worst of all is the destruction of a main food source of the tribe which is fish. Now, all the Penan people can do is to paint themselves in their patriotic malasysian colors and try appealing to the Supreme court for their voices to be heard.