Sabah village chief sacked for questioning dam project

By Charlie Rudai - Free Malaysia Today

KOTA BELUD: Singkui Tinggi thought he was only doing his job as a village head when he appealed to the state government to reconsider the proposed Sungai Kadamaian dam project in the interest of more than 800 villagers in Kampung Tambatuon.

But for speaking up, he paid a price – he received a one-month termination notice from the Local Government and Housing Ministry. He has had held the post for the past 28 years.

Singkui, 78, said the villagers were hoping that the construction of the proposed dam would be deferred to save their 300-year-old village from being submerged in water.

In his statement in March, Singkui had said that as voters and staunch supporters of the government, the people in Kampung Tambatuon believed that the government will protect their welfare and future.

He said that even though they were paid compensation for the loss of their properties and land, it would not be able to guarantee their future.

The letter, dated April 16, 2010, and signed by Awang Sharin Alimin on behalf of the ministry’s permanent secretary, however, did not state the reason for Singkui’s termination.

Last Saturday, Singkui received a pleasant surprise when almost the entire top leadership of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by president Yong Teck Lee came to the village to personally listen to the villagers in the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.

Also in the delegation were SAPP adviser Paul Wong; former Sabah finance minister Mohamad Noor Mansor; deputy presidents Eric Majimbun and Liew TecK Chan; Wanita chief Melanie Chia; Youth chief Edward Dagul; information chief Chong Pit Fah; and SAPP Kota Belud CLC chief Agnes Liew.

Laudable act

Earlier, Yong and the other SAPP leaders met with the people as they walked around the village before proceeding to see the Tambatuon bombon at the nearby Sungai Kadamaian.

Acknowledging Singkui's leadership, Yong praised Singkui for having the courage to tell the government that something was not right even if it would cost him his job.

“This is the weakness of Sabah people: they will back out the moment they are threatened,” he said.

"Even the elected representatives or ministers from Sabah are afraid to talk openly about issues affecting the people because they are scared of losing their positions."

Yong, a former chief minister, lauded the spirit shown by Singkui in fighting for the rights of the villagers and speaking up for them.

"It is commendable and should be emulated by the people of Sabah. To me, you are still the ketua kampung (village head),” he told Singkui.

He said SAPP was proud to champion Singkui's and the villagers' cause in calling for the government to relocate the project.

“We are here because of the failure of the Kota Belud MP [Abdul Rahman Dahlan] and Kadamaian assemblyman [Herbert Timbon Lagadan]. If they had listened to what the village chief had to say, it (the issue) would already have been resolved,” said Yong.

He also questioned the government's decision to go ahead with its plan to destroy the picturesque Kampung Tambatuon.

“To us, this place is like a paradise,” he said.

The proposed mega project, Yong said, involved the construction of a 340-m high dam that will cost billions of ringgit.

He added that being a mega project, it requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report. For the report to be approved, it must comply with several requirements, one of which is to listen to the views of the local people.

“But what we are seeing here today is the style of the government which will simply remove those who disagree,” he said.

Yong promised that this would not happen when SAPP forms the government.

“This is not an election promise but this is our stand because SAPP is a people’s party,” he added.

He said if the current elected representatives here had done their work, it would have been unnecessary for SAPP to come to Tambatuon.

'A secret project'

Meanwhile, Singkui said the authorities seemed to be trying to keep the project a secret. "The people were never informed about it. Even the workers doing the soil testing in the village did so discreetly.

“I urge Herbert to stop trying to persuade the villagers [to change their mind] by taking them on a fully-sponsored trip to Batang Ai [Sarawak] to purportedly show the way the people there live after relocation.

“If he has the money to pay for the trip, it would be better if he donates it for the construction of the pastor’s house in the village,” said SIngkui.

On the shrinking land for the villagers to develop as they were told that it is bordering the national parks as well as within a water catchment area, Yong said the laws for national parks are tighter than the laws on forest reserves.

He said villages are allowed within the forest reserves like in the Sabah forest industry concession area and in Tongod since these villages had been there before the area was gazetted as a forest reserve.

However, Yong said that in the past five years he had heard cases of kampung houses being burnt down and villagers being chased out (of the forest reserves).

He cited the treatment meted out to villagers near Mount Pock, Semporna, who were driven out of the 2,000-hectare area in the forest reserve

The government then tabled a Bill in the State Legislative Assembly to alienate these areas and give it to a company for plantation development, he said.

“What is this? If it is a water catchment area, then just let it be a water catchment area.

"This is the priority of the SAPP land reformation committee -- to return the land to the kampung people,” he said, adding that the committee would also be looking at all pending land applications before 1990s.

“If the dam is built, this will surely lead to the downfall of the BN not only in Tambatuon but also in Kota Belud and the whole of Sabah,” he said.

Yong said SAPP is proposing small hydro-power plants as an alternative for generating renewable energy and this would be adopted as a party policy.

Instead of building one large hydro-power plant, he said several small hydro-power plants with a generating capacity of up to 10MW could be installed along the rivers.

He said one major advantage of these plants is that it would not cause damage to the environment.

“Forests won't be submerged, reservoirs won't face siltation, people won't be relocated...” he said, adding that small dams will also serve as a flood-control mechanism.

Besides, they can be integrated into the existing irrigation system apart from being a clean source of energy, he added.

Such a concept had been implemented successfully in countries like China, Guyana, India and South Africa, he said.

Yong and his party later attended the SAPP Kadamaian Pesta Kaamatan 2010 celebration at Kampung Bundu Paka.